RaceChip unleashes true potential of the Kia Stinger GT (and future GTR)

[Kamauxx]

So just to be clear if you use any ECU upgrade(flash or piggyback)and something goes wrong with the engine Kia could see the extra power and void the warranty? I know it would be on Kia to prove a mod damaged the engine but that seems like proof if everything is recorded. Just trying to understand the facts and what options are possible without too much risk of losing the warranty. Any more incite is great appreciated.

That's if you modify the ECU (flash it). I think what Race Chip is saying is their piggyback doesn't alter the ECU.

 

[Kia Stinger]

If memory serves me well, I'm pretty sure warranties have been voided simply because of YouTube videos showing the car raced at a track. The reasoning behind the void was that the car wasn't intended for that kind of driving. I think the car was a Cadillac CTS-V but there have been others.

 

[StungBlueGT2]

That's if you modify the ECU (flash it). I think what Race Chip is saying is their piggyback doesn't alter the ECU.

Thanks and I do understand the RaceChip doesn’t directly alter the ECU since it’s a piggyback system.

However what Johnny is saying based on experience with diagnostic equipment, is any change to engine performance would be recorded. In theory, that could be used as proof in the event something went wrong with the engine. I’ve read that some Stinger owners with modded ECUs(Not RaceChips) had to bring their car to the dealer after spark plug issues. I’m wondering if Kia could see the extra boost and could void their warranty? Just trying to learn and appreciate the feedback.

 

[Euljiro1ga]

seems to me if there no pain, there no gain.

 

[Never thought]

So I did some reading on RaceChip. It seems kind of hit and miss. One individual saw zero gains (through dyno) with the most expensive RaceChip on his Mini Cooper. Others report better 0-60 times. Interestingly, I see no dyno charts on racechips website for the Stinger.

Also, if anything goes wrong with the engine the dealer will just blame RaceChip and you’ll have to fight it out.

I am very curious to see dynos from folks who put this on their Stinger. If it does what it claims, I may get one after I hit 100k miles

 

[ballistic]

So I did some reading on RaceChip. It seems kind of hit and miss. One individual saw zero gains (through dyno) with the most expensive RaceChip on his Mini Cooper. Others report better 0-60 times. Interestingly, I see no dyno charts on racechips website for the Stinger.

Also, if anything goes wrong with the engine the dealer will just blame RaceChip and you’ll have to fight it out.

I am very curious to see dynos from folks who put this on their Stinger. If it does what it claims, I may get one after I hit 100k miles

all but the cheapest racechip option come with a warranty for engine damage. the more expensive chip you buy, the higher the payout. i believe the top model comes with a $10k EUR warranty.

 

[Kamauxx]

So I did some reading on RaceChip. It seems kind of hit and miss. One individual saw zero gains (through dyno) with the most expensive RaceChip on his Mini Cooper. Others report better 0-60 times. Interestingly, I see no dyno charts on racechips website for the Stinger.

Also, if anything goes wrong with the engine the dealer will just blame RaceChip and you’ll have to fight it out.

I am very curious to see dynos from folks who put this on their Stinger. If it does what it claims, I may get one after I hit 100k miles

If it does what it says it will be the cheapest performance mod for the car, costing about 13-15 dollars per horsepower (compared to a K&N intake costing about 100 dollars per horsepower or a complete exhaust costing about 50 dollars per horsepower).

I'm glad there are a couple of Stinger heros willing to try it out for the rest of us. It may turn out to be the best go-fast mod we can buy.

 

[Never thought]

all but the cheapest racechip option come with a warranty for engine damage. the more expensive chip you buy, the higher the payout. i believe the top model comes with a $10k EUR warranty.

But how are you going to prove RaceChip caused the damage? I guarantee Kia will say RaceChip caused it and RaceChip will put it back on Kia. That’s a fight I don’t want to be involved in. That’s just a personal decision/opinion. Sorry for being a Debbie downer. I hope this is legit. If so, 50 hp and 133 tq is a lot. I could see 0-60 close to 4 seconds.

