Malone or Kerma?

charlieruu

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2016
Location
Marquette, MI
TDI
2002 Jetta TDI Automatic, 239,000 miles
I'm definitely buying a tune but I haven't decided which to get. Should I save the extra 100 and get the kerma or a stage 1 malone?
 

john.jackson9213

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 14, 2007
Location
Miramar, Ca. (Think Top Gun)
TDI
1996 B4V
I'm definitely buying a tune but I haven't decided which to get. Should I save the extra 100 and get the kerma or a stage 1 malone?
Not to be an A**, but if you want to save money - don't get a tune at all and save $3-400. Now, if you want to get more power out of your car - get a tune.

As far as who to use for a tune - kind of depends on who is close to you.

BUT the first question you need to answer is what kind of driving do you do and what do you want your car to do different/better. Then comes the what is the next change you are going to make to the car.

BTW, I have used TDTuning for my car for the last 6 years. Michael has been great to deal with. See my signature for the results
 

MÄDDNESSS

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2012
Location
GA
TDI
2009 Jetta Sport Wagon
Is your car manual or auto? Have you already or do you plan on deleting the DPF?
 

waltzconmigo

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2010
Location
chicagoland
TDI
none
your '02 does not have a DPF (diesel particulate filter), they are on the '09 and later vehicles, maybe Maddness meant EGR. you should probably do a search using the terms ALH (your engine code), 01m (your transmission) and tunes. the transmission in your car is not known for its longevity.
 

waltzconmigo

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2010
Location
chicagoland
TDI
none
I just saw your thread in the fuel economy section, before getting a tune you should get your car running properly. Something is wrong at 300-350 miles/tank, my 14 gallon gasser does that tank after tank.
 

charlieruu

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2016
Location
Marquette, MI
TDI
2002 Jetta TDI Automatic, 239,000 miles
I just saw your thread in the fuel economy section, before getting a tune you should get your car running properly. Something is wrong at 300-350 miles/tank, my 14 gallon gasser does that tank after tank.
Did you respond? What do you think could be wrong about the mileage?
 

waltzconmigo

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2010
Location
chicagoland
TDI
none
Did you respond? What do you think could be wrong about the mileage?

no I did not, the fact is others are more qualified than I to comment on this. my opinion is that you should get things running correctly before you consider a tune. sorry if my advice is not that helpful but do a search and run the relevant logs with VCDS and post them here. Most members here would be happy to help but can not/will not without specific information provided.

we do not even know that is not your brakes dragging.

welcome to Fred's and good luck going forward.
 

MÄDDNESSS

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2012
Location
GA
TDI
2009 Jetta Sport Wagon
Op, Waltz, I wasnt paying attention and didnt realize the car was a mk4.

Op, if you want to spend money it, Id suggest catch up on all the maintenance 1st.
 

UhOh

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 24, 2014
Location
PNW
TDI
2000 & 2003 Golf GLS (2005 Mercedes E320 CDI)
I second what waltzconmigo says about getting your car operating properly BEFORE you look to modify it. You need to know that there is no problem with the engine because if there is and you charge it up with more power then you could run into a big problem, not to mention being confused as to why a tune didn't fix your ills.
 

turbocharged798

Veteran Member
Joined
May 21, 2009
Location
Ellenville, NY
TDI
99.5 black ALH Jetta;09 Gasser Jetta
I would not tune an 01M car, they can't even hold up under stock power. Atune is just going to kill it even quicker.
 

Nevada_TDI

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 17, 2008
Location
Reno, sort of...
TDI
2001 Jetta TDI
I can't help but agree with the above poster, make sure your car is all caught up on any and all maintenance before attempting any mods away from stock. The 01M automatic transmission even w/o any performance modifications is iffy at best, and if your mind is set on having more power, I suggest you find a manual transmission to swap with before your 01M dies.
 

Votblindub

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 22, 2010
Location
NY
TDI
MK4 Jetta Wagon
My white car is an '02 with an automatic, running Malone software. No issues there. More info is in my signature.
 

Ganoid

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2012
Location
Salem,Oregon
TDI
2002 Jetta 5sp
I ran the Malone stage 3 for over a year but I had boost issues that never seemed to go away. The car ran fine but I could not get the boost to stabilize it would always wander like a lost dog. Replaced n75, checked stop screw, vacuum tested actuator, replaced all vacuum lines, etc...

Paul made me a good deal so I switched over to Kerma and the boost control is rock solid now. The Malone tune ran fine but the Kerma tune seems to make a little more power and it keeps the gauges doing what they are supposed to.

If you had a close local dealer to work with that would probably be best. If you don't then Charlie (Kerma tuning) is very easy to work with and he will get updates to you very quickly so you can upload yourself. I prefer to save time and do it myself with the Q loader.
 

UhOh

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 24, 2014
Location
PNW
TDI
2000 & 2003 Golf GLS (2005 Mercedes E320 CDI)
I ran the Malone stage 3 for over a year but I had boost issues that never seemed to go away. The car ran fine but I could not get the boost to stabilize it would always wander like a lost dog. Replaced n75, checked stop screw, vacuum tested actuator, replaced all vacuum lines, etc...

