Newbie S3 8P owner after tuning advice.

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Paul-S3

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Hi guys

Well i've found the S3 i've been looking for and i'm picking it up 2moro. 57 plate S3 in white (pics below) with completely standard engine. This i where i need your advice. What mods do i need to get the car pushing 300 bhp+ ? And can anyone recommend the best tuners out there to do the work. I'm based in south wales so ideally as close to me a poss but i am willing to travel.

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it really depends on what you want to do to it and how far beyond the 300 mark you want it, just a map will take it to that point, with my map it took me to 319bhp & 319 lb/ft since then ive added a CAI and a cat back milltek and it now running at 345 & 338, with a bit more work i should have it at the 370-380 mark

ive used evolve for my tuning, since getting mine done a few others have followed and they havent had a bad word to say. i went up to the HQ in Luton but they have a dealer in South Wales, Zensis, Llanharan, or you can deal with the HQ direct and have the map loaded with a switch box
 
Get yourself to Shark Performance @ GTI International, you'll get discount on the day, and you'll get 320bhp! You won't be disappointed I can assure you
 
jungleman said:
it really depends on what you want to do to it and how far beyond the 300 mark you want it, just a map will take it to that point, with my map it took me to 319bhp & 319 lb/ft since then ive added a CAI and a cat back milltek and it now running at 345 & 338, with a bit more work i should have it at the 370-380 mark

ive used evolve for my tuning, since getting mine done a few others have followed and they havent had a bad word to say. i went up to the HQ in Luton but they have a dealer in South Wales, Zensis, Llanharan, or you can deal with the HQ direct and have the map loaded with a switch box
Click to expand...

Thanx for the reply mate, i'm all new to the 8p so need as much advice as i can get. So did you get 320bhp just off a map on standard parts?? thats pretty impressive. I was thinking about getting the turbo back miltek and CAI, so i should be looking at 350bhp easy then?

Whats the switch box you talk about? And what price was the map?

N8 said:
Get yourself to Shark Performance @ GTI International, you'll get discount on the day, and you'll get 320bhp! You won't be disappointed I can assure you
Click to expand...

Thanx for that, any idea on price?
 
Paul-S3 said:
Thanx for the reply mate, i'm all new to the 8p so need as much advice as i can get. So did you get 320bhp just off a map on standard parts?? thats pretty impressive. I was thinking about getting the turbo back miltek and CAI, so i should be looking at 350bhp easy then?

Whats the switch box you talk about? And what price was the map?
Click to expand...

lol no worries, there are plenty of people on here that are wiling to give you as much advice as you need

yea the 319 was on a totally stock car running on v-power (v-power makes a massive difference on these cars!)
with that hardware youll be able to have the stage 2 software so should should be seeing 350-370 easy (depends on the day, and rolling road your on)

the switch box is a gizmo that allows you to load up different maps to the car, either the standard map, or a tuned one, its most useful if you dont live near a dealer or if the car is under warranty. i got one as my car was under warranty when i had it mapped so if there was a problem with the car you can remove it to save arguments with the warranty company, i also use it to detune the car if someone else is driving it as its a very very rapid car with it on!

cant remember the price, as i had it done a year ago now, but i think he does discounts for ASN members if you give them a call on 01582 584 000, ask for imran and tell him you spoke to paolo on here he will be able to give you all the upto date prices, if you tell him that your planning on a TBE and a CAI he will be able to give you his recommendations as well
 
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Paolo, with Evolve, do you have to go to the tuner to have the map uploaded the first time or can it all be done via a hand held switching tool? Evolve don't seem to have any bases North of the border in Scotland. Sounds like your map is going really well!

