I wouldn't be so concerned about the chip as I would about TEPO (the evil previous owner) - chip or no chip, if TEPO drove the car like a psycho, it may look nice but ridden hard and put away wet (I remember seeing lots of cars like that when I lived in NC - fancy wheels, shiny paint and enough slime under the hood to make the Gulf Oil Spill look like a rain drop).
APR makes several chip stages - each more aggressive than the other. That having been said, I have a truck with 180K miles that's had a chip of some sort for the past 160K miles. It's still going strong, granted it's a diesel BUT Navistar probably didn't intend for their turbos to push 30 psi (18 psi stock, IIRC). My antique M5 had a chip as well - a very aggressive chip from Conforti that the butt-dyno felt had more guts than the Dinan version. Ultimately, while it upped HP from 256 US to roughly 300 US (with a Euro cam gear), the most noticeable difference was that it improved driveability so much that the car was actually enjoyable to drive after the chip. Bear in mind that the manufacturer builds in some sort of a safety zone into their factory tuning - some are more conservative than others and knowing the Krauts, VW probably has a fairly broad safety zone. A chip that exploits that safety zone won't cause excessive wear - at least not in a measurable degree. It will result in a driver who gets on the power more frequently and more aggressively but otherwise, it won't cause excessive internal engine wear. My $.02...Matthew ----- Original Message ---- > From: Mark Stanton <[email protected]> > To: Volkswagen a2 16v discussion list <[email protected]> > Sent: Thu, September 2, 2010 3:09:00 AM > Subject: Re: [a2-16v-list] chipping a 1.8T > > One of the reasons I'm asking is that I'm eyeing a 337 that has a Stage 1 APR > chip on it already. The car has about 52K and looks to be in perfect >condition > > but I wonder how much life has been taken out of the engine because of the >chip. > > Makes me a little nervous. > > > Mark > > ----- Original Message ---- > From: Chad Rebuck <[email protected]> > To: Volkswagen a2 16v discussion list <[email protected]> > Sent: Wed, September 1, 2010 11:42:03 PM > Subject: Re: [a2-16v-list] chipping a 1.8T > > I don't know anything about a 337, however ... > > If you can hear pinging its bad for sure, but it isn't the only indicator of > bad/over aggressive tuning. when purchasing a chip go with companies that > have a good reputation with engine tuning. Don't necessarily go for the > company claiming the most hp. Chip tuners should still need to be a bit > conservative to have their chip work all over the world whether hot, cold, > humid, dry, etc. A chip from a major tuner is probably cheaper than paying > someone in your area to tune your car on a dyno. Perhaps tuners even offer > chips that are more tolerant of extreme heat and humidity areas? I haven't > kept up with what oem computers can be easily programmed these days. Honda, > for example, was very easy to program for very little cost, and maybe VW has > computers that can be updated easily now? > > On a sidenote - a friend of mine purchased an inexpensive usb cable, plugged > it up to his wrx, and updated the stock ecu to give more boost, adjust the > air/fuel, etc. You'd better trust the source of the data if you go that > route :) Can this be done with vw systems these days? > > > On Thu, Sep 2, 2010 at 1:18 AM, Mark Stanton <[email protected]> wrote: > > > I guess if there's no pinging... no problem, right? > > Anyone know what stock boost is on a 337? > > > > GTI 337 HP TQ BOOST > > ------------------------------------------------- > > STOCK 180 173 ? > > APR 215 242 ? > > UNItronic 215 235 18PSI > > > > mmmm, that torque looks deeelicious! > > > > > > Mark > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > a2-16v-list mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://mail.a2-16v.com/mailman/listinfo/a2-16v-list > > For list archives, see listinfo link above. > > > _______________________________________________ > a2-16v-list mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.a2-16v.com/mailman/listinfo/a2-16v-list > For list archives, see listinfo link above. > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > a2-16v-list mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.a2-16v.com/mailman/listinfo/a2-16v-list > For list archives, see listinfo link above. >
