Malone or Kerma

I have experience with both. I cannot say that Malone is a bad product. What I can say is the worst in terms of service. His absurd policy of not having phones and all by email. I have been tuning car for years. I had two weeks to tune a DSG. The worst was the support and the lack of accountability. Not to mention the lousy attitude. No instructions at all in the tuner and the Kess2. At the end the Kess2 was blocked and they never accepted responsibility. What a nightmare Kerma is a great product. Is more aggressive and I love it. However, the most important is service. These people have a customer service mind set. It only took me minutes from picking up the Kess2, sending the file, I received it in minutes and my car was tuned. You have different phone number to calls and they themselves give you follow-up and information on when the packages leave and arrive. They also mention that if you need help, call them at any time. Well detailed instructions. For KERMA it is the best.

If you are DYI like me, Kerma is the solution

Titopassatsel said:

I have experience with both. I cannot say that Malone is a bad product. What I can say is the worst in terms of service. His absurd policy of not having phones and all by email. I have been tuning car for years. I had two weeks to tune a DSG. The worst was the support and the lack of accountability. Not to mention the lousy attitude. No instructions at all in the tuner and the Kess2. At the end the Kess2 was blocked and they never accepted responsibility. What a nightmare Kerma is a great product. Is more aggressive and I love it. However, the most important is service. These people have a customer service mind set. It only took me minutes from picking up the Kess2, sending the file, I received it in minutes and my car was tuned. You have different phone number to calls and they themselves give you follow-up and information on when the packages leave and arrive. They also mention that if you need help, call them at any time. Well detailed instructions. For KERMA it is the best.

If you are DYI like me, Kerma is the solution

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While it can be annoying that there's no phone POC, I've always gotten an email response from Malone within 12 hours.

I'll also note that (for people who want to go with Malone) they have really good instructions on their website.

I am a member of the Malone, leave alone, keep your money.
Kerma on the other hand has improved their customer service.

I don't know if being spoken over while on the phone and then berated for calling them out on it is considered better customer support, but to each their own.

funny that usa is almost 27 times bigger than germany. We have found a tuner on every corner. you just 2. Is there no one who has the same guts as them? the one overtakes these 2 with 7 miles of boots, both of which the 2 "only" can.

tdi_my live said:

funny that usa is almost 27 times bigger than germany. We have found a tuner on every corner. you just 2. Is there no one who has the same guts as them? the one overtakes these 2 with 7 miles of boots, both of which the 2 "only" can.

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A lot of it is likely due to the comparative lack of demand for tuned euro-diesels. A lot of the smaller enthusiast communities here find the few shops that support their platform and develop a strong loyalty to them.

I will say too that malone is great!! I had my tune uploaded and in the car within 24hrs.

Nero Morg said:

I don't know if being spoken over while on the phone and then berated for calling them out on it is considered better customer support, but to each their own.

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I had heard the Kerm* people has resolved their issues, my apologies. * to stop bot searches.
The only thing I can say is talk to VWMikel , sales@tdtuning.com. He wrote my first tune some ten-plus years ago, and has written a few modified tunes for me also. I live at 4600' elevation and he spent the time to get altitude correction dialed in.

HI,

I have a Malone tune and the little programmer box too ... tune seems nice... good power and economy.

Only thing I really don't like is having to pay for upgrades which, I think, Kerma offers for free if you buy stuff from them which I have anyways.

I'll have to research how much they wanted for my stage 3 upgrade tune and change for 3 bar MAP.

I do like that you can call Kerma but when I emailed Malone they did get back fast .... call me old school BUT I prefer to talk live if I have questions.

It was educational to hear that Kerma Tunes are rather aggressive .... I think I would prefer more linear BUT I'm sure they could do custom if needed.

I'm on the wall about what to do but most likely I'll go Malone since it is way more $$ now to switch now...

Andrew

PS - as an aside, I am still running my stage 1 malone tune even after all my upgrades (including the 3 bar MAP) and stuff still seems to work so maybe I'll just keep what I have until after the turbo upgrade (but I'll still try the stage 1 even then and unless something really screwy happens who knows I may just stay stage 1 for a bit ( I read that stage 1 maxes out the stock injectors and that the engine doesn't know I have bigger injectors so I'm still getting a pretty good does of fuel).

Because I keep seeing this post bumped, an unbiased opinion of the two.

Malone tunes are more conservative and linear. But you also will be charged the difference between stages of tunes. I had a stage 2 originally, and had to pay the additional $100 for the upgrade. Tune tweaks are free though.

Kerma tunes are more aggressive, and as some have said in the past here, really push the limits of the hardware. Updates are free for bigger tunes.

I originally chose Malone because I liked the idea of the more conservative tune. I want my car to last as long as possible.

Also keep in mind that there are other tuners out there. I know some people that have Rocketchip tunes, and swear they're better than the other. Only downfall is you have to rent a tuner. They don't have an authorized dealer program setup where local shops can actually install the tune.