Remapping - what extras are needed?

[cobraman2007]

When getting my LCR, I will be thinking of remapping it during some stage of its life.

Now I was speaking to my uncle last night who used to work at VW in Germany for 4 years and is a complete and utter VW Golf nut - drives absolutely nothing else and swaps and changes between models every year without fail. I sometimes thinks his heart could have been substituted for a Golf engine sometime in this lifetime.

Anyways, I managed to have a chat with him yesterday and said I was looking to buy a LCR and had prepared myself to expect him to say to go for a Golf but surprisingly, he said that it was a great choice. He said the LCR is underrated and it is a fantastic car for the money. I then asked about remapping and he said it was very safe to do but said I may have to consider changing suspension/dump valves/brakes to accommodate the extra power. He also suggested the Audi A3 but I said I wanted 5 doors in which he said the LCR was the best car to go for. The Golf, of course, was also recommended enthusiastically.

So realistically, what kind of extras would I need when remapping the car? Would I have to mess around with anything such as suspension/brakes if I was to take out a REVO Stage 1 on a 210bhp model?

He said, personally, he would get a ready mapped car as all the work such as upgraded dump valves/brakes would have been carried out beforehand saving me the time and money to do it.

Opinions appreciated - Cobraman2007

 

[ChrisUK]

I'm sure it's only the dv that needs replacing - the original one is prone to failing.

Suspension & brakes are luxuries really

 

[RobM]

The essential mod is a new DV. Forge 007P is a good choice, or the Split-R if you want a noise to go along with it.

Brakes are fine as standard, but some decent pads - such as Ferodo DS2500 - will help things a lot. Grooved discs can help too, but pads alone will make a good difference.

Then a new air filter will help the engine breathe a bit better. A panel filter from Green is a good choice... or an induction kit if you want a louder induction noise.

And lastly, decent tyres! The standard ones aren't too hot, so a good set of tyres will help make good use of the new power.

That's about it for the list of essential or 'good idea to do' things, IMO.

However... if you want to take it further there are loads of things you can do, such as suspension changes, new ARB's, full exhaust systems etc etc. The world is your lobster!

 

[cordobabrendy]

If you had the choice between a std lcr and a remapped lcr and they were the same price, i'd say check the service history and make sure the oil changes werre carried out to schedule on the remapped version, generally people that buy a car and remap it are usually looking the best out of it and wont pootle along so its just worth baring in mind that suspension and brakes may need replacing or maybe even replaced already.
If you are starting with a blank canvas, stage 1 isnt too hard on the car to be honest, a brake pad upgrade might be a good idea due to being able to accelerate faster in the same given straights before braking for corners etc. suspension is entirely up to you, if the car has done, say, 60k then it may be time to think about new ones anyway depending on how hard a life they have had. The recirc valve (dump valve kind of) when standard is a plastic bit of nonsense, forge motorsports do a replacement for around 80 quid and there is a small discount to be had when ordering and mentioning seatcupra.net.
Happy motoring!

 

[RobM]

Oh... I know it's an obvious one... but Insurance! A mod-friendly insurer is a must if you're going down this route.

 

[Number86]

DV. That's it really. With decent pads the Brembo will be more than enough. You can do the suspension if you want to go round corners faster. But not really needed.