That is why I stay at 1.0 bar and advance the timing. Kaboom is less likely.

 

I have GIAC as well and have been very happy with it. =)

 

Agree with the first point. There is no "universal best".. it's what is "best for you and your car and your location".

On the second point, however, I would be SHOCKED if a P dealer did anything other than hang you out to dry even if a flash they installed grenaded and the aftermarket warranty people ask "any mods?". Especially if it is a CPO.

A

 

Call around. Various tuners have various levels of support. I know that if I grenaded, my tuner would help me out to the best of his ability.

Nuff said. This "tune war" thing gets old after 5 threads a month. I plan to stay out of these threads from now on.

Hope everyone is happy with whatever they are using. I am very happy with my choices at all levels of the car. In different parts of the car: Suspension with Dan at Vivid. HP with Kevin. Exhaust with Tym. Interior by Ferdinand's decendents.

 

I would call Kevin at UMW and discuss how he would support you if a tune was proven to cause your problem. Not a defective air filter or failure to change the oil or bad gas or abuse.....I was very impressed by him in my discussions. He helped out Tom Kerr when Tom needed an engine and Tom was not a tune client of his....fyi. Other tuners will also help guys out. Just varies by the tuner and his conviction(s). Kevin helps people and tries to do the right thing and he has very deep connections with hardware out there. He is also Porsche specific....so he perhaps has a bit more focus. There are only 24 hours in the day and if 90% of your business is not Porsche, then you don't likely have the same level of contacts. Just a fact of life.

But, to support his level of support in $'s, things cost more....also a fact. One needs to be insured up the wazzooo, etc. I don't consider MAF purchases a back breaker....but top end and bottom end disasters...that is a problem I am not willing to face. SO, I have elected like Robert P to stay in the 1.0 bar club for the likely future and just have fun in the 530-570ish HP/Tq world. I have so much to learn on the track that that will be years and years and years. I don't want to get a custom tune and could afford to do it 50x's if I wanted to do so. I just don't want that concern in the back of my mind. Just me. That 20 or 30hp means zilch to me. Hence, these tune wars are really silly.

That being said, the Stage 4 motors coming out now running up to 8500 rpm and balanced at 14 or 16k are going to reset the clock....think of a gt3rs or cup car engine with 1.5 bar......UMPH> All of us on this forum just love to push, to see more HP, and to see the art of the car taken to the next step. Keven, Tym, Todd, etc. are all artists in their worlds and we are their patrons. Some like Picasso, some like Matisse, some like Renoir. In the end, it serves NO purpose as a Picasso supporter to malign the Renoir lover. And you are just as unlikely to change there opinion. So, in my mind it is best of everyone to start showing each other more respect on the forum in this regard.

Said another way, if I was Bill Gates and I had his bank accounts, I would not care about grenades and would likely have a few cars with crazy tunes and 1000hp .....but, I am not likely to be there in this lifetime. In my reality, I am very, very happy and I resent people that feel that I shouldn't be because I don't share their choice matrix. In my mind, it reflects insecurity. I'll leave all of you guys alone. Please respect me by no shoveling trash into the forums about my choices. I am secure in my choices. I hope the rest of you guys (and girls) can find the same level of security in your choices. New things will come and we all want to hear about them, but as factoids not as this is "way better than your old crap tune" kind of posts. That is just juvenile.


There, said it. Let's all raise the bar on our discussions as citizens of the arts and supporters of the arts, not as soccer fans caught on TV drunken and fighting over how many goals our team will score.....(image use only, not a ding on being a soccer fan at all).



JB

 

I have absolutely no problem with your choices. I have absolutely no problem with UMW. I would never dream of trying to convince you or anyone else that UWM is an inferior product. I would never dream of jumping into a UWM launch thread and start claiming that my tune or tuner is better (as you did in both of the threads I started about my experience with EPL - I can link to those if you'd like).
In fact, I have often said (and posted) that Kevin does impressive work. In fact, the only thing I posted in Kevin's turbo launch thread on Rennlist was "Beautiful pieces Kevin. It's clear you take a lot of pride in your turbo building." The only threads I have taken issue with are ones where you say things that I believe are demonstrably untrue because it is likely to influence the decisions of people who don't know better.

Examples of things you have asserted (I can also provide links if you'd like):
1. FVD software at Stage 1 makes up to 100 ft lbs less torque than UMW at the same stage.
2. Your car (stock K16s, tune and an exhaust) makes about 580hp.
3. UMW will warrant your engine if it blows up "due to the tune".
4. A custom tune is unsafe because it "pushes the limit".
5. Other tuners can "at best" match UMW.

Whether or not you end these assertions in "Just Me" or "This may or may not be true" doesn't make it OK to say them. If I say "Joe Smith beats his wife (this may or may not be true)", it doesn't make it OK to say.

