Frequently asked questions

Our technicians link to the vehicles ECU or ‘brain’ with a laptop through the vehicles diagnostic socket and read the current engine management file which is then modified and custom optimized for you vehicle.
The technician then programs the new optimized file into your vehicle and you then have opportunity for yourself to experience the amazing results.
On some vehicles it is not possible to carry-out this function via the diagnostic socket so in this case the ECU is removed and connected to, so boot loading functions can be carried out, direct into the ECU.
The final effect is exactly the same, only the process is different. Depending on the vehicle, the remap normally takes less than 1 hour to complete.

Our re-mapping process enhances and optimizes the power of the engine within safe limits, not beyond them. Extra power will also result in fewer gear changes. Manufacturers have to build in a tolerance for the parts in the engine, to manage the effect of wear and tear, production variations and in most cases over engineered and just software limited.

Most race and rally engines are pushed for every last bhp, and thus they more common to fail, whilst normal car engines are limited back, well away from probability of multiple failures.
Each individual engine is different as in how much it can be pushed in a remap, but a good remap from a quality tuner will never get close the limits of component failure.

You will see that the top companies within the market place have all develop vehicle improvements to similar outputs. Beware of tuners who claim significantly more, it’s either lies hoping that the average customer wouldn’t be able to tell the difference, or the engine is being pushed too hard and will quickly become unreliable.

Manufacturers generally sell one vehicle that covers various markets, with different tax and emissions regulations; different climates with extremes of heat, cold, humidity, different fuel qualities, different operating altitudes, etc.
A manufacturer has to take all of these factors into consideration and make substantial compromises in the vehicles operation.

Sales and marketing also have a big affect on the way an engine is mapped. Low spec models often have the exact same engine hardware as the high spec models, there often can be 50 BHP difference between them yet the only difference is software.

If you look the in manufacturer brochure at the engine specs, the torque graph will rise, then flatten out on a straight line, and then drop off. This obviously isn’t how an engine breathes, and it’s the request of sales and marketing to produce this flat lining of the torque. Why? Well it’s about having better torque figures than the competition and about local market taxation laws.

Unfortunately, we are unable to provide a home service, simply due to the number of tools and equipment that need to be carried.

Should you find yourself in a location that is not serviced by one of our dealers, we can schedule a tuning trip, provided you have 3+ vehicles available to tune.

Specifics can be discussed by contacting us.

An engine that is running our map will not suffer any reliability issues provided it is well maintained.

All our software comes with a lifetime warranty, ie,if the dealer is to update your ecu and erase the tune, we would re apply free of cost*.

In the highly unlikely event that there is a problem we will look to resolve the issue should it be determined that it was caused by the upgrade. We offer a 14 day money-back guarantee in the event that you are not satisfied with the improvements.

* A service fee of 1 hour shop labour may be applied depending on complexity of job, usually only on ecu removal jobs.

A Tuning box is a device that connects to a few sensors on the car.

These interfere with engine management signals to trick the injectors into adding more fuel, relying on the principal of more diesel equating to more power... which is correct, it does increase a diesel engine’s BHP. Crucially though, there is no control over the amount of black smoke coming out of the exhaust, and no thought is given to how other vital engine management systems are affected.

Too much smoke is undesirable, both environmentally and visually. The black smoke is unburnt diesel fuel with deposits exiting straight out of the exhaust pipe. This results in raised emissions, a higher thermal load on the engine, and poor drive ability - with “bucking” a common problem. It is clear what this means for your engine.

Because a diesel box operates independently from the other - increasingly complex - engine management systems, the results of using one can induce undesirable results.

Yes, in secure storage, should you ever require your vehicle to put back to original.

If you wish, a copy can be provided to you via email at time of tuning.

Some manufactures diagnostic equipment may detect a remap if they go looking for it, generally during a service it goes undetected, although some forward-thinking manufacturers turn a blind eye to a quality remap anyway.

The official line from most manufacturers is that if a modification causes a problem with the vehicle, then the part of the vehicle affected will not be covered; but this does not mean that they can disregard the entire warranty. If, for example, your vehicle’s central locking system failed, they would not be able to void the warranty because of the remap.

A remap alters fueling, boost pressure, and torque characteristics of the engine by adjusting the fuel pressure, injected fuel quantity, maximum permissible visible smoke limit, boost pressure, and torque limits and various other engine operation parameters.

The conversion offers a fully understood alteration to the engine characteristics, whilst still operating with complete feedback control, and within all preset engine sensor parameters.

Traditionally tuning stages were plain and simple:

Stage 1: No hardware modifications, or just a replacement filter.

Stage 2: Exhaust , Intake and cooling modifications.

Stage 3: Bigger turbo, injectors, fuel pumps etc etc

Unfortunately the marketing teams of some companies have now invented Stage 1+ 2+, 3,4 5,6,7, 8 tunes.

The above is just marketing hype, and realistically modifications to a car follow the logical 3 step upgrade path