[purekoryo]

So with all the incidents of our cars over heating after a tune, I’m wondering if anyone has a softronic tune with the same issue, even with the third radiator or a GTS? I know catalytic converters is a big factor so also point out which one you have (or not have at all).

The reason why I ask about softronic is that the tuner, Scott, has been tuning Porsche’s for almost 30 years and have been involved with specifically tuning track cars.

I realize that the stock intercooler and overall cooling system is the biggest factor, and tuning compounds the issue due to increased boost/timing and overall higher combustion energy/heat, but curious to see if each tuners’ (APR, COBB, FVD, etc.) unique calibration is also a factor.

 

[Lostpilot28]

I'll be in the market for a tune within a few months...hopefully less. What does the Softronic tune make for hp/tq for a base model Cayman?

 

[xhyphenx]

I have a Fabspeed sport cat, and an accompanying tune by Fabspeed. I did a drive in the hills / mountains of Northern California this weekend (Downieville), and was in the twisties for about 45 mins to an hour with the outside temps hitting 94-98 degrees. The highest I saw the engine temp was around 214 degrees. For the most part it was consistent around 206-207 degrees and would fluctuate to 210 every now and then.

Now this wasn't track conditions, but there was a lot down shifting and accelerating going on.

 

[Lostpilot28]

Any chance someone has more experience yet with the Softronic tune? I'm getting really close to pulling the trigger, but don't want to swap the whole ECU (APR), and the Cobb seems to have lower HP/TQ gains than APR and Softronic (plus it's a bit more money).

Softronic seems to be the better choice of the 3...but perhaps there's something I'm not considering? What are the reasons that people are going with APR, Cobb or Softronic?

 

[vosadrian]

You don't have to swap the whole ECU with APR????

 

[DJB]

You do not need to swap the ECU with APR, where did you run across that??

IMO, if you do your research you will see APR appears to have spent WAY more time on the tune for the 718 and based on what I have read has the best understanding of this new ECU and its engine protection strategies. Did you see the instrumentation they used while tuning their 718 mule? If I were to go for a tune it would be APR without a doubt.

 

[vosadrian]

I think that may be a hangover from when you needed to send your ECU to them a year ago for unlocking. APR were the first to tune without ECU removal (before Cobb and Softronic). You can now tune APR via OBD without ECU removal unless you have a ECU box code they have not done yet (like me!!). In that case you do need to send the ECU to APR to be read. Once they have a read of the ECU it can then be tuned like others via OBD.

 

[[email protected]]

Neither COBB or APR require the ECU to come out. COBB is tuned more conservatively but you can have a Pro-tuner (like us) tune your 718 to suite your needs.

Any chance someone has more experience yet with the Softronic tune? I'm getting really close to pulling the trigger, but don't want to swap the whole ECU (APR), and the Cobb seems to have lower HP/TQ gains than APR and Softronic (plus it's a bit more money).

Softronic seems to be the better choice of the 3...but perhaps there's something I'm not considering? What are the reasons that people are going with APR, Cobb or Softronic?

 

[Lostpilot28]

My misunderstanding! I was reading another post where someone was referencing pulling the ECU to send it to APR. I didn't see anything after that about how it changed. That's great to hear, though...it puts APR back in the running for me.

So how do you apply the APR tune? Do they have a small handheld unit to do this? Or is it done with a special cable and laptop?

 

[[email protected]]

We're a COBB dealer and Pro-tuner so I can't really comment on the APR installation process but lots of folks on here are using APR.

In terms of COBB installation; you place the order with use and we send you the Accessport. Then you connect it to your diagnostic port and reflash the car in ~10 minutes. From there we can work with you on custom tuning for your specific needs, fuel, etc.. Or you can just use one of COBB's reliable off the shelf maps.

My misunderstanding! I was reading another post where someone was referencing pulling the ECU to send it to APR. I didn't see anything after that about how it changed. That's great to hear, though...it puts APR back in the running for me.

So how do you apply the APR tune? Do they have a small handheld unit to do this? Or is it done with a special cable and laptop?

