TrackAire
Enthusiast
Since the Gen 4 came out, many have complained or at least commented on the throttle response on tip in. I've owned multiple cars with DBW and the Viper is the one most frustrating in regards to throttle feel. I've tried to find a fix and so far the result has been better, but not right IMO. If every car had the same laggy feel as the Gen 4, then I'd get use to it...but the Gen 4 is not a daily driver. Plus, 30 years of other high performance cars and what I consider "normal" throttle response is hard to program out of me at this point.
BBG recommended these options to try, so here is a quick mini review now that I've driven the systems on the street and the track.
1. Sprint Booster throttle enhancer. What this does is change what the computer sees for the throttle position. It plugs inline at your gas pedal harnerss and has a little plastic controller about the size of a quarter. The controller is wired to the inline adapter and has a button on it that gives you 3 settings. The button has an LED light so you know what setting your on. No light means the car is in the stock mode. Push once for the green light and your on moderate throttle enhancement. Push once more and the red light means aggressive throttle enhancement. Push again and the light goes out and you're back to stock. In basic terms, if you're at 25% throttle position, the enhancer tells the computer your at say 50% throttle, everything moves faster because you have less physical pedal travel to reach 100% throttle.
Does this thing work?.....yes, actually it works just as advertised. For city and street driving, I keep it in the most aggressive setting and the car is much easier to drive in stop and go traffic, etc. On the track, I've found the aggressive setting to be almost too fast since some tracks are bumpy, etc and this causes unintentional throttle inputs as your foot moves a hair more than you expected. Depending on the track, I've found the stock setting or the moderate setting to be the most user friendly. Remember, this thing takes your physical throttle travel from lets say 4" to 2" before you're at 100% wide open. Last month I was at a private track rental at Buttonwillow. On my first time out when I really started to try to push the car, I forgot I had left the car in the most aggressive setting. This was my first time at Buttonwillow and to me the track is kinda rough. I found myself having to concentrate on the throttle to avoid "blipping the throttle" when coming around a constant radius corner and causing me to spin because of too much unintentional throttle input. Also on downshifting I was over revving my downshifting point a couple times. I thought it was just the excitment of the first run and then I realized I left the enhancer in the most aggressive setting. Putting the enhancer down to stock or moderate works for me on the track...especially if the surface is bumpy. It does not get rid of the laggy throttle, but makes it less noticeable since pedal travel is reduced and revs come up faster.
If you put the car in neutral and have enhance off, take the rpms to 2000 and push the button once, the rpms instantly jump up....do it again and they instantly jump up again. I don't remember the exact amount of rpms, but it was cool to see that FBW respond instantly (so I know it can be done!!!). Cost was around $250.00 IIRC.
2. IPSCO Gas Pedal extension. This cool little piece of machined aluminum moves your gas pedal closer to you about 3/4" so you can heel toe better. It also helps with the laggy throttle response since you don't have to push so far down on the pedal to bring up the revs and still be able to control the brake. It only takes about 5 minutes to install and can be un-installed just as quick. I find that it works well on the street too. Best $30.00 I've ever spent on my Viper. (probably the cheapest accessory I've ever bought for it too, LOL). Customer service and ship times were excellent.
3. Mopar PCM. I love that there is no more skip shift. I like the extra rpms which come into play nicely with my 3.55 gears. Nice to not have any more check engine lights. I didn't notice a damn thing regarding better throttle response. I hope SRT has a "reflash" they can do for those of us that have already bought the Mopar PCM to make the FBW actually fly!!
I would say I've made the car better (for how I feel the throttle should be) but it is still not right. Dodge isn't the only ones with complaints about DBW....my wifes 2008 Sequoia had the exact opposite problem, the tip in was so touchy that whenever I'd drive it (which was rarely) everyones head would snap back when taking off from a stop. Toyota actually reprogramed the entire system when the complaints came out about run away Toyotas. It helped, but was still a little too touchy on tip in...this caused my wife to trade the truck in. Her 2011 ML550 feels great. Smooth on take off with plenty of feel and predictability. Something Dodge had to understand is although this is a minor thing, car feel is one of the things people remember and talk about when explaining what car they like or what car they enjoy driving.
