FAQs
We’ve compiled what drivers across Northern Ireland ask us most often. If you can’t find your answer, drop us a message below or call the office — we’re glad to help.
When people say remapping they usually mean engine tuning: changing the software inside the engine control unit (ECU) to get more performance from the engine.
Strictly speaking, “remapping” covers any change to that software, not just tuning for power. Telling us exactly what you want the car to do helps us give you the right advice.
We define Stage 1 as the maximum power a standard engine can safely make without compromising safety or reliability. No parts need to be changed to get there; it is purely a software change.
Manufacturers do not write their software with performance as the top priority. It has to account for everything from emissions targets to driver error, which is why there is usually safe headroom left in a standard engine.
The first step is (oddly enough!) Stage 1: a software change that gets the most from your engine as it is.
To go beyond Stage 1, the parts that limit the power need to be upgraded. Which parts those are depends on the vehicle, your goals and your budget, so get in touch and we can talk through what makes sense for your car.
Honestly, nobody can give you a reliable figure. There is no accurate way to measure MPG, and so many things affect it that testing would not settle the question even if there were.
The theory is this. Torque is the turning force the engine puts through the wheels, and to keep the car moving it has to overcome everything acting against it on the road. More torque means you need less throttle and fewer gear changes for the same driving, and holding a higher gear at lower revs can improve fuel consumption.
That effect is much greater on diesels such as TDIs, which make a lot of extra torque low in the rev range. Most petrol cars gain little or no economy, and some lose a little in exchange for the extra performance.
In the real world, hundreds of variables play a part: tyre pressures, how heavily the car is loaded, fuel quality and more. The biggest one is your right foot. If you enjoy the extra performance, you will not see the savings.
Not for Stage 1. That is the most a standard engine can safely make, so nothing needs to be changed.
We do not really work in “Stage 2” or “Stage 3” steps. Beyond Stage 1, the hardware that limits the power needs upgrading, and that is different for every vehicle. Contact us to discuss what you want from your car.
Yes, but it is worth asking whether you need it. If your car has a set-up we have never seen before, we will need to develop software specifically for it.
Custom tuning is priced on the cost of development against how likely we are to use that software again. Prices start from around £960, and it can take two of our team two to five working days.
It depends on the vehicle, and it changes all the time as new ways of reading ECUs become available. There are three main ways we can communicate with a car:
OBD: the most common method. We plug into the car’s diagnostic (OBD) port to read and write the software, and the ECU stays where it is.
ECU pins: sometimes the ECU can be read, but the vehicle will not allow it through the OBD port. In these cases we connect directly to the pins on the ECU’s connector. This takes extra labour, which is included in our pricing.
BDM (background debug mode): if neither of the above is possible, we open the ECU and work on it directly, which can involve soldering onto the circuit board. Again, the extra labour is included in our pricing.
Our prices reflect the method we expect to use. If an easier method turns out to be available when you arrive, you only pay the lower price. If it is going to cost more, we will tell you before we go any further. Removing the ECU may affect your warranty, so check with us if that matters to you.
Yes, you should tell your insurer about a remap, as with any modification. An undeclared modification can give an insurer grounds to refuse a claim.
It is worth shopping around with specialist insurers for modified cars before you decide it will be expensive. On some of our own cars, a quote for the tuned car has come in cheaper than the standard car on price comparison sites.
Around 90% of vehicles can be remapped through the OBD port, a socket in the car that lets us connect a laptop and talk to the ECU directly.
First we read a copy of the car’s software (the “map”) onto the laptop and send it to whichever of our team is doing the calibration that day. While that happens, we talk through with you what we are changing. Once the file is finished, it comes back and we write it into the car.
If the car cannot be done through the OBD port, the ECU is removed and the same process is carried out on the bench. That takes longer, so it costs a little more, and you should check with us whether it might affect any warranty you have.
On a car with a diesel or petrol particulate filter (DPF or GPF), the filter is what keeps the exhaust quiet. Taking the filter out of its casing (“gutting” it) does not work: it just leaves an empty silencer, which still muffles the sound.
The only way to make it noticeably louder is to replace the filter with a downpipe that has no filter, and that is not an option for a road car. Removing a particulate filter is illegal on a vehicle used on public roads in the UK and is an MOT failure. See “Is it legal to remove emissions equipment?” below.
Yes. We will not do anything that is not safe for your vehicle.
That is not to say a car never has a problem afterwards, but it comes down to the individual car rather than the software. Two of the same car are tuned in exactly the same way, so if we tune ten of a model and one has an issue, the software is very unlikely to be the cause.
