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RaceChip vs Custom ECU remap.

R

RemoteFX

Car  2004 Clio 172
Seen a few video's posting about 'Racechips' and claiming they are going to get increased performance and economy. They use predefined maps that arent custom for each car but are custom to the model, the main thing to me is they are less than half the price of a ECU remap from a local professional. Supposedly get +16Hp on my MkII 1.5 Dci, wondered if anyone had any experience with these?

https://www.racechip.co.uk/
 
Proper remap every time, even if it's some monkey just flashing pre-prepared files - as long as they're well written you're usually sorted.

Tuning boxes are no-where near as good IMO, the ones that are half decent cost as much as a proper remap anyway.
 
In same boat with my Phase 1 . Remaps are pricey, and gains for mine r not that great
Going for that RS Tuner box from Henk in Belgium. Gets good write up.

Got to get my skates on, and sort before Brexit- otherwise, never know whats gonna be held up
 
chris blue said:
In same boat with my Phase 1 . Remaps are pricey, and gains for mine r not that great
Going for that RS Tuner box from Henk in Belgium. Gets good write up.

Got to get my skates on, and sort before Brexit- otherwise, never know whats gonna be held up
Click to expand...
A standard Race Chip will cost me £110 and quotes an increase of 16hp whereas a remap costing £250 onwards for roughly 20hp gain. Another thing is that the tune chips are removeable if I was to ever sell the car. An extra £150 for not even 5hp doesnt seem like a good trade off.
 
R3k1355 said:
Proper remap every time, even if it's some monkey just flashing pre-prepared files - as long as they're well written you're usually sorted.

Tuning boxes are no-where near as good IMO, the ones that are half decent cost as much as a proper remap anyway.
Click to expand...
From reviews and videos online about the chips they are good, their top end line (I think its the GTS line) cost the same as a good remap however the low tier model seems like a good amount of performance +16hp for £110.
 
It depends which one really and what application. For an NA car like the Clio I'd always go for a custom map.

I have a Burger Motorsports JBD on my 335d, I went for that over a map as it's a proven, reliable way of mildly bumping power on them. They had a great rep but you do pay for it. Mine was £310 delivered but my thinking was that when I sell the car, I'll sell the JBD separately, clawing back ~60% of that. That's not something you could do with a map.

It took mine from 286hp & 450lbft to ~330hp & 550lbft. I've not had it proven but it feels every bit of that.
 
No disrespect, but with the type of car it is I personally wouldn't bother with a proper remap and just go with racechip.
 
chris blue said:
In same boat with my Phase 1 . Remaps are pricey, and gains for mine r not that great
Going for that RS Tuner box from Henk in Belgium. Gets good write up.

Got to get my skates on, and sort before Brexit- otherwise, never know whats gonna be held up
Click to expand...

A good write up? You not seen the warning thread full of folk he's ripped or pissed off?
 
Saying that I was thinking about getting an i30n at some point and racechip now do one for that, but Yer least you can remove it easy enough and sell on if you wanted.
 
Djw John said:
A good write up? You not seen the warning thread full of folk he's ripped or pissed off?
Click to expand...

Was thinking more of the RS Tuner impact on the perfromance
Plenty seem to sell (Used) on here, just purchase the unlock code

He rip you off then DJW?
 
RSTuner is like a flash tuning box, used to be like the 'go to' for a entry level software power bump, but it seems the general consensus is that the customer service has gone massively downhill
 
Rystar said:
RSTuner is like a flash tuning box, used to be like the 'go to' for a entry level software power bump, but it seems the general consensus is that the customer service has gone massively downhill
Click to expand...
It sounded pretty good but the reviews are obviously awful. Shame it went downhill, was looking for entry level stuff to give a slight bump in performance
 
Henk just ignores the user base he's no longer making money off, so the mk2 rs tuner he has no interest in now so just f***s everyone off. He did the same to me with the old mk1 ecu, no money in it so literally just completely ignores any correspondence about it. Frankly the guy appears to be a money grabbing c**t if you'll pardon my French
 
Coops Mk1 said:
Henk just ignores the user base he's no longer making money off, so the mk2 rs tuner he has no interest in now so just f***s everyone off. He did the same to me with the old mk1 ecu, no money in it so literally just completely ignores any correspondence about it. Frankly the guy appears to be a money grabbing c**t if you'll pardon my French
Click to expand...

His software locks the ECU as well doesn't it?? Super helpful that the guy who's locked down your ECU will not answer an e-mail.
 
whats the difference between buying a used RS Tuner and an unlock code from Henk (Which seems a lot do on here)
or buy a new one from Henk, where no unlock code is needed (Other than cost)

Seems more customer support would be needed for an unlock code?

Surely he should make money out of selling RS Tuners new, and if you PAYPAL you can always complain (Service not supplied as stated)
Would have thought he would be less sympathetic to those just buying the unlock code

Not defending poor reviews, just cant see why he would want to deliberately piss punters off who are spening money

His website says the software doesn't lock the ECU

Still, the reviews aren't good, spose I pays my money and takes my choice (Used or new)

Thing is bout a remap, its costly and you cant resell. You can resell the RS Tuner box!