Paulie x
 
it can all be done remotely with the switch. as far as i know, you copy your original map to the switch, email it off to evolve with the supplied software they tune it, send it back, you then load it on to the switch and then onto the car.

well my stage one is fantastic, was playing with a porsche panamera on saturday and was surprised on how the S3 coped with it. unfortunately my stage 2 has been put back to this friday as milltek right royally cocked up my order... i wasnt best pleased with them to say the least lol
 
jungleman said:
lol no worries, there are plenty of people on here that are wiling to give you as much advice as you need

yea the 319 was on a totally stock car running on v-power (v-power makes a massive difference on these cars!)
with that hardware youll be able to have the stage 2 software so should should be seeing 350-370 easy (depends on the day, and rolling road your on)

the switch box is a gizmo that allows you to load up different maps to the car, either the standard map, or a tuned one, its most useful if you dont live near a dealer or if the car is under warranty. i got one as my car was under warranty when i had it mapped so if there was a problem with the car you can remove it to save arguments with the warranty company, i also use it to detune the car if someone else is driving it as its a very very rapid car with it on!

cant remember the price, as i had it done a year ago now, but i think he does discounts for ASN members if you give them a call on 01582 584 000, ask for imran and tell him you spoke to paolo on here he will be able to give you all the upto date prices, if you tell him that your planning on a TBE and a CAI he will be able to give you his recommendations as well
Click to expand...

Well, i just got back from picking up my S3......WOW!!! it's aweome!!!!! probably one of the best cars i've ever driven.

Thanx for all your Advice mate, it's great to know there are some knowledgeable people on here. Will defo give evolve a shout. So am i right in thinking that the branch in South Wales, Zensis, Llanharan, is part of the evolve group?
 
haha glad your liking it!

no worries mate, always glad to help, depending on how much power you want out of it could be worth getting yourself on to VAGOC as there are a few really good build threads with a couple S3's running between 450-500 bhp

yea pretty much, as far as i know, they are effectively an agent of evolve, but i think all the tuning of the map is still done by the guys up in luton, and the guys in Zensis effectively just load the map and do any tweaks or scanning of the car, but if you give the guys at the luton branch a call sure they will be able to explain it all a lot better then me :)
 
As Paolo says,come on over to VAGOC,where you'll find most of the 400+bhp cars in the Uk and Europe.</p>
 
Is there anyway to know if the car has been mapped already? As i've come from an m3 and the car feels so much faster than the m3? Also, the guy i bought it off said he thought it might of been mapped by previous owner
 
Paul-S3 said:
Is there anyway to know if the car has been mapped already? As i've come from an m3 and the car feels so much faster than the m3? Also, the guy i bought it off said he thought it might of been mapped by previous owner
Click to expand...

Quite possible,as the stock car is not quicker than a current M3.

How to find out.....well the simplest way is to stick it on a rolling road and see what bhp it turns out,but if it hasn't got any visible mods,it may well be only Stg1.
 
Well, spoke with zensis today and asked them about a map and they said £499. I asked what gains i would get with a cat bak milltek and ITG induction kit with the map and the said 44bhp??? So that means it would only up the power to 309bhp?? Does that sound right or should i be expecting more??
 
Paul-S3 said:
Well, spoke with zensis today and asked them about a map and they said £499. I asked what gains i would get with a cat bak milltek and ITG induction kit with the map and the said 44bhp??? So that means it would only up the power to 309bhp?? Does that sound right or should i be expecting more??
Click to expand...

The gains are approximately what you'd expect from a Stg1 remap,but what I'd ask is who's software this is?

With Revo and a few others you have a clear upgrade path and a well proven product,especially if a bigger turbo is an eventual aim.
Don't get too bogged down with the last few quoted bhp,as variations in rolling roads,and even air temperature will account for a good few bhp along the way.
 
I'm not sure who's software it is, but i take it that it would be whatever evolve use as they are part of them.
 
Paul-S3 said:
I'm not sure who's software it is, but i take it that it would be whatever evolve use as they are part of them.
Click to expand...

Ok....I'm sure that would be fine,but if you look at the claimed gains from most of the software companies,the prices are similar,and so are the claimed gains,i.e. about 45bhp for the first level of tune.

Some members seem very happy with Evolve(jungleman I think has this),and I can only speak for Revo,where others use GIAC.

The overall results seem comparable,and you do have to allow a lot of leeway for different rolling roads,and test conditions,but what really matters is getting an improvement you can feel,and I am sure you will feel that from a 40bhp gain.