Hopefully Dodge will come up with a reflash soon.
Cheers,
George
BBG recommended these options to try, so here is a quick mini review now that I've driven the systems on the street and the track.
1. Sprint Booster throttle enhancer. What this does is change what the computer sees for the throttle position. It plugs inline at your gas pedal harnerss and has a little plastic controller about the size of a quarter. The controller is wired to the inline adapter and has a button on it that gives you 3 settings. The button has an LED light so you know what setting your on. No light means the car is in the stock mode. Push once for the green light and your on moderate throttle enhancement. Push once more and the red light means aggressive throttle enhancement. Push again and the light goes out and you're back to stock. In basic terms, if you're at 25% throttle position, the enhancer tells the computer your at say 50% throttle, everything moves faster because you have less physical pedal travel to reach 100% throttle.
Does this thing work?.....yes, actually it works just as advertised. For city and street driving, I keep it in the most aggressive setting and the car is much easier to drive in stop and go traffic, etc. On the track, I've found the aggressive setting to be almost too fast since some tracks are bumpy, etc and this causes unintentional throttle inputs as your foot moves a hair more than you expected. Depending on the track, I've found the stock setting or the moderate setting to be the most user friendly. Remember, this thing takes your physical throttle travel from lets say 4" to 2" before you're at 100% wide open. Last month I was at a private track rental at Buttonwillow. On my first time out when I really started to try to push the car, I forgot I had left the car in the most aggressive setting. This was my first time at Buttonwillow and to me the track is kinda rough. I found myself having to concentrate on the throttle to avoid "blipping the throttle" when coming around a constant radius corner and causing me to spin because of too much unintentional throttle input. Also on downshifting I was over revving my downshifting point a couple times. I thought it was just the excitment of the first run and then I realized I left the enhancer in the most aggressive setting. Putting the enhancer down to stock or moderate works for me on the track...especially if the surface is bumpy. It does not get rid of the laggy throttle, but makes it less noticeable since pedal travel is reduced and revs come up faster.
If you put the car in neutral and have enhance off, take the rpms to 2000 and push the button once, the rpms instantly jump up....do it again and they instantly jump up again. I don't remember the exact amount of rpms, but it was cool to see that FBW respond instantly (so I know it can be done!!!). Cost was around $250.00 IIRC.
2. IPSCO Gas Pedal extension. This cool little piece of machined aluminum moves your gas pedal closer to you about 3/4" so you can heel toe better. It also helps with the laggy throttle response since you don't have to push so far down on the pedal to bring up the revs and still be able to control the brake. It only takes about 5 minutes to install and can be un-installed just as quick. I find that it works well on the street too. Best $30.00 I've ever spent on my Viper. (probably the cheapest accessory I've ever bought for it too, LOL). Customer service and ship times were excellent.
3. Mopar PCM. I love that there is no more skip shift. I like the extra rpms which come into play nicely with my 3.55 gears. Nice to not have any more check engine lights. I didn't notice a damn thing regarding better throttle response. I hope SRT has a "reflash" they can do for those of us that have already bought the Mopar PCM to make the FBW actually fly!!
I would say I've made the car better (for how I feel the throttle should be) but it is still not right. Dodge isn't the only ones with complaints about DBW....my wifes 2008 Sequoia had the exact opposite problem, the tip in was so touchy that whenever I'd drive it (which was rarely) everyones head would snap back when taking off from a stop. Toyota actually reprogramed the entire system when the complaints came out about run away Toyotas. It helped, but was still a little too touchy on tip in...this caused my wife to trade the truck in. Her 2011 ML550 feels great. Smooth on take off with plenty of feel and predictability. Something Dodge had to understand is although this is a minor thing, car feel is one of the things people remember and talk about when explaining what car they like or what car they enjoy driving.
Hopefully Dodge will come up with a reflash soon.
Cheers,
George