These are the contact details on the site? (Thought Henk was Belgium)

(unit 1) LT 12,BLOCK 1,WINTER st
BACOOR CAVITE
4402
PHILIPPINES


Have sent an email- will see the response
 
Last edited:
^ ^ Yep. Not good comments, but there are a few positive

See how the website repsonds to me before splashing out
 
Yea but to be fair the RS Tuner does also work for fault code stuff, I used mine a fair bit.
 
I had one of those "racechips" on my TDi Golf. Went well tbh and never had an issue. Only as I bought it used cheap but did everything you'd expect/want.
 
Rystar said:
Just looking at the cost of a brand new RSTuner online, about £200, you could easily get a decent map for around that
Click to expand...
OH, didn't realise that - where? RS Tuner is resaleable so if RSTuner costs £220, get at least £100 back?

I got a response from the RS Tuner website within 24 hrs as seen, which was fast and seems civil:


Hi Chris,


Correct ECU will not be locked.

> will there be after market support if I get issues

Only related to our product, not for issues with a +15 year old car which is often the case.


Hope this answers your question(s),
Kind regards, Henk

Sorry to OP for hijacking the thread
 
chris blue said:
OH, didn't realise that - where? RS Tuner is resaleable so if RSTuner costs £220, get at least £100 back?

I got a response from the RS Tuner website within 24 hrs as seen, which was fast and seems civil:


Hi Chris,


Correct ECU will not be locked.

> will there be after market support if I get issues

Only related to our product, not for issues with a +15 year old car which is often the case.


Hope this answers your question(s),
Kind regards, Henk

Sorry to OP for hijacking the thread
Click to expand...

All good :), I've learnt something from it!
 
It comes down to how much you want to spend.

The fuel pumps on the DCi are pretty shocking anyways. I would go for the race chip personally on this car. If you get the higher end one you can reprogram it and use it on another car or just sell it on. Any cheap remap is just going to be a flash of a generic tune. If you want a proper tune its probably £400+ and on your car for a lowish power gain and that's probably most of the value of the car.
 
Rojer said:
It comes down to how much you want to spend.

The fuel pumps on the DCi are pretty shocking anyways. I would go for the race chip personally on this car. If you get the higher end one you can reprogram it and use it on another car or just sell it on. Any cheap remap is just going to be a flash of a generic tune. If you want a proper tune its probably £400+ and on your car for a lowish power gain and that's probably most of the value of the car.
Click to expand...
Half what we bought it for xD
 
Rojer said:
It comes down to how much you want to spend.

The fuel pumps on the DCi are pretty shocking anyways. I would go for the race chip personally on this car. If you get the higher end one you can reprogram it and use it on another car or just sell it on. Any cheap remap is just going to be a flash of a generic tune. If you want a proper tune its probably £400+ and on your car for a lowish power gain and that's probably most of the value of the car.
Click to expand...
Buy the race chip for it to trick the ECU into ramping up fuel pressure, giving worse mpg and gaining about 5hp will giving off loads of black smoke.

A proper remap will raise turbo boost and fuel flow to match giving genuine good, reliable gains, mpg improvement, transforming the car.
 
I understand what you are saying and I agree, but i don't think the racechip is that bad compared to these tuning boxes and s**t you get on eBay.
 
What's the difference? As far as I can see if it's not mapping the ECU it's not going about the job properly.

Someone was trying to tell me to get a "tune it" box or something, it's not a tuning box it's got "maps" on it etc a smartphone app to match. Yet the more I read up on it the more it became clear it was a tuning box in a fancy case with a fancy manual, fancy website and fancy price.

For the 1.5 dci, superchips bluefin is my current go to solution!
 
My understanding is that racechip put r&d into the maps for each car just like revo would do. Then once they have the map sorted they load it onto the chip and sell it. You then just plug it into obd and then I guess it loads it's map or it runs the map off the chip not sure on that. It seems very similar to revo sps where you can change the maps and things like that. Plus they offer a warranty and things like that, I highly doubt it's just like one of those tuning boxes that trick the ecu etc.
 
Does it load the map though? Tunit has "maps" but it's not loading them, they are not even ECU maps they are using the map term, but in reality it's 1-9 or something on how harsh it is on the fuel pump! They CANNOT control boost.
 
To be honest I don't know if it loads the map or not, we could do with an independent test by a tuner to see what it really does. I don't think it just ups the fuel or tricks the car to thinking it's cooler then it is to over fuel tho. I think it's better than that. I'll have to try and do some more digging on it.
 
OK so looking at it a little bit more, the module plugs into the wiring loom. So basically where you would have sensors mainly fuel ones I'm assuming, connected to the car it connects to the module and then into the car. From what I can find it does control the fueling from there but as you said i don't think it can control boost or anything. I think further investigation is required.
 
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