Hi I am Rick, I am a New Kia Stinger Owner ,So far I love the car!!

[CHUPAPI]

Hi Everyone,

Just joined the forum to learn more about the community of the Stinger owners. I recently purchased a 2019 Kia Stinger GT. I am looking forward to learn about others experiences and opinions of the Stinger. I am also looking forward to adding some tasteful mods to the car. I been working for Kia HQ Corp for the last 30 years having numerous positions. I am looking forward to see what private companies have developed for this great platform. Although I am not a kid anymore, deep in my heart I am a true car enthusiast.

 

[Jimmer]

Congrats and welcome!

 

[CHUPAPI]

Thank You, this forum seems like a great community.

 

[BlueBrick]

Wow, this is a very interesting post, you have some very nice cars.

Living in Southern California what made you choose an AWD model over the RWD one? I'm just curious as I also bought the AWD model in a warm climate.

I assume you previously had a Kia(s) before the Stinger, if so what model most recently?

Welcome to the forum, I look forward to hearing your opinions on the Stinger and Kia in general.

 

[CHUPAPI]

Wow, this is a very interesting post, you have some very nice cars.

Living in Southern California what made you choose an AWD model over the RWD one? I'm just curious as I also bought the AWD model in a warm climate.

I assume you previously had a Kia(s) before the Stinger, if so what model most recently?

Welcome to the forum, I look forward to hearing your opinions on the Stinger and Kia in general.

I choose the AWD due to personal preference and wanting to test the limits of Kia AWD system on the Stinger. On AWD cars thats usually the weak link when pushing higher horsepower than the car was designed for. I own a couple RWD cars that me and my son use for autocross and circuit events. We currently have 2 project cars a Nissan S14 with RB motor swap and a 1987 Toyota A86 with a 1JZ swap engine. Both cars are fully built and restored.

Believe it or not this is actually the first Kia I have personally owned. Working for Kia for 30 years I have driven many Kia models that the company have handed to me to test. All these are long testing periods for usually three months to a six months free of charge. So technically they were company cars, but I owned/borrowed them for those periods of time. After being involved in some development and testing on the Stinger prior to its release to the market, I decided to buy one.

Kia has come a long way since 15 years ago in terms of quality and reliability. My goal for the Stinger is to modify it to see its power limits/potential. This is the reason why I bough one instead of using a company car for testing. This is the main reason why I joined this forum to learn about what private companies have develop so far for the platform.

 

[MerlintheMad]

On AWD cars thats usually the weak link when pushing higher horsepower than the car was designed for.

Welcome. Your background makes you a very interesting fellow here, no doubt.

How much more horsepower are you going to add to your Stinger to test the limits of the AWD?

 

[TwistedOrca]

Yep, good group here....another fellow AWD, Welcome.

 

[CHUPAPI]

Welcome. Your background makes you a very interesting fellow here, no doubt.

How much more horsepower are you going to add to your Stinger to test the limits of the AWD?

I don't have an end goal yet as far as horsepower. The Stinger being a new platform, so I am not sure how much aftermarket support there is at the moment. I am looking to start with the smaller modifications first, then working my way to more serious modifications. I personally don't have any plans to develop any custom performance parts or work with any companies to fabricate custom parts like I done in the past for other vehicles I have owned. I want to test what private companies are offering for the general market. I am looking to start with bolt on modifications, the basics first like intake, exhaust, intercooler, suspension components etc. Then move to ecu tune, bigger turbos and fuel system upgrades. My goal is to find out what is the maximum horsepower I can make reliably on the Stinger without building the engine or upgrading the transmission.

You know where I can find more information on performance parts? Any thoughts?

 

[MerlintheMad]

You know where I can find more information on performance parts? Any thoughts?

This place. I wouldn't have a clue otherwise. My mods are even more modest than your beginnings. But I do like to read what people are trying out. You should be a good addition to that crowd.

 

[eflyguy]

I chose AWD because it's better. There's a good reason many of the highest performance cars are AWD, and I had owned a (far more modest) AWD sporty car in the past.

If I was going to be out on a track every weekend it would be a lot of fun to throw a RWD car around, but I can still break either or both ends of my AWD loose on-demand and the more neutral balance and absolute increase in traction make the AWD platform a lot more fun for me.

I have an ECU tune that I would wholeheartedly recommend. I also have another modification coming that I hope will provide further straight-line improvements, which is where most of my "racing" will be. You'll find my autocross videos here from this past weekend - I'd much prefer spending a day enjoying the "mountain" roads in North GA/TN/NC - which are similar to what you have access to in CA.

 

[robz32]

Hi Rick,

Welcome aboard and congratulations! You have, what I call in my book, a badass job, testing new cars and giving feedback to the manfacturer. Something I definitely would like to experience and do.

As far as bolt on modifications go, there are a some available and the market keeps growing day by day as more companies start taking the Stinger as a serious contender to other stablished brands.

There is a lot of information on this forum about brands and companies that have aftermarket support for our platform. Some brands worth looking into are Jonny Tig Industires (intake and intercooler), Burger Motorsports (JB4 piggyback), Eibach ARK H&R (suspension components), TubiStyle-ARK-JUN BL (exhaust system) Pressertech-Tork Motorsports-LAP 3(ECU tunes)

Those are all that come to mind at the moment, Im sure I am missing some but that should get you started.

