Custom tune Vs. "Chip"?
11-14-2008, 06:24 AM
#13
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Custom tune
But I am biased. ASP, EPL and VAST seem to be best guys out there these days......
FWIW, the drivability from my GIAC compared to ASP custom tune was night and day. Custom toon was sooo much smoother....
FWIW, the drivability from my GIAC compared to ASP custom tune was night and day. Custom toon was sooo much smoother....
11-14-2008, 06:38 AM
#14
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2nd, i had giac on a couple of my s4's w/ no problems..
that said i also had asp's stg 1 program (not custom) asp's was smoother than giac x... but your best bet would be to purchase a used giac ecu and sell your stock one, no point imo to get a custom tune for the extra power on little ko3's
11-14-2008, 07:39 AM
#16
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Disagree.....
I wasn't too impressed with my GIAC X chip, but then again, compared to utter smoothness of a custom tune, even on the conservative end, is night and day difference...
11-14-2008, 08:28 AM
#18
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Are you on the east coast? I've read of ASP and EPL, in NJ and CT respectively, offering good deals
on custom dyno tunes.
Might make the most sense to look for a used ECU with the OTS tune you want, economically, and apply the savings to other areas of the car.
Might make the most sense to look for a used ECU with the OTS tune you want, economically, and apply the savings to other areas of the car.
11-14-2008, 09:23 AM
#20
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Off shelf doesn't work for us "special needs" kids....
Because of my choice of tiptronic and daily driver needs, off the shelf solutions wouldn't be optimal at all. The strong ones are specced to a low mileage, manual, with max boost at WOT and peak RPM. I have a good bit of mileage, and really desire a more torquey midrange. 6500+ RPM shifts at full boost (which happens in an auto) threaten to break things in the near and long term.
A VAST custom tune seemed to be the best option for getting power enough up top, with less boost at full throttle shifting. The fact that I wanted to push the car to be leaner at idle, and under different conditions made a custom tune better as well.
Finally:
Custom tunes do not have to cost much more than non-custom, at all. I bought fueling support from VAST, so that they would have full control and familiarity with at least fuel and spark. Getting K04s and most of the common plumbing put me close to normal for air flow and intake temps. Past that, it is tuning to results obtained from ecu explorer.
Even if you had all oddball parts, a baseline tune could be retuned over time.
A VAST custom tune seemed to be the best option for getting power enough up top, with less boost at full throttle shifting. The fact that I wanted to push the car to be leaner at idle, and under different conditions made a custom tune better as well.
Finally:
Custom tunes do not have to cost much more than non-custom, at all. I bought fueling support from VAST, so that they would have full control and familiarity with at least fuel and spark. Getting K04s and most of the common plumbing put me close to normal for air flow and intake temps. Past that, it is tuning to results obtained from ecu explorer.
Even if you had all oddball parts, a baseline tune could be retuned over time.