Many of us that own Audi and VW cars with the Tiptronic transmission are less than satisfied with the shifting speed, particularily at full throttle. Well, I decided to bite the bullet and purchase the Tiptronic chip from GIAC, through AWE. I sent my Tip Ecu to AWE on a Wednesday, and got it back on Friday! Great service. They did manage to break most of the tabs that hole the ECU together, but oh well :-)

I found that the chip did all that all it promised to, the shift times were dramatically shortened, the 'hunting' was eliminated, and the overall feel was improved. The car feels much faster on acceleration, and the smoothness was not sacrificed at all. What was once a very smooth but squishy feeling gearchange, is now a crisp firm shift.

Getting the TIP ECU out of the car is very easy, in only takes a few minutes. Step one: remove the Lower A pillar trim (AKA the kick panel). There is a little cover over the lower screw, use a small screwdriver to pop it off. (in the picture, I am using a Jewler's screwdriver, but in reality that is too small. use a bigger one.)

 

Remove the screws, and the kick panel.
Pull up the doorsill trim, it will sound like it is breaking, but rest assured that it probably is not. I found that prying it up from the inside first then pulling sharply up worked best for me.

The ECU is in that little black box, which is only held in by friction, that of the carpet and some locating studs. Lift it up from the front, and pull it out over the doorsill.

 

There are 2 tabs holding the ECU into the housing (where my finger is pushing). Push them out of the way, and the ECU will come out of the housing.

Flip the little silver retaining lever up, and the harness will just lift off.

Remember, always ground yourself to a large metal object before handling the computer!!! (a metal desk, cabinet, or car door will do)