DSG Upgrades & Tunes

The DSG gearbox is an amazing bundle of technologies with over 50 patents protecting it. The mechanical and software details of this technology are on lockdown from even the dealerships who are not allowed to perform any service other than the basic maintenance.

Not to let this dissuade us, in 2004 HPA began our study to understand the overall mechanical limits of the DSG gearbox and compare it to those of the known manual gearbox. These efforts, along with our 15 year reputation in the field, gained us the attention of Volkswagen and earned us the right to exclusively build the three RGT project cars (Jetta, Passat, and Toaureg) for the debut at the 2005 SEMA show. All powered by a twin turbo and the Jetta and Passat outfitted with the DSG.

Our team met with the head software and mechanical developers for the DQ200, DQ250, and DQ500 DSG Gearboxes, and participated in ride and drives with the Audi A3 calibration team.

After more than three years of multiple overlapping and compounding durability evaluations together with our global partners (including the 24 hours at Nurenburgring, and numerous FT565 vehicle builds), our group has developed the software expertise necessary to ensure safe functionality of the DSG in extreme applications.

Unlike simple engine tuning which involves the use of one of many readily available programming interfaces to manipulate the spark and fuel of the engine map, tuning the DSG involves many more parameters and a secure understanding of how these react to various vehicle inputs.

Reading and writing software to an ECU is one thing, but without the experience and first hand knowledge of cause and effect generated by manipulating the blind variables of the DSG software, it is a potentially dangerous situation.

With over two dozen different DSG gearboxes in North America (and several more globally), no tuner is better versed and more prepared than HPA is to overcome these variables to ensure a perfect result that won’t prematurely wear out clutch packs or threaten the sensitive gearbox.

HPA DSG / S-Tronic Performance Programming is available for vehicles ranging from the earliest 2004 models including most of the newest 2019+ models.

In early 2008, many tuners began offering big power upgrades for DSG equipped cars without consideration of augmenting this critical piece of hardware. HPA has worked since 2004 with an evolving understanding of the DSG system to develop cohesive power packages that deliver proven, durable, results. It was not until late 2008 that a feasible avenue to offer this DSG performance software to the general public was realized. At that time, HPA kicked off an aggressive initiative to clearly showcase the benefits and needs of DSG modification. Throughout our first two trips around the continent we further studied the idiosyncrasies of the various OEM DSG files and finalized our official offerings.

With an HPA tune, each file is created specifically for the car which it is being written to. This ensures that sensitive emissions and hardware interfaces are not jeopardized by an attempted one file fits all strategy.