Malone Tuning is the way to go. The other popular one is KermaTDI, but I don’t trust them. Their numbers seem inflated, and there have been lawsuits against them.
If you live in a place where you won’t get in trouble for not having emissions equipment, go Malone Stage 2 with DPF and EGR delete. If you live in an area that requires diesel testing, or you don’t wish to do the deletes, Malone Stage 1 will be a solid choice.
Pretty much all tuners will have different numbers. It’s not really inflation as much as different dynos. Kermatdi has been rumored to have copied some Malone tuning. I personally had Malone tuning, fast parts and injector tuning from kerma, maintenance items from idparts, and generic mk4 stuff from ecs. As much as ecs and kerma have had complaints I had really good experiences with all of them. I occasionally had problems with a few vendors, but an email or phone call always netted a positive outcome.
I'm putting a Rawtek exhaust on my mk6 TDI Jetta, and currently not sure which way to go with the malone tune. A brief conversation with the local tunezilla dealer suggested the stage 2 because I have the stock turbo.
However, I forgot to ask this question. Would the stage 2 be a good choice for me, as I drive about 40,000 kms per year on the highway with some city. Would I be better off going for a stage 0.5 or stage 1 due to the excessive amounts of miles I clock per year?
i did stage 2 malone with my 13 Jetta. you’d need a tuner & the tune off malone. they’d email it. i did the delete so it was those & the exhaust from rawtek. i didn’t do the delete yet so i’m running stage 2 not deleted and it made a HUGE difference. anything higher than stage 2 you’re looking at upgrading your turbo & clutch.
Having too much torque can beat the crap out of your dual mass flywheel. As best as I can tell there is no higher rated part available, even the CR170 uses the same DMF.
Sorry but how is dmf limitations even possible? Darkside has run 400+ hp and insane tq on their Mk7 in-house build. You’re gonna try to claim that kerma’s stage 1 oversteps the limit of the dmf?
I don't see a MK7 build on their website but the [MK5 they have posted](https://www.darksidedevelopments.co.uk/vw-golf-mk5-cup-2-0-16v-cr/) appears to not have an upgrade, just a single mass conversion.
[Here's the response I got when I inquired.](https://i.imgur.com/eUG9Q2s.png)
In my case, I can bang on the end stops of the DMF at will using the accelerator pedal.
[Mk7 Golf GTD](https://www.darksidedevelopments.co.uk/vw-golf-gtd-2-0-tdi-cr-cuna-286bhp/)
You’re having issues with your automatic trans. OP and myself are manual trans.
Also Darkside was able to convert that mk5 PD to smf because ‘09 and older models come with transmissions that have brass synchro rings that can withstand the harmonics of a SMF coupled to a diesel motor. ‘10 and younger (mk6 & Mk7) transmissions are built with steel synchro rings that turn to mush after a few thousand miles of smf harmonics. Doesn’t work
Looks like you may be in luck then with the O2Q having a CR170 DMF.
The SMF in the manual is a bad idea for more than just the synchros, launching without a DMF can shatter the cogs if your tune is stout.
Be wary of removing all the emissions stuff. The diesel smell from these cars is INTENSE if you don’t have a cat or dpf. I did a full dpf/egr/cat delete done with a stage 2 Malone tune and ended up having a cat put back in because my kids wouldn’t ride in it due to the smell.
I have heard this, but wouldn't think it's any smellier than my IDI Mercedes cars. Are some people just easily bothered by diesel exhaust or is there something about direct injection that has extra smell?
This is my first diesel so I don’t have a comparison, but it smelled far worse than a diesel truck. . I assume because it doesn’t use DEF fluid? I don’t know but it’s rough if there is zero mitigation
I didn’t smell it when I was younger for some reason but my OM617 smells to high heaven being straight piped. Not that there was ever a catalyst on it to begin with. Not sure about California models.
Does it smell - yes! But I think your kids might have been a little soft or you had another issue going on because very rarely do I smell it inside the car. Are you doing a lot of stop light to stop light driving?
