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What
is Road Tuning?
Road
tuning involves programming or mapping of an aftermarket electronic
control unit (ECU) to gain more power and drivability, based upon
the car's actual over the road experiences.
In
a factory standard specification vehicle the OEM ECU is programmed
to enable the engine to perform well under all types of varying
conditions. While most of us have the luxury of access to good quality
fuel and service our vehicles regularly, this is not the case all
over the world. In some countries fuel grades are extremely poor
and cars are just run and run until destruction without any servicing
or repair. When producing a vehicle car manufacturer's have to take
all these scenario's into consideration.
The
result of all of this is a vehicle that is not tuned to perform
as well as it could and in many applications there is a lot of untapped
power and torque that can be gained, over and above the aftermarket
ECU's pre-programmed map.
Mapping
/ Re-Mapping:
To
gain the extra potential from your vehicle, you have to alter parameters
within the performance ECU, based on the effect of the Real World,
actual driving conditions, on your car. These include values for
timing, fuelling, air flow, rev limits and boost control (where
applicable).
An
aftermarket ECU will have been re-mapped to allow all these parameters
to be pushed to the maximum safe, reliable value thus creating a
more responsive, more powerful and a more torque delivering car.
When
looking at re-mapping your performance ECU, it is easy to be drawn
towards the maximum bhp / torque figure claims from Dyno Tuning.
Your actual performance on the road, may not always be best based
on just maximums alone; there are a number of factors to be taken
into account.
Most
production line engines will produce varying power and torque figures
even though they were all built on the same production line. Manufacturers
will always quote the ultimate best figure they have seen out of
a run of say one hundred engines. This means your engine may produce
less power than is claimed to begin with. Dyno Tuning may achieve
maximum Bhp and torque but will the vehicle be driveable on the
road?
If
you are building an all out racer then you can afford to achieve
the maximum power and torque at what ever cost, however when you
are talking about a road going car that is a different matter. You
can achieve big bhp and torque out of an engine but you must ask
yourself what the disadvantages are. Generally these are running
too lean, running to rich, engine component failure and a variety
of issues concerning every day drivablilty.
What
you should be looking for in a performance car is how the vehicle
performs in all conditions: Urban, cruising, idling etc. coupled
with power delivery, crispness and responsiveness.
'Road Tuning' accomplishes
this:
Road
Tuning involves several hours of diagnostic evaluation of the car's
performance, your driving habits and the mapping of your aftermarket
ECU. Then, the process of re-mapping, on the road testing, re-evaluation
and necessary map adjustments to achieve the best on the road performance,
for 'YOUR Real World'.
Contact
us for additional information on
'Real World Road Tuning'.
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