Discussion
I have used DMS for all my AMG A45 I have had three plus on the Range Rovers
very impressed and they will come out to house to remove the map if need to service the car
The stats for my A45s were 0-60 3.2 and 0-90 6.9 so it was a rocket ship
The ranger rover was 5.0 SC V8 just standard 510 remap 600 BHP so was a very fast sofa on wheels
very impressed and they will come out to house to remove the map if need to service the car
The stats for my A45s were 0-60 3.2 and 0-90 6.9 so it was a rocket ship
The ranger rover was 5.0 SC V8 just standard 510 remap 600 BHP so was a very fast sofa on wheels
MRC are quite VAG specific aren't they whereas DMS seem to pretty much tune anything.
MRC are hugely respected in the Audi scene (especially RS4's/RS6's). They tune a lot of RS cars with excellent results. Mapped my RS4 prior to my ownership and it drives so well.
Not sure why I haven't considered DMS before as they are quite local to me compared to MRC. Do report back if you go for one of these two with your experiences/results.
MRC are hugely respected in the Audi scene (especially RS4's/RS6's). They tune a lot of RS cars with excellent results. Mapped my RS4 prior to my ownership and it drives so well.
Not sure why I haven't considered DMS before as they are quite local to me compared to MRC. Do report back if you go for one of these two with your experiences/results.
If you're in Lancashire (I see from your Profile), why not use a tuner in Lancashire? There's no reason why MRC would be better than anyone else - the maps for popular cars have been written thousands of times now with little change. I'd stay local, then if there's any more work you want doing you don't have to traipse halfway across the country. You want your car dynoed, so you can read the before/after figures and look at how the power/torque develops so that kind of rules out mappers that will visit you at home... .I think AET is in Leeds, they're very good I hear.
popeyewhite said:
If you're in Lancashire (I see from your Profile), why not use a tuner in Lancashire? There's no reason why MRC would be better than anyone else - the maps for popular cars have been written thousands of times now with little change. I'd stay local, then if there's any more work you want doing you don't have to traipse halfway across the country. You want your car dynoed, so you can read the before/after figures and look at how the power/torque develops so that kind of rules out mappers that will visit you at home... .I think AET is in Leeds, they're very good I hear.
I'd agree with you for anything FI, but not with the NA stuff. OP's car may be FI (I'm not really across RS6's too much) but my B7 RS4 for instance can't just be taken to any tuner - well it can, but the results will differ greatly. MRC map these individually and undertake a range of things like removing the power restriction in the first 3 gears that's there from standard, etc. It's not as easy as just uploading a map file to NA cars like it is with the turbo/SC ones. That's why a lot of people will travel from all over the country to go to MRC in the NA V8 world or Stealth Racing in the NA VR6 world. They are specialist tuners not just tuners that plug a laptop in, upload a map file and send you on your way.Thanks for all the replies, it looks like mixed results.
MRC live mapping the car is one big plus to me, I wouldn’t go for an out of the box generic tune as you here too many horror stories and mixed results but every car is slightly different so having a custom map is the only way forward.
I thought this is what DMS did as well or am I wrong?
MRC live mapping the car is one big plus to me, I wouldn’t go for an out of the box generic tune as you here too many horror stories and mixed results but every car is slightly different so having a custom map is the only way forward.
I thought this is what DMS did as well or am I wrong?
G11DOM said:
Thanks for all the replies, it looks like mixed results.
MRC live mapping the car is one big plus to me, I wouldn’t go for an out of the box generic tune as you here too many horror stories and mixed results but every car is slightly different so having a custom map is the only way forward.
I thought this is what DMS did as well or am I wrong?
All the decent tuners do live mapping and no car gets their own 'custom map' from scratch. The map will be fine-tuned on the road and compared with dyno results though. Certainly at Stage 3... .MRC live mapping the car is one big plus to me, I wouldn’t go for an out of the box generic tune as you here too many horror stories and mixed results but every car is slightly different so having a custom map is the only way forward.
I thought this is what DMS did as well or am I wrong?
It is not witchcraft and the basic maps per garage are virtually identical. Some may very by 10-20 bhp but by and large whether one visits MRC (Oxon) or Unit 20 (Lpool) they're very similar. Most mappers are good, it's not something easy to get wrong the parameters for fuelling/det/knock etc etc per engine are widely known. I had my E63 tuned at MRC, my RS6 done at Unit 20 and my 911 by DMS. They are all good.
popeyewhite said:
It is not witchcraft
It kind of is. Tuning is as much art as science, with an industry wide leaning to pure numbers ahead of drivability.popeyewhite said:
...and the basic maps per garage are virtually identical...
