To chip or not to chip? All about chip tuning

AutoPortal set out to find out what lies behind the concept of "chip tuning" and to practically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of such modification.

The essence of chip tuning

In the mid-nineties, a method of increasing power without intruding into the engine mechanics appeared in European countries, called chip tuning.

This way of improving dynamic characteristics became possible after engines began to be equipped with electronic control units, known as ECU.

In essence, the ECU is a small computer that manages the operation of the power unit. Like any computer, it has a memory chip where the manufacturer stores the factory program with specified control parameters.

Chip tuning involves changing these factory settings using special controller programs, which allows unlocking the hidden potential of the engine.

Tuning studios often do not edit the files themselves but send them to companies that specialize in such work. The final result directly depends on how competently the specialist editing the firmware understands the engine's design, its reserves, and vulnerable spots.

To work with controller programs, specialized software is used, which helps visualize calibration tables in the form of graphs.

Thanks to reflashing, you can adjust: systems responsible for environmental friendliness, fuel supply, ignition timing, and the threshold for triggering the rev limiter.

As a result, on naturally aspirated engines, you can get an increase in torque and power in the range of 5–10%. If the engine is turbocharged, then by changing the boost pressure settings, you can achieve an increase in indicators by 20–30% from the original.

After such modification, the car has an additional power reserve, which simplifies overtaking and allows shifting gears less often. On cars with automatic transmissions, shifts become smoother.

A larger power reserve does not mean that the car will consume more fuel. It becomes easier for the engine to accelerate the car from any RPM, so there is no need to rev it to the limit.

With correctly performed chip tuning, the fuel map, as a rule, is adjusted towards reducing fuel supply, and power grows due to increased efficiency. This is confirmed by the fact that after the procedure, consumption usually decreases, despite increased power and torque.

True, in the first weeks, owners often notice an increased appetite. But this is explained by the desire to test the car's new capabilities. As soon as emotions subside, consumption usually stabilizes at a level lower than before.

Another frequent question before the procedure is whether the engine's lifespan will be reduced. But if it has become easier for the engine to accelerate the car, why should it wear out faster?

In reality, the lifespan of the power unit is determined by other factors: the quality of the oil and the regularity of its replacement, driving on an unheated engine at high RPM, and, of course, the quality of the fuel.

Then why doesn't the factory set such settings right away? It's simple: cars are designed for the mass buyer, operated in a wide variety of climatic conditions and on different fuels. Therefore, the manufacturer prefers to play it safe and leave those very 20–30% of power in reserve.

It is not profitable for the manufacturer to individually configure the software for each car, so averaged settings are used.

Often, chip tuning is used when converting a car to gas. On factory firmware designed for gasoline, a car on gas will work, but the efficiency of such work will be far from optimal.

Among the disadvantages of chip tuning, it can be noted that naturally aspirated engines have a narrower range of insensitivity to fuel quality, and sensitivity to high ambient temperatures may also increase.

But do not forget that all modern engines are equipped with a knock sensor, which informs the ECU about entering the detonation zone caused by poor fuel or overload, and the control unit immediately reduces the ignition timing. In addition, the cooling system of any car has a 2–3-fold performance reserve.

As for turbo engines, the increased load on the supercharger can be compensated by higher-quality oils, improved cooling, and the installation of a turbo timer.

Testing in practice

A set of software and equipment for chip tuning will cost 5000–10000 euros, and the reflashing procedure itself — from 100 to 900 USD, depending on the car model.

Chip tuning can be done on almost any injection car — from a VAZ to a Porsche Cayenne.

As experts from the company "S-Auto" note, the exception is only some Japanese brands, whose engines are already well tuned.

Theory is good, but we decided to test everything in practice and perform chip tuning on our own car.

Our test subject is a Hyundai Tiburon GS 2.0 AT 2007, with 138 hp at 6000 rpm, with a mileage of 26 thousand kilometers.

Declared characteristics:

• Fuel consumption in the urban cycle, l 11.8
• Fuel consumption on the highway, l 8.7

Actual indicators:

• Fuel consumption in the city, l 13-14 (depends on style and season)
• Fuel consumption on the highway, l about 10

The main developer of software for chip tuning is considered to be the German company EVC, which cooperates directly with car manufacturers.

For our car, the tuning technology was purchased from the German company FastTuning, which has been doing this since 1995 and has branches in different countries.

On this company's website, you can enter the car's data before the procedure and see the predicted result. For the Hyundai Coupe (the European version of the Tiburon), the figures were as follows:

In Germany, such a service costs 299 euros.

The chipping process

First, you need to decide on the brand of gasoline for which the firmware will be made. To save money, we decided to flash for A-92.

For the purity of the experiment, we went to the Boryspil highway, deciding not to use telemetry, but simply to measure the acceleration to a hundred using a regular stopwatch on a mobile phone, making five or six attempts.

Here's what we got (there were three people in the cabin):

• Acceleration 0–100 km/h = 11.5 sec
• Acceleration 60–100 km/h = 7.5 sec

Now we proceed to the procedure itself:

• Remove the negative terminal from the battery,
• Dismantle the cover under the steering column,
• Disconnect the ECU

The control unit is connected to a special loader device, the factory program is read, then it is corrected and written back to the controller.

This is what the calibration table of the ignition timing looks like in three-dimensional graphics. The white line is the indicators before the procedure, the red line is after.

The original firmware is not erased but saved in case of warranty claims — if the owner doesn't like something, the factory version will be returned to them for free.

It is worth noting that in the company "S-Auto", which performed the tuning of our car, such a case happened only once — the owner of a Skoda Octavia 1.9 was not ready for the increased dynamics of his car.

So, the most crucial moment — the ECU is returned to its place, the engine starts, and we head to the highway to test the updated Tiburon. The whole procedure took about an hour.

It is worth noting that the sound of the engine has changed — it became lower and resembles a growl. When starting from a standstill, you need to be more careful with the gas pedal — the wheels begin to spin, and the RPMs build up very briskly. It seems we'll have to slightly adjust our driving style and get used to the additional 15 hp.

Now nothing prevents the car from accelerating, especially noticeable is the increased traction at low RPMs. You can easily bring the tachometer needle to the red zone of 7 thousand already from 2.5 thousand.

With calm driving, fuel consumption decreased by almost a liter, and, apparently, it will continue to fall.

But let's return to the already familiar Boryspil highway. Results of new measurements (in the car, as before, there were three):

• Acceleration 0–100 km/h = 10.5 sec
• Acceleration 60–100 km/h = 6.8 sec

Since we have not yet completed full testing of the reconfigured car in all modes, we will definitely tell you about new impressions in the next material.