Torquing BHP GTG

[gotamerc]

I just did a search on google for celtic tuning and found several forums praising their remaps so it would appear they are an ok company, couldnt find anything negative about them anyway. I will give em a ring shortly and ask how many mercedes they have remapped.

 

[stats007]

Their website seems very low-budget - I'm also a bit concerned about their rather simplified quote:

The more torque you have the faster the wheels will turn and therefore accelerate.

also:

How will the remap affect my warranty?

The modification to the map is undetectable by main dealer diagnostic equipment and therefore unless you tell them that it has been done, they will be none the wiser so your warranty will be unaffected.

and a slight contradiction:

Can it be reversed?

The beauty of the remap is that this process is completely reversible without any trace, therefore if within 14 days you want it changed back, we will carry it out free of charge with a full refund. If after 14 days you wish to reverse it then there is no charge for the process but NO REFUND will be given unless there is any specific issue.

What if I want to sell my car?

If you wish to sell the car with the map on then no problem, if you wish to have it reversed back to standard after a period of time then again no problem, we charge £50 to reverse the map back to standard.

and finally:

What warranty do you give?

As we change nothing on your car other than a software map, there is nothing for us to give a warranty on. If for some obscure reason you suffer a problem, we will do our utmost to help you including returning your car to standard for any testing.

 

[gotamerc]

Had a nice chat with Graham at Celtic Tuning who assures me they have remapped many different models of mercedes and never had any problems/complaints. He explained the procedure for remapping my E320 and was clearly very knowledgeable. Having now spoken with DMS, Torquing BHP and Celtic Tuning I have to say Celtic Tuning wins for me. DMS have admitted they are having problems with the new V6 remaps at the moment yet they are the most expensive (Nice adverts though), BHP are the only company of the three who cannot offer a mobile remap for my vehicle, they are also more expensive than Celtic even taking into account the 10% discount. Celtic like the others are recommended on other forums, they are fully mobile and they are the cheapest of the three.

 

[stats007]

With regards to Torquing BHP it's not a case of not being able to offer a mobile service - it's a case of they won't because of the risks involved. If Celtic Tuning fry your ECU because they're not in the correct environment for doing it (I've seen some remaps done in the rain) - you can be sure they won't be paying for a new one. Have you asked for a VAT and company registration number? They appear to have neither - also only a single mobile number for contact.

If you go ahead with them I'd be interested in the results - maybe they are a bargain but from experience I'd say they were too cheap.

 

[gotamerc]

I will let you know the results once the work is complete, I do not believe there to be any risk with regard to frying the ECU, I am an ex field sevice engineer and spent many years fault finding and repairing to component level in all types of environments (mainly offshore and often in the rain) in this time I never came across anyone who had damaged any electrical component through static electricity, as field engineers we used to keep car loads of electronic bits n pieces in various boxes and it was often those processors that you found floating arount in your glove box or at the bottom of your toolkit that would get you out of trouble, you might have to straighten the legs before you could solder em in but they still worked! The remap itself will be a piece of cake simply unplug the ECU fit into whatever portable jig they have made up and reprogramme, he will no doubt drag it on a bit and make the job last longer to justify the cost but the reality is that it probably only takes half an hour to do and there will be no parts to supply its only his time(at the end of the day its just a firmware update) my only concern is with the quality of the data in the map itself this can obviously vary from one company to another depending on the skill of the initial programmer.

At the end of the day you pay your money you take your chances I am happy to be the guniea pig on this one and I will report back the results as soon as.

 

[stats007]

Fair points - though I have seen some Superchip installers with an unwieldy soldering iron! ROM flashes I do on a daily basis and occassionally the unit is rendered useless - maybe unlikely in a remap but there's always that chance.

Hopefully you'll report back favourably - though diesel tuning is easier to obtain results from being turbocharged - I'd like to hear what they can achieve with NA Mercedes.