Not really, unless you mean "there's an awful lot of crap around".popeyewhite said:
Most mappers are good
My experience says otherwise. There are more bad than good by some margin.None of those comments are intended as a dig in any way. That's from a mixture of personal experience in a related industry, and close friends in that specific trade.
Dr G said:
It kind of is. Tuning is as much art as science, with an industry wide leaning to pure numbers ahead of drivability.
That's not what I've found. The last two cars I've had tuned the drivablility was stressed over the numbers. Golf r and Range Rover BTW.Dr G said:
Not really, unless you mean "there's an awful lot of crap around".
No I mean I was told quite recently by someone who runs a motorsport team and tuning business that three well known mappers in the North West say they supply their own map when in fact the base is supplied by APR. Upon contacting them they were happy to inform me they were indeed APR agents. I know for a fact a leading Audi mapper on The Wirral uses the same basic maps for the RS6 Stage 2 as one in Stockport... . The Stage 3 map I have on my Golf was supplied by a garage in the North West. Base map was by Ecotune, who you may be aware headquarter in Glasgow.Dr G said:
My experience says otherwise. There are more bad than good by some margin.
I have no experience of bad mappers because I choose who I take my cars to carefully 
Though I'm happy to admit that there must BE some bad ones, it's just that i haven't come across any.Dr G said:
None of those comments are intended as a dig in any way. That's from a mixture of personal experience in a related industry, and close friends in that specific trade.
Likewise. And enough money spent on tuning, trackdays, cars etc to buy a house.I think what people need to realise is that unless you're taking a car to the ragged edge of what the engine is capable of really, honestly, there is very, very little difference between any of the main tuners in the UK.
Well at the moment it’s swinging more towards DMS they are more local to me and I’m just in conversation with them about putting some 100 cell sorts CATs onto the car, removing the full decat down pipes that are on the car at the moment just to stop the worry about the MOT and emissions that I would have to go through every year at MOT time.
G11DOM said:
Well at the moment it’s swinging more towards DMS they are more local to me and I’m just in conversation with them about putting some 100 cell sorts CATs onto the car, removing the full decat down pipes that are on the car at the moment just to stop the worry about the MOT and emissions that I would have to go through every year at MOT time.
Very wise IMO. Just be careful that a 200 cell cat isn't the minimum to get you through the test comfortably... .popeyewhite said:
If you're in Lancashire (I see from your Profile), why not use a tuner in Lancashire? There's no reason why MRC would be better than anyone else - the maps for popular cars have been written thousands of times now with little change. I'd stay local, then if there's any more work you want doing you don't have to traipse halfway across the country. You want your car dynoed, so you can read the before/after figures and look at how the power/torque develops so that kind of rules out mappers that will visit you at home... .I think AET is in Leeds, they're very good I hear.
Just need to be careful what tuner in Lancashire, quite a few of these companies with rolling roads still dont do much actual custom tuning they just slap files on. I've seen tuners in the past pretending they are altering maps, but the map they are editing is a map for a completely different car and they are just messing around with it so it looks like they are doing something. Some off the shelf tunes are really good, APR had some real good tunes for the 2.0TFSI (MK5 chassis) and 2.0TSI (MK7 chassis) back in the day but full on custom tuners such as MRC and R-Tech had equally good results.
If the OP is going stage 2, I'd be going to MRC. There is Unicorn Motor Developments up Manchester way somewhere as well which used to be good. Not sure these days as I've been out of the VAG world for a few years now.
Edited by the-norseman on Sunday 16th July 08:14
the-norseman said:
Some off the shelf tunes are really good, APR had some real good tunes for the 2.0TFSI (MK5 chassis) and 2.0TSI (MK7 chassis) back in the day but full on custom tuners such as MRC and R-Tech had equally good results.
Yup, stuff like the APR stage 1 and 2 flash files are very much the pick of the bunch and don't need any road testing. A lot of Stage 2 is bolt on stuff anyway.the-norseman said:
If the OP is going stage 2, I'd be going to MRC. There is Unicorn Motor Developments up Manchester way somewhere as well which used to be good. Not sure these days as I've been out of the VAG world for a few years now.
Unicorn (Rick) in Stockport is very well regarded, so is AET in Leeds. But really there's loads of decent ones out there and stage 1 or 2 maps are pretty much everyday work. I thought MRC were needlessly expensive for what they offer, also miles away from me (NW) should a problem occur and I neede to take the car back to them.[/quote]
Very wise IMO. Just be careful that a 200 cell cat isn't the minimum to get you through the test comfortably... .
[/quote]
I was told the 100 will be OK, but when it gets a fair few miles through it, it will need to be warmed up fully before testing.
Edited by G11DOM on Sunday 16th July 14:47
Gassing Station | Audi, Seat, Skoda & VW | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff