Subaru WRX Forum banner

Ap Vs. Open Source?

5K views 25 replies 10 participants last post by  dumdum 
#1 ·
Which do you perfer?
 
#2 ·
AP because I have it. Sorry, that was a little biased. If you're just starting out in the modding process, it's a good option because you can do it yourself easily and it'll get you through Stage 1 and Stage 2 with reliability. After Stage 2, it's a whole different ball game... sort of... because you can still follow AP maps exactly and upgrade a little more, but most people take different routes.
 
#3 ·
It all depends on what you are capable of, or want to learn, or even spend. Both are nice. Im with man show just becuase I own one and have been running it since i had the car. Search them both, they have been discussed thoruoghly, see which suites you the most.
 
#5 ·
AP's are extremely easy to sell used for $500+ so keep that in mind too. If you don't like it and want to go open source, it's not really as costly as throwing it away. It's a lot more than a flashing device.
 
#6 ·
Open source is a better tune if you don't plan on making a lot of changes...it is a more custom tune for your car but not something you want to keep redoing everything other month....the AP is great for it's plug and play maps and ease of use. The EM you choose should fit what you are going to do with the car...if you are about done modding then Open Source is the way to go for sure..if you are not UTEC or AP is the way to go because you can retune them a 100 times without any issue or concern of frying your ECU.
 
#9 ·
I believe you may be mistaken about Open Source. ECUtek is one of the open source versions but not the best. In my opinion ROMraider is a better option. ECUtek can fry an ECU in a heartbeat whereas ROMraider is similar to AP in that you can flash hundreds of time without a problem. Personally, I've flashed my car about 50 with it and still haven't had a problem. Reason ECUtek causes issues if I'm not mistaken is that it locks the ECU and can only be modified by someone with the proper hardware/software. Any other attempt can cause ECU failure. ECUtek IMO is NOT Open Source.

Cost on the ROMraider is cheap if you already have a laptop. All it will run is around $75 for a cable set and up to $150 for a tune. The software is all free, and you can modify the tunes if you feel comfortable.
 
#10 ·
I believe you may be mistaken about Open Source. ECUtek is one of the open source versions but not the best. In my opinion ROMraider is a better option. ECUtek can fry an ECU in a heartbeat whereas ROMraider is similar to AP in that you can flash hundreds of time without a problem. Personally, I've flashed my car about 50 with it and still haven't had a problem. Reason ECUtek causes issues if I'm not mistaken is that it locks the ECU and can only be modified by someone with the proper hardware/software. Any other attempt can cause ECU failure. ECUtek IMO is NOT Open Source.

Cost on the ROMraider is cheap if you already have a laptop. All it will run is around $75 for a cable set and up to $150 for a tune. The software is all free, and you can modify the tunes if you feel comfortable.

That is true..ECUtek does lock the ECU....Open Source is just a hacked version of ECUtek..they are exactly the same tuning tool...however I never thought that the reason ECUtek killed ECU's was because of it being locked...that is something I might just have to look into further.

I haven't ever used ROMraider...it is a similar program?
 
#11 ·
Head over to RomRaider - Open Source ECU Tools | RomRaider / Rom Raider and check it out. I've had only good experiences with it. Had a UTEC, hated it since it was quite costly for a tune and I couldn't really figure out the tuning. ROMraider, I can actually see the 3D maps and change any value I need to. Also, it has a listing of all the CELs possible for the car and you can select certain ones not to show up or even register as an issue.
 
#21 ·
Most of the gains are in the low end torque, not peak. The other major gains are a much much smoother power band with a less severe break between open loop and closed loop fueling. The engine will run better, it'll even get a little better gas mileage when you keep your foot off of it (but a little worse when you use the petal more liberally).
 
#22 ·
I went to the cobb website and understand a little more now. Thanks for the words of advise. Now I just gotta figure out a little but about open source.I am completely dumb about computer tuning right now.I will learn by reading though.Well gotta go research thanks again.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top