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Stage 1 and Performance Remapping in Lutterworth
Most people who ring about a performance map have one question they want answered honestly before they spend anything. If you are in Lutterworth you can come and ask it in person at the workshop on Rugby Road, before anything gets plugged into your car. That is worth more than any figure printed on a website.
Ask first, book afterwards
Almost every remap enquiry is really the same question phrased differently: is this worth doing on my car, or am I about to pay for a badge. Answering that properly means knowing the engine, the state of tune, what has been done to it already, how it is serviced and how you actually drive it. That is a conversation, and it is a much better conversation across a bonnet than over a phone line.
Living in the same town makes that easy in a way it is not anywhere else we cover. You can turn up, show us the car, get a straight answer about what would change and what would not, and then go away and think about it. There is no obligation attached to that and no equipment involved. If the answer is that your particular engine has very little headroom worth chasing, you will get that answer too.
If you would rather do it the other way round, the mobile service covers Lutterworth exactly as it covers everywhere else, and the conversation happens on your driveway instead. Some people prefer that, particularly when the car is not currently in a state they fancy driving across town in. Either way the principle is the same. You should understand what is being changed and why before anybody starts reading files off your ECU.
Where the change actually shows up on local roads
Peak power is a number for a printout. What you feel on the way to work is torque in the middle of the rev range, and Lutterworth roads ask for it constantly. Pulling out of a junction onto the A426 into a gap that is smaller than you would like. Getting past something slow on the A4303 in the length of road you actually have. Coming up the slip road at junction 20, where you need to be at motorway speed before the lane runs out.
A Stage 1 map is written for one specific vehicle with no hardware changes, adjusting boost, fuelling and ignition timing inside what the engine and drivetrain were built to cope with. On a modern turbocharged engine the manufacturer has usually left a genuine amount on the table, because the same software has to survive poor fuel, extreme climates and long service intervals in markets that are nothing like this one.
The result is a car that feels like it has woken up in ordinary driving rather than only at the top of third gear. That is what people notice inside the first mile, and it is the part that still matters six months later. Peak figures are easy to chase and very hard to use on a road with a hedge on one side and a tractor on the other. Torque you can reach at three quarters throttle in fourth is the part you actually own.
Want to talk it through before you commit?Bring the car down to Rugby Road and ask. You will get a straight answer about your engine, including when the answer is that it is not worth it.
Call 07773 694570Road testing where the car actually lives
Every map here is written from the vehicle in front of us rather than pulled off a shelf. We read the original calibration off the ECU and save it, log the engine on the road to see how it genuinely behaves rather than how it ought to, adjust the fuelling, boost and timing for the way the car is used, then log it again afterwards to confirm that what we intended is what actually happened.
The logging happens on the roads round Lutterworth, which means a proper mix rather than a single steady run. Slow, low gear work through the town, a stretch of the A426 or the A4303 where the engine is asked for something in the mid range, and the run down to junction 20 where it is loaded up to motorway speed. A calibration that only behaves on one of those three is not finished.
Your original calibration is saved before a single thing is written, so the car can go back exactly as it came if you sell it, hand it back at the end of an agreement, or simply decide after a month that you preferred it the way it was. That last one happens rarely, but it does happen, and it should not turn into a drama when it does. Nothing about a properly done map is a one way door.
Stage 2, and the times we say not yet
Stage 2 assumes supporting hardware has already been fitted, usually around intake and exhaust flow. Writing a Stage 2 file for an otherwise standard car is selling a name rather than a result, so if that is what you have asked for and the car is stock, expect to be told. If you are planning changes, talk to us before you order anything, because the order you do things in changes what is worth paying for.
The other honest no is mechanical. A remap does not repair anything. If the car has a boost leak, a tired turbo, an injector that is not right or a service that is long overdue, mapping it will find that weakness for you at the worst possible moment. Where diagnostics point at a problem, that gets sorted first, and sometimes the useful conversation turns out to be DPF and EGR diagnostics rather than a map at all.