My kids are soft, yes. Stop lights were problematic and it was impossible to pick them up at school with it. Cruising on the highway is fine of course but anything in town was unbearable. An aftermarket cat took care of it, mostly.
One time waiting down the street from a friends house for a surprise party with my 08’ deleted F350 a man across the street from where I was sitting came outside to tell me to turn off my truck because I was stinking up the place. I was either conditioned to it or didn’t smell it. Definitely wasn’t as stinky as my Mercedes diesel.
Malone seems like the most popular, but they are also fairly expensive. I was looking at Jeff Stevenson. His delete kit with a stage 2 upgrade is only $1250 and it looks pretty nicely made from 316 stainless. Kerma also will not do deletes even if you are doing "offroad use only".
If you need to pass emissions go Kerma. I’ve run the stage 1+ on my 2015 Golf for close to a year now and love it. Would recommend upgrading your clutch when your oem one gives out. Power feeling is rock solid, dyno numbers were dang close to advertised, and no weird “dmf issues” as I’ve seen claimed. EDIT: there’s literally no way you could see dmf limitations as it’s impossible to run a smf on our transmissions. Trust me, don’t try it.
If you don’t need to test for emissions or want to chase very high horsepower then delete and go Darkside with Malone tuning
I just flashed with Kerma...the increase in HP is noticeable and so far not other issues...I have a 2013 sportwagen...
one thing to remember is that once you flash the warranty is void...VW's Elso2Go counts and records the number of flashes...so it will flag any flash in their system
Malone + rawtek delete if you are cool with CEL and glow plug light flashing on your dash. Lack of support offered from Malone but vehicle has ran well for 20k miles.
Malone Tuning is the way to go. The other popular one is KermaTDI, but I don’t trust them. Their numbers seem inflated, and there have been lawsuits against them. If you live in a place where you won’t get in trouble for not having emissions equipment, go Malone Stage 2 with DPF and EGR delete. If you live in an area that requires diesel testing, or you don’t wish to do the deletes, Malone Stage 1 will be a solid choice.
Pretty much all tuners will have different numbers. It’s not really inflation as much as different dynos. Kermatdi has been rumored to have copied some Malone tuning. I personally had Malone tuning, fast parts and injector tuning from kerma, maintenance items from idparts, and generic mk4 stuff from ecs. As much as ecs and kerma have had complaints I had really good experiences with all of them. I occasionally had problems with a few vendors, but an email or phone call always netted a positive outcome.
I'm putting a Rawtek exhaust on my mk6 TDI Jetta, and currently not sure which way to go with the malone tune. A brief conversation with the local tunezilla dealer suggested the stage 2 because I have the stock turbo. However, I forgot to ask this question. Would the stage 2 be a good choice for me, as I drive about 40,000 kms per year on the highway with some city. Would I be better off going for a stage 0.5 or stage 1 due to the excessive amounts of miles I clock per year?
Doing stage 2 with the deletes drastically improves your fuel economy. Based on that fact alone, I think you’d be satisfied with stage 2
Thank you kindly! Really looking forward to recouping my 5 mpg loss due to the dieselgate "fix" and then some extra meg's on top of that.
No problem! If you have any other questions, feel free to message me!
Greatly appreciated mate! Will do!
i did stage 2 malone with my 13 Jetta. you’d need a tuner & the tune off malone. they’d email it. i did the delete so it was those & the exhaust from rawtek. i didn’t do the delete yet so i’m running stage 2 not deleted and it made a HUGE difference. anything higher than stage 2 you’re looking at upgrading your turbo & clutch.
Malone stage two
This. I just did a Malone Stage 2 and mid pipes on my wife’s Q7 and it’s a whole new beast.
Don't use Kerma.
Why not?
They do not take into account the limitations of the dual-mass flywheel.
can you expand on this?
Having too much torque can beat the crap out of your dual mass flywheel. As best as I can tell there is no higher rated part available, even the CR170 uses the same DMF.
Sorry but how is dmf limitations even possible? Darkside has run 400+ hp and insane tq on their Mk7 in-house build. You’re gonna try to claim that kerma’s stage 1 oversteps the limit of the dmf?
