the internet is incredible. Everything you think about, it has already been thought about, deeply researched, and posted. It’s fucking nuts.
Hey, what about just plain old H2O. That’s crazy we’ve become a bunch of junk food fanatics…smh.
it’s not a map of what people drink
it’s a map of what word people use to refer to carbonated flavoured beverages
Primetime, do you think the tune upgrade ALONE would be helpful to us B8.5 guys? No use in getting the Tcu tune if not properly working, yet. Although the extra RPM’s alone would/should help a ton and us get better E.Ts. personally the LC feature would be cool but give a “coke” if I have it or not. I can’t speak for others because obviously customers want it. It looks like theirs a lot of work left ahead of APR and everyone else to get this product.correct. Will be contacting the dealer soon to make and appointment for the upgrade and talk to them about the rest of our options. Will get back some info when or If I get any/some solid answers. Good luck in the meantime, after all you’re dealing with the direct source and have more experience then many others including myself in here and beyond…
Oops I stand corrected 
. Have to actually read sometimes lmao. Sorry just woke up work nights, no excuse just fact…
I think Drob is right. The issue with the first set of beta files I ever saw for stage 2 (APR did not have a DSG at that time) was bad initially. The engine went totally limp mode when shifting from 1-2, and after some experimenting I found out it was due to the ECU telling the TCU “I’m sending you xxx tq to deal with on this shift” and the TCU going, “HELL no you aren’t, that is over my safe threshold.” As evidenced by the fact that you can pull a guesstimate tq from VCDS, the ECU has a bead on what it’s generating, and per APR they have adjusted tq intervention limits. I was never told exactly what they did when they got the VCDS data I sent them, but the next flash and stage 2 shifted fine from then on. My assumption is that since they only had ECU access at that time, they likely did something simple like changed the tq calculation that the ECU was doing by multiplying it by .9 or something similar to make it think it was not generating more tq than the DSG said it could handle, thus enabling limp mode.
With this TCU tune, in order not to grenade the transmission, or produce drivetrain shock beyond what will likely cause damage, they are likely slipping the clutches between shifts down low, then up higher where the tq is not as high, they can allow for less slip. Sure this will wear the packs more, but they are wet clutches, and they are leaving temp alerts alone so it will tell you and take precautions if you get the DSG too hot, and while they raised the LC limit, there IS still a limit in place. They figure people will try this out a few times for kicks and not use it a ton after the first few weeks - a likely case.
I honestly don’t see any other way they can take this medium duty DSG and make it handle the power they are putting to it with their “max power output” mode without slipping the clutches.
I think the B8.5 crowd will see as much improvement from the tcu tune as the ecu tune if not more because of the ability to raise the rpm shifts to 7200 vs mid 6000’s depending on gear. For use B8 guys it’s a few rpm’s per gear but I am now going through the traps just as the 5th gear shift happens vs 100 ft or so out, but I also haven’t gotten a good clean pass so that may change when I hook up…
Also, I just want to be clear not only to you but anyone who reads this… I’m not blaming APR, it could in fact be my car or me the driver… To APR’s credit that want to get to the bottom of it, they could easily say it’s you or the car so tough shit or will just untune the car but that’s not how they are dealing with it… Honestly, in some ways I hope it’s me or the car and that others don’t experience this…
If I’m you I’d go for it especially if you aren’t a big drag racer and/or need to use LC at every chance you get. Even in current state I think the benefits out weigh my issue but for me I want to drag race this car and launch at stoplights so it’s a bigger deal to me than probably 99% of the target users… Thanks for the well wishes!
Neal, Welcome to AR bud! Glad you are posting… My take on the pulley issue from years ago is the same as yours and APR figured that out actually over a 4th of July weekend and kept me updated literally by the hour…
NWS4Guy - welcome to AR! Good to see you posting.
Welcome, Neal!
I think if that’s how launch control looks on a beta car…they’re far from being ready to release it. However they already have it on sale someone said? That’s odd. You’d think they’d get it nailed down first. Maybe there’s an update that PT doesn’t have yet.
To get this done to your car is it pretty straightforward? i.e. just go to APR dealer?
