Stage 1 Tune for 2018 RS245

[Pineapple_162]

I'm guessing Tarmac are one of the two 😢

[Lucas_R]

Note that 034 tunes are USA specific (that is where they are based) and no work is done to ensure that the tunes are compatible with Australian delivered cars (of any VAG brand) or local conditions.

These days less than 2 tunes are actually optimised by the tune developers for Australia. And no, no tuner in Australia actually tunes any car from scratch. They all use a tune file from overseas and some attempt to "customize" it to you car ... some with better results than others.

Realistically, apart from the 91=95 and 93=98 fuel octane/RON conversion between USA and here, whats really going to be different that the cars ECU cannot accomodate with its smarts. Sure, some of the DIY tunes will be slightly milder than APR/Racingline etc, but are you really going to notice 5kw and 15nm on a street car?

Ive had multiple DIY tunes across various car brands (and tuning brands) over the past 10 years and never had an issue (with the exception of Superchips which was ok on stage 1, but when I went to stage 2 it ran rich as a pig - swapping to a different tune brand fixed this).

Superchips = stage 1 was ok (although a mild tune) but would not recommend and they are out of business now I believe anyway
DNA Tuning = Heavily focussed on VAG tuning, but they do tune other brands too. Would recommend. Mk6 Golf R made 212kw at the wheels on their stage 2 tune.
DNA Tuning = this time on a Mk6 GTI. Car made 165kw at the wheels on their stage 2 tune.
RR Racing = on my Lexus IS-F. USA company and Lexus tuning specialist. Car gained 15-20kw and fuel economy improved slightly.
Integrated Engineering = on my Mk7 GTI. Never dyno'd this car, but stage 1 made a very noticeable gain in power and torque. Hardware is fantastic quality (downpipe/intake etc).
VUDU = on my current Fiesta ST. UK company. Haven't dyno'd yet but once again, a very noticeable gain in power and torque over stock. They also produce a vast range of nice quality hardware.

[Sharkie]

I've only had 2 DIY tunes over the years, 1 was a total nonstarter and the other had an initial 50% success rate. Both was from overseas suppliers.

Nonstarter was not on a VAG so leaving that 1 be ....

Have (and still have it) IE tunes on my Golf R. Stg 1 was easy and brilliant out of the box (249kw at all 4 wheels with the Stg 2 hardware in place).... Stg 2 not so much. Initial attempts at going Stg 2 after all the hardware was in place was a disaster. Took weeks to fix with support from IE.

Nothing special on the R, it is a standard MY19 July 2018 build Golf R manual but for some reason that particular ECU had not been seen by IE on an R before (suspected because it was Aus spec and not USA spec), so could not even do data logging to get to the root of the problem. Some weeks later with the ECU added to their list and then being able to log data, the tune worked. Its pretty good (has not been dynoed but obviously more power than Stg 1) but I always have the nagging feeling it may not be perfect. Going to go the Stg 2 HPFP tune soon, but only after satisfying my nervousness about no fuel leaks being present after the HPFP upgrade.

Went local for the T-Roc R with a tune calibrated for Australia after many hours on a dyno and it is excellent.

[Pineapple_162]

Anecdotal evidence suggests the stock clutch is good for the stage 1, would people generally agree?

[Sharkie]

Anecdotal evidence suggests the stock clutch is good for the stage 1, would people generally agree?

If you have some mechanical sympathy for your car, Stg 1 and stock clutch on an MQ350 gearbox (GTI and R) should happily coexist.

I am running Stg 2 on my R on a stock clutch and have done Stg 1 for about 25,000km and now Stg 2 for 5,000km with no issues at all.

[Pineapple_162]

Yeah, that's what I thought.

I know the Skoda Australia Facebook page likes to pump up expensive replacements, but I appreciate the advice on here a bit more.

[Lucas_R]

In my experience, with a front wheel drive you will spin the wheels before slipping the clutch in the vast majority of cases. Whereas in an all wheel drive car, you are much more likely to get clutch slip.

When I had my modified Golf R, I got clutch slip only once or twice and it was when in a higher gear at low revs where it was in its torque band (eg in 5th gear at 80kph and you try to accellerate to get through an orange traffic light or overtake someone). If you knock it back a gear then you will be much less likely to get clutch slip.

I never experienced clutch slip in either of my modified GTI's.

[Pineapple_162]

Super interesting, thanks for the explanation. 👍

[Lucas_R]

This new tune comparison video is interesting. Note lots of rural USA only have 91 octane fuel which is equivalent to our 95 RON fuel. This test is done using the lower octane version of the tunes and using the low torque versions of each companies tune.

This same guy is soon going to do the same test with the higher octane version of the tunes (95RON which is equivalent to our 98 RON premium unleaded fuel) so it will be interesting to see the difference in power between the different fuel, where they can push timing and boost more with the better quality fuel.

[Pineapple_162]

Thanks for the link. I will have to look up the reasoning between the octane rating difference too.