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What Are The Advantages Of Remapping

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  • 09-05-2022
What Are The Advantages Of Remapping

What are the advantages of remapping? We look at the effects a remap can  have on your car. Find out if your vehicle will benefit from engine remapping.

What is ‘remapping’?

Remapping, otherwise known as 'chipping', refers to the process of adjusting the factory settings of the car's Electronic Control Unit (ECU) microchip. 

The purpose of the ECU is to control engine power and often is set up by manufacturers to limit performance for several reasons. Limiting the performance of the ECU microchip provides various benefits, from complying with road regulations like emission and noise levels to lengthening the lifespan of the vehicle.

Having a lower performance ECU also enables the manufacturers to re-use the engines once remapped in newer, released faster models, as they can adjust the ECU microchip to increase engine power. 

Altogether remapping a car's engine can increase its power by an average of 20-35%. Remapping a vehicle isn't that expensive, making it worthwhile in the long run.

It's a quick and incredibly cost-effective way to enable your car to reach its max potential. The prices to remap your car will fluctuate based on the make, model and condition of your car, generally, the cost is around £250 to £400.

Modern vehicle engines are controlled by a computer known as the Engine Control Unit (ECU). This tiny computer controls aspects of the engine such as ignition timing, air/fuel ratio and boost pressure.

By adjusting these settings, the vehicle can be altered to increase performance, economy, or sometimes both. Remapping, often called Chipping, is when third party software is installed onto the ECU to replace the manufacturer’s default software. 

This new software can have customised settings to get the most out of the engine and can often be tailored to each specific vehicle.

What effects can a remap have?

Altering the Engine Control Unit (ECU) software can enable your engine to perform much nearer to peak performance when at full throttle.

Many manufacturers keep the ECU at lower performance levels when an engine is first utilised in a car model.

The companies will then re-use the same engine for newer, faster models by remapping the ECU and increasing horsepower and torque by over 20%.

Increased horsepower means faster speeds, and an increase in torque creates a stronger and more capable car.

Manufacturers also leave ECU at lower levels to abide by emission and noise regulations. You should also be aware that keeping the ECU at maximum performance can wear it down quickly as it's using more power, requiring more frequent engine replacements.

Engine replacements can be detrimental for companies as they offer warranties with the purchase of a car, hence why the ECU is left well within the engine's capabilities, avoiding expensive payouts for broken engines.

Furthermore, car manufacturers generally release revamped versions of each car model during development time for a completely new model.

By preserving the ECU maximum performance, manufacturers can re-use engines for multiple models, easily and quickly increasing the ECU to make the vehicles' performance figures more desirable, with limited additional engineering or design needed. 

What Are The Advantages Of Remapping?

Benefits of remapping your vehicle

When the remapping process is completed correctly and to a good standard, it can allow for increased power and various improvements to the car's overall system. Below we list some of the greatest benefits of remapping your car:

One of the main reasons people remap their vehicle is to increase the engine's power and the car's maximum speed. It's easy to spot cars with an adjusted ECU during overtaking as they tend to push forward with limited effort.

Getting your engine remapped increases miles per gallon in turn, improving your vehicle's overall fuel economy and saving you money in the long term. 

As mentioned, remapping your vehicle will increase the miles per gallon, meaning you won't need to fill up the fuel tank as often. Fuel is one of the greatest expenditures when you own a vehicle so remapping your engine is an obvious money saver.

Improved fuel economy means your car is burning less fuel, creating a smaller carbon footprint. The less pollution your car produces can also positively impact your insurance, tax and other costs associated with poor efficiency. 

Giving your vehicle a remap can also improve the ride, making it feel easier and smoother. Remapping your car will enhance the sharpened control, engine responsiveness and enhanced accelerator, thus improving peak performance. 

When using a vehicle to tow a heavy load, like a trailer or caravan, you're likely to notice how hard your car has to work to accelerate and climb inclines. Remapping your EUC gives the engine the extra power needed to face gradient changes with a sense of ease, again burning less fuel and saving more money!

