Dumb Q: If stage 1 ECU tunes are not bad for the car, why doesn't the OEM do it?

[tominabox1]

If Stage 1 tunes are not going to hurt your car, why don't the OEMs do it that way to begin with? Can I have my mind set at ease?

[bhvrdr]

If its a 2009-2012 its a POS engine anyways but stage 1 does not seem to significantly increase any issues that are already there on the car. Why doesnt audi do it anyways? same as with all cars. They have certain mileage, acceleration, and reliability targets in mind and they engineer things to those targets. Overengineering is a good thing. you dont want an engine designed for 210hp breaking at 230hp because how would that reliability be?

mike

[LTopher]

Good question. Making a SWAG, I'd say mainly due to keeping emissions to a minimum?

[vdubjetta02]

All car manufacturers De-tune the vehicles from the factory for reliability and to make sure the engine components are operating well below their threshold.

which is why a stage 1 tune on say an A4, S4, 335, WRX all make decent power and yes (Could have probably come from the factory that way) but its not worth it for the car manufacturers. The more power they squeeze out of the car, the more likely it is they will pay for it while cars are under warranty.

*Take for example my MKVI Golf R... the second you go stage 2+ you are looking at a new clutch/flywheel because the OEM one wasn't designed to handle the torque. Just adding power means other components would need to be upgraded as well from the factory which adds money to the purchase price.

[tominabox1]

Thanks for the replies so far. I am really happy with the power and pull my '14 A4 has but its all above 3000 RPM, which in my daily driving, I'm barely ever at. The biggest benefit from a tune I would think would be moving the power band into the 2000 RPM range, even without the boost in HP and torque. I'll have to think on it some more. Maybe mechanical mods (i.e. high flow cat) should be on my list first.

[blbroo]

A stage 1 tune would require at least 91 octane, which Audi also says should be ran in the car. However, they know there are cheap bastards that will decide to run 87 instead, never change plugs and lag on other maintenance, so they come from the factory with tunes that are very forgiving and don't stress the engine much at all. Also accounts for different levels of air quality and temperatures.

I've been running 93 and 100 octane tunes on my car for 50,000 miles, and the motor is in excellent condition because I take care of it. However, if I were to drop stock gapped plugs in and run the tune on 87 octane, I'd probably have a hole in the side of my block pretty soon.

[SounderMN]

^^^^ this!

[Spawne32]

because pushing a car closer to its limits results in more warranty claims for broken components, regardless of how safe a stage 1 tune is.

[z k]

Manufacturers tend to be conservative in tuning the car as it has to work well in all conditions with a wide range of fuels, climates, emissions targets and other variables. Also, the increased wear on the car may result in warranty claims or other reliability issues. That said, the manufacturer may target overall reliability to get to 200k miles. A tune may shorten it to 100k before a component fails... in the long run does that matter? Most people don't keep a car for 200k miles and by then a few repairs is normal given the age of the car.

Also keep in mind not all Stage 1 tunes are created equal. Some are more aggressive than others. You can choose your trade off of long term reliability vs power.

[LTopher]

Under powering the car makes a lot of sense for the manufacturers from a reliability standpoint. Computer parts manufacturers typically do the same thing. The computer equivalent to tuning your car, known as overclocking will push a CPU to its maximum, requiring increased voltage and cooling. I'm sure this practice is done across many different products.

Most drivers seems to want a car that runs quiet and doesn't have problems and are willing to give up performance in return. We here on AZ are not like most drivers so we have to change the car to our liking.

[A4x]

I overclock my CPU and RAM, and I tune my car. Take good care of them with preventative maintenance, a little tender love and care, and havn't had any issues yet. Knock on wood. Just drifted the fcuk out of the snow covered streets with my fresh diff oil and my car loved it.

"You vacuum your computer, whaaaat?"

"Yea and I installed an aftermarket cooler on the CPU so I can overclock the shit out of it. Loads Windows in 20 seconds instead of 25."

Fun stuff.

[Spawne32]

I overclock my CPU and RAM, and I tune my car. Take good care of them with preventative maintenance, a little tender love and care, and havn't had any issues yet. Knock on wood. Just drifted the fcuk out of the snow covered streets with my fresh diff oil and my car loved it.

"You vacuum your computer, whaaaat?"

"Yea and I installed an aftermarket cooler on the CPU so I can overclock the shit out of it. Loads Windows in 20 seconds instead of 25."

Fun stuff.

If your computer doesnt run on water or have at least 8 cores, you arent part of the PC master race.