TDTuning vs RocketChip

openat6

Active member
Joined
Nov 28, 2011
Location
Highmount,NY
TDI
1998 Jetta
Let me first say...I am still wet behind the ears, but a quick student.

First TDI, and moving towards upgrades for power and MPG’s

Recently put in Bosio 205's now I am investing ecu tunes, I have been in contact with a few people concerning the 2 vendors and I want to get a mass oppion on the topic, I would hate to go with one when the other would be a better choice, so I am exhausting all options before making a choice. (please no offense intended to those I have PM or spoke with)

My plan....positive balance between power and mpg's, also want a little snot when I want/need it. So I have come to terms with a ECU tune rather than a PnP box.

So my basic question to everyone who reads this is, what are the concensious on the 2 options of TDTuning and RocketChip, is a chip a chip or does one do a better job at “CHIPPING” so to speak…

Thanks in advance.

Tim
 

Tarbe

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2002
Location
USA
TDI
Touareg and Sportwagon Sold to VW
I am in your boat...wondering if you decided against Malone and Revo for some reason, or just limiting the options?


Tim
 

Curious Chris

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jun 11, 2001
Location
Pineview GA
TDI
Jetta Wagon 2003 RIP Rockford IL
Well everyone likes their tuner and that is that. I have been with RocketChip for quite a while and I like his tunes. Then I know that people who with Malone tunes and they are happy with their tunes.
 

mech644

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2007
Location
Blue Hill, Maine
TDI
'00 Golf, '14 Touareg
They are both good choices, just depends on which one YOU feel more comfortable with.
Become a student of the search button and dry your ears with the immense amount of information specific to the various tuners that is available.
Search. Read. Think. Decide.
 

PeterV

TDIClub Enthusiast, HO5G Doyen & Zen Master
Joined
Aug 17, 2000
Location
So, NH.
TDI
2000 Jetta 5 sp.
Also look at a GTG near you. Many times a tuner will be there.

There will be a GTG at the Ho5G this spring. Look under the meets tab & East Coast.

You could even meet mech644 here......
 

dremd

Veteran Member
Joined
May 31, 2007
Location
South Louisiana
TDI
06 sprinter. 03 jetta wagon premium with 6 speed ALH swap, 14 JSW
I love my Malone tune, great tune, great service, great guy.
 

Bob S.

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 17, 2006
Location
Central MD.
TDI
A B4V, some ALHs & BRMs
Use the search function & don't feed the tuning wars. All this has been asked and answered many times before. Read, quietly ask knowledgeable veteran owners, attend a GTG, make sure your engine is in proper running condition and ready to be tuned.. Then make your choice.
 

BIG Doug

Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2011
Location
Kansas City Area
TDI
'94 Ford 350 TD pickup, '85 Mercedes 300SD, '91 350 SD and now 2012 JSW TDI
How to you like the "EDGE" tuning chip module?

I've been disappointed with the instrumentation in my 2012 JSW TDI. (I hope I'm not violating any TDI forum rules here.)
Have any of you seen the ad from EDGE showing a supplemental instrument cluster with up to eight parameters of analog or digital indicators?
Better yet, have any of the TDI old timers given this EDGE tuning chip idea a try? I'm interested mainly in the instrumentation, and want to know if it is bogus or worth it!
________________________________________
Here's what one ad says: http://www.etrailer.com/chip-2012_Volkswagen_Jetta+SportWagen.htm
Performance Chip

Want to give your vehicle an extra boost? Install a performance module by Edge to increase your vehicle's power, performance and fuel economy. Available easy to read monitor places everything at your fingertips, making the module easy to adapt to your specific needs. Many performance modules multi-task, so not only do you gain the extra torque and horsepower you want, you are also able to utilize the modules built in GPS and backup camera! The power levels on the performance module match fueling with any upgrades you have made, making an Edge programmer the perfect final touch! Believe it or not, here a link to a video showing the EDGE tuning module installed on a Chevy Truck!

http://www.etrailer.com/tv-review-edge-evolution-programmer-EP85700.aspx
Thanks for giving this a look!
 

JSWTDI09

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 31, 2009
Location
Las Vegas, Nevada
TDI
2009 JSW TDI (gone but not forgotten)
.... plus close to me, so driveable and able to stay and ask questions.
This seems to be a deciding factor for many people. Most of the quality tuners have very similar results. Often the choice has more to do with convenience. Most people do not want to pull their ECUs and ship them across the country and wait for it to come back. They do not want to be without their cars for up to a week. Therefore, the proximity of the tuner (or one of their dealers) is often a deciding factor. In other words, how easy is it to get the tune installed and how easy is it to get it re-done in case VW overwrites it in the future. RocketChip, Malone, TDTuning, HPA, Revo, etc. all sell excellent tunes. The first three (Jeff, Mark, and Mike) can also customize the tune for different nozzles, turbos, etc (I'm not sure about the others). Anyway, if you stick with a reputable tuner, I seriously doubt that you will be disappointed with the results.

Have Fun!

Don
 

tothemax

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 7, 2006
Location
Nevada
TDI
TDIs: 2003 Jetta, 2016 Q5 3.0
I can say for sure you cannot go wrong with either of RocketChip, Malone, TDTuning, ..... all sell excellent tunes. I know the first three (Jeff, Mark, and Mike) mentioned above and the quality of their work.... the other two mentioned, I simply do not know.