 

[CHUPAPI]

I chose AWD because it's better. There's a good reason many of the highest performance cars are AWD, and I had owned a (far more modest) AWD sporty car in the past.

If I was going to be out on a track every weekend it would be a lot of fun to throw a RWD car around, but I can still break either or both ends of my AWD loose on-demand and the more neutral balance and absolute increase in traction make the AWD platform a lot more fun for me.

I have an ECU tune that I would wholeheartedly recommend. I also have another modification coming that I hope will provide further straight-line improvements, which is where most of my "racing" will be. You'll find my autocross videos here from this past weekend - I'd much prefer spending a day enjoying the "mountain" roads in North GA/TN/NC - which are similar to what you have access to in CA.

I agree, it's not coincidence why most of the vehicles I own are AWD. Just curious can you share who tuned your car and your thoughts on the tune? Would be interested in listening to your opinion.

 

[eflyguy]

I agree, it's not coincidence why most of the vehicles I own are AWD. Just curious can you share who tuned your car and your thoughts on the tune? Would be interested in listening to your opinion.

PRESSERtech tune review

https://www.pressertech.com/blog/kia-stinger-performance-tune/

https://www.facebook.com/pressertech/

 

[CHUPAPI]

Hi Rick,

Welcome aboard and congratulations! You have, what I call in my book, a badass job, testing new cars and giving feedback to the manfacturer. Something I definitely would like to experience and do.

As far as bolt on modifications go there are a some available and the market keeps growing day by day as more companies start taking the Stinger as a serious contender to other stablished brands.

There is a lot of information on this forum about brands and companies that have aftermarket support for our platform. Some brands worth looking into are Jonny Tig Industires (intake and intercooler), Burger Motorsports (JB4 piggyback), Eibach ARK H&R (suspension components), TubiStyle-ARK-JUN BL (exhaust system) Pressertech-Tork Motorsports-LAP 3(ECU tunes)

Those are all that come to mind at the moment, I'm sure I am missing some but that should get you started.

Thank You for your kind words. I am blessed to have the opportunities and experiences I have had. Kia is an amazing company to work for. I will make sure I look at the companies/products you mentioned.

I will give you some inside information without getting myself in trouble. Kia actually developed a R-Spec version of the Kia Stinger GT, which is pretty much a Kia Stinger GT that is more track oriented. It had upgraded suspension components for better handling and increased horsepower. This performance package is still in the works and has a high chance of being released for the 2020-2021 Kia Stinger GT models. Now I can't get into specific details of course, but Kia is going to be very aggressive in competing with the German cars as far as performance goes.

 

[robz32]

WOW!!!....that is amazing news, that will definitely be the cherry on top that will catapult the platform to the top of the boards.

If the current version got the press talking about the brand, in a good way, and it gained Kia quiet a few awards, I can only imagine what the R-spec will do for the brand if released.

 

[CHUPAPI]

WOW!!!....that is amazing news, that will definitely be the cherry on top that will catapult the platform to the top of the boards.

If the current version got the press talking about the brand, in a good way, and it gained Kia quiet a few awards, I can only imagine what the R-spec will do for the brand if released.

The Kia Stinger GT will be Kia flagship car, similar to how the GTR is with Nissan. Now I am not implying that the Stinger will be at a super-car level, but it will be able to compete with the BMW M performance, Audi S performance and Mercedes AMG performance German vehicles for a fraction of the price. I own a GTR and I will tell you this much, the GTR is an engineering masterpiece. Kia has seen all the positive feedback on the Stinger from consumers, and the market has responded well to the Stinger. The good news is that Kia Racing department will be pushing/developing the Stinger platform.

 

[CHUPAPI]

@eflyguy Excellent review!

Just curious have you been able to dyno the car? Have you had a chance to do any track events(Circuit ,Drag racing)? Do you know what the 1/4 time is on the car now with the tune? Since having the tune any issues?

My apologies for all the questions but I am curious to know.

 

[robz32]

One of the main road blocks tuners have found with the Stinger is that the encryption on the ECU is proving to be tough to crack and there are still areas of the ECU that the tuners have not been able to access, areas we know will help the Stinger achieve a great time at the track.

Also there is a handfull of tuners that are actively working on cracking the ECU so development is slow.

 

[Lay]

Welcome to the family! Glad to have you with us. Definitely a great perspective to have with us and hopefully it can lead to more goodies for the Stinger.

 

[CHUPAPI]

One of the main road blocks tuners have found with the Stinger is that the encryption on the ECU is proving to be tough to crack and there are still areas of the ECU that the tuners have not been able to access, areas we know will help the Stinger achieve a great time at the track.

Also there is a handfull of tuners that are actively working on cracking the ECU so development is slow.

I am impressed they been able to crack the ecu considering the Stinger is a new vehicle, and has not been on the market for long. The Stinger ECU is extremely complex. Without the proper resources and knowledge it will be very difficult for smaller tuning companies to maximize the ecu tunes. Not saying they wont be able, but it will take time and a lot of R&D. I suspect that most of the ecu tunes are changing basic parameters like boost, timing and AFR to make more power. I will take an educated guess that no one has developed any TCU tuning for the transmission yet.