Remapping

Every vehicle now in production is fitted with an ECU (Electronic Control Unit), the brain of the car, and a number of sensors located on and in various components. These sensors feed live information to the ECU, which then takes this information and makes real time adjustments to get the best performance and efficiency from the engine. A few examples of the parameters processed by the ECU are engine speed, air intake, timing, fuel ratio and more.

What is remapping?

The ECU has software known as a ‘Map’. By changing this original map to a tuned map, we are able to alter the performance and efficiency of the engine.

Why don’t manufacturers tune their own maps?

Sometimes they do! An example of this would be the Mk4 Golf TDI, which is available as either 110BHP, 130BHP or 150BHP, all of which use the same engine with a different map loaded into the ECU.

Even vehicles which have been tuned in the factory still have room for improvement and a lot of the time are so far from the engines potential they are essentially detuned by the manufacturer.

Why aren't vehicles tuned to peak by default?

Most vehicles currently manufactured are sold globally therefore they are required to be able to cope with a variety of environments. This can mean being able to cope with lower quality fuels, limited or no vehicle servicing, increased/decreased ambient temperatures or varying altitudes. Therefore when a manufacturer is creating a map they sometimes have to compromise performance and efficiency to accommodate for the potential environment.

Fortunately in the UK we are not subject to the above mentioned conditions and environments, therefore we can tune our vehicles without compromising the reliability or emissions and have the vehicle running at it's maximum potential for the UK climates.

How does a remap work?

A default map has two points: idle and part throttle cruising, these two points are what manufacturers have to limit to stay within emissions legislation.

Everything in between these points is controlled by a 3D map and includes things like fuel pressure, fuel ratio, boost pressure and ignition timing. All of this can be adjusted to provide the most effective vehicle responses including increasing power, efficiency (MPG) and torque.

How do you perform a remap?

We have some of the most advance tuning equipment currently available on the market which gives us the ability to remap and fine tune the majority of vehicles with an OBD port. This is a port that all petrol cars sold in Europe from 2001 and diesels from 2003 are required to have, although most cars from the 90s onward typically have an OBD port.

With our equipment connected to the OBD port we will have access to the vehicles map on the ECU. A new map can then be uploaded through the OBD port. This is the most efficient and least intrusive method of deploying a new map, allowing us to get the vehicle producing excellent results without lifting the bonnet.

In circumstances where it is not possible to connect through the OBD port we would have to access the EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory) chip located in the ECU which has the vehicle map on it. This process involves connecting directly to the circuit board of the ECU, to deploy the new map via the BDM (Back Door Module), and requires us to remove the ECU from the vehicle.

We will run a diagnostic check on your vehicle before remapping commences to ensure there are no engine issues. We feel that your vehicles reliability and driveability is equally as important as performance.