Tuning a 2.0 ltr Turbo

JayTeeA38P

JayTeeA38P

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I've seen a few different tuning companies mentioned on here. Are there any real differences between them?

I'm looking at getting a Stage 1 tune on my '06 2.0 litre turbo A3. It runs very well and I've maintained it well; would it need anything in the way of parts upgrades?
 
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Absolutely there is a difference. You need to see a tuner who has experience of the TFSI engine and they know the nuances and how to tune considering fuelling, timing, mods etc.

Any tuner can walk the boost up but that’s not what you’re after.

I can highly recommend R-Tech where my S3 was mapped. They’ll ensure the vehicle is healthy and fit for mapping before it goes on the dyno. Others will tune regardless!

Stg1 doesn’t require any specific mods. Stg2 is intake and downpipe, Stg2+ is aftermarket high pressure fuel pump and typically full exhaust. Stg2+ is about £3k from Stg1! Keep a new clutch in mind assuming you’re manual.
 
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samuelh_888 said:
Absolutely there is a difference. You need to see a tuner who has experience of the TFSI engine and they know the nuances and how to tune considering fuelling, timing, mods etc.

Any tuner can walk the boost up but that’s not what you’re after.

I can highly recommend R-Tech where my S3 was mapped. They’ll ensure the vehicle is healthy and fit for mapping before it goes on the dyno. Others will tune regardless!

Stg1 doesn’t require any specific mods. Stg2 is intake and downpipe, Stg2+ is aftermarket high pressure fuel pump and typically full exhaust. Stg2+ is about £3k from Stg1! Keep a new clutch in mind assuming you’re manual.
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My s3 is going in for for aug 17th to r tech for a proper stage 1 as previous must have loaded a dodgy map as there is a boost peak and dip , 2.5hr drive there and back but can't wait

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For those interested, I just spoke with Rtec, and they quoted £450 for this job, although they're currently booked up for about a month.
 
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JayTeeA38P said:
For those interested, I just spoke with Rtec, and they quoted £450 for this job, although they're currently booked up for about a month.
Click to expand...

It is worth waiting!
 
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JayTeeA38P said:
Yeah, reckon I'll go with it. The predicted figures are quite impressive.
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Not just that its tailor made per car, even tho engine may be the same and base figures there is alway a little play per car not just something made for my 2011 s3 and then slapped onto 1000 other s3s in god know what conditions

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Not sure where you are in the country, but I've used bigfishtuning in stokesly (north yorkshire). They well known for mapping vag cars. My TTS went from 276bhp to 315bhp and it cost £300 for the map and dyno tuning. They were way cheaper than anyone else I had seen for a genuine custom rolling road map, and highly rate them. :thumbs up:

Gaz
 
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Just remember to do the basics before you map is as the extra boost tends to cause things to fail within the first few days; replace your DV and change your plugs as a bare minimum.

Other recommended upgrades include; Clean / replace your airfilter, put 99 RON fuel in at least a week before (unless you're already running it), replace your PCV, dipstick, fuel filter and finally replace your cam follower.
 
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Gaz78 said:
Not sure where you are in the country, but I've used bigfishtuning in stokesly (north yorkshire). They well known for mapping vag cars. My TTS went from 276bhp to 315bhp and it cost £300 for the map and dyno tuning. They were way cheaper than anyone else I had seen for a genuine custom rolling road map, and highly rate them. :thumbs up:

Gaz
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip, but I'm in London.
 
nluk100 said:
Just remember to do the basics before you map is as the extra boost tends to cause things to fail within the first few days; replace your DV and change your plugs as a bare minimum.

Other recommended upgrades include; Clean / replace your airfilter, put 99 RON fuel in at least a week before (unless you're already running it), replace your PCV, dipstick, fuel filter and finally replace your cam follower.
Click to expand...

Great. Thanks for the tips. Most of those things have been done quite recently.
 
AMD are in West Thurrock. It’s where I go for the big jobs and tuning.
 
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Nobody seems to mention it, but R-Tech do 5 switchable maps too.
I never knew about it, nor did I ask for it, they just gave me 5 maps for the same price. I only use map 5, or put it back to stock occasionally.
 
Daveyonthemove said:
Nobody seems to mention it, but R-Tech do 5 switchable maps too.
I never knew about it, nor did I ask for it, they just gave me 5 maps for the same price. I only use map 5, or put it back to stock occasionally.
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Interesting. Can you please explain further about the 5 maps?
 
