Engine re-mapping - Thoughts?

I had a custom map on my old Impreza, went from 265 to about 320bhp and was very noticeable, car only had a couple of mods like a big catback exhaust, panel filter and uprated fuel pump.

Mine was all done custom on the Dyno as i wanted it to be safe as i was tracking the car quite a lot at the time so wanted to make sure everything was all good through the rev range with AFR's etc, i did probably 25-30k in the car after it was mapped including about 10 track days and a trip to the 'ring in Germany without any issues.

Proper remaps are brilliant things if you understand the extra strain it can put on components and any weak points in your particular car. Like with mine it was generally accepted good idea to put in a better fuel pump as the last thing you want is it leaning out at high boost and was a cheap and easy DIY mod before the map.
 
Xein said:
Evening all,

Apologies if there's already threads around this.

Just trying to get some outsiders perspectives on whether it's worth re-mapping your engine (to increase BHP/torque).

just a couple of questions really.

A) was it worth it? (do you notice any improvement over stock/standard/factory tune)

B) How much did your insurance premium go up? if at all and who do you insure with?

C) would you recommend it?

It may not be everyone's cup of tea but I was thinking of re-mapping my Volvo V40, figures suggest a 52% increase in BHP (from 120 to approx 190 (at peak)) but just trying to gauge whether it's actually worth it or not.

Thanks :)
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Seems quite a jump from just a remap tbh I’d have expected a jump from 140 to say 180 tops, 190 seems quite a hike...

My 05 V70 D5 is 163Bhp and a remap takes it to 185 and having driven a workmates car that has the 185 map the difference is striking although interestingly he said his mpg is a lot worse since having the map done at Christmas but he puts that down to him using the extra power at every opportunity:D

Certainly tempted to get mine done.
 
Biggest issue is once you start adding power you need to spend money on other stuff too. Like better suspension, brakes, stronger clutch. Especially when you start tuning something which is quite soft and not really sporty.

After tuning my mk2 Focus ST (volvo engine) I got loads of clutch slip in high gears and suddenly the stock springs felt too wobbly. That was from 225 to 260hp and a bucket load of torque on an already hot car.
 
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Depends a lot on the car to begin with. 20-30% more power most can cope with they are over specced from day 1 anything more than 20-30% is asking for expensive replacements & other vehicle upgrades in the near future its too excessive!
 
I had considered a remap on my car for some time, it's a nice increase from 252ps to 340ps, but I haven't done it yet. The main reason is I value extended warranty and reliability over a bit more shove in the seat. I decided that when the time comes I'll just get a faster car.

I had my Volvo S60 T5 remapped from 260bhp to 320bhp which made a huge difference. It then threw a load of issues and I eventually moved it on.

Also keep in mind you normally have to use premium fuel with a remap.
 
One thing regarding MPG and remaps, don't trust the dashboard readout after you've had a remap it'll most likely be nonsense.

They tend to be all worked out taking in to account the standard fuelling and usually actually work the MPG out using the amount of air taken into the engine and not the fuel injected so after you've remapped and are pumping more air through the engine the calculations are out of whack.

I know people who get remaps on hot Clios and suddenly thought they were getting 5-8 extra MPG as the dash told them so but when you actually worked it out at the pump it was about the same as standard.
 
Nasher said:
Biggest issue is once you start adding power you need to spend money on other stuff too. Like better suspension, brakes, stronger clutch.
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You don't "need" to spend money on this stuff at all.

Granted you should acknowledge that the clutch might have a reduced lifespan, but the rest entirely depends how you're going to drive it.
 
Howard said:
You don't "need" to spend money on this stuff at all.

Granted you should acknowledge that the clutch might have a reduced lifespan, but the rest entirely depends how you're going to drive it.
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I'm trying to work out how a remap can wear suspension, unless it's that it's compressed faster due to greater forces from faster acceleration but not sure as that doesn't seem like much change.
 
Didn't expect this thread to take off as well as it did, appreciate all the responses from different angles. Personally I think I'm going to stick with standard as my current insurer doesn't insure anything above a 25% BHP increase.

and the 'specialist' insurer was quoting almost double what I pay now so that was a swift no.

quite naive of me not to consider additional wear on parts as well (was too focused on the potential numbers)

Thanks for all the great feedback and comments :)
 
theone8181 said:
I'm trying to work out how a remap can wear suspension, unless it's that it's compressed faster due to greater forces from faster acceleration but not sure as that doesn't seem like much change.
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I think Nasher thinks that as soon as you remap a car you're automatically going to treat the roads like a race track.
 
