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Stratified Flash Tune Review

Trader history for commonplatypus (0)

Messages
249
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119
Location
Chicago
#1
I recently made the leap and had the pleasure to be one of the first people to purchase and load one of Stratified's new "Flash Tunes" for our Fiesta ST. I was going to wait until Spring once the new intercooler was on, but the combination of some unseasonably warm weather and a rough day at work pushed me to just go for it. I've been very excited about this for a long time to say the least and have been following what I can of its development whenever possible. Needless to say, I've never run so fast to my car as Alex graciously waited past closing to send me the tune due to me not having my AP serial # on-hand.

So, how does it drive? In a word? Phenomenal. The car has never felt this good or this quick. It gets up and goes insanely quickly, the turbo spools VERY fast and holds at 24 until at least 4500 RPM before tapering down nicely, the corrections are good, and oddly enough? I'm getting better gas mileage than I did on either OTS or my Mountune programming from Randy. Both were great, but this is just something else entirely. The car just FEELS lighter overall. If I didn't know any better I would mistake the flywheel for having lost a few pounds. Also? The Rev Hang is entirely gone. Vanished. It doesn't exist. It actually caught me by surprise when I first took off on it because I wasn't expecting it. It caused me some clutch slippage because I was used to driving the lazy way on OTS for awhile; which I had switched too because Randy's tune felt too aggressive this winter.

Best of all? The drivability. The car never feels out of control and always feels easy to drive and linear. It's not choppy or peaky. It doesn't have good or bad parts of the rev range. It doesn't lug. It doesn't lag. It just goes and it goes smoothly. No longer am I just dumping torque and spinning off the line uncontrollably like I did on Randy's tune. It feels way more controlled. Way more polished. It almost feels like I'm controlling the turbo more directly with my foot, as well. Gas down and turbo spools and holds longer than it did previously at various throttle pressures.

Needless to say, I am in love with this tune. I don't even think it needs any revisions having looked at the logs and it's only a v1.00 release!

Enough of my gabbing. How does it perform? Incredible and more. Here's a couple of vDynos I took just this morning with datazap log to go with. The vDyno really gives you an idea of how smooth and powerful this tune is.

It is also worth noting that my current mods include only a Green Filter panel drop-in and a Cobb Rear Motor Mount. Nothing else. I am absolutely ecstatic to see what this thing can do with a better intercooler on it around the end of February!

A HUGE thanks goes out to Alex@Stratified the entire Stratified team for finally bringing their amazing work to our platform. I can only imagine where it can go from here. :D

fiesta 1312016.JPG

http://datazap.me/u/commonplatypus/...v100?log=0&data=0-1-2-4-5-8-10-11-12-13-18-19
 


OP
commonplatypus
Messages
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Location
Chicago
Thread Starter #3
how about a comparo VD graph of your previous tune and new tune?
I did take a sample log with the Cobb OTS Stage 1 93 tune. The Randy tune is based on the old Cobb firmware and takes forever to flash. I do have older logs of it somewhere in my Datazap history if you're curious. They were taken in late October around the same temperature as today (50F). In the Randy tune logs Torque was a tad higher, but came on very quickly below 3k RPM and was totally front loaded. This caused traction issues. Very fun to drive, but a bit of a handful.

I'll post the Cobb comparison later tonight when I get back to my PC. I was running Cobb OTS prior to flashing the Strat log as a daily.
 


OP
commonplatypus
Messages
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Thread Starter #4
how about a comparo VD graph of your previous tune and new tune?
Here you go! I also re-adjusted the graphing to account for temperature and barometric pressure. This (naturally) brings the numbers down. I even went on a historical search to find what the barometric pressure in my logging spot and daily temperature was when I did it for the Randy tune. That should give you some idea of what I was putting down then. I was also on Summer oem rubber at the time, so the tire height has also been adjusted accordingly. I haven't changed in body weight, it seems. I'm pretty in to keeping fit, so I know that I was around 140 at that time, too.

You can see here that the Cobb and Strat tunes aren't THAT far apart. Torque comes on a bit quicker in the Cobb tune, but ends up a bit lower in horsepower. Everyone has about the same boost curve. This is a limitation of the hardware itself; with the difference being that Strat and Randy run it higher at 24lbs each. Cobb seems to have this thing where the boost peaks at 22 psi quickly and then drops back down to around 20 psi pretty fast.

AFR is where things get REALLY different. Cobb runs the leanest, which makes me a little nervous to be honest. People run Cobb for long periods of time, so I guess that's really not that big of a deal, though. Randy is the second leanest, and Strat runs pretty stable in my opinion. The AFR I am running with Stratified makes me the most comfortable; though Randy's isn't terrible or concerning really. Both are pretty good.

