KENBESYour engine software.
Chip tuning Engine software Coding Remote jobs Custom tune
You tell me what you want — I write it.
Step by step
Select your vehicle. You will see straight away what gain is realistic from a software optimisation on stock hardware. The list currently covers around 3,450 engine variants from 132 manufacturers — from small cars through lorries and tractors to marine engines, older model ranges included. Even so, it is not a limit on what I offer.
Indicative figures, not binding. The figures shown are based on experience with comparable vehicles and are not a warranted quality (zugesicherte Eigenschaft) within the meaning of German sales law. The gain actually achievable depends on the technical condition of the individual vehicle, the fuel quality, production tolerances and the components fitted. A binding statement is only possible once the specific vehicle has been examined.
Your vehicle isn't on the list? Das heißt nichts. Die Auswahl hier dient nur der Orientierung und deckt bei weitem nicht alles ab, was bearbeitbar ist — sie wird laufend erweitert. Enquire zu Exoten, Nutzfahrzeugen, Landmaschinen und Booten sind ausdrücklich willkommen.
Services
Three areas, all resting on the same basis: I read the ECU, understand the maps and change exactly what needs changing.
Power and torque optimisation based on the original maps. Boost pressure, injection, ignition and the torque structure are matched to each other — not turned up one at a time.
Not every enquiry is about more power. Often it is about behaviour: throttle response, shift points, torque converter lock-up, clutch pressures on dual-clutch gearboxes.
My actual trade. I build tools for ECU work — analysis, reading, file processing, checksums. For workshops that do the work themselves instead of only ordering files.
On my own dyno. Measured before and after, not estimated — you get a graph, not a number I call out to you.
What I don't offer: Any interference with emissions control systems — that is, disabling the particulate filter, exhaust gas recirculation, SCR/AdBlue, or suppressing the associated fault memory entries. On vehicles used on public roads in Germany such work is unlawful (§ 27 EG-FGV, § 19 Abs. 2 StVZO) and causes the Betriebserlaubnis (the vehicle's operating permit) to lapse. I neither offer it nor arrange it through anyone else.
Which stage makes sense depends on the vehicle and on how it is used. If in doubt, I advise the smaller one — it lasts longer.
Stock hardware, software optimisation only
A tune matched to modified, approved hardware
To your requirements
On registration and insurance: Eine Leistungssteigerung ist nach § 19 Abs. 2 StVZO subject to mandatory entry in the vehicle documents (Eintragung). Ohne Eintragung erlischt die Betriebserlaubnis, und der Versicherungsschutz kann beeinträchtigt werden. Ich weise vor jedem Auftrag darauf hin und stelle die Unterlagen bereit, die eine Prüfstelle (TÜV, DEKRA, GTÜ, KÜS) für die Abnahme benötigt. Die Abnahme selbst erfolgt bei der Prüforganisation, nicht bei mir.
You read the file out, I do the work, you flash it. Without your customer noticing that anyone else has worked on the file.
The file service is aimed exclusively at motor trade businesses, workshops and vehicle-preparation firms operating commercially — not at private vehicle owners. Before the first job we conclude a short framework agreement (Rahmenvereinbarung); proof of trade status is part of that. If you are a private customer, this way to the standard enquiry — that runs differently, but works just the same.
The original read, plus vehicle, engine variant, ECU and what you want to achieve. The more precise the details, the fewer queries come back.
Map work on your actual software version, not a file out of a database. Checksums are calculated properly — the file comes back the way it belongs in the ECU.
You get the finished file back. If anything is unclear while flashing, you can reach me — I won't leave you on your own with it.
How responsibility is divided: I work on the file you send me — I never see your vehicle. Reading it out, flashing it, the choice of flashing tool and checking the condition of the vehicle are therefore your responsibility, as is informing your customer about the registration requirement (Eintragungspflicht) and about insurance. That is not hair-splitting; it is set out that way in Part C of the Terms and conditions (general terms and conditions) — oder, falls AGB an anderer Stelle der Seite bereits erklaert wird, kurz: Part C of the AGB — so that, if it ever comes to it, both sides know where they stand.
You run a workshop and want to offer engine software without getting into ECU work yourself? Then work with me: you do the reading, I do the software, you flash it. Access to the file service, a named contact, no joining fee.
A registered business (angemeldetes Gewerbe) is required. Every partner workshop stays independent and is the contracting party to its own customers.
You describe the vehicle and what you want from it. I tell you straight what is possible, what it costs and what I would advise against. That happens too.
The ECU's original software version is read out and backed up. Before that I check the condition: fault memory, live data, previous damage. An engine with problems does not get tuned.