Remapped my old Volvo S40 T4, it went from 200hp to ~235hp and though not a huge gain, the extra low end torque made a big difference. While the engine on that car was good for some pretty high figures in standard form, the rest of it wasn't. Obviously with more power comes more heat and the stock components weren't great for getting rid of it, air in take temps and exhaust temps were a fair bit higher so I ended up replacing the intercooler for a bigger one, and a larger full exhaust.

I'd always planned to chase big power from the car later down the line, so replacing those wasn't an issue, depending on the car though, this may not need to be done.
 
theone8181 said:
I'm trying to work out how a remap can wear suspension, unless it's that it's compressed faster due to greater forces from faster acceleration but not sure as that doesn't seem like much change.
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I found the extra power made it learch backwards quite a bit. Plus some wheel hop, which is the engine mounts being to soft afaik. Needed a bigger intercooler as well which was done.
 
Howard said:
I think Nasher thinks that as soon as you remap a car you're automatically going to treat the roads like a race track.
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I thought when you remap the only sensible thing was repeated traffic light launches and bouncing it off the rev limiter while parked up at Maccy Ds?
 
My experience has been good using an off the shelf bluefin for my car. I got it on a deal on ebay years ago for only about £300. I like how I can remove it if I want and then put it back on easily. Mine didn't really better the economy as it was already a thirsty car. Horsepower and torque increased massively with no other mods. I forget the numbers but about 215bhp upto about 260bhp when using OBD readers to get the stats (which aren't perfect but gives a rough guide). 0-60 went down from about 7.6 to 6.9 my best effort. This is in a heavy car though my old Ford S-Max. But its a highly responsive engine to maps as its the same Volvo 2.5t 5 pot used in Focus ST etc. Day to day, the wife would not notice the difference as with this map you have to take it above about 4K for it to noticeably boost harder. It's a progressive map imo and not too much of a torque spike which is what I wanted to preserve clutch wear and prevent wheel spin in first and second.

It regularly embarrasses all sorts of "fast" cars that can't quite understand why a nearly 2 ton bus is pulling away from them with multiple passengers.
 
I remapped my 335d years ago and regretted it, not that I had any issue with the car or its running, but on reflection I think it was a mistake to re-map an already reasonably powerful car and to let someone mess about with the ECU.

A) was it worth it? (do you notice any improvement over stock/standard/factory tune) - depends on how you drive and what you want/expect, but you could instantly tell the difference.

B) How much did your insurance premium go up? if at all and who do you insure with? - i doubt many people declare but i did and it was only ~£30.

C) would you recommend it? - No, I'd just buy a more powerful car to begin with and leave it alone.
 
I've had all 3 versions on various cars. A tuning box from DTUK which eventually went faulty and had to be removed, a flashed map without a rolling road and a full remap with a rolling road.

The best of all 3 was the remap with rolling road. It was worth it and noticeable.

If your considering it, go for it.
 
jaybee said:
My experience has been good using an off the shelf bluefin for my car. I got it on a deal on ebay years ago for only about £300. I like how I can remove it if I want and then put it back on easily. Mine didn't really better the economy as it was already a thirsty car. Horsepower and torque increased massively with no other mods. I forget the numbers but about 215bhp upto about 260bhp when using OBD readers to get the stats (which aren't perfect but gives a rough guide). 0-60 went down from about 7.6 to 6.9 my best effort. This is in a heavy car though my old Ford S-Max. But its a highly responsive engine to maps as its the same Volvo 2.5t 5 pot used in Focus ST etc. Day to day, the wife would not notice the difference as with this map you have to take it above about 4K for it to noticeably boost harder. It's a progressive map imo and not too much of a torque spike which is what I wanted to preserve clutch wear and prevent wheel spin in first and second.

It regularly embarrasses all sorts of "fast" cars that can't quite understand why a nearly 2 ton bus is pulling away from them with multiple passengers.
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Sorry to point out but if you're pulling away, they ain't trying:p. Didn't realise smaxes were that heavy tbh.
 
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