Curves are a bit different for everyone. You can see what I mean about the Randy tune and that massive up front torque dump. It runs out of steam the fastest of the three. Before you even hit 3k it's peaking at around 270 ft/lbs in that weather. It was really hard to control. Cobb and Strat aren't that far apart, but I like how the torque curve is more progressive under Strat. It just FEELS right and OTS and Strat definitely feel different in a lot of ways that aren't mathematical.

Hope this is what you were looking for!

Let me know if I can provide anything else. :)

showdown.JPG
 


jeff

2000 Post Club
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#6
Glad to see your graphs.....though your initial write up a few hours ago prompted me to order the tune after reading a few hours ago. Fifty bucks, how can you go wrong? That's the price of a nice dinner that's forgotten the next day.

I'm in a similar place as you....I have an intercooler coming soon and excited to install it and my BIG MOUTH together this spring and then get a custom tune. In the meantime for the price I'm excited to try this new tune. A bit more oomph will be nice but your comments about driveability are what I am excited about. Heck if I use it for two months that's like 85 cents a day...
 


OP
commonplatypus
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Thread Starter #7
Strats tune looks very healthy. A+

Is this one of their OTS tunes?
It sure is! First twenty customers get a complimentary log review, though!

Glad to see your graphs.....though your initial write up a few hours ago prompted me to order the tune after reading a few hours ago. Fifty bucks, how can you go wrong? That's the price of a nice dinner that's forgotten the next day.

I'm in a similar place as you....I have an intercooler coming soon and excited to install it and my BIG MOUTH together this spring and then get a custom tune. In the meantime for the price I'm excited to try this new tune. A bit more oomph will be nice but your comments about driveability are what I am excited about. Heck if I use it for two months that's like 85 cents a day...
Oh man, that's the best part and I didn't even mention it. It's only $50 and the first twenty customer get a free log review. It's really hard to go wrong with this. The drivability really is insanely good. Numbers don't change much; but the feel is something else entirely. The difference of this from OTS was not only immediate, but drastic.
 


Messages
156
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107
Location
Edmonton
#10
Glad to hear the positive results as I ordered a flash tune this weekend ! No one else has a flash tune for Turbo back only. I have to wait to install the tune though as the dealership has my car monday morning for some warranty work before I start beating on it.
 


OP
commonplatypus
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Thread Starter #12
Does this type of tune need an AP? For stock setup?
Yep. You load it onto the AP and flash it using that device. I don't know of any tune that doesn't require an AccessPort thet isn't SXT based. Even the Mountune Ford Official tunes have a specially made version of the AccessPort used for re-programming the ECU.
 


jeff

2000 Post Club
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#14
I recently made the leap and had the pleasure to be one of the first people to purchase and load one of Stratified's new "Flash Tunes" for our Fiesta ST. I was going to wait until Spring once the new intercooler was on, but the combination of some unseasonably warm weather and a rough day at work pushed me to just go for it. I've been very excited about this for a long time to say the least and have been following what I can of its development whenever possible. Needless to say, I've never run so fast to my car as Alex graciously waited past closing to send me the tune due to me not having my AP serial # on-hand.

So, how does it drive? In a word? Phenomenal. The car has never felt this good or this quick. It gets up and goes insanely quickly, the turbo spools VERY fast and holds at 24 until at least 4500 RPM before tapering down nicely, the corrections are good, and oddly enough? I'm getting better gas mileage than I did on either OTS or my Mountune programming from Randy. Both were great, but this is just something else entirely. The car just FEELS lighter overall. If I didn't know any better I would mistake the flywheel for having lost a few pounds. Also? The Rev Hang is entirely gone. Vanished. It doesn't exist. It actually caught me by surprise when I first took off on it because I wasn't expecting it. It caused me some clutch slippage because I was used to driving the lazy way on OTS for awhile; which I had switched too because Randy's tune felt too aggressive this winter.

Best of all? The drivability. The car never feels out of control and always feels easy to drive and linear. It's not choppy or peaky. It doesn't have good or bad parts of the rev range. It doesn't lug. It doesn't lag. It just goes and it goes smoothly. No longer am I just dumping torque and spinning off the line uncontrollably like I did on Randy's tune. It feels way more controlled. Way more polished. It almost feels like I'm controlling the turbo more directly with my foot, as well. Gas down and turbo spools and holds longer than it did previously at various throttle pressures.

Needless to say, I am in love with this tune. I don't even think it needs any revisions having looked at the logs and it's only a v1.00 release!

