I'm really tempted too, but I'm worried about having to replace the clutch with all the extra bhp and torque the remap will give me.
Anybody got any experience of this?
It's logical that a clutch dealing with 70lb/ft more torque will have a harder time, and therefore in theory have a shorter life.
However, the biggest factor by far is what you do with your right foot. I mentioned how at 2500rpm and WOT the turbo spools hard and the torque really picks up. Well... as fun as it is, this is a good way to wear out a clutch prematurely.
In an ideal world, you'd gently feed the throttle in, til you were past peak torque (rather low at 2422rpm in my case) reaching WOT at say 4000rpm. This avoids putting a sudden 'shock' into the clutch.
I'd bet that going full chat, changing at peak power actually puts less wear into the clutch than doing the 'low revs, foot down, wait for the turbo' thing. As fun as it is.
Obviously the DSG cars don't have that problem; they can take big torque all day long. I did consider a DSG car, but settled for manual as I wasn't keen on the cost of DSG failure, which is reported frequently enough for me to think twice.
Bottom line is that even a stock car driven unwisely can wear out a clutch quicker than a mapped car driven with a bit of thought.
There are so many reasons for getting a remap. And so few against. Insurance, for example, increased by just 60 quid for me on a modified policy with Adrian Flux. That and the 290 for the map at R-Tech - how could you possibly go wrong for 350 notes?! It's brought the car up a league, for little outlay.
Anyone thinking 'should I?' Seriously, do it.
And just a quick edit to note - please do tell your insurers. Get a quote before you book in for the remap. If you're with one of the companies that have a fit when you mention a power increase, leave the remap and just sit out the remainder of the policy until renewal time, then get on the phone to one of the mod-friendly brokers.
My point is - it's 2015. I still read posts by idiots claiming insurance companies wouldn't detect changes to an ECU and all that rubbish. Should the worst happen, they would put plenty of effort into finding any reason not to pay a claim. Gone are the days that they would overlook checking ECU data. Lots of cars (turbocharged especially) are remapped these days, and they know it.
If they have the inclination and the resources to find out, they will find out.
I know insurance talk isn't exactly relevant to this thread, but I feel it was worth pointing out, as it will affect anyone going ahead with tuning.
If you're doing it, do it properly.
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