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JayTeeA38P said:
Interesting. Can you please explain further about the 5 maps?
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Whilst I don’t have this on my APR 2+ Map, the extra maps include standard, low boost, high boost, valet mode etc
 
prt57 said:
Whilst I don’t have this on my APR 2+ Map, the extra maps include standard, low boost, high boost, valet mode etc
Click to expand...
No valet mode on mine.

JayTeeA38P said:
Interesting. Can you please explain further about the 5 maps?
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Map one is stock power, map two is more power, and so on until you reach map 5 at max power (320bhp for me).
You swap them by turning electrics on but engine off, hold left foot on brake pedal and press accelerator pedal. The rev counter needle moves up to the number on the dial relating to the map you are on (1k rpm is base map, 5k rpm is map five).
Easy to switch at will, if you choose to.
 
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Daveyonthemove said:
No valet mode on mine.


Map one is stock power, map two is more power, and so on until you reach map 5 at max power (320bhp for me).
You swap them by turning electrics on but engine off, hold left foot on brake pedal and press accelerator pedal. The rev counter needle moves up to the number on the dial relating to the map you are on (1k rpm is base map, 5k rpm is map five).
Easy to switch at will, if you choose to.
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I love that. Very clever implementation!
 
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Daveyonthemove said:
Nobody seems to mention it, but R-Tech do 5 switchable maps too.
I never knew about it, nor did I ask for it, they just gave me 5 maps for the same price. I only use map 5, or put it back to stock occasionally.
Click to expand...

I've just seen on another thread someone recommend R-Tech in Hinkley. I'd assumed people were referring to R-Tech in St Albans - this is where I'm booked in for my Stage 1 remap, and have had work done there before. I don't think they're the same company, but are they both recommended?
 
RTech are in Hinkley. The St Albans one isn’t related.
 
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R-tech in Nuneaton is where I went and the one most people refer to.
Niki Gower is the boss man and knows these cars better than most.
 
Sorry to hijack, but I'm in a similar position with my 170bhp 2012 2.0 tdi quattro...

I live in West Yorkshire so based on popular tuners in my region, many forum posts would suggest that I head over to Rick at Unicorn Motors, who has claimed that about 190-195bhp is the max for my engine (without removing the DPF, anyway). However, I've seen several people recommending a company called West Yorkshire Tuning - which is obviously much closer to me. I've been in touch with them and they claim a huge 220bhp without hardware modifications. They're also over £100 cheaper than Unicorn. I'd normally still trust the reviews of the majority and go with Rick, but given the proximity, the reduced cost and, most importantly, the huge difference in power claims, I'm struggling.

Can anyone offer any advice on either tuner, and how this company can make such a dramatically bold claim over someone who is widely considered to be on of the best tuners around?
 
nick4501 said:
Sorry to hijack, but I'm in a similar position with my 170bhp 2012 2.0 tdi quattro...

I live in West Yorkshire so based on popular tuners in my region, many forum posts would suggest that I head over to Rick at Unicorn Motors, who has claimed that about 190-195bhp is the max for my engine (without removing the DPF, anyway). However, I've seen several people recommending a company called West Yorkshire Tuning - which is obviously much closer to me. I've been in touch with them and they claim a huge 220bhp without hardware modifications. They're also over £100 cheaper than Unicorn. I'd normally still trust the reviews of the majority and go with Rick, but given the proximity, the reduced cost and, most importantly, the huge difference in power claims, I'm struggling.

Can anyone offer any advice on either tuner, and how this company can make such a dramatically bold claim over someone who is widely considered to be on of the best tuners around?
Click to expand...
I would want to see the power and torque graphs to see how everything is produced. However, it is possible to turn everything up with little regard for engine life. The best tuners get the max SAFE BHP and torque from your engine as they want to maintain their reputation.
 
I had my Stg2 map from Unicorn (switchable map including a valet mode where the car wouldn’t go above 3k rpm) but I moved to RTech for my Stg2+.

No issues with the Unicorn map but from a customer service perspective I went to RTech.
 
Given the recent posts about a stolen S3 and another about key cloning , go for a map with an immobiliser option.
 
R tech without a shadow of a doubt, the customer service and knowledge niki has is amazing, I wouldn't take it anywhere else
 
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Moxy89 said:
R tech without a shadow of a doubt, the customer service and knowledge niki has is amazing, I wouldn't take it anywhere else
Click to expand...

I'd heard good things about r-tech, but they're a 7 hour round trip for me and their site doesn't mention any TDI tuning.

The member on here who recommended West Yorkshire Tuning is ab1702. He hasn't provided any dyno graphs, but claims that it hit 220bhp and has been reliable for 2 years.

