Polo GTI APR ECU Upgrade

[RoknRob]

I'm (hopefully) picking my GTI this week. Should I wait until after the break in to upgrade the ECU? Or take advantage of the sale? Decisions, decisions... any opinions out there?

[Corey_R]

ECU makes no diff to the break in period, so if that's the only reason you were thinking of waiting, then get it whilst it's on sale!

[GTI JOE]

Good question, maybe Guy can answer it. I would probably think to wait until after break-in period, I could be wrong. I'm not sure prices for the Polo GTI have been posted on the HP and APR website yet? There are other options like DNA, GIAC etc. Already mentioned on this thread.

[Corey_R]

Well, I already know what Guy's answer would be, since he did a Stage 3 conversion on his personal Golf R after only 155km (I think it was that figure... it wasn't much more than the drive home from where he picked it up!). But in all seriousness, the break in really has no factor here from a technical point of view.

I personally chose to wait until 1500km on my R, but it was mainly because I wanted to make sure that no "gremlins" came up which required me to get the service centre to do something about. Some people wait until their warranty is up - but I think they're crazy!

So as I said, if break-in was your only concern, get it now, and then stick with your break-in routine. Once that's up, you'll already have the upgraded ECU so you can have your fun without a trip to the tuner!

[RoknRob]

I see your point Corey, I could get it installed, leave it turned off, then be on my merry way to continue the break in.

The question is, what kind of testing do they do after installing, and is that likely to be less than beneficial in a car that hasn't been broken in yet?

I'm imagining the poor DSG being obliged to output 300 Nm (to make sure installation has proceeded as expected) just after being born...

[Corey_R]

Well, I don't know whether it can be turned off or not, as switching via the cruise control stalk isn't available on all models anymore.

But what I'm saying is, you control your right foot - even after an ECU update
As for testing, it depends who does it and what you would like done to some extent. The ECU's such as APR an "off-the-shelf" type product. They can install them on your ECU and then verify from the computer that it was loaded correctly. As long as the car then turns on and the lights are all good on the dash - then it's fine. The "test drive" is something that a really thorough mechanic may do BEFORE and after the ECU flash. It's more to make sure there is nothing wrong with the car than the ECU. What I mean is, there is almost never anything wrong with the ECU flash - but the ECU flashes do have a knack for "highlighting" issues which are already present in the car.

[RoknRob]

Thanks, again, Corey,

I was under the impression the APR upgrade could be switched off - I inquired about it some time ago, though. Perhaps Guy H could clarify?

If it wasn't, I think it would probably be a deal breaker for me, since, I think it would be bloody convenient to be able to turn it off and hide it prior to making a trip to the dealer for some warranty work...

[gavs]

Apr tunes can't be hidden from the dealer, you should ask your dealership regarding their point of view towards tuning. If you after the ability to hide the software, look at giac, DNA or revo, they don't leave any tell tale software in the ecu like the APR.

[Corey_R]

Guy_H has confirmed that the Polo GTI will have switching ans security lockout. This means that it's pretty much undetectable by the dealers. Other aftermarket tuners could tell that something is up if they know what they're looking for (data which is encrypted where there shouldn't be data). But the dealers dont' look for that. If they think there is something wrong, they just flash the latest stock mapping on there, overwriting the tune. The APR software also reads the "flash count" and then writes the same value back in.

If you get the DNA hand-held unit, then you can flash the stock mapping back on yourself before taking it to the dealer. Or blue-fin or anyone else who has that type of thing. Though I've no idea what happens with the flash count with these devices.

Other tuners make no claims of their tunes being undetectable - and certainly, since many don't offer switching or a lock out, they will 100% be detectable.

Whether this matters or not is another discussion...

[DNA Tuning]

For what it's worth; I've spoken to a few Audi mechanics who all know how APR program switching works, so... I mean, it wouldn't be that difficult to find out if a car is remapped whether you choose APR, DNA, GIAC, Revo, etc. it just means you have to look in different places.

Also, SRS-II isn't our only tuning method for the Polo GTI; we also have OBD tools that can read/write flash counters (on some cars); sooner or later this capability will be added for the 6R, at which point in time we can in fact guarantee undetectability. Until then, as Corey said, we cannot guarantee that the tunes are undetectable; however as many have pointed out, and from personal experience, dealers do not hunt for reprogrammed ECUs during standard warranty replacement of most items. There are many items that fail whether or not a car is tuned, and they treat it just as a standard case.

I'd think however, that if say an engine's piston rings blew or something quite extensive, then they would investigate it further... but... again it's hard to give a definitive answer on this.