Tune the transmission, too!
Roger Carr, a Kiwi who has relocated to Aussie, reckons he’s hit on a system that’s going to revolutionise the performance sector – tuning the transmission.
Originally from Christchurch, Roger Carr now lives in Victoria, Australia, where he operates his AP Tuning outfit out of premises in Doncaster East.
“I’ve had a tuning company here for the past three years, but you really struggle in the tuning business to have a point of difference in a tuning world now saturated with cheap imported generic non-developed, and non– dyno proven, ‘tunes’,” he said.
However, now he has the marketing rights for Australia and New Zealand for some pretty neat equipment from RD Technik that allows him to up the game.
“The difficulty with the modern day vehicle is the inability to tune a vehicle’s automatic transmission to release the engine’s true potential. The transmission always has the last say in what levels of torque and power get through to the road,” he told me.
“Chips and piggy backs can never access load limiters, and even the best ECU tunes cannot access the transmission load limiters on modern gearboxes, and therefore there is always more torque and economy to be had.
“Certain transmission tuning has been available for some time, yet nothing has been able to tune a number of marques and especially, ‘untuneable’ gearboxes from the likes of Toyota, Lexus, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Mazda, AMG, Porsche, Lamborghini, Ferrari, BMW and many others.
“But this tool is not only able to tune almost any gearbox in existence, but can be done at one of our dealers through the OBDII port, and is done in seconds.
“Gearbox response and shifting between gears can be improved by as much as 50 percent, while being smoother, and depending on the vehicle, includes alterations to shift pattern, shift point, launch control, clamping pressure, converter lock-up, torque limits and more. The vehicle will drive in a much smoother way and drivability is far better.
“The issue is often that the engine is producing the power, but the transmission isn’t allowing it. Especially at low revs or high revs depending on the gearbox, but gains can be achieved across the rev range. We remap it so all more of the power gets through, but still in a smooth linear safe way so the vehicles doesn’t go around snapping drive shafts and so on.
The full range of RD Technik Products is available from AP Tuning and associated dealers.
In addition to the transmission mapping tools, it includes the very latest technology piggyback multichannel plug-in solutions for engine tuning, full ecu file coding recalibration, and exhaust ranges.
“The RD Technik piggyback tuning boxes stand above the competition,” adds Roger.
“We have been working directly with RD Technik, and now have a true multi-channel tuning solution to meet our stringent requirements, to become the market leader overnight and bring the best and highest quality reliable tuning back to this specific arena.
“The RDT box itself is the most advanced on the market. The files developed are brilliant examples of smooth, economical, punch with gains that are market leading, but are also reliable and safe, and importantly, are responsive and quick to react to driver input.”
The RDT Box is available not just for diesels, but for petrol turbo applications too.
The products have been developed together, so work brilliantly together, and so we have been inundated with package requests for the piggybacks and TCU mapping, or ECU remap and TCU tune.
They complement each other perfectly and transform the responses of the vehicle, maximize economy, and give wide strong torque and power bands right across the rev ranges, not just focusing on peak gains as other companies obsess over.
“Such is the forward-thinking nature of this product, it already has been developed for some of the newest ‘untuneable’ vehicles including AMG 45/63, new Audi RS6 and RS7, Golf GTi/R 7, new Audi S3, BMW M5, and many others for all manufacturers,” says Roger.
For more details see www.aptuning.com.au, or contact Roger at roger. carr@aptuning.com.au