Best Chip Tuner in San Diego county?

[g_man]

Already did some forum searching both here and elsewhere and the only Tuner reviews I can find deal are from 2009 at two places I can't even find on google anymore. SO, I'm looking into chip tuning, just stage 1 right now. I'm thinking REVO but might sway to APR. I've found four places in SD county that do a REVO tune, at least one I know does an APR as well. I'm wondering if anyone has ever gone to any of these places and what their impressions were. Also if anyone else has any loved shops in the area I'd appreciate it. I am willing to go to LA area if it's an absolute must(i.e. best shop on the coast).

Underground Autowerks

Automotive Connoisseur Group

Pure Motorsports

SD Motorsports

[oc-drop]

didn't read your post really but PureMS has been around a long ass time, and Mike the owner is fucking awesome. I haven't modded my A4 a whole lot, but when I had my A6 I bought almost everything for mods and maintenance from PureMS online. I'd say they would be your most reliable chip tuner as well.

[Envious Eric]

go straight to the source, GIAC

[AudiVWTech]

I wouldn't get anything but a GIAC tune for your car.

[g_man]

OC - Thanks, that's what I'm leaning towards. I like their website. Did you chip there? If so REVO or APR? If you went REVO how were their settings?

I wouldn't get anything but a GIAC tune for your car.

I'm on an 8+ month business trip with A LOT of down time so I've read over 100 reviews of every chip tuner I could find for my A4. Out of the 200 or so GIAC reviews I've read, maybe 8% of them have been positive. They were actually the first company I chopped out of the hunt. Plus every personal dyno comparison I've seen has been horrendous. I'm not knocking the company, I've never used any of this software. I'm really looking up the most reliable, upgradable, and aggressive tune out there. If you guys really believe it's GIAC I'd need some serious proof/argument to sway me.

Still though, my main concern is really the garage. While it's easy to find reviews for tunes, really good experiences dealing with a garage/tuner are more difficult to find. Yelp is even lacking heavily here. This is by far my favorite forum for my car and I would like to know anybody's experiences, specifically in SD county.

[AudiVWTech]

I'm just speaking from experience. Back when I worked for Audi in 2008 I leased a new 2008 A4 and the first thing I got was the GIAC tune. The car was so incredibly awesome to drive. The before and after was amazing. I never had any issues or drive ability problems. My coworker also leased one and he put an APR tune on his. His car never felt as aggressive as mine and he started throwing high side fuel pressure faults with the tune. The APR tune was requesting more than the stock rail pump could handle and was still not as fast as my GIAC tuned car. So unless APR has revised their B7 tune since 2008 I'd stay away from it. GIAC is local (SoCal). They dyno tune all their cars here in SoCal on our crappy 91 octane. It's not a modified 93 file or anything weird. I wasn't aware that the B7 community wasn't happy with the GIAC tune and I don't know what kind of problems they would be having since I had no issues at all with mine.

[CALL AAA]

Pure.
Mike Kim is as awesome as Rick says. I have used them for repairs and mods on 4 Audis and the VW.

[g_man]

I'm just speaking from experience. Back when I worked for Audi in 2008 I leased a new 2008 A4 and the first thing I got was the GIAC tune. The car was so incredibly awesome to drive. The before and after was amazing. I never had any issues or drive ability problems. My coworker also leased one and he put an APR tune on his. His car never felt as aggressive as mine and he started throwing high side fuel pressure faults with the tune. The APR tune was requesting more than the stock rail pump could handle and was still not as fast as my GIAC tuned car. So unless APR has revised their B7 tune since 2008 I'd stay away from it. GIAC is local (SoCal). They dyno tune all their cars here in SoCal on our crappy 91 octane. It's not a modified 93 file or anything weird. I wasn't aware that the B7 community wasn't happy with the GIAC tune and I don't know what kind of problems they would be having since I had no issues at all with mine.

