Hey guys, need some ECU tuning advice. I have an 08 997.1TT, which is still under the CPO warranty until July 2015. I'm planning to put a Europipe Stage 1 on the car, which I know wont affect the CPO. Where I'm a bit torn is in the ECU tune. I'd really like to do it to fully maximize the car and the exhaust, but I'm worried about voiding the warranty. Where I need some advice is around which of the following tunes to look at, or should I play it safe and just wait till closer to my warranty expiration before I do anything.

A local tuning shop in Dallas is recommending FVD as the tune. I've read good things about them, and it looks like they routinely run 30% off sales, so the price is great, and its something I can basically do on my own.

My Porsche dealership is recommending a company called Sportec, which I havent been able to find too many reviews on. They're also saying because of the reliability of Sportec, and the fact they're doing the tune, my warranty will still remain intact. Of course, its a much higher price than FVD, and the fact that its dealership prices.

I would really appreciate any thoughts here, or if anyone has deal with either company. I'm local to Dallas, so if anyone has an exhaust + ECU tune and wants to talk, feel free to reach out to me.

 

FVD has 25+ years of experience in the business and you can read a lot of good stuff about them online. My choice would be FVD always.

 

+ 1 has FVD for 4 years now. They are awesome.

 

Champion/GIAC piggy backs my Porsche manufacturers warranty with their flash tune on my 997.2, so they may do the same with yours. They are active on this forum so you can try to pm any one of them: Austin@GIAC , Thomas@GIAC , or Tom@Champion .

 

I'm in the metroplex and in a similar situation as you. I too would like and exhaust and tune - my CPO runs for almost 2 more years. What dealer were you talking to about the tune?

 

My CPO runs out around the same time as yours and for the time being I just a did the EP1 (whatever exhaust you choose, it's a must upgrade). I'm going to wait until 2015 to even consider a flash.

1) voiding the warranty.
2) it will be like getting a new car in 2015 (at a much better price than replacing the car)
3) the car is stupid fast as is. On the roads I can rarely take advantage of stock power. On the track I still have years of learning before I catch up with the stock power.
4) you paid for the CPO, use it.

Good luck. My vote is exhaust now and flash after CPO.

 

Shops and dealers will push a tune because they are a dealer for that brand and there opinion is not unbiased. Get a large amount of feedback from guys who have personal experience with the different tunes and make up your own mind.
Personally I think softronic tunes are weak in comparison to GIAC or EVOMS, and I think FVD uses softtronic ecu tune.
Any way you look at it, you can't go wrong with an ecu tune on a turbo 911, you will get a night and day difference in power. Don't worry about which product just do it and enjoy it.

 

Where the hell did think that up from?

 

Yeah why do you thing FVD is using Softtronic?

 

Obviously he does not know what he is talking about and wants to give very bad advice!

 

This just happened to someone over here they tried to update his ECU newer version and found he had a flash and they cancelled his warranty.

 

Thanks everyone for the thoughts. I agree that FVD might be a softer tune than a US company, and from what I've heard, the European tuners play it a little bit safer so that the engine lasts longer. I could be wrong, but I'm totally ok with that. I use my car for daily driving, and I'll track it maybe 2-3 times a year tops.

Couple of things.....

I'm considering this strategy as well, but I'm so impatient its tough to wait....

6speed wont let me send any PM's until I have something like 15 posts, so feel free to email me at farhanm@gmail and we can talk.

 

I agree. I know a lot of the companies allow you to flash back to stock, but from everything I've heard from multiple dealerships, they can always tell if you car has been flashed or not, even if its back to stock. Frankly I think the "flash your car back to stock and no one will know for the warranty" is a marketing/sales tactic, and if you rely on that, it may come back to bite you in the ***....

 

FVD tune the engine so it is safe yes. In Germany they have the autobahn which you can easily do 150mph + for many miles everyday now the U.S. cars never get this treatment hence why a lot of tuners out there get away with removing safety features and run more boost etc...etc...

Also FVD have been around for 30 years and ***** Brombacher has been tuning Porsches for as long as some of the U.S. tuners have been out of nappies!

I have visited FVD in Germany a few times now and I have seen their setup and they have a whole floor level dedicated to their software side of things and I have met the 2 guys who write their files so when that other guy ZZZ decided to insult FVD by saying it's softronic which has been around 5 mins in comparison he is obviously misinformed or is assuming as Softronic also use Durametrics for their tuning files!!!!

 

Nice info man