Interestingly JHM uses the APR tuning server, but lets customers tune their car from home. Wonder if APR will offer that? Would be great for you guys getting an updated tune or adding TCU etc. Or even a new tune. Not always convenient to go to an APR dealer.
Definitely agree on the first part, but it is what it is and I’m not getting it myself for a while. I don’t agree with what APR is doing but what can ya do…
On the second point I’m sure PT is running their most current builds…
By no means am I blaming anyone or think that you are, there’s always fine tuning when things are modified and parameters changed, issues will and do happen. I’ve gone thru this many times in the past with other vehicles and platforms. Have been drag racing since I was a kid street and track so I’ve been thru the grinder on an amateur level at least. Just that life obligations take away from making the time to do this as often as before as many of us know. There’s even some guys that have others race their cars for them because they can’t make or have the time to do so. As Tsivas does for Petes dad which I’ve known and raced with for years. If I had one near me I’d be there as much as possible hehehe. As for the performance aspect of the tune’s yes they are important I’m serious about how the car runs and that all the options work properly although it’s an everyday driver I like to be as fast as possible wether I’m tracking or not, It’s been in my blood since I was a kid. I agree with you on what the tunes can/should do…things will be ironed out soon and we can see some great et’s and maybe even better mph, although 120 is impressive. Only time will tell what this platform is capable of…and time as a rule is infinite… Thanks again for being a step ahead with assisting testing and development for the B8 platform it sure helps all of us that don’t have the privilege to do so…cheers, job well done.
Yep, they “went on sale” yesterday, but then they didn’t have the software on the server yet, so nearly everyone who showed up at a dealer was told “there is no ECU box code for your ECU on the server.” In order to get the TCU tune, you have to have:
- stock tune
- any version of stage 1 APR
- Required to update to the just released v3 stage 2 tune
- Any competitor tune (not recommended, and not guaranteed to work exactly the same depending on where their tune has redline according to programmer lead on a reply to their launch thread).
So, because many have stage 2 already, and the code for v3 was not up on the server till last night for all ECU models, they caused a blocking issue for many. The good news, is that both the v3 ECU and TCU are done through the ODBII port though.
Saki, Like I mentioned I was surprised by the launch but I had absolutely ZERO say in that, in fact I wasn’t even asked an opinion on it, I think I may have volunteered an opinion at one point but that’s it… At the end of the day that’s a company’s decisions… We launched a major product line revision this year that we weren’t ready for but our Group President committed to a date and well we launched the line, I’ll leave it at that… I guess I’m saying sometimes the people making decisions aren’t the best people to make the decisions, again this is me thinking out loud based on my life experiences not anythng I’ve heard on forums or from APR… I don’t know if my file is “production” or test to be honest…
Gotcha! I wasn’t as up to speed on your background so I understand your points more clearly now… I know I’ve mentioned but I like the beta testing part, and so working through issues is no biggie… APR knows I can log, get vids, will hit the strip as often as needed, have a basic understanding of what is what, and probably the most important don’t need the car so if it has to be parked for a week or month I’m fine with that. Arin and I have established a good repour over the years so they give me these chances and I believe a few others… My only surprise is that it was released yestreday…
I don’t think anyone would question your intentions or involvement with the APR decision making process. I’m sure everyone in the B8 community really appreciates you working with APR to dial in the tunes. It’s not like you’re totally selfless either, I’m sure it’s interesting/fun to work with them and of course fun to chip away at the record books. So all in all, I hope APR gets this right in the end. I’m sure whatever you’re helping them with will make this turn out for the best.
Arin still isn’t posting their time which is strange…they were like .01 sec from auditude. I asked the question again today and he didn’t address it at all.
Wow, let’s just say I’m not happy with APR or Arin!
Anyone know if it’s just the difference in gearing that results in lower dyno numbers for the B8.5 now vs. the B8? B8.5 is showing a lot larger gains (since it starts from a lower stock value), but lower ultimate values…
Put B8.5 and B8 on the same figure (B8 is grey for torque vs. white for the B8.5, and Orange for HP vs the B8.5 as Red) Maybe I should stop worrying about a warranty and pick this up…
http://i616.photobucket.com/albums/tt241/jgreat_bucket/S5/S1_vs_S2_zpsxlf4x5xc.gif