[UCONNB5]

Hey guys. I have two questions. First, I want to get tints this weekend. I was thinking of 20% all around, but I can't find pics of a black magic passat with this setup! If you have some links or pics of your own I'd appreciate it. My ideal tint setup was to do what some other clubb5er did to his. He had a pic of his black magic b5 all clean and dark looking with "Driver Found" in a corner with the VW emblem. I can't find that pic anymroe and it drives me nuts! If this is just nonsense.... ignore me, hehe.



Second question:

I've been reading around about the GIAC chip and a lot of people have said that if you want to chip and have tip and are thinking about getting the tip chip you should just get both from GIAC. However, I can't find anything on the GIAC main website about the tip chip. It is on the awe tuning site, though the cost for that plus the original chip would be $650 (more than I'd be wanting to spend). Do they offer this as a combination and I'm just not seeing it, or did all of you GIAC tip chip drivers buy each seperately? Thanks in advance!

 

[Kenny Payne]

GIAC's website sucks. Try http://www.awe-tuning.com

Just to clarify, it's not as if there's some symmetry between the two chips or anything of that nature. The Tip chip works independently of the ECU, and will work in any Tip-equipped B5. The advantage is only ever having to deal with one vendor. If, for example, you had problems with one of the chips, your vendor might blame the other chip. That'd suck. Beyond that, GIAC makes good stuff.

Don't know about tint.

Kenny

 

[1.8tbeout]

i did the tip chip first, then when i got more cash i did the ecu chip. you notice a slight difference in shifting points and speed, not that noticable. but it does make a significant difference when you chip the ecu, thats when you'll actually require it. trust me, it's well worth the $$.
www.srsvw.com has both of them right here in new england and they install while you wait so it might be a long drive but it beats the two or three days downtime for shipping ecu's and they're great knowlegable guys who specialize only in vw.

 

[RiverRipper]

Check if 20% is legal before you go throwing it on...you may not want to have it that dark if your state has strict laws.

Depending what year your car is you may wanna wait on the Tip chip...VW is working on a fix for the tip right now. Shouldnt be much longer before they have it up and running.

 

[UCONNB5]

Kenny Payne: Thanks! That's exactly the kinda background info I was looking for. I'm definitely going to hafta go for both once I get the money.

1.8tbeout: I'll definitely look into that shop too. I have family just south of Boston, so if its in your area, it'd be nice n convenient.

RiverRipper: 20% is not legal. CT says 35... I just think that 35 is not dark enough from the pictures I've seen for the black on black feel. I'll accept the ticket if it ever comes to that. Do you have any links to this upcoming "Tip fix"? I'd love more info on that. I have a '99 so I dont know how recent this fix would be targeting


I'd still be really interested if someone could link me to that old picture I used to love.

 

[BobV]

Check if 20% is legal before you go throwing it on...you may not want to have it that dark if your state has strict laws.

Seems that everyone ignores the legal limit! ;-)

 

[D.Passat00]

first, i'm assuming you have a 1.8t. if you don't have enough $$$ for both chips, get the ECU chip first. you'll benefit a lot more from it, IMO.

 

[UCONNB5]

Yes, I do have a 1.8T and I was going to just get the ECU first, but then I ran across people saying to get both at once, so I thought there was a deal or something going on that I wasn't seeing, heh. $650 for both is just too much for me right now, you're right.

 

[D.Passat00]

it should be $400 for the ECU chip, and $250 for the tip chip for your '99. there's no discount there. also, if you're short on cash, you can get the neuspeed chip for less than $200. it's not as aggressive as the giac, but then again, it's less than half the price.

 

[pacent]

I dont recommend the tip chip...i had one. It doesnt do anything unless you're driving at WOT...and even at WOT, its not that much faster. The stock autostick thing in my sister's Prelude shifts faster IMO. The sport mode recode did more for me than this chip. When I sold my car, I just left it in.

 

[D.Passat00]

I dont recommend the tip chip...i had one. It doesnt do anything unless you're driving at WOT...and even at WOT, its not that much faster. The stock autostick thing in my sister's Prelude shifts faster IMO. The sport mode recode did more for me than this chip. When I sold my car, I just left it in.

some people here recommend it. i had mine installed at the same time as the ecu chip, so it's hard to determine what the tip chip did exactly. like i said, the ecu chip is definately the first thing to get. the tip chip reduces the shifting time when using the tip mode.

 

[UCONNB5]

From everything posted on these forums, there's probably just as many people that hate the tip chip as there are that love it. I think for me, I'm going to try n find someone with a VAGCOM in CT and switch over to sport mode. If that doesn't do it for me, then I'll invest in the tip chip.

 

[Kenny Payne]

From my experience, many more love it than hate it. However, since I drive a manual, I have no first hand info. I've read about this performance setting with VAG-Comm. Maybe that's all you need. Another possibility to consider would be that VW has changed their programming over the years, making the Tip Chip superfluous.

:???:

Kenny

 

[ericpeterman]

UCONNB5: If you have more than 40-50k on your Tip tranny fluid, I'd drop the pan and replace the fluid and filter and clean the pan out. I put Redline D-4 in and love the performance (it's also about half as expensive) but even the stock fluid, if refreshed, will make a real difference in the Tip. :thumbup: It's supposed to be a "lifetime" fluid, but when I changed mine at 102k it was gritty, black, nasty, expired and the pan was gunked up. Others that have changed with lower miles report the same thing.

 

[UCONNB5]

Wow... I didn't even think of that Eric. That's a great idea! Especially seeing as I just rounded 50k... Thanks for the tip, I'll definitely do that before putting out the big bucks.

 

[ericpeterman]

UCONNB5: Check out this thread.
http://www.clubb5.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=71281

Although Redline is not officially sanctioned by VW, I and several others have coresponded with Redline and have been told by them that the D-4 is the replacement fluid for the Esso fluid in the Tip. It's worked fine, even better than the original. If you are under warranty with VW, I'd stick with their fluid though.

 

[Rusty]

Also check out this post: Redline D4 vs. Tip Chip - D4 wins?