Keep in mind, there is some definite benefit to obtaining your tune via email Vs. having to pull out the ecu and shipping across the country... lotsa vectors and force fields in that method... + with the first method, you can send logs via email again and the tune can be adjusted accordingly...

Good luck

This seems to be a deciding factor for many people. Most of the quality tuners have very similar results. Often the choice has more to do with convenience. Most people do not want to pull their ECUs and ship them across the country and wait for it to come back. They do not want to be without their cars for up to a week. Therefore, the proximity of the tuner (or one of their dealers) is often a deciding factor. In other words, how easy is it to get the tune installed and how easy is it to get it re-done in case VW overwrites it in the future. RocketChip, Malone, TDTuning, HPA, Revo, etc. all sell excellent tunes. The first three (Jeff, Mark, and Mike) can also customize the tune for different nozzles, turbos, etc (I'm not sure about the others). Anyway, if you stick with a reputable tuner, I seriously doubt that you will be disappointed with the results.

Have Fun!

Don
 

silverbox

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2005
Location
Halifax Nova Scotia
TDI
jetta wagon 2003 silver
As many have said TDTuning, Malone Tuning and Rocket Chip are the three most prominent tuners on this site. Charlie at Kerma TDI is also an experienced tuner, I believe He has been Tuning TDI's since 2007 or 2008.
 

Fix_Until_Broke

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 8, 2004
Location
Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, USA
TDI
03 Jetta, 03 TT TDI
Ignore the yellow "SDI" curve, but the other 3 are tunes from RC and TDT on 3 seperate ECU's - Dyno runs ~5 minutes apart - nothing but the ECU's changed.

None of the tunes have been "optimized" - they are more/less "off the shelf" tunes.

 

Curious Chris

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jun 11, 2001
Location
Pineview GA
TDI
Jetta Wagon 2003 RIP Rockford IL
Nice graph. Once you dyno your car you know you need to shift no later than 4000 rpm as your torque is dropping off. The interesting part about FixUntilBroke's car is that you can see it seemed that 135 was the max hp; on the same dyno I got 146 hp and 269 ft-lb torque. Maybe the heavy towing was taking a toll on his car, dunno.
 

eddie_1

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2004
Location
Hannover, Germany formerly Toronto & NY
TDI
Jetta Wagon 2003 TDI tuned to 170HP, A6 Wagon 2008 TDI 2.7L tuned to 340HP
How comes fix until broke got only 135HP with RC6 :confused:
Did he get the Fueling mods after the dyno? Can too aggresive tuning for hardware setup be ruled out as cause of cracked pistons?
 

Fix_Until_Broke

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 8, 2004
Location
Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, USA
TDI
03 Jetta, 03 TT TDI
All the dynos were done with the 11mm pump, PP502's, max QA voltage from the tune, 17/22, big exhaust/intake, etc. I've always been low for the modifications relative to others. The dyno reads low - I believe Darkhorse has been on a couple different dyno's and pulled ~150 on this one and over 200 on the other
 

eddie_1

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2004
Location
Hannover, Germany formerly Toronto & NY
TDI
Jetta Wagon 2003 TDI tuned to 170HP, A6 Wagon 2008 TDI 2.7L tuned to 340HP
I'm wondering if your cracked pistons could have been avoided through tuning. Since tune is setup based on rpm, fueling could have been limited at low rpm. My understanding is that you have WOT like effect at low rpm when towing before the boost comes up to lower EGTs. That's why I am not a fan of dumping and smoking alot of fuel before boost comes up. Of course it is a bit of a chicken and egg but like a step response it should be more controllable. Anyway my 2cents for what it is worth.
 

Ed's TDI

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 30, 2001
Location
Victoria, BC, Canada
TDI
2001 Bora and 2016 Touareg
I'm going to reiterate what To The Max already stated. The biggest advantage some tuners have over others is that they don't require you to drive to their location or to physically ship your ECU (rendering your vehicle inoperable) to them. You simply purchase their flash-tuner and then upload a tune they email you designed for your car's particular setup based on logs taken via VCDS beforehand. Once installed, you would simply take some follow-up logs and send them back to your tuner via email so they can optimize the tune for the performance you want.

If you were to ship your ECU away for tuning, you would be without your vehicle for anywhere from 3 days (1 day shipping, 1 day tuning, 1 day return shipping) at best, and when you receive your ECU there's no way to fine-tune the software without sending your ECU away again so you pretty much have to hoe it was done right the first time.

As was already posted, every person here is going to promote their tuner as the best but bottom line is to make an educated decision based on the information you gather fom this thread and from those you already spoke with via PM. Good luck!
 

FredS

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2009
Location
AZ
TDI
01 Golf GL 5spd, 00 NB 5spd, 94 Toyota-01ALH
I have 2 different cars with one each(RC and TDTuning). The convenience of having Mike 4 hrs away, and emailing logs and tunes made it an easy choice for me. If Jeff is in your area, give him a shot. Otherwise the convenience factor of emailing tunes is a very nice feature and selling point.
 

oldpoopie

Vendor
Joined
May 14, 2001
Location
Portland Oregon
TDI
2001 golf gl, 2006 jetta, 1981 ALH swapped rabbit pickup, 1998 beetle
Keep in mind that Jeff has a few people around the country who can load tunes for him. Give him a call and ask.

I'm of the mindset that its better to have a "guru" doing the tuning, as they will typically be able to recognize and diagnose any shortcomings more easily.
 
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