Im having a turbo back exhaust fitted start of june and the place where im having it done said they would remap it for £200 (normal price £299) aslong as i get the turbo back with sports cat. Is a live remap as good as one on rolling road? And would i no my gains from a live map?

pedley121 said:

Im having a turbo back exhaust fitted start of june and the place where im having it done said they would remap it for £200 (normal price £299) aslong as i get the turbo back with sports cat. Is a live remap as good as one on rolling road? And would i no my gains from a live map?

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yes you will notice a lot more gains as a live map is Tailored to your car, to work with every component / mod you have to its best and safest ability . rolling roads maps are generic, but still gets set up to your car to iron out any flat spots or random boost spikes to gain the best ability from the car.

on my car i have a rolling road map , but both are as good as each other. basically both will be suited to your car and done professionally so its up to you dude ?

rolling road map will have proof of power increase and are the best way to get the most increase from a map

Like said a live/custom remap is better than a simple generic map, especially if you've got other engine mods.

A live map is a map done on a rolling road?

punto_matt said:

A live map is a map done on a rolling road?

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The bloke said to me he would be driving the car around to remap it.

pedley121 said:

The bloke said to me he would be driving the car around to remap it.

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they are usually done on the rollers .... sounds like a recipe for disaster to me!!!

pedley121 said:

The bloke said to me he would be driving the car around to remap it.

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Sounds like a "steal your car remap"

pedley121 said:

The bloke said to me he would be driving the car around to remap it.

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F*ck that, it's unlikely that he'd be able to get right through the rev range anyway (without driving like a nutter or totalling your car) to feel the power change (which would also be hard as the higher stage remap, the smaller the power gains feel, and would be even harder to feel if you're not driving the GP every day).

Also unless you've got an Air/Fuel ratio meter in your car it's going to be difficult/impossible for him to keep an eye on that whilst he's having his little driving about in your car == more chance of it going bang one day.

Just get a live map done for your car whilst it's on a RR, plenty places are able to do that, and I'd rather pay the extra £ for the extra power and so that the car doesn't blow up and end up costing even more £ in the future.

Live mapping summed up at reputable Motorsport website...


Live ECU Mapping:
During live mapping, we will attach an emulator to the ECU and actually access the information within it whilst the engine is running and the ECU is in use. This is the ultimate form of mapping and usually gives far more accurate results than simple chipping or remapping and is usually quite a lot better than a custom mapping session too because we can adjust the data at the same time as the ECU is supplying results to the engine and so can assess the results in real time. This is doubly true for those engines that have strayed from the norm and are now utilising up rated cams, ported heads, altered compression ratios etc.

You're confusing the terminology.

In some cases the ECU map data has to be downloaded from the chip, altered, then reflashed to the ECU. The car has to then be driven and monitored for air/fuel ratio, detonation, etc. If any changes are needed, the engine has to be switched off and the data downloaded again, altered again, and reflashed. To get a map 100% can take many adjustments, each taking considerable time to download/upload the map.

With 'live' mapping, the data can be adjusted on-the-fly and is far easier and faster (and cheaper). This can be done either by the Mapper sitting in the passenger seat while someone (work colleague or the customer) drives the car, or on a rolling road where the mapper is in complete control and the process is safer as it means you don't have to drive at high speeds on public roads to reach every rpm/load site in the ECU.

i though sitting in a driving was done more buy people who race or do track days, who map it to the conditions of the day

dave said:

i though sitting in a driving was done more buy people who race or do track days, who map it to the conditions of the day

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I thought that was a unichip.

dave said:

i though sitting in a driving was done more buy people who race or do track days, who map it to the conditions of the day

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Nope, just Tuners who can't afford the huge cost of a dyno. Even then, there are some conditions you can't replicate on a dyno, so the car will normally have a quick run up the road to check for any issues that weren't seen while mapping.

A live remap is on a dyno, if the bloke is going to drive your car around, he's not a real tuner. ALL good tuners will have a dyno, its the only way to log all the parameters such as fueling, intake air temps, coolant temp, timing and boost to make sure the car is running right.

qal said:

A live remap is on a dyno, if the bloke is going to drive your car around, he's not a real tuner. ALL good tuners will have a dyno, its the only way to log all the parameters such as fueling, intake air temps, coolant temp, timing and boost to make sure the car is running right.

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I will dispute this - The Turbo Unit, a company that rebuilds and customizes turbo's do live tuning on the road with VAG group motor's and have a very high reputation - the company is also used by Car S.O.S when they require work done on turbo's, i have also spoken to Ben at The Turbo Unit for some advise and he really does know his stuff...

It is possible - but I suppose it's down to skills and knowing exactly what you are doing.

dtimmins1985 said:

I will dispute this - The Turbo Unit, a company that rebuilds and customizes turbo's do live tuning on the road with VAG group motor's and have a very high reputation - the company is also used by Car S.O.S when they require work done on turbo's, i have also spoken to Ben at The Turbo Unit for some advise and he really does know his stuff...

It is possible - but I suppose it's down to skills and knowing exactly what you are doing.

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I'm talking specifically about tuning, ie modifying the car to give more power.
How do you know that you have made more power by driving the car?
Only a dyno can tell you if you have made more power and how much power you have made.
Seat of pants dynos are generally not very good!

qal said:

I'm talking specifically about tuning, ie modifying the car to give more power.
How do you know that you have made more power by driving the car?
Only a dyno can tell you if you have made more power and how much power you have made.
Seat of pants dynos are generally not very good!

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Tuning is Tuning - remapping an ECU is still tuning.
Yes, you wont know exactly how much more BHP you have gained by doing it live on the road but there is always the Dyno to have that checked after.

Also - Tuning on a Dyno can be dangerous, the car does not act the same was as when its on the road, its under less load too.

Read back on this forum about a Bravo owner, who had his 1.9 Multijet 150 remapped to 200hp ish on the dyno, it seemed fine and strong on the dyno then they took it out on the open road to find that there was too much torque being delivered and the spider / tripods on the drive shafts where taking too much stick, the drivetrain rumbled so much he could feel it at the steering wheel - all they could do was back off his tune a little and I think it felt safe at around 190hp - seriously, just because you can make more HP doesnt necessarily mean you can use it or that your drivetrain can take it.

So in both worlds - tuning can be flawed and dangerous, however - a mixture of the two - a dyno for base tunes and smooth things out and then a drive on the roads to see how it reacts - then possible, live fine tuning to gain that tiny bit extra until you know your at the limit of the drivetrain etc.

Yes I agree that a road test is absolutely essential, but its not possible to tune just by driving the car on the road. You will not know that the car is making any power at all. Also on the road how will you know what air-fuel ratios you are running?


As far as remaps are concerned I would not have an issue having a car remapped by someone that didn't do in on the dyno, provided the remap was developed on the dyno by the company that writes the maps.