A good example is a worn clutch. Adding power can make a worn clutch slip, yet fitting a new original clutch fixes it every time. The problem was wear and tear, not that the clutch could not cope with the extra power.
We guarantee that nothing on the software side will change, unless the car is reprogrammed by someone else, such as a dealer.
We cannot give a warranty on the car itself. We only see it for a short time and you are responsible for its maintenance. Just like an MOT, a car can pass one day and have a part fail the next, and we cannot take responsibility for that. Checking every single component of the engine before a remap would make the labour cost astronomical.
Most problems can be avoided by owning the car for a few months first and having it serviced regularly by a good mechanic, who will check it over and flag anything that needs fixing. And if you are really not sure, do not do it.
Generally, not for Stage 1. When your car was first sold, the dealer did not put it on a dyno to check it, and we do not need to either. Two cars with the same engine are set up in exactly the same way, and that consistency is what makes the result reliable. Many of the big tuning brands work the same way.
If you want to see your car’s figures, that is what our dyno is there for. Ask when you book and we will tell you the cost for your car.
Every car gets a test drive before you pay, and we are happy to put your car on the dyno if you do not think it is performing as it should. Most cars also come with a 30-day money-back guarantee if you are not happy, so just ask us for the details.
Only if you are sure about it. The way to be sure is to do your research, and we are here to help with that, so never be afraid to ask questions.
What we do can look like witchcraft from the outside, so it is easy to misunderstand what a remap can and cannot affect. The ECU we work on controls the engine and nothing else. It has no idea whether the car even has electric mirrors, wipers, seats or doors. Yet we have genuinely had calls blaming a remap for electric mirrors that stopped working.
We would much rather work with customers who understand what has been done, so that if something does go wrong later, it is looked at logically. If you are unsure, either it is not for you, or you need to ask a few more questions and then make a better-informed decision. We are always glad to help.
Yes, all the time, and we have a laugh about it too. Truthfully, though, there is no such thing as a silly question. If you are not sure about something, ask.
On a car with a particulate filter (DPF or GPF), a hard-cut or popcorn limiter causes problems. The unburnt fuel it relies on ends up clogging the filter, and with the filter gutted the empty casing kills the sound anyway.
The only way to have the sound without the filter problems is to replace the filter with a downpipe that has no filter. We do not supply these, and it is a lot of hassle for a sound. Because it means removing emissions equipment, it is only an option for off-road or competition vehicles, never a road car. There is no other way around it.
Some ECUs do not allow the software actually stored inside them to be read through the OBD port. When we read one of these, we get a copy of the original factory software instead, and any changes made before are not included.
For example, if a previous owner had a car tuned and the new owner brings it in for other software work, that work is done on the factory software from the virtual read. The previous tune is lost.
Virtual reading applies to most cars from 2009 onwards, so it is safest to assume it applies to yours. In some cases there are workarounds, so give us a call if this affects you.
If your car’s hardware is standard, there are no different tuning options. Stage 1 is the most a standard engine can safely make, and that is what we offer.
This question usually comes up because other companies offer “eco” or “50-50” maps. In many cases that is clever marketing: selling one product to a wider market. On a standard car, you decide how much economy or performance you get by how hard you press the accelerator, and that is still true once it is tuned.
No. There is no map that can make a car run on less fuel. A remap gives you more torque than you need to use, and that is where any economy comes from: you use less throttle and can stay in a higher gear.
We could change the map to encourage you to use less accelerator through a few clever tricks, but we reckon our customers are clever enough to do that themselves.
Unless you ask specifically for APR when you enquire, any price we give you is for our own software.
APR is a product we sell rather than software we write. Like any product, it is developed elsewhere and sold through the APR dealer network, and its figures, prices and details are set by APR. You can find them on the APR UK website. We handle the booking, dyno time and data logging for your car as needed.
No. Removing or disabling emissions equipment, such as a DPF, EGR valve or AdBlue (SCR) system, on a vehicle used on public roads is illegal in the UK and in most other countries, and the vehicle will fail its MOT. The same applies to raising exhaust noise beyond the legal limit.
Auto-Tune only carries out this kind of work, or supplies parts for it, on vehicles used off-road, in competition or for export. The customer is responsible for making sure the vehicle complies with the law wherever it is used, and we cannot take responsibility for a vehicle driven on public roads with emissions equipment removed. Because of this, we cannot road test a vehicle after this work.
For road cars, our focus is on diagnosing and fixing the underlying fault so the emissions system works as it should.
Appointments are made by phone, so please call the office to book. If you have a question first, send us a message through the contact form and we will get back to you.
Our workshop is in Pennybridge Industrial Estate, Ballymena, and customers travel to us from all over Northern Ireland.