Cobb AP stage 1 to stage 2 review AP owners respond
 

Hey guys,
So I recently swapped out my heavy, thick and restrictive stock cat with a HFC. I then switched up my Cobb AP from stage 1 to stage 2. Overall the car runs better, much better throttle response, but refined in normal mode. In sport mode, the car really livens up and its here where you can see the most tangible gains when moving from stage 1 to stage 2. Although I am happy with the new map, I have encountered something a little odd. The boost targets for stage 2 maps is 20psi tapered to 13. Stage 1 93 is 18.5 to 13. For some reason, I rarely exceed 16psi on the stage 2 map, where with the stage 1 map, it wasnt really hard to do at all. I ran the stage 2 93 oct first, but was getting a little knock and after looking at map notes for stage 2 91 I decided to switch maps. I still use 93oct but just run the stage 2 91oct and get absolutely no knock whatsoever. There really isnt too much of a hp diff between the stage 2 oct maps, so if you are getting knock, it might be good to do the same. As much as this is a review of the two maps, its also an open question to other AP owners running stage 2 maps...Are you hitting peak boost target and if so only in WOT, high rpm, what?

Overall, Cobb AP is a great tuning tool. I love that it logs my data and allows me to download to my PC. I believe the AP will really be great once I get a protune done. Its not that I think other tuners arent as good, I think all the tuners on here are excellent and very good at what they do. The reason I went with the AP, primarily, was the capability to switch maps almost instantly, uninstall for dealership trips, etc. Its a great feature of the AP. I would like for this thread to be for all AP owners that have good things to say, bad things to say, what maps work best for them, etc.

Great post looking forward to see what people have to say.
I Have been doing a lot of research and the Cobb AP is the one i landed on and will be ordering soon.

Good choice. Honestly, as far as the OTS maps that come with the AP, you could definitely go out to a really good tuner somewhere and get a better tune...BUT, you cant reflash whenever you want, cant monitor engine sensors without spending all kinds of money, and forget the dealership. Now, that being said, you take that AP to a protuner and get a tune tailored for your car, you are gonna get excellent results, can still reflash, hell you could even have different maps for different driving conditions. Economy map for those long drives, road trip takes you to cali no 93oct, just switch to the 91oct cali nevada map and your golden. Now, where are these other AP owners hiding, especially you Runaround! haha

I'm going to do some checking on what kind of boost i get when I'm on the highway. I know i'm hitting over 19 when I go full throttle around 3k, but I would think I'm hitting 18s pretty often at highway speeds. I'll check and let you guys know.

I've got an AP, but i picked it up from my tuner, who did a custom map as soon as i bought it, so i havent used the OTS maps on the AP. But the tuner did make me a map for 94 oct and 91 as well in case 94 is hard to come by.

Ok so now I am super confused. haha. I have been running stage 2 91 as of late, but switched over to stage 1 93 again today for the hell of it. I was actually putting up more boost with the stage 1 map then stage 2. Very odd. Really really odd

Alright, so cruising around the highway today I was hitting around 18.5 psi of boost pretty consistently at 3k in 3rd and 4th gears. I looked at my dyno graph and my stage 2 peak is 19.2 versus 18.1 for stage 1. If you look through the entire range the boost difference stays at about 1 psi. I'm not sure it's possible to actually hit 20. There really isn't a big difference in boost, but the area under the curve for both HP and Tq are quite noticeable. Also, I have a downpipe in the mix and you said you weren't running one yet, so that might make the difference.

True, I am hoping it will. Those boost numbers you are putting up are much much better than mine. I guess this just goes to show how much a diff having the full turbo back with that tune. I was anxious to run stage 2 as you can see running it with a HFC and no DP on it yet. Cobb told me it would work, but definitely not getting what I could with a DP. Will update. DP in the mail tomorrow and hopefully on by mon tues. Any luck with talking to Cobb about some more OTS maps? I wrote them today and asked if there was anything we could do, the RA community, to expedite the process. I said it would be nice to have as many maps as the X has, after all, we all payed the same price for the AP. haha

They are wanting to work on new maps, but they need people to develop them on and then test and provide feedback. We talked over a couple of different paths and I'm interested in trying a few of them out. Lack of funds it what is holding me back ATM.