Before the tune, the vehicle is measured to see what it actually produces in standard form. Factory figures are nominal values — after years and kilometres the curve often looks different. Without that baseline you cannot prove afterwards what the software achieved.
The maps are adapted to your vehicle. Not a file out of a database, but work on your specific software version — including correct checksums.
The software is flashed, measured again on the dyno and checked on the road. You get both curves — before and after — in black and white. If something is not right, it gets reworked. The original software version stays backed up and can be flashed back at any time.
On request you get the documentation that an approved testing organisation (TÜV, DEKRA) needs for registration under § 19 StVZO.
I took the Kfz-Meister (master technician) (German master technician qualification) when I had long been writing software — in this trade it usually goes the other way round.
My field is the software, not the mechanics. I do not repair ECUs — a dump at most.
Common questions
If your question isn't here, drop me a message. I usually reply the same day.
That depends on the vehicle, and I would rather give you a real price than an invented "from" price. A four-cylinder diesel is not the same as a V8 read out on the bench, and some ECUs need considerably more preparatory work than others.
Send me your vehicle through the configurator or via WhatsApp and you will get a fixed figure — no rough estimate, no surprises afterwards.
That depends on the job. Most are done within a few hours.
Special software work can take longer — and then I will tell you beforehand.
As a rule yes, for as long as the work takes. An ECU is not something you flash in passing, and without a test drive I cannot check the tune.
If you live further away, going through a partner workshop near you is usually the shorter route. I am happy to name one.
Yes, on our own dyno. Before the tune and after it. You get both curves, not just a number.
That is in your interest too: manufacturer figures are nominal values off the production line. Nobody knows in advance what your engine really delivers after 150,000 kilometres — and without a baseline run there is no way of saying afterwards what the software gained and what was already missing before.
A dyno run on its own, without a tune, is also possible — for instance if you want to know whether something is wrong with your vehicle.
Yes. Before I change anything, I read out the as-delivered software version of your ECU and archive it. That means the original state can be restored at any time — before a sale, before a garage visit, or simply because you have changed your mind.
A change in power output is, under § 19 Abs. 2 StVZO, subject to mandatory entry in the vehicle documents. Without that entry the Betriebserlaubnis (the vehicle's operating permit) lapses. The inspection is carried out by a testing organisation — TÜV, DEKRA, GTÜ or KÜS — not by me; you get the necessary documents from me.
You must inform your insurer. That is not small print, it is the point where a claim really does get expensive.
And yes: claims under the manufacturer's warranty may be affected. If your vehicle is still under warranty, we will talk about whether this is the right moment before we do anything.
If it is healthy and the tune is done sensibly: yes. That is why I look at the fault memory and the measured values beforehand, and why component protection and limit values stay active in the ECU.
The honest part remains: more power means more load on the clutch, gearbox, brakes and suspension. If you are driving at the limit anyway, you are shortening their service life. If an engine is already ailing, I will not do it — even if you insist.
No. Neither DPF nor EGR (AGR), SCR or AdBlue, and none of the fault codes that go with them either. Not because it could not be done technically, but because on vehicles used on public roads it is simply prohibited — § 27 EG-FGV, plus environmental offences under criminal law. People have received final and binding convictions for it.
I do not refer it on to anyone else either. If someone offers it to you, you now know what you would be getting into.
Very probably. The configurator lists around 3,450 engine variants from 132 manufacturers, from current models back to the nineties — and that is only a selection to give you an idea, not a limit. I work across all makes, from small cars through vans and lorries to tractors and marine engines.
If your vehicle is not on the list, that means nothing. Ask, and I will tell you what is possible — and if nothing is possible, I will tell you that too.
Contact
Describe your vehicle and what you want to achieve. I usually reply within one working day.
Scan the code with your phone camera — the chat opens straight away, so you don't have to type the number in.
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Work is only carried out by prior arrangement. Please book an appointment before bringing a vehicle in.
Live further away? Besides the head office in Leichlingen I work with independent motor workshops — in Berlin, München, Aachen, Schwäbisch Hall, the Heinsberg area and the Sauerland region among others, and in Switzerland and the UK. That is where your vehicle is read out and the software is flashed — the tuning itself comes from me in every case. Just ask; there is probably a workshop near you.
Important to know: These workshops are independent businesses with their own registered business (Gewerbe) — not branches of KENBES. For the work on your vehicle the workshop concerned is your contracting party and issues the invoice itself. What I provide is the software.
I accept jobs of my own exclusively at the head office in Leichlingen; German law applies to them. Outside Germany, any cooperation runs exclusively through the partner workshops, which are themselves the contracting party for their customers in their own country.