 

[AndyGT]

Interesting question that comes to my mind in that context: Does anybody know the costs for the worst case? Let‘s say you‘ve totally wracked your engine - how much would it cost to get a new one and let the dealership replace it?

 

[DaJackson]

If it does what it says it will be the cheapest performance mod for the car, costing about 13-15 dollars per horsepower (compared to a K&N intake costing about 100 dollars per horsepower or a complete exhaust costing about 50 dollars per horsepower).

What does this made up metric with made up variables have to do with anything?

If you trying to compare hp/$ on modifications you are missing the point of the mods you are buying.

 

[Kamauxx]

Interesting question that comes to my mind in that context: Does anybody know the costs for the worst case? Let‘s say you‘ve totally wracked your engine - how much would it cost to get a new one and let the dealership replace it?

Depending on what kind of damage you caused some of the parts will be able to be reused. The chances of you doing something to it that would require an entirely new engine are pretty slim.

 

[Kamauxx]

What does this made up metric with made up variables have to do with anything?

If you trying to compare hp/$ on modifications you are missing the point of the mods you are buying.

"That's nice."

Thanks @westcoastGT

 

[AndyGT]

On the german website RaceChip gives a 2-year warranty (up to 10.000 EUR) for the engine with the GTS Black (most expensive) modification. 2-years doesn‘t sound much to me considering that Kia gives 7 years on the whole car. It‘s obvious that you cannot install their modification on a car that‘s more than a year old.

Plus - the RaceChip warranty is limited to engine parts. The GTS Black adds 180 Newtonmeter torque (which is a plus of more than 35%) and if that wracks the transmission there is no warranty at all.

 

[Johnny]

So just to be clear if you use any ECU upgrade(flash or piggyback)and something goes wrong with the engine Kia could see the extra power and void the warranty? I know it would be on Kia to prove a mod damaged the engine but that seems like proof if everything is recorded. Just trying to understand the facts and what options are possible without too much risk of losing the warranty. Any more incite is great appreciated.

In Australia it goes both ways, the manufacturer must prove a mod caused the failure, and the consumer must also provide evidence it didn't to dispute the decline. I cannot comment on other countries. If you have a flash or piggyback tune and say you melt a piston or kick a rod out the side of the block, I think you'd be in trouble. Note however the likely hood of this happening nowadays would be extremely rare. I've really looked into RaceChip and I like what see, and they back it up warranty on the mechanical side of things also, however I need to investigate further if the Australian reseller is also providing this but if not, it's not a deal breaker for me.

 

[Johnny]

If memory serves me well, I'm pretty sure warranties have been voided simply because of YouTube videos showing the car raced at a track. The reasoning behind the void was that the car wasn't intended for that kind of driving. I think the car was a Cadillac CTS-V but there have been others.

If a manufacturer/dealer or insurer has concerns with the validity of a claim, I can obtain the data from the car which also has recorded latitude and longitude information, G forces, yaw reading etc etc etc. There is nowhere to hide in this day and age as I said before.

Edit:
Just to clarify, in Australia there is only a handful of people qualified and trained to get this information, and it costs thousands to employ them and only the newer cars have this - apologies in advance, I will not state from what year onwards this specific data is available from. It differs between manufacturers and also the requirements of the country the vehicle is sold in.

 

[Kazz]

(as opposed to other options that have no warranty at all)

 

[Aquadog]

Racechip mentioned that they are waiting to see how demand is for the 3.3 to see if they are willing to invest further into the 2.0. Hoping for the best. I am seriously considering purchasing the GTS black. They seemed to have a favorable return policy. 30 days should be long to figure out if I want to keep it or not.

Seem to have better get that in writing or you bought it .

 

[RaceChip]

I am reading a lot of statements. I’ll try to bring more light in this discussion while keeping the statements as short as possible.

