2010richmond

hello


At the risk of being shot here I would like to ask why remaps are so expensive?

I was recently quoted 540 for an estimated 2 hrs work to tune a standard sti 2003 that I was looking to fully decat.

that is quite an hourly rate in my book.

My friend runs a 1st class MOT station garage and has tens of thousand of pounds invested in equipment and many other overheads yet his hourly rate is £30.

I know people seem to be paying it and good luck to the tuners, I have nothing against at all.

Your Philadeliphia solicitor wouldn't be far off this rate.

Is it not also FAIR to assume that an experienced mapper will have a good bank of base maps from similar tunes to start from?

I want no personal attacks here or forums spats.

I'm only asking a question remember!

coops1

iTrader: (5)

As far as I know its all down to supply and demand mate. While people are "happy" paying these prices they can charge it.
Dont forget its like any traid/work of art, you get what you pay for and while there are some cheap mappers out there only a very few can really do a good job. The hardware and software isn’t cheap and not easy to do "correctly" and therefore you are also paying for experience.

Scooby Dan

If the price you were quoted was for an Ecutek remap about £150 of that price is for a license to use the software on your car for the first time, subsequent maps would be cheaper.
Paul from Zen Performance mapped my car and he spent about 6 hours perfecting the map.

BlueBugEye

iTrader: (12)

You pays your money and you takes your choice - I could remap your car for £50 using the free software and a cheap cable but I promise you it would blow up!

You are paying for the experiance of the mapper, plus probably travelling costs and rolling road time. My last remap was £300 but that was because I already had the license. It fact it worked out at £10 per BHP I gained!

Splitpin

As has been said it's a market, and like any business, providers will charge what they think they're worth. In the case of EcuTeK dealers there's also the cost of the TeK licence on the original map - as well as the costs they incur in becoming a dealer in the first place.

In addition, you might be seeing two hours' work, but what you're not considering is the hundreds of hours more research and experience learning how to do the job properly in the first place. With due respect to your friend at the MOT station, mapping a car properly requires a little more in-depth knowledge than running a standard emissions test and poking around a car for a few minutes. Your friend's MOT station also no doubt gets used a much higher percentage of the time than a typical mapper.

If you want to pay peanuts there are monkeys out there who will cater for you. Unfortunately some of those are merely flashing maps of questionable provenance that may or may not be suited to your car. So as well as coming out the other side with a car that is less optimally tuned, if you're really unlucky you could end up with a map that could damage your engine.

Yes, he undoubtedly would. You are indirectly paying for the amount of time it's taken for him to develop those base maps - thus reducing the amount of time taken to tune your specific car.

2010richmond

thanks for the replies

the license fee I did not know about which also seems pricey to be passing on each time for first tune. If thats how it's done for using the equipment then so be it.

The regularity of tunes is perhaps also another valid point but

not sure I follow the other arguments quite so well and still believe it is too costly in the end but we all have our own opinions.

I do consider more would opt for a tune if cheaper but I can clearly see there will be no gains from this thread

all the best.

dynamix

iTrader: (3)

Interesting thread.

Out of interest - how much would you think to be a fair rate ?

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

You could take into consideration the cost of an engine rebuild if your car isnt mapped, then the map seems an absolute bargain compared to a new engine

Tony

99greenwagon

iTrader: (39)

i agree,it is an expensive game,but although pricey,i understand why,and the results from map work are very satisfying and i personally thing worth every penny!

Cannon Fodder

iTrader: (100)

Just to throw in my 2 pence worth.

I work at a Volvo commercial vehicle main dealership and our retail labour rate is around £70 plus VAT per hour. If a truck or bus requires an engine ECU download/update/reprogramming then the technician will first interrogate the ECU, clear the fault memory, road test and then check for faults/errors/incorrect values or parameter failures.

If the ECU does require a new software file to be written for it then it is ordered online from the factory and the file is then sent to us within 2 hours and then uploaded to the vehicle by the technician.

Once uploaded the vehicle is then taken on road test and then rechecked either on the road by real time diagnostics by another technician or the fault memory is checked after the road test has finished.

The charges can be typically 2-4 hours labour (depending on how long spent on diagnostics and road testing) plus the new software file which can typically be £625 plus VAT, so a typical total charge might be between £775 to £925 plus VAT.

I think the charges made by professional full time mappers are quite reasonable when you compare them to the charges that I see quite often at work, try taking your car to a main dealership (I have a friend who works at a Renault car dealership and they charge £95 per hour plus VAT).

It is not just the time of the mapper that you are paying for, there are hidden costs such as licencing, development time, software, hardware and obviously the costs borne by the mapper in order to become an agent.

Sc0oby

remaps are basically paying for the tuner experience and its comparison as blowing up the engine from an inexprience tuning

daijones

After the first map with licence, Powerstation charge about £100 for subsequent remaps - pretty good value to my mind

Saint AAI

The companies springing up everywhere claiming to be mapping specialists for VAG, BMW etc.. that charge you £300+ for a "remap" annoy me. I'm not a fan of generic maps anyway, but charging that much to just flash your ECU?? Anyone can do that and calling themselves "tuners" de-values the real tuners out there. I'm happy to pay current prices for a custom map done by a pro on the rollers, live on the road or both. Least then you know you have something tailored to your car and your money is being spent on experience rather than some geek that's been on a two day course and is now an "expert", dispite knowing fack all about cars or engines.

bigsinky

As my old dad used to say " Son, they don't pay me for what I do, they pay me for what I know."

Go to any dyno tuner and it will be £100 per hour to tune on a dyno. The technical expertise required by a GOOD mapper is worth £100 per hour at least. Far to many fly by night mappers out there who will tune your car for £100 then walk away when your engine calves itself.

2010richmond

thanks again for replies chaps but I've read enough now I feel.