 

[Grozk17]

Do you do the custom tunes remotely or must one be on site?

 

[[email protected]]

We do both. We dyno tune here, customers fly us out for in person tuning at their location and we e-tune cars all over the world.

Here's a link with a bit more info on the tuning we offer:

COBB AccessPort Tuning

Arcflash LLC is an authorized COBB Pro-Tuner for BMW Ford Mitsubishi Porsche Subaru Volkswagen We can tune your car at our dyno facility or remotely anywhere in the world. At our facility the first thing we do is rack your vehicle and do a pre-dyno inspection to make sure everything is in...

www.arcflashllc.com

If you have any questions just let me know.

Joshua

Do you do the custom tunes remotely or must one be on site?

 

[vosadrian]

For the APR tune you need to attend an APR dealer with the car. They connect a laptop to the OBD port and apply the tune to the car in about 10 minutes. There is no custom tuning available with APR, but it seems to be as good as any custom tunes for most people. If you want to remove the tune (warranty claim??) you need to go back to the dealer to have it removed.

APR is set and forget. Cobb is better if you want to tinker with it yourself. Softronic is kind of like APR, but you can apply it yourself with your laptop (and remove it if required). In base off the shelf map form, APR is king... probably followed by softronic and then Cobb. Cobb with pro tuning should approach APR. Don't think custom tuning is an option for Softronic.

For me, if Cobb had off the shelf maps closer to APR, I would be all over it, but pro tuning adds a lot of cost and hassle for me, so APR is my preferred choice, but currently they do not have a read on my ECU box code, so can't do it. If they can't sort that, I will get the Cobb.

 

[Lostpilot28]

Vosadrian, thanks for that. So add a round trip driving session to apply the APR tune? That's insane...I like the mail-in-your-ECU idea better.

The Softronic dyno shows very good hp/tq gains, and with the ability to flash it myself, that's probably the direction I'll go. Cobb handheld would be great, but they don't seem to make the same gains...and they're expensive.

 

[vosadrian]

Certainly APR is not really an option if you have no dealer close to you. I have about 5 within 30 minutes drive so suits me. I think you could mail your ECU to them still, but that is not normal MO these days.

I think the jury is out on the gains of Softronic. A few on here have gotten them and been happy, but no dynos or acceleration times have been posted... just car feel. I suspect it is somewhere between Cobb and APR in terms of gains. An early thread from one Softronic user reported that Softronic thought the S and GTS were the same engine and applied the same tune to both was a bit concerning, as there are changes to intake manifold and turbo which should make the tune different. But I am sure they have that worked out by now.

 

[b-grif]

I'll have the Softronic tune installed in January, and can report back to this thread on what I found. I also talked to Scott and he seemed legit. He had a lot of good info regarding dyno number projections, and how they're done. I had a Cobb tune on the car before so I can give the comparison here

 

[Grozk17]

We are waiting for your insight....

 

[b-grif]

So I got the tune installed today. It's definitely more low-tech feeling than installing a Cobb tune. You have this piece of hardware that feels like it's from 1985, and software that might be from the 90s; and you have to email a file back and forth with Softronic. But, this tune absolutely cranks. Holy fuck, they claim 430hp on their site and I believe them. It's not even comparable to the Cobb tune, it's really fast. This feels like a completely different car.

Track day is the 30th, so I'll update on the limp mode issue after that; but thought I'd give some thoughts on the tune itself first.

 

[RadioZero]

🤞 Hope this is a fix!

 

[faizaan2000]

So I got the tune installed today. It's definitely more low-tech feeling than installing a Cobb tune. You have this piece of hardware that feels like it's from 1985, and software that might be from the 90s; and you have to email a file back and forth with Softronic. But, this tune absolutely cranks. Holy fuck, they claim 430hp on their site and I believe them. It's not even comparable to the Cobb tune, it's really fast. This feels like a completely different car.

Track day is the 30th, so I'll update on the limp mode issue after that; but thought I'd give some thoughts on the tune itself first.

Awesome, thanks for the update, will probably go this route after hearing how it goes on track.