Traceability:

Most modern cars save a lot of values for some time. Also, the changes that were done to the ECU (e.g. the number of flashs). RaceChip does not do any changes to the ECU. However, different sensor signals are saved. For real experts (and I am not talking about a dealer or mechanic, I am talking about a handful engineers at the headquarter that developed the eninge management) that deeply investigate the stored data, the saved values can be an indication that there has been a performance upgrade. No proof, but an indication. These values could also have been the result of many other causes. When you talk about the boost pressure: The ECU will not save the real boost pressure, but the boost pressure we tell the ECU. So this won’t be an indication.


Engine damage:

This is a very theoretical discussion, because the way we design our chips, there is no engine damage. In the worst case, you’ll get an check engine light (however most cases are a wrong installation: if you get it immediately after installation, the installation went wrong). We only provide an engine warranty in Europe, because there is no damage. Some people are afraid, so they are happy about the engine warranty. For the US, we first have to get to know the legislation and the knowledge how to prevent insurance scam before we can decide about an engine warranty.

Our engine warranty in Europe for cars that are max 5 years old and drove max 100,000 kilometers. This engine warranty is 2 years, because it is not Kia specific, it is for all brands.

The „Magnuson Moss Warranty Act“ says that the burden is on the dealer to prove the aftermarket parts caused the failure. So they can’t just blame another company. They have to proof it. Again, this is a theoretical discussion. The engine is built for much more power and a RaceChip is built to provide maximum safety.

Just look at the dyno diagrams. Most of the time you are driving at rpms below the rpms where you have maximum power. At this rpms you are below the max power, but have an incredible performance upgrade. This upgrade is in % even higher that at the max power. This is completely safe, because the car is designed for much more. Also at the rpms of max power, it is still save, because we still stay in the power reserves of the engine.

Sorry that I am repeating myself, but I can’t say it often enough: Your driving habits and skills are more relevant than a well-made performance upgrade.

If you want to be 100% safe, you should not tune you car at all. You should even think about not using your car, because this is not 100% safe (just look at the statistics of accidents). If you want the safest tuning method, go for RaceChip. It’s that simple.

 

[SEA Stinger]

What does this made up metric with made up variables have to do with anything?

If you trying to compare hp/$ on modifications you are missing the point of the mods you are buying.

@DaJackson, could you please explain what you mean about missing the point of buying mods and why it's not meaningful to use metrics like hp/$ to compare different mods?

 

[DaJackson]

@DaJackson, could you please explain what you mean about missing the point of buying mods and why it's not meaningful to use metrics like hp/$ to compare different mods?

Sure, if you are in a competition to build the highest peak HP car for the least amount of money the HP/$ is a very important metric. However I don’t think any of us are doing that.

When looking at power adding mods the peak HP gain is the “marketing number” but that’s only a small part of the power equation. How the entire HP and TQ line moves is important. If the peak HP moves by 20hp but only at 6k rpm then you’ll only see that increase in very rare situations. But another mod gives you 10hp through the entire power band where you will see it all the time. If they cost the same amount, which one is better? I say the 10hp mod but it doesn’t have the better “HP/$” metric.

Beyond HP, mods like an intake, exhaust are about more than just HP. Look at the number of posts about drone on exhausts, people care about the sound just as much if not more than the power increase. Intakes generally will improve throttle response as well as help other “air flow” mods (intake, turbo, downpipe, exhaust).

Then there are mods that don’t even add power but make the car faster. Suspension, tires, brakes.

Edit: One other example I forgot about, intercoolers. Once a good one is developed it will probabaly be about $1k and advertise 10-15 HP gains. Has a terrible HP/$ metric but will be vital for anyone that wants peak HP after more than 5min of running hard in 80+ degree temps. It’s not a mod about making power it’s about retaining power.

Again my point was that trying to use HP/$ is pointless, even more so when the HP and $ numbers used aren’t right.