Is remapping dangerous or harmful to the engine?

The software you use to update the engine can have negative impacts depending on a few factors. Namely, who wrote the software and how your vehicle tuner configures it. We highly recommend NOT installing software on your own or using an unverified company to avoid unwanted engine failure or damage.

There are specialist companies that work on ECU software code, testing each after a trial year to make necessary adjustments before releasing it to the public.Here at Gee Diesel Services Ltd., we offer the highest quality of software with performance and safety assurance.

Selecting a trusted and educated company, like ourselves, ensures the software installed will be safe and efficient. For further confidence in the software company, check out customer reviews!

Will remapping affect my warranty?

Short answer, YES.

Once your vehicle ECU software has been updated with code not produced by your car manufacturer, the company is typically relieved of any responsibility in the case of damage. 

Simply, the manufacturer didn't provide the engine in that condition, and they also didn't decide to push the engine to its limits and beyond; therefore, they aren't liable for engine failures once it's been modified or remapped.

If your remapped engine breaks, you're likely to have to pay for a rebuild or replacement yourself, as the software company used are also unlikely to be held liable. Using a reliable company can provide security when updating ECU software as they'll have vast experience, preventing a cowboy job from quickly deteriorating your engine.

Contact our trusted team at Gee Diesel Servies Ltd. to speak to the UK's leading specialists in diesel engines and to safely improve your vehicle's performance today.

Is remapping just for performance cars?

Definitely not! The economy and performance of any car can improve by remapping the engine, even smaller 1-litre engines' performance can see substantial gains.

Engines work by combining compressed fuel with air and then igniting the fuel blend inside the cylinders.

So, the more compacted the fuel, the more can squeeze into the cylinders, meaning more engine power.

Almost all modern car models have a turbocharger or supercharger fitted to the engine.

Turbochargers help increase fuel compression, enabling more fuel to fit in the cylinders, in turn increasing the ECU power once ignited.

Interestingly, it's much more fuel-efficient to boost engine power by remapping the ECU, rather than having a bigger engine to begin with.

Favourably smaller engines are known to produce fewer emissions, meaning lower vehicle tax and lower running costs.

These benefits have recently seen smaller 3,4 or 6 cylinder engines superseding the demand for a larger engine with 8, 10 or 12 cylinders, as remapping can be more beneficial in the long run for fuel economy and the environment.

The changes made to ECU software during remapping focus on fuel compression, boosting air pressure and the overall fuel/air blend.

These aspects are most improved when a turbocharger or supercharger is installed on the engine.

Naturally aspirated engines or those without turbochargers have less that can be configured and will see limited power gains.

Is Remapping Just For Performance Cars?

Additional benefits besides performance and economic gains?

Depending on the software you have installed, there can be other benefits besides improved performance and economic gains.

A remap can deliver valet and immobiliser modes for your vehicle, often controlled via a switch device. Valet mode is a great tool designed for the times that your car is with someone else, who you don't want driving it for extended periods, but they need driving access.

The mode significantly limits the top speed to 10mph or 20mph, reducing your stress when leaving your car in the hands of another person. The Immobiliser mode prevents your car from driving even if a thief has stolen your keys and started the car.

The car is absolutely un-driveable without the switch device, providing great a deal of security and confidence for the car owner.

Furthermore, companies that employ fleets of vehicles, like taxi firms, can install particular software to limit the top speeds of the vehicles to 70mph. By limiting top speed, companies can ensure employees don't break speed limits, especially on motorways.

So whether you're remapping your vehicle for improved fuel economy, increased horsepower, a smoother drive or to provide greater security.


Are you considering engine remapping in Nottingham, Bassetlaw, Broxtowe and Nottinghamshire? Contact our friendly and reliable team to allow your vehicle to reach its peak performance!