The other points I made about breather systems and maintenance are very important,especially if you add more power after this,and remember the info over at the other forum,which is perhaps more tuning oriented.
 
hey paul
sorry would have commented on this earlier if i had seen it but i was down at evolve getting my stage 2 lol
yea as far as i know zeneth only do evolve but i could be wrong, it will be worth giving evolve a call direct at the luton branch, talk to imran and see if they can offer anything as they may be able to better that price as i know back in feb they were doing a forum discount.
just to give you an idea on my stock car running v-power my car made 319 on evolves dyno and then with the milltek cat-back and CAI it made 345 on AMDs rollers, but as alex said there is always a vary between rollers to rollers and the conditions of any given day
youll feel a big change straight away, but the map can take a couple hundred miles to fully adapt to the car so it will get stronger over that time.
 
Hey budd, how's the stage 2+? bet it feels awesome. The guys at zensis seem pretty sound, they said that if i went back to them for the stage 2 the next map would only be £200 so that was good to know.
 
Paul-S3 said:
Hey budd, how's the stage 2+? bet it feels awesome. The guys at zensis seem pretty sound, they said that if i went back to them for the stage 2 the next map would only be £200 so that was good to know.
Click to expand...

That's a reasonable deal,and I'm quite sure that you'd be going back for more.

For Stg2+ you would need the HPFP as well.
 
am only on stage 2 atm, need to save more money before i can afford the hpfp and when you go stage 2+ you need to think about the catch can, RS4 fuel pressure rail and a FMIC as well... so that will all be done in one go once i have the cash, but need to address my suspension first, but stage 2 is feeling ballistic, its still adapting as only covered 60 miles... through rush hour traffic so not had a chance to really open it up yet. annoyingly i didnt have time to put it on the dyno to see what its producing, but im back in the area in 10 days so will pop in and get some readings
ah that sounds good then, cant remember what my map cost as i had a few bits done today so was given a nice juicy bill at the end of the day haha
you gonna do anything to the exhaust system?
 
Last edited:
Well i got the cat back milltek coming on monday so will be running that for the time being, then i'm thinking of getting the decat pipe in a few months time when i'm used to and bored of the stage 1 map, lol.

Quite addictive this S3 mapping, lol. Just washed the car and taken some pics so will be putting them up in the members thread in a mo.
 
Paul-S3 said:
Well i got the cat back milltek coming on monday so will be running that for the time being, then i'm thinking of getting the decat pipe in a few months time when i'm used to and bored of the stage 1 map, lol.

Quite addictive this S3 mapping, lol. Just washed the car and taken some pics so will be putting them up in the members thread in a mo.
Click to expand...

Paul...I'd seriously give that a bit of thought before you do.

You don't really need a decat at anything less than Stg3,and given that your car is into the MOT area,it is something to consider very carefully,for no real gain in performance over a sports cat.
 
Paul-S3 said:
What induction kit do you suggest i get alex?
Click to expand...

If you haven't already got one,I'd get the ITG....it's good for up to 500bhp.

The Forge Twintake is another candidate,and whilst there isn't really anything between these for performance,the ITG is just a neater solution....one big pipe and filter,instead of 2 filters feeding into the same pipe.
 
audi upgrades
Thats what i was thinking of going for. Do you know the cheapest place to buy one of these? seen them on ebay for £370
 
Paul-S3 said:
Thats what i was thinking of going for. Do you know the cheapest place to buy one of these? seen them on ebay for £370
Click to expand...
You may be able to get a decent price via Revo,but I don't think you'll see much discounting going on.
 
I guess you are a bit further down the line with your tuning situation now, however since reading your forum inputs I though I would give you some info I have received since starting the tuning process.

I have just done a stage 1 Revo software upgrade, the advice I got was to look at an ITG induction kit as my ECU kept cutting in and suggesting to lower the power output, hence getting the induction kit was advised to allow the engine to breath more easily.
I was also advised that all cars are different therefore remaps, exhaust and induction kit upgrades are all subject to the individual car so don t be alarmed if you are running slightly higher or lowere bhp.
Sports cat is advised for MoT purposes, too much hassle with a straight through kit.
Also been advised to look at intercoolers from Forge, there is no data advice on BHP achieved but it was advised.
Will keep you posted as I progress.
How far have you tuned yours now ?
For advice I have been talking to scooby world in Loughborough, leicestershire. They are running a Seat Leon cupra, same engine but FWD with all the add ons, hence they do know what they are talkinng about, very nice relaxed and informative.
looking forward to your news.
Josh
 
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