I have been watching Rallying, Grand Touring, Touring and many other sports where named manufactures (BMW, Nissan, Porsche, Subaru, just to name a few) never reprogrammed their ECU’s to run those cars for such Motorsports, even when the power is close to stock and I always ask myself what were the reasons why this was done. As I matured in ecuflashing, Instructing in EMS courses and tuning EMS over the years, I came to understand why this is so, even if such technology was tempting, accessible and cost effective.
The Stock/OEM ECU/ECM:
- By design is just enough to support all functions of the stock car
- Cannot log at a high rate. This is needed to capture events for remediation
- Not powerful enough and high storage areas for Advance Engine Strategies and Operations (Antilag, Fuel, Ignition – all inter-related to multiple level mapping, Complex features and operations). Such enhancements comes in the form of FPGA’s implementations, dedicated CPU Processors per functions and the type of Processors used. For additional reading, please visit the following link –
- Do not have enough Inputs/Outputs (I/O’s) for additional functions for a sports car
- Ability to program in the field with new strategies for performance operations and access to new features. That is, changing the core functions of the device itself. Kind of like model versions upgrades all happening with just one devices without internal hardware architecture changes.
For a quick read, please review XRT owned link – EMS/Powertrain review thoughts
If all of the above continues to hold true going into the future (and I do not expect it to change due to production cost of vehicles), why then would I want to reflash the Stock/OEM ECU/ECM and as a tuner, not have the best in tuning for a very efficient and responsive engine?!?
That being said, we focus more on EMS tuning for specific operations and functions for an engine needing that edge in performance and development. The necessary skills, strategies, experience and mental aptitude is so extensive & intensive in this type of tuning and support, that one can achieve the highest goals needed for sports and performance tuning, in relation to the configurations of the car, driver needs and environments.
With such focuses highlighted and discussed above, XRT by its nature and having such backgrounds in these fields (tuning and support), can seriously, precisely and accurately provide reflashing services that is Top Class to none, taking every bit of time to provide the finest tunes in tuning your car, regardless if in Motorsports or every day street driving; especially when it comes to reflashing using Open-Source technology or Cobb Accessport for tuning.
Bringing along those core aptitudes, customers can gain a new experience in tuning support and better operations of their cars. That is, achieving great review in whatever we do when working with the clients. One could accurately say we are customer oriented 🙂
So what do we do?
- Provides the greatest level of known support to clients in the tuning industry- https://xtremeracingtuning.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=122&t=670
- Does not distinguish the difference between Local & Remote tuning
- Seek the best possible reviews as much as possible for the finest work in tuning of client cars – https://xtremeracingtuning.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=48
- Provide accurate detailed Diagnostic support throughout the tuning process or XRT Live Group supports
- Very log oriented. That is, clients must log for fine tuning; as much as possible. Logging defines the tune!
- Custom Tune all cars starting from Base-Line tunes to fine tuning. We do not make OTS (Off The Shelf) tunes the final tune.
- Work with the client closely in the optimisation of the tune while fine tuning.
- Encourage and insist greater levels of communication between XRT and clients. This provides the best possible experience in tuning and support.
So…. out of what we do, we just do it better by taking our time, which is reflected in our tunes and support that makes us different to other Tuners and tuning support companies. Logging and communication with our customers defines the outcomes.
My experience with XRT tuning has been amazing! Previously I was on a Cobb OTS stage 2 tune for my 2008 Legacy GT wagon 5EAT. Although the boost was high, it felt ‘heavy’ and slow to respond in the low to mid throttle range. Ed sent me a preliminary map to show me what it was capable of and wow, very impressive! Light and part throttle response and power is night and day over the Cobb, and he is proving to be a wizard with the 5EAT response! Ed is quick to respond to questions and very interactive. Within two days I’m 2 revisions in already and really enjoying the tuning process!
Alright, well where do I start? As we are getting close to the end of the tuning process I’m thoroughly impressed. Ed’s knowledge and feedback to my queries has been fantastic. He’s quick to respond and I challenge any tuner to provide such good customer support! Feedback is nearly immediate and revisions come daily (sometimes more often!).
I urge any Cobb tuned customer to consider XRT. If you have an 5EAT or if you are Cobb tuned on Canadian petrol, you need to contact XRT tomorrow!!
My Cobb stage 2 provided predictable, modest power improvements as advertised from Cobb. However, as predicted, the pinging (feedback knock, fine knock learning) was endemic, over all grades of petrol. Only after a couple revisions he had the power far above Cobb’s tune, and a transmission that provides strong, fast shifts. We are onto Rev 5, and the power keeps building and I’m getting zero pinging under all conditions, on standard Canadian 91 petrol! And the shifting and throttle response are unreal. Night and day over an Off The Shelf tune…. BRAVO Edward!!!!
