I have been making enquiries into getting my Alfa Spider 939 remapped.
I perhaps naively thought having a remap involved having your car analysed on a rolling road and then bespoke ecu adjustments would be made accordingly to whatever parameters where potentially available?

A special garage I have spoke to, are suggesting they have done all the necessary testing of the same model engine beforehand and therefore the ecu reset is predetermined to give set outcomes and my car does not need/ would not be put on a rolling road?

The Alfa 2.2JTS petrol has a notorious mid range flat spot which I am aware of from time to time and supposedly with a remap the bhp can be improved from 185 to 205, with a similar enhancement to torque curve.
The cost is £300 which seems quite a lot for a an apparent plug and play solution?

Any experience on remaps would be appreciated, as I would very much like to have a little more go in the Alfa (provided it does not upset anything).

Thanks in anticipation.

Hi Brilly, we are now dealers for a leading remap supplier. I'd be delighted to talk you through what we can do for your Alfa as well as the whys and wherefores. Plus, we're in Stroud, so you can pop to our workshop and get a free brew!
Drop me a PM...

As I understand it, there are 2 types of approach. You can have your car "chipped" using a pre determined map for your car, based on that engine. Or you can have your car live mapped using a laptop and rolling road to personalise it to your exact car as no 2 engines are exactly the same. The latter is usually more expensive. The advantage of the latter is you know exactly what your stats are before and after the map.

But chipping is fine so long as it's a trusted source. For example, Many people use the standard "174 bhp" chip for the VW group 1.9TDi engine. It's well regarded and has consistent results. It usually limits the torque to prevent clutch slip.

Main reason I went with a live map was that I was experiencing some rough running, which actually turned out to be a knackered MAF sensor.... but I'd already committed to a Flea remap, which I was please with. Car drove better, with improved mpg also.

My 2p worth.

My Golf was mapped by Revo. I watched the mechanic (authorised reseller) do this and it was child’s play. The map is flashed to the ECU. A laptop is then hooked up via the OBD port and the car was driven from a high load in fourth gear. The software (VAGCOM) records all the car’s data and the boost, timing and fuel is set from a setting from 1-9.
Live mapping is always best IMO. It was just so easy for me to pop to a local garage and have this done with the major service they carried out.

Plug-n-play mapping is always going to have an element of compromise, but they are still usually a significant improvement over the standard maps, which are an even greater compromise.

For example, a stock ECU map will have to cope with temperatures from -50 to + 50, altitude from below sea level to 10,000 feet, poor fuel quality and many other things. a plug-n-play map can eliminate some of the OE compromises, such as altitude and fuel quality, on the basis they will never be experienced in the UK

A stock remap transformed my Alfa GT

That said, because I was going for ultimate performance on my 20VT, nothing but a live map would have sufficed.

Thanks for the responses on remapping.
Lots of food for thought on which way to go - live remap v stock remap.
The Alfa doesn't have a turbo and my priority isn't about more outright performance, but better overall running.

I'd ask Flea for a quote. Not too far away. Uses rolling road at Castle Combe.

He'll be more than £300 but at least you'll have a bespoke map.