I'm going strictly off numbers, personal dynos, and multiple reviews. I'll give GIAC another look as right now I'm honestly not biased to anything at all. I still don't even get to see my car again until May and won't take it in til June at the earliest. The best reviews(although not always the best charts) are with REVO. The best numbers(Stage 1) are with APR while stage 2 and on numbers REVO slowly takes the lead. I know it's difficult to find comparable data considering each car may have slightly different tunes and mods; however, every stage III chart I've seen for REVO blows away the competition.

I'll give GIAC another look. Do you have a preferred GIAC tune shop if I would go GIAC?

[A3Ryan]

I'm going strictly off numbers, personal dynos, and multiple reviews. I'll give GIAC another look as right now I'm honestly not biased to anything at all. I still don't even get to see my car again until May and won't take it in til June at the earliest. The best reviews(although not always the best charts) are with REVO. The best numbers(Stage 1) are with APR while stage 2 and on numbers REVO slowly takes the lead. I know it's difficult to find comparable data considering each car may have slightly different tunes and mods; however, every stage III chart I've seen for REVO blows away the competition.
I'll give GIAC another look. Do you have a preferred GIAC tune shop if I would go GIAC?

Tag out in Escondido did mine and i have had no issues on GIACs Stage 2+ tune

[slvrb7]

Do your research and look into how the companies create their tunes. APR is conservative, but it's for a reason i would say it is the best most reliable tune because of the software they base their tune off of.

[AudiVWTech]

Like A3ryan said, Tag is probably the biggest GIAC dealer down there. Honestly at stage 1 power, all the tunes are going to be very similar and it doesn't really matter which one you end up with. As long as you get the tune from a good shop that is going to treat you right in the future.

[oc-drop]

I love PureMS as a shop - but as far as tuners, I am all for GIAC. When I had my A6 2.8, GIAC used my car for some in-house testing so I got to meet the crew and owner; they gained a loyal fan that day ;)

[slvrb7]

Pure used to be my shop but im starting to get negative feedback from the people i send there.

[Slave IV]

For this car, I agree GIAC is excellent. My friend was near crying when she lost her tune at the dealership from their updates and was at the shop asap to get the car re-tuned. I'm sure the others are fine but I know the GIAC tune is great..Much stronger and smoother than stock..the way the car should have come from the factory. Stasis was also using GIAC software for their in house warrantied tunes for this car.

[g_man]

Thanks everyone. Again I have 100s of files bookmarked and saved with a lot of data on all the B7 tunes I can find. If TAG offers a greater SHOP experience over Pure then I'd go GIAC. I like the tune-ability of the REVO software though. I do like APR's Valet setting though; however, I think the chipset is too conservative after stage II. GIAC looks strong through all stages and is comparable to REVO just without the tuning ability at my fingertips. Again though, my biggest concern is a good garage that offers these services. I would use the garage for at least my tune and probably exhaust and any other maintenance items I just don't want to do myself. I really want to find a place with the deepest loyalties. Sounds like Pure to me.

[slvrb7]

For this car, I agree GIAC is excellent. My friend was near crying when she lost her tune at the dealership from their updates and was at the shop asap to get the car re-tuned. I'm sure the others are fine but I know the GIAC tune is great..Much stronger and smoother than stock..the way the car should have come from the factory. Stasis was also using GIAC software for their in house warrantied tunes for this car.

Stassis may have used GIAC for a little bit, but then switched to REVO for their tune. Also stassis is going through some tough times right now who knows how much longer they will keep the stassis name open.

[slvrb7]

I heard GIAC is a good tune, but i have also heard of GIAC destroying cars on their tunes. Example would be a GT R that was destroyed with a GIAC tune on a dyno.

[Slave IV]

Meh, whatever..The most important thing about getting tuned is knowing you have support for it if needed. GIAC has always been great as far as I know and they are right here in SoCal. Don't know enough about Revo to comment on them.

[ben916]

I would get anything but a GIAC tune for any car.