Enough of my gabbing. How does it perform? Incredible and more. Here's a couple of vDynos I took just this morning with datazap log to go with. The vDyno really gives you an idea of how smooth and powerful this tune is.

It is also worth noting that my current mods include only a Green Filter panel drop-in and a Cobb Rear Motor Mount. Nothing else. I am absolutely ecstatic to see what this thing can do with a better intercooler on it around the end of February!

A HUGE thanks goes out to Alex@Stratified the entire Stratified team for finally bringing their amazing work to our platform. I can only imagine where it can go from here. :D
I'll piggyback on this review and add a few thoughts.

First thanks to OP for taking one for the team and sharing this review.

As I said earlier I'm in the same boat, new to the car, have stage 1 OTS, CP-E CAI, and have a FMIC and Big Mouth on the way, plan to install this spring. For $50 I figured this was a nice present to myself while I wait on my next mods.

The folk at Stratified were very patient with me and answered my many questions. I am excited that for only $25 more than what I've spent so far I can have my tune modified to accommodate my 'stage 2' mods. It will be nice to have 2 different maps for this (Cobb OTS and Stratified) and at that point I'll consider more customized tuning.

Ordered Sunday night, was emailed Monday afternoon with questions...I sent answers and by 6pm yesterday I had the tune. There was one issue with the climate control having a mind of its own after flashing the new tune, but supposedly this is common and can be fixed by reflashing it, which I did. Time will tell if this issue is resolved but I'm hoping it will be....my drive home after reflash, no issues. Supposedly it's a Cobb AP issue though it never happened with my AP until I loaded this new tune.

As OP said this tune is better than the Cobb Tune in so many ways. He really said everything pretty much perfectly....the car feels quicker and lighter...mid range feels better, not much faster just more willing and eager....very smooth pull all the way to redline, the torque curve is definitely smoother. As for rev hang, what I never noticed about the Cobb map was that I had to accommodate the car just a bit in between shifts....not anymore. Not something alot of people would notice until it's gone, then you're like "wow that's much better". Like OP it caught me by surprise, then I was thinking "wow these guys really thought this tune out". As for driveability, the joy continues....the Cobb brought on massive torque/wheel spin in first and second gear, which has led me in my 2 months with the Cobb tune to not floor it much in those gears but wait till 3rd. I didn't realize it but I had lost some of the joy in driving the car because of that. The Strat tune gives it a bit less in 1st and 2nd gear; there is still some wheel spin but only a little bit, so you can floor it in any gear and you feel more like you're going somewhere. Not sure if that makes sense....the car probably isn't much faster but it feels faster for this reason. Of course for this reason there is less torque steer. From what I've read about the Mountune 'stage 1' tune, this feels similar....less down low and more mid range. There is about +1 lb of boost as compared to the Cobb OTS tune, 23.5 now vs. 22.5 before, peak.

All in all it feels like the little wild beast has been tamed just a bit, pointed in the right direction, then given the order "KILL".

Great mod, great service, great value.

A+++
 


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Location
los angeles
#17
Ordered the flash a week ago, but waiting on an ap to arrive. I think its backordered at mountune =P
 


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172
Location
Richmond
#18
Ordered the flash a week ago, but waiting on an ap to arrive. I think its backordered at mountune =P
Let me know how you enjoy the tune!
For people that don't have a COBB AP already, our flash tunes come at no charge with an AP purchase ... and the APs are ready to ship :).
 


TyphoonFiST

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#19
Ordered an AP from Alex@stratified...I spoke to him and he had all the answers to my questions. Super stoked to install the AP with their tune. I will keep everyone posted.
 


OP
commonplatypus
Messages
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Location
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Thread Starter #20
So, I've spent about two weeks with this tune now and I've gotta say it hasn't gotten old one bit. Gas mileage is actually up for me compared to OTS or Mountune by about 2 MPG. I've gotten used to the throttle mapping and absence of rev hang now. Car feels excessively smooth now. I wish I had requested a higher idle to smooth out the NVH from my Cobb RMM to something like 900 RPM, but it's not a big deal.

The biggest thing I've noticed is that the boost surge is gone. Completely absent. It never really bothered me before on the Cobb OTS tune, but now I definitely notice its absence. I can modulate the throttle and it will respond and do its damned best to hold the commanded boost pressure there as long as the little turbo is able. This is truly a hallmark of incredible tuning to me.

Corrections still look great, AFR still looks great, fueling is nominal. The tune is incredibly healthy and, most of all, safe.

I'm extremely happy with my Stratified Flash tune!
 


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