And we are done, thank you Ed! This last week Ed fired off a few final revisions to fine tune the transmission behaviour. The final results overall are excellent. Power comes on early and strong, shifts are fast and firm. The car feels light and lively around town, with tremendous pull very early on in the rev range. This I feel is the defining factor in XRT tuning vs other tuners. I’ve had Cobb, and I’ve had a reputable pro-tune in years past on my cars. Other pro-tunes can get you the power (with very rich AFR I might add), but don’t compare to XRT with the throttle response and refinement through the rev range. This is the result of the constant feedback and Q&A with Ed over Messenger. He won’t just give you a ‘pro-tune map’ once a week after a few logs. He wants to know what’s going on, how you’re driving, why you do this, why you do that, etc. He will keep asking you to log to capture a wide variety of conditions. If you don’t respond after a day he with PING you, he wants to know whats going on. He’s a great guy, and I would recommend him to anybody that wants to get the most out of their Subie!
http://xtremeracingtuning.com/2017/10/19/paulv-2011-usdm-subaru-wrx-5mt/#comment-95
“I can definitely feel the difference in torque/pull when compared to the off the shelf Cobb tune but I need to upgrade the exhaust and downpipe to notice a real difference and when I get the it I’ll be back to Edward at Xtreme to tweak the tune for sure. Can’t wait!”
http://xtremeracingtuning.com/2017/08/29/richardo-2011-usdm-subaru-legacy-2-5-gt-6mt/
“Once all the preliminary stuff was done, he sent me a version zero rom to show me that my car is capable of a lot with stock boost. My jaw dropped. Throttle response was insane, the torque was there, and you can clearly feel that the car enjoyed it much more than the Cobb OTS tune.”
http://xtremeracingtuning.com/2017/07/17/kennethb-2011-usdm-subaru-legacy-2-5-gt-6mt/
“I bought my car from a forum member that had a COBB tuner and maps from other forum sponsors. Logan and Bren.
After many discussions with my Dad (lives in Hawaii) about the information on Ed’s website, we decided to give him a shot. (My Dad built and tested F1 race engines for over 15 years.)
He then proceeds to ask me if I have time to take a ride. (I mean like right now. I’m like fucking right I do knowing I have to go COSTCO ) He emailed me a new ROM and showed me how to install it and how to take a log. Then he tells me let’s go but ease into it. (Ok I’ll call you back….) Can you do a hot spot on your phone he asked? (Hell yeah I can.) So off we went
No bullshit when I laid that pedal down and took off on my on ramp to route 70 I giggled like a little school girl. 2nd gears responsiveness was beautiful. The car had no restriction too it. Third was even better. Big ass smile on my face. I loved my car all over again. And bam lost boost and a check engine came on. I start freaking out and Ed tells me that the car is fine it cut boost and throw a code. P0244 Wastegate Solenoid A Range/Perf (High) my boost was 21psi. He asked if the boost controller could be dirty. (Well what had happen was…. I had to drop the turbo to get a stripped nut off the stock downpipe when putting the new one on and I may have spilled a shit ton of antifreeze all over everything that was discounted.)”
http://xtremeracingtuning.com/2017/05/20/luiss-review-on-his-xrt-tuned-2010-subaru-legacy-gt-2-5-6mt/
“So I don’t know if everyone knows but I have left Cobb and have moved over to XRT Tuning. It is still the beginning as we are doing a lot of data logs to keep fine tuning and adjusting different parameters of the ecu but I can honestly say that I have never had my car feel this good!! The response of the turbo and the engine used to have quite a delay and would stop making power around 5000rpm. Also I was running 19-20psi. As of right now I am at stock boost levels and I have much better response from the engine and no delay in the drive by wire system and I am also happy to say I am making much more power at way less boost and the car continues to pull and wants to go and keep pulling past redline the power delivery is absolutely incredible and we are nowhere near done tuning it for anyone local who does not believe you are more than welcome to meet up with me and feel it for yourself and see how a really great tune can make a car feel. I am running much safer and not overly rich as the prior pro tune was running. It also got rid of the so called “STi shudder” that people say is common lol. I will continue to update this post along the way so everyone can see what happens and for all the Dyno guys after I am at a point where I want to be I will get a pull done to show the numbers. I highly recommend XRT tuning he is a genius at what he does and ask anyone who has been tuned by Ed and I am sure you will get the same response and his customer support is like none other. I regret not doing this sooner but I Believe everything happens for a reason so the prior moves led me here and I am very fortunate to have someone as knowledgeable and talented tuning my vehicle! Thanks for reading 5th gen fam.”
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