^^^Fixed^^^
At least for RS6, GIAC's tune runs lean at higher RPM's (that is where all the fun begins!) - No sense in running lean and grenading your engine.

Also, APR is running their sale NOW (March 25 - April 28) and I get nothing out of suggesting this.
Get it at PureMS.

Stay away from All German in Vista/Escondido... BAD Customer Service.

[Mike@PureMS]

Pure used to be my shop but im starting to get negative feedback from the people i send there.

Shoot me a PM. Would love to hear what's going on with these as I haven't had any complaints or comebacks from people.


We're the only APR distributor in all of San Diego County. We perform all major and minor services, as well as all performance installs and ugprade. There isn't a shop in San Diego geared specifically for Audi/VW that has the scope of services that we can do here. Please stop by and chat, we'll show you around and make you comfortable that we're the best in San Diego to take care of your car, performance or even something as simple as an oil change.

[g_man]

Thanks Mike,

I don't get home until late May. Expect a visit in June, no later than July.

[SanMiguel]

+1 for PureMS. They did my tune, K04, and the majority of my performance upgrades. Always received top notch service.

I've had experience with SD Motorsports as well, but I wouldn't recommend going there for anything outside of tints (SD Tint). They incorrectly installed my H&R rear sway bar, and had it secured with something they thought would hold. It didn't, and Pure had it properly bolted after noticing it was loose. I think the SD guys mean well, but my experience there felt more like they were window tinters that dabbled in mechanics every now and then as a hobby. YMMV

[Alex@GIAC]

I heard GIAC is a good tune, but i have also heard of GIAC destroying cars on their tunes. Example would be a GT R that was destroyed with a GIAC tune on a dyno.

A GTR? As in a Nissan GTR? Find me one car we have "destroyed". We have been tuning cars longer than any domestic company within the Euro segment, and we would never risk our name with an inferior or dangerous product.

To the OP, contact me if you need help finding a shop to take care of you. I can promise that with our software, you will leave nothing on the table in regards to power or reliability.

[g_man]

Thanks everyone. No worries Thomas, I'm not concerned about your tune destroying anything. I've heard good things about GIAC. I still have 40 some days left in my trip until I can look at this. I plan on visiting a few places before making a decision, just wanted to see what everyone else though about specific garages. I guess I should've named the thread 'best SoCal garage' or something like that. Being in Carlsbad I'm looking for something super local. I have one more warrantied service that's due now, so I'll complete that when I get home, then coils, chip, and exhaust within the next few months. I'll do the coils myself, the rest I'm looking for someone with some talent and great customer service. I'll swing by TAG and PureMS and see how the environment looks. Maybe I'll find some more places by then. I'll PM in May or June Thomas!

As far as the tunes I know all the numbers; however, I think most of my GIAC research is off old numbers. Every article/thread I have saved is at least a year old and references either 'custom' tunes or they only go as far as stage I. I'll keep digging and digging. I'm really focusing all my effort towards Stage II+. Again though, not to get anyone confused as I love to do my own research on the hard numbers, I'm looking for garage advice. :)

[g_man]

By the way, awesome responses.

Don't worry Ben916, something about Oceanside and Vista(possibly getting robbed multiple times in each), keeps me away from both towns these days. I don't think I've been in Oceanside besides the highways in about 6 years, except for occasionally sneaking in quickly to pick up some cheesesteaks at The Cheesesteak Grill. I'm in downtown Carlsbad, two minutes off the 5, so really a place that's off the 5 gets a bonus point I guess. Especially if it's south.

[g_man]

By the way, awesome responses.

Don't worry Ben916, something about Oceanside and Vista(possibly getting robbed multiple times in each), keeps me away from both towns these days. I don't think I've been in Oceanside besides the highways in about 6 years, except for occasionally sneaking in quickly to pick up some cheesesteaks at The Cheesesteak Grill. I'm in downtown Carlsbad, two minutes off the 5, so really a place that's off the 5 gets a bonus point I guess. Especially if it's south.