I'm fairly reluctant to spend £400 (plus the hike in insurance premiums) for just an additional 20-25bhp, but I obviously also want a reliable map that isn't going to destroy my engine!
 
nick4501 said:
I'm fairly reluctant to spend £400 (plus the hike in insurance premiums) for just an additional 20-25bhp, but I obviously also want a reliable map that isn't going to destroy my engine!
Click to expand...
You're in luck, Audi put one on the car for you already :thumbs up:

Jokes aside, plenty of reputable companies do these engines, they are one of the most common engines on the road.
Personally I try and find the best tuning company I can afford, and make the trip no matter how far away they are. R-tech are 3+ hours from me and worth the drive, especially on the way home.
 
nick4501 said:
I'd heard good things about r-tech, but they're a 7 hour round trip for me and their site doesn't mention any TDI tuning.

The member on here who recommended West Yorkshire Tuning is ab1702. He hasn't provided any dyno graphs, but claims that it hit 220bhp and has been reliable for 2 years.

I'm fairly reluctant to spend £400 (plus the hike in insurance premiums) for just an additional 20-25bhp, but I obviously also want a reliable map that isn't going to destroy my engine!
Click to expand...

I didn’t say mine made 220bhp.
Mine made 212bhp which was nearly 2 years ago now and is still going strong with no problems at all.
You’d be more likely to see closer to 220bhp if the DPF and egr were removed.
Upload 2019 7 30 22 21 56
 
ab1702 said:
I didn’t say mine made 220bhp.
Mine made 212bhp which was nearly 2 years ago now and is still going strong with no problems at all.
You’d be more likely to see closer to 220bhp if the DPF and egr were removed.View attachment 187591
Click to expand...

Sorry mate, my mistake - I'd confused what you'd told me with what the tuner said. 212 bhp is still really impressive.

Anyone have any thoughts on the power graph for his map? I'd specifically love to get Rick's @Rick @ Unicorn Motor Dev. opinion on this vs his typical graphs, and the subsequent 20+ bhp difference.
 
To update, I had my remapping appointment last week. I thought I had booked at R-tech in St Albans, but I'd accidentally booked at "the good one" in Nuneaton. It was a long old drive from London but their knowledge and service was first-class. It turns out that I had a timing issue, which showed no symptoms and threw no codes, so they weren't able to do the remapping. It's in the garage right now to sort out that issue.

They did, however, spot that the cam follower was about to disintegrate, and changed it, so it wasn't a totally wasted journey. They reckon it could have been the original one, so it's pretty worrying that no one else noticed it. I wasn't knowledgable enough to have spotted it, although I certainly would now!
 
Good job you went to a recommended tuner. First rule for them is to check the engine is healthy before they carried on and mapped it. :friends:
 
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How did they diagnose dodgy timing without it throwing any codes out displaying any real symptoms?
 
JayTeeA38P said:
To update, I had my remapping appointment last week. I thought I had booked at R-tech in St Albans, but I'd accidentally booked at "the good one" in Nuneaton. It was a long old drive from London but their knowledge and service was first-class. It turns out that I had a timing issue, which showed no symptoms and threw no codes, so they weren't able to do the remapping. It's in the garage right now to sort out that issue.

They did, however, spot that the cam follower was about to disintegrate, and changed it, so it wasn't a totally wasted journey. They reckon it could have been the original one, so it's pretty worrying that no one else noticed it. I wasn't knowledgable enough to have spotted it, although I certainly would now!
Click to expand...
No way i was there too on the 17th loving the stage 1 remap managed to push 325bhp, foudn out the previous owner had a dodgy map.put on pushed the boost way to high and it was hitting every limiter in the car engine amd gearbox, which is why it was so hessitant amd had a mind of its own now it feel way way faster fell in love with s3 all.over again niki is an absolute legend knows his ****

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk
 
nick4501 said:
How did they diagnose dodgy timing without it throwing any codes out displaying any real symptoms?
Click to expand...

Using VCDS. Now that I've had it retimed I can see with my own VCDS that it now shows the correct timing values.
Despite not displaying any "symptoms", it drives noticably better now that it has been remedied.

I've read elsewhere that it may be possible to use the VCDS timing values to see that the cambelt is due replacing?
 
Don't rely on VCDS to tell you when to change your belts, it will not show perishing or cracks.
 
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Finally got the Stage 1 remap done at Rtec Nuneaton on Friday. I was surprised to see it was making 215 BHP stock, but it's now making 250. Also a significant increase in the torque (although I don't have the figures to hand).

The car now drives amazingly well. I'm not going to be track-racing, but the improvement just for "normal" driving (city, motorway, country lane) is immense. It's so much more responsive, and the power delivery when accelerating is so smooth and strong. It is like a different car! Highly recommended!
 
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