 

[gotamerc]

Fortunately there will not be any need for soldering with the remap, if there was then I would not be doing it without first visiting the premises and watching them in action (seen to many so called engineers who dont even understand the basics of soldering) it is also very easy to damage a chip with a soldering iron.

I should be getting a phone call today advising of when they can visit so I will keep you posted.

 

[stats007]

Some of the cars in this thread require the use of a soldering iron (early 500SLs for example) - hence they were required to go to Cambridge.

 

[gotamerc]

Hmmm I wonder why they would need to solder? Surely the ECU is not soldered directly onto the board?

 

[stats007]

From memory some are soldered into the socket on the board - they take these out and replace with a piggy back chip - that's what I've witnessed with a Superchip installation anyway.

 

[gotamerc]

Well no phone call from celtic tuning so I rang them late wednesday and had to leave a message on their answerphone, no phone call from them today either... beginning to think they dont want the business afterall.... not sure what to do now, I hate chasing people especially if I am the customer, they should be chasing me!!!

 

[stats007]

I haven't heard from them in the last few days either - I contacted them out of interest as you obviously know your stuff - maybe they're living up to their websites image?

 

[gotamerc]

I haven't heard from them in the last few days either - I contacted them out of interest as you obviously know your stuff - maybe they're living up to their websites image?

Trouble is now though it only leaves DMS and Torquing BHP both of which I have spoken to at length and dismissed for one reason or another.

 

[stats007]

There are countless tuners out there - it's finding decent ones that's hard! On what count(s) did you dismiss Torquing BHP?

 

[jdrrco]

Trouble is now though it only leaves DMS and Torquing BHP both of which I have spoken to at length and dismissed for one reason or another.

I found sending an email saying I'd not heard back got Celtic moving. By the sound of things, they are just really busy with jobs, which is probably a good sign.

Personally, I don't care what their website looks like as it's not a website designer I'm after, but they have a load of recommendations on the 'net and no-one has posted anything complaining from what I've seen.

 

[stats007]

Websites give a good indication of how a company is run - whilst it isn't everything, I like to know I'm dealing with a company that is professional and has a future. If you go to the trouble creating one and offering contact via that means then it should be reliable. I haven't seen that many recommendations for them outside of the VAG diesel community.

On the flip side I've had regular email and telephone contact from Torquing BHP who have at least worked on some members' cars.

 

[gotamerc]

Maybe I will email Celtic and give em one last chance.

There are countless tuners out there - it's finding decent ones that's hard! On what count(s) did you dismiss Torquing BHP?

I dismissed Torqing BHP simply because I asked how there product/service compared to DMS who we all know have a fantastic reputation and have had many a good write up in magazines and on the internet. I was expecting them to say they offer a similar product but at a more competitive price blah blah but instead the guy slagged them off basically he said 'off the record DMS are crap and he has had to put right customers cars that DMS have messed up' now considering how long DMS have been around and the fact that all there work is garanteed I found this hard to belive and my gut instinct was 'this guy is full of 5hit' sorry but thats how I felt at the time, I asked Mike @ DMS the same question and he just responded with 'I don't know I have never heard of Torqing BHP' fair enough I thought I then asked Celtic the same question and they said 'DMS have been around for years and are very good, Torquing BHP he did not that well as he said he did not think they had not been going for very long where as he and DMS had been tuning for years.

Im starting to waffle now so ill shut up in a mo, in a nutshell DMS and Celtic just tried to sell & explain their service whilst Torquing BHP just tried to slag off the competition which I didnt like.

Hope all that made sense.

 

[stats007]

I found the complete opposite - Darryl @ Torquing BHP specifically stated he didn't like comparing themselves to others - he acknowledged DMS' reputation but mentioned he'd had two cars in that they had had issues with. Celtic were much the same though they did offer their opinion on exactly how DMS got started . Graham tried DMS but had no joy and I don't think he'd recommend them.

 

[GrahamC230K]

I asked Torquing BHP about DMS and regarding a comparison between them he said "Pepsi and Coke".

 

[gotamerc]

What we need is three identical cars send one to each company then afterwards have a race