amelen
11-01-2015, 02:03 PM
To preface this, I've made & participated in several threads here before about piggy back tunes. If going down the piggy back route, the biggest decision is RaceChip vs. ChipWerke. There were some people that posted some RaceChip reviews, but not too many for ChipWerke. RaceChip is slightly more expensive while offering a USB port for possible future upgrades. They also said that you can upgrade to another car in the future by paying ~$199 for new cables and software. ChipWerke on the other hand is cheaper and offers a 30 day money-back guarantee (RaceChip did not). In the end, I decided to give ChipWerke a try based on all the positive reviews I read about them on the 3.0T platform.
Pre Sales
I spoke to them via email (info@) for a while prior to the purchase, and then after. I always got responses - sometimes it would take a day or so, but I would consider that more than adequate, especially for the price-point.
Delivery
The unit shipped from California and arrived in NJ in 2 days after purchase. It was packaged in a retail box and contained the piggy back unit as well as all the cables and some zip ties.
Installation
http://www.alexmelen.com/chipwerke/1a.jpg (http://www.alexmelen.com/chipwerke/1.jpg)
Opening the unit, the inside seems to look very similar to the RaceChip unit. Considering both companies quote the same CPU specs on the higher-end units, I wouldn't be surprised if the boards are identical. The unit arrived being set to F-1, but I was told I could crank it up to 0-1 for 93 gas.
In the car itself, the cords connect to the 2 turbo sensors on both sides of the engine. It was a little tricky, but I think I got it right. The installation took less than 2 minutes - remove cover, plugin the cords on both side of the engine, stash away the piggy back unit somewhere far away from the engine heat. i didn't even need the zip ties.
http://www.alexmelen.com/chipwerke/2a.jpg (http://www.alexmelen.com/chipwerke/2.jpg)
As a simple test, plugging the unit in with the cover off, an LED turns on when plugged in and another LED when the unit is activated (gas is applied). ChipWerke sent me a great video of this as well:
https://goo.gl/photos/4K3ncJoPCzxkBRFM6
Performance
I haven't tested it much yet, but the car does seem peppier. It seems like I can leave it in D more often as opposed to before where I would push it into S to get a little more performance out of it. I was told the car would need a day or two to adjust to the tune. Although I haven't seen anything similar for the 4.0T, I found the below performance write up for the 3.0T ChipWerke Tune:
B8.5 S4 stock versus APR Stage 1 tune versus Chipwerke piggy back... (http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php/645409-B8-5-S4-stock-versus-APR-Stage-1-tune-versus-Chipwerke-piggy-back)
General Notes
Although I haven't tested it much yet, I still think it was worth the investment, especially since these things sell on ebay and the forums close to MSRP. At the very least, I haven't had any errors or issues since installing it. I know there wasn't tons of info out when I was trying to make a decision, so definitely feel free to let me know if you have any questions and you can always email [email protected] & visit their website (which was just re-designed): chipwerke.com (http://www.chipwerke.com).
Pre Sales
I spoke to them via email (info@) for a while prior to the purchase, and then after. I always got responses - sometimes it would take a day or so, but I would consider that more than adequate, especially for the price-point.
Delivery
The unit shipped from California and arrived in NJ in 2 days after purchase. It was packaged in a retail box and contained the piggy back unit as well as all the cables and some zip ties.
Installation
http://www.alexmelen.com/chipwerke/1a.jpg (http://www.alexmelen.com/chipwerke/1.jpg)
Opening the unit, the inside seems to look very similar to the RaceChip unit. Considering both companies quote the same CPU specs on the higher-end units, I wouldn't be surprised if the boards are identical. The unit arrived being set to F-1, but I was told I could crank it up to 0-1 for 93 gas.
In the car itself, the cords connect to the 2 turbo sensors on both sides of the engine. It was a little tricky, but I think I got it right. The installation took less than 2 minutes - remove cover, plugin the cords on both side of the engine, stash away the piggy back unit somewhere far away from the engine heat. i didn't even need the zip ties.
http://www.alexmelen.com/chipwerke/2a.jpg (http://www.alexmelen.com/chipwerke/2.jpg)
As a simple test, plugging the unit in with the cover off, an LED turns on when plugged in and another LED when the unit is activated (gas is applied). ChipWerke sent me a great video of this as well:
https://goo.gl/photos/4K3ncJoPCzxkBRFM6
Performance
I haven't tested it much yet, but the car does seem peppier. It seems like I can leave it in D more often as opposed to before where I would push it into S to get a little more performance out of it. I was told the car would need a day or two to adjust to the tune. Although I haven't seen anything similar for the 4.0T, I found the below performance write up for the 3.0T ChipWerke Tune:
B8.5 S4 stock versus APR Stage 1 tune versus Chipwerke piggy back... (http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php/645409-B8-5-S4-stock-versus-APR-Stage-1-tune-versus-Chipwerke-piggy-back)
General Notes
Although I haven't tested it much yet, I still think it was worth the investment, especially since these things sell on ebay and the forums close to MSRP. At the very least, I haven't had any errors or issues since installing it. I know there wasn't tons of info out when I was trying to make a decision, so definitely feel free to let me know if you have any questions and you can always email [email protected] & visit their website (which was just re-designed): chipwerke.com (http://www.chipwerke.com).