Good point, i've used the term piggyback & Tuning box in the same posts so could be some confusion.Leo-RS wrote:Ah there's some slight confusion here..
Custom tune would be MRC, basically a map from scratch. Mine took the best part of a day on the dyno to perfect for example with perhaps 20 odd dyno runs from start to finish fine tuning each time. This is usually referred too as a Stage 2 type tune which is fully customised to the car. With the RS6 specifically, the guys at MRC told me that the RS6 engine was very random and unpredictable to tune, what works on 1 16 plate RS6 may not work on another 16 plate RS6 and hence why each car needed a lot of time and attention. Usually a Stage 1 tune would be a generic type file, upload the file, do a dyno run and check all is good and then on your way. An hour or 2 max. As above though, particularly with the RS6 they have to fully customise each car every time. MRC might generic tune other cars though with a master Stage 1 type file template, it all depends on the car and how sensitive it is to tuning.
A generic Stage 1 tune would be something like APR or Revo, you go to a garage somewhere that are authorised Revo/APR dealers and then they load in a generic tune and then off you go. There will generally be an on road test to make sure everything is running sweet, you pay your money and off you go. This map has initially had a lot of R&D, in the case for APR, a few months testing in the states for example. Lots of fine tweaking in between until they have a finished file. That file is then the generic file and uploaded as a Stage 1 to the rest of the world. (See my point above though about no two cars being the same, even more pertinent with the very sensitive RS6's according to MRC)
Piggyback is a secondary ECU type box that will have specific maps loaded into then. As well as tuning for increased boost, they will also have fuel and timing maps written into them to keep them running well and making reliable horsepower) - A few German tuners use these types of boxes, ABT/MTM etc.
Then there are tuning boxes like what was originally being talked of in this thread, they are a half hearted cheaper effort to the piggyback ECU. They manipulate the boost sensors and rely upon the standard ECU to do the corrections to keep them safe.
4 very different options there.
To correct myself, i meant piggyback tunes are a similar cost to a custom tune (they're very popular in the US for BMW M's but they don't have the same access to custom tuning as we do in the UK & having tested back to back with owners of the piggyback tune, i can tell you the custom tune is by far preferred) , but i've no experience or knowledge of tuning boxes so they may still be just a few hundred ££'s.
Similar to Leo's experience, my car was with DMS for over a week so they could perfect the Stage 2 tune with numerous RR sessions & on road tests, albeit it's not an Audi. Once happy i took the car away but over the next couple of weeks i experienced an issue, basically the peak torque was coming in so low down the rev range that M-DCT sometimes would be caught out & a touch of slip could be felt so the car went back, changes were made to the code & since then the car's been perfect for the close to 2 years i've been running Stage 2 & my car only has a tune, no other mechanical enhancements other than uprated springs, not even a zorst.