I invite Kevin, or anyone else to tell me that any of the above are TRUE.
I don't think you're a bad guy, I just think you're mis-informed. I'm trying to help clarify these points so that people new to our forum don't make decisions based upon this stuff.

To be clear, and you can quote me on this. I have been nothing but impressed with Kevin and his product. I chose to go in another direction because of personal decisions on what I felt was best for me. Do I think Kevin is a good choice because of his happy customer base and client support? Among other good choices, YES!
The only thing I am taking issue with are some blatant mis-statements that you consistently make. If anything, I think these statements take away from the impressive product that Kevin has put out.

 

GT3 RS and Cup cars are not TURBOS, they are normaly aspirated.

 

I think all of the flash products are great. Just stay below 1.1 bar and you will be fine. Tune the engine from another vantage point not just "crank the boost up dude"!

 

fvd and have no problems

 

I am changing my "tune", that's all.


Deal with it and drop the churlishness. Seems to be your standard state....these are just cars. In the big picture of life, pretty unimportant.










JB

 

I know that....
one owner of a new Stage 4 engine from UMW (turbo) engine feels it has the character of a NA gt3 type engine. That is all I meant. My error for not being more clear. It would be cool to have both the character of a NA car AND the best of a turbo....I am very curious about them as they are coming to break in at present....we'll likely soon hear about them.

 

Here's my take on the major brands......I have no flash but have been shopping around for the last year and a half (crap keeps coming up that gets in the way). Again, just an opinion, if any facts are contained within it is merely a coincidence:

GIAC - WAS the gold standard of out of the box tunes. Pricing these days is out of touch for what you get. Good dealer network

REVO - If they are charging $3,500, thats all I need to know....plus I've heard of issues related to what that program does to your ECU (see some of this on Piston heads)

Upsolute - Cheap, but not very flexible or expandable. Their dealer network keeps changing, which tells me dealers may not be happy with the product once they have it

UMW - Kevin IS really knowledgable. I've spoken with him on a number of occasions and every time he ultimately talks me out of buying from him because there's always something else I'd need to buy or do. I think in the end if you wanted to build a high HP car he should be a primary vendor. I just don't have the cash to drop to use him. I wish he was a greater prescence on this board

Protomotive - Honestly, I don't know anything about them other than a good reputation because his website always turns me off......in 2008, how can you have a 2 cent website (if he has upgraded in the past 6 months, I haven't visited it). Again, wish they would participate on the board

Softronic - Intruiging......I came close to pulling the trigger a couple of times when they were priced around $1,600 but once you see a certain price, it turns me off to pay more. I like how Dan hustles, tries new things, and takes care of his customers

FVD - They use the same software program shell as Softronic (and Proto I hear) with different maps. At $1,595 reasonably priced and they have a decent upgrade price if you buy new turbos from them (they seem to be priced high though) or someone else.

EPL - NKOTB, seem to have a good product with decent pricing.....but I guess I'm waiting on more data points

OK, flame away, love Flash Wars the Motion Picture

May the boost be with you

 

softronics is still $1600 and i love how u can update, go back to stock via a laptop in your garage

 

So, this is the third revision of your post now. All varying layers of personal attacks and implying that I need to find a happier life instead of responding to the substance of my post (which I thought was civil and rather complementary to UMW).
Thanks! No need to be concerned, my life is just fine. How about you lay off the personal attacks. Do I ever imply anything about your quality of life in my posts?

 

My word applied to your posting style and the anger in them and the combativeness in all things "car" in them. If you took it to imply personal attack...I don't do that to people I don't know. I am sorry you took it to heart. You have sent me private notes in the past that were quite nice and you evaluated Kevin's code and were quite complimentary. You are a very, very smart person and probably do have the most cost effective 600hp car on the forum. These are all good things. So, I apologize if I offended. I would note that another person did feel you were rude to me in another thread, so my response to you is not based on just what is here...it is a clear pattern and I'd kindly ask you to stop it. For my part, I stated I was getting out of tune threads and you then posted an attack. How do you figure that was positive? For whom?

Anyway, my suggestion is get in your car and take a drive and smile and leave this bs and all the energy it uses to more positive things. We both have very wonderful lives. Think about all the people who cannot even afford to drive a car....

Note, I am actively trying to make things here less "attack" oriented. Again.

Said another way, peace! Let's both agree to drop these posts.

The sum of it all...to the original post person...get a tune by a good vendor and have fun. It and an exhaust are wonderful things for the 996TT. Some let you do the tune via fedex or the internet which is cool. Geography plays a part for many here. Cost is important for many. Upgrade paths are important IF you plan to upgrade. Fighting on forums wastes precious driving time (I am guilty of that..sorry everyone!).

Use the car as much as you can!!! I do. In fact, I think I am going to take a few weeks away from the 6so....too much negative energy.

(note: I just edited this 4 times for four spelling errors. There are probably more. )


JB