Paul made me a good deal so I switched over to Kerma and the boost control is rock solid now. The Malone tune ran fine but the Kerma tune seems to make a little more power and it keeps the gauges doing what they are supposed to.

If you had a close local dealer to work with that would probably be best. If you don't then Charlie (Kerma tuning) is very easy to work with and he will get updates to you very quickly so you can upload yourself. I prefer to save time and do it myself with the Q loader.
I don't have a Malone stage 3, but my stage 2 tunes (I have loaders) on BOTH my cars are absolutely rock solid and are doing exactly what I got them to do. I'm not a long-time veteran here/with TDIs, but I have read quite a bit and I've yet to read about anyone having a problem with a Malone stage 3 such as you had. Not saying that I don't believe it, it's just that I'd figure that there was/is something else going on. My understanding is the the Malone tunes are more canned than are those from Kerma: I'd really like to test out a Kerma tune- I kind of have an offer to do so but haven't been able to connect on this yet. So, being "canned" would suggest that it would tend to be more of an issue with the car rather than the tune itself. Higher, more customized Malone tunes are/would be different, though here, as with Kerma and most other tuners, pretty much come with support to work through getting the tunes dialed in for the particular car.
 

Ganoid

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2012
Location
Salem,Oregon
TDI
2002 Jetta 5sp
I don't have a Malone stage 3, but my stage 2 tunes (I have loaders) on BOTH my cars are absolutely rock solid and are doing exactly what I got them to do. I'm not a long-time veteran here/with TDIs, but I have read quite a bit and I've yet to read about anyone having a problem with a Malone stage 3 such as you had. Not saying that I don't believe it, it's just that I'd figure that there was/is something else going on. My understanding is the the Malone tunes are more canned than are those from Kerma: I'd really like to test out a Kerma tune- I kind of have an offer to do so but haven't been able to connect on this yet. So, being "canned" would suggest that it would tend to be more of an issue with the car rather than the tune itself. Higher, more customized Malone tunes are/would be different, though here, as with Kerma and most other tuners, pretty much come with support to work through getting the tunes dialed in for the particular car.

Well it appears we are both PNW residents (I'm in Salem area). Will you be attending the Bora GTG in a few weeks? I'd be happy to meet up and let you take the car for a spin and explain the issues I had with the Malone tune. FWIF I still have that Malone file because I had no stock file on my car when I switched to Kerma. Send me a private message so we don't get this thread way off track.
 

EECSentric

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2004
Location
Arlington, MA
TDI
2015 GSW TDI SEL DSG LP
I'm curious about tune differences between Malone & Kerma for the EA288 as well as tunes in general. I have a DSG so I also need a DSG tune at the same time. I don't want to do a DPF or EGR delete.

I've seen some posts about an Eco Tune that can improve the fuel economy which I'd love to see. For either tuner, is this a separate tune that doesn't add power or is it like the ALH tunes that added power for a heavy foot or added fuel economy for a light foot?

I've also seen some posts by both tuners about a possible CR190 turbo upgrade that keeps the existing emissions equipment. Has there been any more concrete announced about this? I would like to pick a tune that I could later upgrade to the CR190 if it was available.

edit: Just noticed from UhOh's comment that this thread was on tunes for the ALH. Sorry for the threadjack. Thanks to Keir for the response.
Thanks,
 
Last edited:

Keir@malonetuning.com

Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
May 11, 2016
Location
Canada
TDI
none
I think the first question is not going to be answered as its basically unanswerable unless you had someone ripping our files apart to find differences.

The Eco tune you speak of at least from us, is deleting the DPF. This combined with the stage 2 tune makes for some impressive mpg increases in situations where you can do this kind of thing. ( off road, or in area's without emissions concerns, etc )

All of our tunes are custom while we have base packages that start, here there we can take your concerns ( smoke, mpg, etc ) into account when making up our tunes.

Should you choose to get one of our tunes you can certainly upgrade to the stage required for whatever power level you go to, CR170, CR190, upcoming BT, etc while only paying the upgrade cost between the stages.
 

UhOh

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 24, 2014
Location
PNW
TDI
2000 & 2003 Golf GLS (2005 Mercedes E320 CDI)
Keir, OP has an ALH, no DPF (CR not applicable). You probably mean EGR (as in EGR delete? I thought that eco is Dynamic EGR?)
 

turbobrick240

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Nov 18, 2014
Location
maine
TDI
2011 vw golf tdi(gone to greener pastures), 2001 ford f250 powerstroke
I believe Kier was responding to eecsentric's question.
 

Nevada_TDI

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 17, 2008
Location
Reno, sort of...
TDI
2001 Jetta TDI
The tune I have in my Jetta is from TDTuning. Mike loaned me a VCDS cable to run preliminary logs on my car before he tuned it as I did not own VCDS back then. Quite a while back, there was a competition between Kerma and TDTuning. The dyno showed a difference of only 2 HP, and the operator of the car said one of the tunes was sort of "on power, or off power" and the other one's tune was much more linear like the factory tune except with a lot more power of course. Just a thought...
 
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