READ THIS!!! Tuning info 101

For everyone new to this forum or modding your mk7 here's a one stop thread for tuning info. I'm in no way affiliated with any company, just looking to answer questions you might have when making the decision of what tune is right for you.

Anyway, a flash tune (APR, UM, ED, Uni) are all great set it and forget it ways to make more power, but all will void your warranty. All "flash" tunes are applied by their respective dealer via OBD2 unless they offer a dongle to load it yourself at home. Either way it just loads on your ECU and that's it. No changes are made by you the consumer to the tune, its one size fits all based on what "stage" it is. Generally, stage 1 is for an otherwise stock car. Stage 2 is optimized for and requires an aftermarket, higher flowing downpipe. More info on that here: http://www.golfmk7.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33309

Jb4 is a piggyback tune, so not only can you install it or remove it yourself. It's also adjustable for mods, and doesn't leave any footprint to void your warranty. It's also 30-50% cheaper and reselling it is also an option. There's a few other piggyback modules out there including JB1, Nuespeed Power module, and Dinan.

Then as kind of a middle of the road option there's Cobb Accessport. It's like a flash tune, in that it'll void your warranty, loads OBD2, and comes preloaded with stage tunes. It's also like a piggyback since it can be removed and sold. As a big bonus feature Cobb AP can be used as a dyno tuning tool to custom tune your car, or "protune" by sending logged real world data from your personal car to a tuner, who can use that info to write a specific tune matching your setup.

For specific info on any tuning option, reviews, and feedback good and bad just google "mk7 forum_________ insert your topic there and you'll find tons of info

The next question is always "what about my warranty?" Well, someone's already written a great thread on that so here it is: http://www.golfmk7.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7492

Good stuff Jake!

One thing I don't see people do often enough is use Google Search to search just one site. "Unitronic Tune site:golfmk7.com" in Google Search will give you results from just this forum for your search term.

demi9od said:

One thing I don't see people do often enough is use Google Search to search just one site. "Unitronic Tune site:golfmk7.com" in Google Search will give you results from just this forum for your search term.

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+1 this works way better than the forum search


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demi9od said:

One thing I don't see people do often enough is use Google Search to search just one site. "Unitronic Tune site:golfmk7.com" in Google Search will give you results from just this forum for your search term.

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Honestly, this should be part of the main forum sticky information. Rather than just saying that a user should search before starting a new thread asking a question, it should tell you specifically to use this method.

The built in forum search on any car forum is absolute garbage, and it's no wonder there's so many redundant threads created, which just annoys the old timers that tell the new guy they should have searched first. Well if they used the built in search, they probably didn't find a damn thing that was relevant to their question. Using the Google site specific search however is significantly better and returns relevant results from threads that could be months or years old but contain the exact answer to their question.

Evil Minion said:

Honestly, this should be part of the main forum sticky information. Rather than just saying that a user should search before starting a new thread asking a question, it should tell you specifically to use this method.

The built in forum search on any car forum is absolute garbage, and it's no wonder there's so many redundant threads created, which just annoys the old timers that tell the new guy they should have searched first. Well if they used the built in search, they probably didn't find a damn thing that was relevant to their question. Using the Google site specific search however is significantly better and returns relevant results from threads that could be months or years old but contain the exact answer to their question.

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Read the only sticky in this subforum. On the very first post there is a link that says "General Modding FAQ" and that basically explains everything.

dood. said:

+1 this works way better than the forum search


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Yerp. You don't even need the colon. Simply "xyz" golfmk7 [enter]

You forgot to mention that you pay to play and everything is done at your own risk.

I thought APs didn't trip the counter

scrapin240 said:

I thought APs didn't trip the counter

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This is just speculation having used Cobb on a Suby before, but the Cobb AP likely only trips the counter once. Loading new maps likely does not add counts. Of course uninstalling and re-installing would add a count. But one is all it takes.

scrapin240 said:

I thought APs didn't trip the counter

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If it plugs into the OBDII, and does some sort of 'update' routine, it trips the counter.

I think that Gti Jake just loves being OP for threads on here. LOL One thing to mention which you should edit is that JB4 does leave a footprint. Also Cobb does not void your warranty, I don't want to get into debate why it doesn't, I would just omit that part and not say or reference to that is does or doesn't. I will mention for JB4 that max values are stored on the ECU just as an FYI so it is detectable when SHTF even if ports weren't accessed or flash counters changed.

A disclaimer should be used in this thread, and most certainly other places for all tunes/piggbacks as I see many people state this about JB4. I would instead say "Use at your own risk as none of these options offer 100% guarantee of not voiding warranty nor do the manufacturers advertise them to be able to."

I also think this thread is not needed with specific tune threads already on here and will only cause a tuning war and mud slinging.

iNeedMorePSI said:

I think that Gti Jake just loves being OP for threads on here. LOL One thing to mention which you should edit is that JB4 does leave a footprint. Also Cobb does not void your warranty, I don't want to get into debate why it doesn't, I would just omit that part and not say or reference to that is does or doesn't. I will mention for JB4 that max values are stored on the ECU just as an FYI so it is detectable when SHTF even if ports weren't accessed or flash counters changed.

A disclaimer should be used in this thread, and most certainly other places for all tunes/piggbacks as I see many people state this about JB4. I would instead say "Use at your own risk as none of these options offer 100% guarantee of not voiding warranty nor do the manufacturers advertise them to be able to."

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Do you have a link to the post that shows JB4 can be detected?

russiankid said:

Do you have a link to the post that shows JB4 can be detected?

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No need. If George or BMS publicly states here and on their website it can't ever be detected then fine. Even it it doesn't access the port or change flash counter it still shows maxed store data. You pop while having a jb4 connected running 4-5psi above stock you will get ECU checked and fail. They wont know JB4 did it BUT they will know a modification caused this. Already has happened. So it would be better to have a blanket disclaimer that none of the solutions guarantee your warranty as they modify or manipulate ECU data.

Also what part of PA?