6-speed GTI Stage 1 experiences?

[Mr. Higgins]

Has anyone chip tuned their MK8 GTI? I'd really like to hear your thoughts. I'm considering getting stage 1 on mine once it arrives, but no one likes to be the first man out of the trench. I'd specifically like to hear what brands folks think are the best and whether the stock clutch is good enough under normal driving.

 

[bentin]

The stock clutch can survive, for a while, if you don't do hard starts or rev from low rpm in high gears. I'm still waiting for Cobb to get the AP Tuner working on the Mk8 so I can use EQT, or for APR to get their at home option working. But plenty of folks have had good results with APR and Unitronic already. I'd strongly recommend doing an intercooler either at the same time as tuning or first, the stock one is really deficient and will already be cutting power on a stock car in hot weather or hard driving.

I ran a stage one tune on my Mk7.5 GTI for 20k miles on the stock clutch with no issues, but didn't track it. I have a friend who's run the Neuspeed module on two GTIs with no issues, it's not nearly as much power as a good stage one tune, but it's still a decent improvement from stock.

 

[bluekid99]

ran my mk8 with uni low torque on stock clutch for awhile....about 5k miles no issues...i went with sb stage 3 daily and went 1+...absolutely love it...not a single issue

 

[Mr. Higgins]

Thanks for the replies. I'm almost certain that I'll be getting an APR stage 1 tune with everything else remaining stock. I'll ask the shop which torque mode they recommend. Looking forward to hearing any other comments in the meantime...

 

[bentin]

Thanks for the replies. I'm almost certain that I'll be getting an APR stage 1 tune with everything else remaining stock. I'll ask the shop which torque mode they recommend. Looking forward to hearing any other comments in the meantime...

Do an intercooler. Anything is better than stock. You can find stock location ones for around $600, even the do88 is "only" $826. Seeing you're in NM reminds of a funny turbo charged story, years ago, a friend of mine had a B5 S4 Avant (he still has it) when I had my M Coupe. It wasn't a fair fight in lower elevations, or even in Santa Fe (where my parent's live) but one time we both headed up to the ski area and the further up we got, the bigger his advantage became, once we got past the ranger station, he could pull on me at will. In totally unrelated news, I've been pulled over by those rangers a shocking number of times.

 

[Mr. Higgins]

Great story, bentin -- glad to hear about another NM connection. I live in Cedar Crest, at the bottom of the road that goes up to Sandia Ski Area. It's a hell of a road to rip up!

How much do you estimate the labor is on the intercooler?

 

[bentin]

I've got to move my dad out of Cochiti Lake down to your area soon. If I can free up a little time, I'd help you with it, it's not that hard if you have jack stands and a jack and somewhere clean to move your front bumper for a few hours. I could even throw jacks and jack stands in my car on the way out. It's really not a bad job. I need to throw one in my car too, so I can practice that first. I had a FMIC on my Mk7.5 GTI.

 

[Mr. Higgins]

Hit me up when you're in town. My mechanical skills are non-existant, however...

 

[TwoBlueGTI]

Unitronic stage 1 with turbo inlet and inlet hose as well as a modified air box. Under 6k miles and no issues with clutch, but then Im not out there making WOT pulls every day
Also had a stage 1 on my 2019 GLI and put 25k miles on it before trading in for GTI

 

[GTIfan99]

The mk8 GTI uses the mk7 R clutch, so with just fwd to deal with, it should hold up fine.

034 is pushing high torque stg 1 tunes for mk8 GTI and are saying they're not seeing any issues.