Ok gearheads, this is the post that all of you are waiting for. After all, some of you might have been pissed off with my previous post explaining the disadvantages of ECU remapping.
First off, I am neither a pro-remap nor an anti-remap guy. If the opportunity presents itself, I would let my cars undergo remapping, with utmost care of course.
Thus, I am writing this post to give you a clearer picture and help you decide if you truly need this mod or not.
Okay, first thing first, why remap is an option for most car owners?
Reasons ECU Remapping is a Must
First off, people buy cars not just because they wanted a specific brand or model for their looks, but because of necessity.
Yes, people buy huge pick-up trucks to accommodate their need for more torque and power, for that hauling needs in off-road areas. Some people need more performance with speed, probably because they do circuit races or just basically for fun.
Some people just got surprised on how inefficient their car is with regards to fuel consumption, so they turn to ECU tuning to help make their car more fuel-friendly engine.
So for those who are just blatantly saying that one just need to avoid ECU remap and instead buy a super car is utterly non-sense. As you know, not all people are capable of buying exotic, performance cars.
Car manufacturers make their engines more durable, environment-friendly, fuel efficient, and with enough power and torque to satisfy “majority” of users. Heck, most modern engines today are packed with turbochargers, making them even more powerful and reliable.
But still, carmakers never uses the optimum specifications of their engines to keep them reliable for years, even decades. That stock specs mean that the car won’t perform as efficiently as it should.
Enter ECU Remapping!
Tuning your car’s ECU is one way to improve your car’s overall performance and many car enthusiasts are not aware of this modification.
Of course, you might need a professional tuner (an expert in this field) to help unlock your car’s full potential without increasing the probability of your engine to break down prematurely.
Advantages of ECU Remapping
Unleashing your car’s full potential is tempting, but not all people want performance enhancements but just want their car’s more fuel efficient.
Whatever you want for your car, it is quite possible with ECU remapping. So here are the advantages of tuning your car.
Significant Torque and Power Increase
As mentioned above, car manufacturers set certain parameters on how their engines perform to ensure reliability and longevity of their cars. If you need moderate to significant increase in power, then a simple tune can do the job.
First off, power increase from a remap is the result of injecting more fuel into the engine. The driver has the ability to adjust how much power he needs to run the car. This means that remapping results to increase in fuel flow and the proper injection timing.
So an ECU remap enables the driver to get more power from just depressing the pedal slightly. The more you depress, the more fuel is injected and the more power it provide.
The downside here is that, not controlling the throttle’s response may result to higher consumption of fuel, though this might not be an issue as you already outweighed this con just to gain more power.
More Fuel Efficient
Okay, most cases of remapping results to unwanted fuel consumption increase which is either due to incorrect tuning or wrong understanding of ECU remap.
Speed junky individuals often choose speed and power over fuel efficiency. So there’s no real debate here.
But with proper tuning, your engine can achieve even more power through its rev range. What does this mean?
It means that slightly depressing the accelerator will enable you to cruise at a certain speed. If you do the math, less throttle will drive you more distance with less fuel being burned, thus making your car more fuel efficient.
However, there is caveat here. Saving more fuel from a remap highly depends on your driving practices. So with good driving habits, you can improve the number of miles you can get from one full tank of fuel. But if you drive hard all the time, expect any positive benefits negated from a remapped car.
Car Tuning According to Your Needs
As mentioned above, you can tune your car according to your preferences or driving needs. If you want more torque, more speed, or better fuel consumption, a tuner can basically help you achieve anything you want for your car.
This means that you can tune your car only for your needs. You can focus on improving fuel efficiency, power or performance, or any car upgrades that the ECU controls.
Again, you have to be specific when choosing the right tuner for your car. Whether your car is petrol or diesel, you need to specify the reasons why you want your car to undergo remapping.
If you just hire a shady tuner in the streets without any plan, you might not get what you expect from a remap. So always hire the services of an expert ECU tuner.
Better Overall Performance
If you want to experience the optimum power of your car, then remapping your ECU should be your priority. Tuning your engine can give you the best overall performance compared to other types of car upgrades (though more upgrades may be required to achieve performance).
Basically, tell your tuner about your driving preferences, requirements and many others, so the tuner may come up with the best parameters to be coded into your ECU which suits your driving needs.
Doing so will give you the best result from a remap job.
Conclusion
Should you consider tuning your car? First off, if your car is made before 2000, then your car is not fully equipped with programmable ECU. So you better know first if your car can be remapped or not.
Next is your budget. Typical ECU remapping service costs around $300 to $1000 depending on the shop. If you are hesitant because of the price, then just stick to your stock engine.
Third, you need to consider who’s going to remap your car. As you noticed already, I always reiterate that the tuner makes a big difference on the outcome of remapping. So choosing the best tuner in your area is a must.
Unsure whether ECU remapping is for you or not? Comment down below and let our community help you decide if you should remap your car or not.