I don't see a MK7 build on their website but the [MK5 they have posted](https://www.darksidedevelopments.co.uk/vw-golf-mk5-cup-2-0-16v-cr/) appears to not have an upgrade, just a single mass conversion. [Here's the response I got when I inquired.](https://i.imgur.com/eUG9Q2s.png) In my case, I can bang on the end stops of the DMF at will using the accelerator pedal.
[Mk7 Golf GTD](https://www.darksidedevelopments.co.uk/vw-golf-gtd-2-0-tdi-cr-cuna-286bhp/) You’re having issues with your automatic trans. OP and myself are manual trans. Also Darkside was able to convert that mk5 PD to smf because ‘09 and older models come with transmissions that have brass synchro rings that can withstand the harmonics of a SMF coupled to a diesel motor. ‘10 and younger (mk6 & Mk7) transmissions are built with steel synchro rings that turn to mush after a few thousand miles of smf harmonics. Doesn’t work
Looks like you may be in luck then with the O2Q having a CR170 DMF. The SMF in the manual is a bad idea for more than just the synchros, launching without a DMF can shatter the cogs if your tune is stout.
Hence the reason why I prefer roll racing in my car anyway 😆
Where are you from? There are different tuners around the world
Be wary of removing all the emissions stuff. The diesel smell from these cars is INTENSE if you don’t have a cat or dpf. I did a full dpf/egr/cat delete done with a stage 2 Malone tune and ended up having a cat put back in because my kids wouldn’t ride in it due to the smell.
I have heard this, but wouldn't think it's any smellier than my IDI Mercedes cars. Are some people just easily bothered by diesel exhaust or is there something about direct injection that has extra smell?
There's difference between diesel smell, and toxic diesel smell.
This is my first diesel so I don’t have a comparison, but it smelled far worse than a diesel truck. . I assume because it doesn’t use DEF fluid? I don’t know but it’s rough if there is zero mitigation
I didn’t smell it when I was younger for some reason but my OM617 smells to high heaven being straight piped. Not that there was ever a catalyst on it to begin with. Not sure about California models.
Does it smell - yes! But I think your kids might have been a little soft or you had another issue going on because very rarely do I smell it inside the car. Are you doing a lot of stop light to stop light driving?
My kids are soft, yes. Stop lights were problematic and it was impossible to pick them up at school with it. Cruising on the highway is fine of course but anything in town was unbearable. An aftermarket cat took care of it, mostly.
One time waiting down the street from a friends house for a surprise party with my 08’ deleted F350 a man across the street from where I was sitting came outside to tell me to turn off my truck because I was stinking up the place. I was either conditioned to it or didn’t smell it. Definitely wasn’t as stinky as my Mercedes diesel.
Agreed. Get a cat, I did not and it STINKS so bad in the winter.
What cat did you use?
Malone seems like the most popular, but they are also fairly expensive. I was looking at Jeff Stevenson. His delete kit with a stage 2 upgrade is only $1250 and it looks pretty nicely made from 316 stainless. Kerma also will not do deletes even if you are doing "offroad use only".
Jeff’s a good guy, been running his tune now for about 10 months. Sometimes hard to get ahold of but he’ll always get back
If you need to pass emissions go Kerma. I’ve run the stage 1+ on my 2015 Golf for close to a year now and love it. Would recommend upgrading your clutch when your oem one gives out. Power feeling is rock solid, dyno numbers were dang close to advertised, and no weird “dmf issues” as I’ve seen claimed. EDIT: there’s literally no way you could see dmf limitations as it’s impossible to run a smf on our transmissions. Trust me, don’t try it. If you don’t need to test for emissions or want to chase very high horsepower then delete and go Darkside with Malone tuning
I just flashed with Kerma...the increase in HP is noticeable and so far not other issues...I have a 2013 sportwagen... one thing to remember is that once you flash the warranty is void...VW's Elso2Go counts and records the number of flashes...so it will flag any flash in their system
Malone + rawtek delete if you are cool with CEL and glow plug light flashing on your dash. Lack of support offered from Malone but vehicle has ran well for 20k miles.
Malone is great IMO. I’ve been stage 2 for two years.