Chiptuning in Reutlingen

How to choose a chiptuning company?

Chiptuning is a serious and complex field, and choosing the right specialist is crucial! You type your query into Google and get hundreds or even thousands of options. But how can you objectively determine who is truly a professional? Recently, it has become very popular to install large monitors and display the firmware map in 3D view. It looks impressive, but don’t be fooled!

Let’s delve a bit deeper into chiptuning. What does this specialty involve?

1. In-depth Understanding of Engine Mechanics: This includes turbocharging, fuel mixture, ignition timing, fuel injection, intake air temperature, exhaust gases, and more. Not every mechanic is knowledgeable about these aspects.
2. Programming Experience: Not just being a programmer, but one who understands processor architecture and low-level programming in Assembler. This is not enough; years of studying firmware are needed to truly understand what’s inside the engine control unit.
3. Firmware Editing Skills: Reading and writing firmware is required a decent flasher(programmer tool) but editing is complex and requires knowledge. Many do not know how to modify firmware at all. Here are the solutions:
   • • Using Pre-Made Firmware: The downside is that such firmware may be incompatible with the specific ECU, and the engine might not start after writing. Each firmware also has a unique data area where, among other things, the password for reading and writing the firmware is stored. For 90% of ECUs, this area cannot be rewritten (so called OTP area), but if it can be, writing “foreign” data might make next reading and writing impossible. For example, Citroen and Peugeot 1.6hdi with Bosch EDC17C60 ECUs. Google “EDC17C60 write fail” and see for yourself.
     • Purchasing Firmware from Experienced Colleagues: This can be a decent option if the colleague knows what they’re doing. However, this can be expensive, with good firmware costing 150-200 euros.
     • Using Third-Party, Often Hacked, Programs: These programs automatically apply solutions, such as disabling EGR or the particulate filter. Such tuners often know no more than you do about what has been changed in the firmware.

We are professionals with 13 years of experience in chiptuning

Is experience really important? – you might ask. This is another trap, along with big monitors, that ordinary car enthusiasts might fall into. Have you ever wondered why airplane pilots are assessed by flight hours rather than years of holding a pilot’s license? Because you can be a pilot for 20 years and have only a few hundred hours of flight time. The same applies to chiptuning. If a tuner is learning and constantly improving, then experience matters. But if he has been pressing the “read/write firmware” button for 20 years, it means nothing.

We test our solutions on an all-wheel-drive dynamometer

We do this on our dyno, but that’s only 10% of success, while many tuners present this as an axiom of proper chiptuning.

The dynamometer is essential when tuning valve timing or ignition timing while using E85 fuel. Additionally, it enhances safety, as we don’t need to accelerate the car to 200 km/h on public roads. However, one thing we can confidently say is that the dynamometer is not the most important aspect of chiptuning. Of course, having a dynamometer does demonstrate the seriousness of the tuner or tuning company, at the very least showing their willingness not to cut corners but to invest tens or even hundreds of thousands of euros into their business.

We’ve done Stage 3/4/5 and look at the result!

The result should be assessed by engine and transmission reliability and, most importantly, the car’s behavior under partial load. For instance, if a large turbo is installed, boost pressure can no longer be controlled by the wastegates, as even if they are open, boost may still exceed 1 bar at 5000 rpm. So what should be done? You need to adjust the throttle to prevent excess air from entering the engine. We’ve encountered tuners who worked on complex projects but lacked such basic knowledge. So after such “tuning,” the car has two modes: full throttle and off the throttle, causing the car to jerk or accelerate suddenly at 5000 rpm.

Made in Germany

As if, in this case, Robert Bosch himself were doing the chiptuning in Reutlingen. But who is the tuner — the person or the location?

If you’ve read this far, here’s a bit about us: