Malone tuning stage 2 or stage 3 for ahu

Looking for more power and moving on up from the Malone stage 1.5 I currently have on 97 ahu tdi I had swapped into mk3 Gti . Only reason I have this tune because I got it for cheap. I have pp520s, egr deleted, vr clutch, and stage 1.5 tune at the moment. Which option would be the best choice for my setup. Will stage 3 cause more than I bargain for as clutch wear and higher egts? Looking to upgrade but also not planning on killing items at same time. Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks

if you are using the stock turbo, i wouldn't run any more fuel than what ~19psi can handle - even at that the EGTs on that stock turbo can get extremely high. i'd personally leave it alone if it's running well until you can upgrade to a bigger, better turbo, intercooler, etc.

Yep on stock turbo still. I have seen ppl run these tunes with stock turbos but don't know how much damage was caused in the long run from them. Looks like maybe this winter I'll think of getting a bigger turbo to withstand the gains from these tunes. I do daily this so don't want for it to be sidelined anymore than it has this year from small issues like you already know haha

Both stage 2 and 3 are designed for your stock turbo and will be a significant bump in torque peak over the "clutch saver" 1.5 tune you have. Torque peak between 2 and 3 is about the same with the difference being mostly above 3000 RPM, and it isn't much. That said, the slightly higher fueling of stage 3 will place a little more stress on your turbo (and clutch) than stage 2. If you are concerned about it due to age/mileage I'd go stage 2. It really is a huge difference in power over what you have now.

Both Stage 2 & 3 should be within the holding capacity of a healthy VR clutch.

Unless a Malone tune specifies the need for a turbo upgrade, boost levels are kept within a safe range for OE. Up to (VE) stage 3 from Malone are all for OE turbo cars.

well, the only damage that would be likely is the stock turdo blowing up taking out the engine. worth the risk? i'd just stick with your current power setup as long as it's working well. come up with a turbo/intercooler/etc plan for some bigger power so in the future you could take it down for a week or two and redo it up all at once properly. if the engine is up there in age, at the next TB change you may want to rebuild the head, get it moderately ported and stage 2 cam. and i'd pin the crank sprocket too. might as well do an 11mm alh pump upgrade lol