Newbie question about remaps and tcu

[Scottie-gti]

Iv searched around but can’t really find an answer to this question, but does having a mapped car and tcu map wear out the engine and gearbox faster than not having them installed on the car if that makes sense? Sorry it sounds daft I’ve never had a remapped car but have been thinking about it and seen a lot of talk about remaps on the forum , I have a DSG , and from my understanding after reading quite a bit, the DSG is stronger than the manual gearbox? After having a remap and tcu tune do you have do more frequent oil changes and servicing? Like is the maintenance increased from the standard service intervals?

[Exonian]

Short answer - yes, to a degree.

I’ve had a good few cars remapped over the decades, both petrol and Diesel.
I didn’t remap for boy racer purposes either, just improved driveability in the mid-range, so didn’t go chasing big numbers.
The degree of extra wear will depend on how hard you drive the vehicle obviously, but even driven sensibly the nature of remapping will lead to at least a degree of extra wear.
The turbo boost will be increased from the get go so a little bit of extra pressure on the bearings plus the various valves that regulate the amount of boost going in to the engine is a given.
A sympathetic driving style and using the best oils will minimise any extra wear and ensuring the oil is up to temperature is essential if you’re going to be making the best of the extra performance.

The manual gearbox itself isn’t a weak point but the OEM clutches aren’t up to taking on extra load, even when new the manual clutches could be borderline on a standard engine.

If keeping a tuned car longer term then extra oil changes would be a wise investment.

[Scottie-gti]

Short answer - yes, to a degree.

I’ve had a good few cars remapped over the decades, both petrol and Diesel.
I didn’t remap for boy racer purposes either, just improved driveability in the mid-range, so didn’t go chasing big numbers.
The degree of extra wear will depend on how hard you drive the vehicle obviously, but even driven sensibly the nature of remapping will lead to at least a degree of extra wear.
The turbo boost will be increased from the get go so a little bit of extra pressure on the bearings plus the various valves that regulate the amount of boost going in to the engine is a given.
A sympathetic driving style and using the best oils will minimise any extra wear and ensuring the oil is up to temperature is essential if you’re going to be making the best of the extra performance.

The manual gearbox itself isn’t a weak point but the OEM clutches aren’t up to taking on extra load, even when new the manual clutches could be borderline on a standard engine.

If keeping a tuned car longer term then extra oil changes would be a wise investment.

Thanks for the information Exonian 👍🏻

[Jace]

Regular maintenance & using quality parts/liquids ,that's the key to a long life when owning a tuned car.

& of course having some mechanical sympathy helps too.