None of that is an attempt to talk you out of it. Most cars that come through are perfectly good candidates and the work goes ahead as asked. It is simply a great deal cheaper to establish that beforehand than to discover the opposite afterwards, and the conversation itself costs you nothing. You are welcome to ring, ask, and then go away and think about it for a month before deciding anything.
Performance Remapping in Lutterworth: your questions answered
What is a Stage 1 remap?
It is a map written for a vehicle with no hardware changes, adjusting the standard software to use the headroom the manufacturer deliberately left in it. Boost, fuelling and ignition timing are moved within the limits the engine and drivetrain were built to handle. On a modern turbocharged engine it is normally the single biggest improvement available before you start spending money on parts.
How much difference will I feel in normal driving?
The honest answer varies by engine, which is why you will not find a percentage on this page. What is consistent is where the difference shows up: through the middle of the rev range, in the gears you actually use. Joining the M1 at junction 20, getting past something on the A4303, pulling away uphill. We will tell you what to expect for your specific engine before you commit to anything.
Can I come and discuss it before booking anything?
Yes, and being in Lutterworth that is much the most sensible way to do it. Bring the car to 3 Rugby Road, ring first so we know to expect you, and we can talk about what your engine has in it. You are not committing to anything by asking, and if the honest answer is that there is very little worth chasing, that is what you will hear.
Is it safe for the engine?
It is when the map is written for the vehicle in front of you and kept inside the tolerances of the engine and drivetrain, which is how we work. The risk with remapping has always been generic files loaded without regard for the individual car and without anyone logging what happened afterwards. That is precisely the part we do not skip.
Do you have to take the ECU out?
Often not. A great many vehicles are read and written through the diagnostic port with the ECU left where it is. Some units genuinely have to come out and be read directly, and if yours is one of them you will be told at the enquiry stage rather than discovering it on the day, because that changes how the job is arranged.
Will it wreck my fuel economy?
Not by itself. Driven the same way afterwards, plenty of cars use the same or a little less, because the engine is doing the same work with less effort. Driven enthusiastically because it is now more fun, it will use more. That is a decision made with your right foot rather than something written into the file, and it is worth being honest with yourself about which you will do.
Do I need to tell my insurer?
Yes. A remap is a modification and it should be declared, in exactly the same way as any other change to the car. Most insurers deal with it without much drama once they are told. An undeclared modification is the version that causes problems, and it tends to cause them at the point you are making a claim.
Can it be put back to standard?
Yes. Your original calibration is read off and saved before anything at all is written, so the car can be returned exactly to how it left the factory. People usually want this when they are selling, handing a lease back, or when a dealer wants the vehicle standard before a warranty discussion.
What if my car has already been mapped by somebody else?
Tell us at the enquiry stage and we will read what is currently on it. Depending on what turns up, we may suggest putting it back to standard first so that we are building from a known starting point rather than layering work on top of a file nobody can account for. That is a judgement call, not a rule.
Will it affect my warranty, lease or finance?
It can, if a fault is ever traced back to the map. If the car is under manufacturer warranty, leased or on finance, say so when you ring and you will get a straight view on whether it is worth doing at this point in the car's life. Sometimes the sensible advice is to wait, and that is what you will be told.
How long does it take?
Generally somewhere between one and three hours depending on the vehicle and how the ECU has to be accessed. That includes reading and saving the original file, logging on the road, writing and loading the map, and then logging again to confirm it. The road testing is part of the job rather than an optional extra at the end.
Do I have to come to the workshop, or can you come to me?
Either. Lutterworth is the one town where both are equally easy, so pick whichever fits your day. If the car sits on your drive while you work from home, we will come to it. If you would rather be there watching and asking questions, bring it down to Rugby Road. The work itself is identical.
A map written and tested on your own roads
Read, logged, written and road tested around Lutterworth. Ring 07773 694570 with the vehicle and what you want from it.
Call 07773 694570