Goodbye Superchips?

[GilesWoodward59]

I may be late to the party here but browsing online this evening and I went to look at the Superchips website. It’s not working and a quick search suggests it’s gone into administration. Anyone else seen that?

If it’s true then the “is it worth it?” debates dry up!

[Clarkj93]

Not heard about them for some time but does look as if theyre down. To be honest I've not known anyone running a tune of theirs, I was chatting to an old school tuner few years ago who was under the impression they're all marketing and no substance - quick basic ecu flash and big price tag without any real care or testing on the individual vehicle happening.

[pudding]

Hmmmm, their site is up at the time of writing this, and they are currently advertising an October sale, which drops an Edition 30 remap to £309!  The administration searches on Google stem back to 2020/mid 21, so things must have changed since.

If you put in your registration and scroll down to the power/torque curves, that is exactly what you want to see.  They're actually a decent outfit and have been around since the 1980s under one brand or another. I've had chats with one of the technical guys over email and they certainly know their stuff, but on here and Fecebook, R-Tech is the ONLY tuner in the world, apparently.

Again, it's all down to a misunderstanding about what 'custom' and 'off the shelf' maps actually mean in the real world, but people just don't get it.

[GilesWoodward59]

I’ve been tempted to go with them for my Eddy, having used them before for a mk5 fiesta st. They somehow managed to really up the ante on what wasn’t exactly a firecracker of an engine.I read somewhere they mapped the VW race series cars for a while so there must be some intelligence behind the outfit.

£300 for at least 300 bhp and 300 lb ft torque is good value in my book.

Custom maps are great but not everyone has the time to schlep to Nuneaton for an R-Tech tune (for example) vs arrive in the post software flash. Also depends how far you want to go with mods. I guess a custom map will allow future flexibility whereas an off the shelf map will probably be an upper ceiling.

It’s an endless debate but good to see they are still online.

[Octoparrot]

I've got a superchips bluefin tune on my car and I really can't fault it. Dyno proven 40bhp increase and nice slug of torque in the mid range for over taking which is exactly what I was after. It took about an hour to install from start to finish from the comfort of my home. Superchips have been in the business a long time which I think shows they know what they're doing. Not trying dis other tuners but Superchips suited my situation and budget. Just my opinion.

[pudding]

Yeah, their name comes from the olden days of ECU software being on a removable chip, but the name has stuck. It's all done over the OBD2 port now.

The trouble is, a lot of tuners fall into the sidelines if they're not pushing out headline BHP figures. SuperChips and Revo tune on the conservative side, so don't get the publicity.

Custom is an over used word in the mapping world. Tuners don't touch any of the key maps VW spent countless months tuning, such as cranking fuel, tip in and tip out, part throttle, idle, warm up, over-run (unless you ask for a gash popcorn map) etc etc.  All they change is boost and fuel, and the bigger numbers run more boost, it's as simple as that.  There is no magic bullet to make 30 more hp than a competitor running the same boost pressure.

If it wasn't for the fact my engine is about 5000 miles away from seizing into a blob of steel, I would 100% be taking up SuperChip's October deal!

[K03MK5]

I recently got a stage 1 custom tune + dyno session from Matt's Maps and Repairs Ltd in Ipswich for £200.  Its running great and he sorted out my O2 delete as well.

[breeze]

I recently got a stage 1 custom tune + dyno session from Matt's Maps and Repairs Ltd in Ipswich for £200.  Its running great and he sorted out my O2 delete as well.

Very interested to know how £200 buys a custom tune. On a rolling road with dyno plots and if so can you share them? How much time did he spend on it?

Honestly, on a stock-ish car I have no issue with an off the shelf tune and I am sure £200 could get you something reasonable. Just the ‘custom’ bit for £200 that interests me.

[pudding]

As I keep blathering on about, people love to throw the word 'custom' in when discussing maps, but have no idea what is different about it compared to stock or an off the shelf tune.

Uploading the same base tune to every car and just adjusting the boost and fuelling maps is not 'custom', it's simply 'tuning' something that already exists. 'Custom' is a one off, from scratch.  Absolutely no tuner does that, ever, unless it's some whacky build with a massive turbo and massive injectors that completely throws VW's base tune out of whack.

[breeze]

As I keep blathering on about, people love to throw the word 'custom' in when discussing maps, but have no idea what is different about it compared to stock or an off the shelf tune.

Uploading the same base tune to every car and just adjusting the boost and fuelling maps is not 'custom', it's simply 'tuning' something that already exists. 'Custom' is a one off, from scratch.  Absolutely no tuner does that, ever, unless it's some whacky build with a massive turbo and massive injectors that completely throws VW's base tune out of whack.

I’d pretty much agree with you, more that £200 if it got anywhere near a set of rollers sounds incredibly cheap!

[GilesWoodward59]

I suppose a local Indy might be able to charge less if they have a quiet spell. There’s a local tuner near me with a good reputation that does mapping + rolling road for c.£350.

[pudding]

As I keep blathering on about, people love to throw the word 'custom' in when discussing maps, but have no idea what is different about it compared to stock or an off the shelf tune.

Uploading the same base tune to every car and just adjusting the boost and fuelling maps is not 'custom', it's simply 'tuning' something that already exists. 'Custom' is a one off, from scratch.  Absolutely no tuner does that, ever, unless it's some whacky build with a massive turbo and massive injectors that completely throws VW's base tune out of whack.

I’d pretty much agree with you, more that £200 if it got anywhere near a set of rollers sounds incredibly cheap!

Yeah, dynos are a huge investment for a tuner and is largely why remaps are so expensive.  The actual tune will be the same plagiarised one that's been doing the rounds for years, just tweaked on the day to suit a particular engine's characteristics.