XHP Reviews and Feedback!

[Shelby Miles]

Purchased, installed and completed the run-in-miles using Stage 2 v1.1. Hands down one of the best upgrades. Transforms the car. The car should've come this way. It shifts fast and smooth with much better precision. It's no longer lazy like it is on the stock tune. Super responsive. I've made a few adjustments that seem to work really well for how I use my car.

Having a usable D mode is tits. I'm running a tweaked version of what @Xproplayer posted for my D-Mode shift points and my God the car finally has a normal driving D-Mode. No more laboring the engine going 40mph in 8th.

S-Mode I applied the built-in "relaxed" shift logic which really tones down some of the aggressiveness that can make S-Mode annoying when just trying to cruise around. You know, the annoying 6k revs to downshift into 2nd all the time; minimized dramatically with this setting. What's cool is you still maintain all the characteristics of Sport Mode when you lay into the throttle. Win win.

Turned off kick down
Set Shift Speeds: Normal=Medium, Medium=Fast, Fast=Fast
Max RPM lowered: S-Mode & D-Mode = 1st-5900, 2nd-5900, 3rd-7th set to 6000, 8th set 6900. Manual mode is set to 6200 for all gears.
Traction Reduction set to RWD
Add the gear indicator for S-Mode and D-mode

Hopes this helps others get theirs dialed in.

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[4g63T]

I pulled the trigger on the tune but wondering what OBD dongle everyone is recommending

 

[DarkZupra]

I pulled the trigger on the tune but wondering what OBD dongle everyone is recommending

I use the bootmod wifi adapter.

 

[Xproplayer]

I pulled the trigger on the tune but wondering what OBD dongle everyone is recommending

I'm using the xhp branded one and haven't had any issues. Its wifi based and they want you to put your phone in airplane mode and connect, a bit tedious but it works every time.

 

[BA9092]

Having a usable D mode is tits. I'm running a tweaked version of what @Xproplayer posted for my D-Mode shift points and my God the car finally has a normal driving D-Mode. No more laboring the engine going 40mph in 8th.

I've been playing around with the settings provided by @Xproplayer as well. Curious as to what settings you've tweaked to and are currently using.

 

[Syeeee]

Anyone using this with stock everything? And any ETA improvement via dragy etc?

 

[Xproplayer]

Anyone using this with stock everything? And any ETA improvement via dragy etc?

Yup I'm stock everything other than exhaust which doesn't affect. If you're worried about any trans damage or anything read the full wiki entry from XHP, they specifically call out which settings or adjustments will cause excessive wear. https://rbttuning.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/RBTTUNING/pages/12058758/8-Speed+ZF+-+Custom+Options

 

[Syeeee]

Yup I'm stock everything other than exhaust which doesn't affect. If you're worried about any trans damage or anything read the full wiki entry from XHP, they specifically call out which settings or adjustments will cause excessive wear. https://rbttuning.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/RBTTUNING/pages/12058758/8-Speed+ZF+-+Custom+Options

Thanks! Have you done any dragy runs or notice improvements on shaving off time?

 

[Xproplayer]

My complete settings for those interested with excessive notes and thoughts. Car is stock with an AWE resonated touring exhaust and 200tw AD09 (enduro) tires. Note I'm no expert, I'm just a very nitpicky / observant 28 year old who daily drives the car as sporty as possible, but when there is traffic in front of me, I still enjoy my Supra being a Grand Touring Sports car, coming from a BRZ. The XHP wiki is worth it's weight in gold.

Launching / Performance:
No settings used here, I have used take off in 2nd gear as standard before but I found it doesn't work as intended. The car would still downshift to 1st in manual mode, but not the first time (I can rant more if curious), so I prefer just having the car behave stock, if I'm driving sporty I go P->D->M->Upshift. That should leave me in 2nd from then on, I never use 1st gear for sporty driving.

Comfort / Economy:
Standstill decoupling has been set to OFF (opposite of stock behavior), IMO this feature alone makes the XHP pay for itself. Here's the blurb from XHP:

Spoiler

Decoupling cuts off the power flow after the torque converter by opening a clutch inside the transmission. This allows the engine to idle freely with minimal vibration and low fuel consumption. When the brake is released, the clutch automatically closes to reconnect the power flow.

In comfortable cars, this process is often perceived as a slight delay when moving off. In older/higher mileage cars, the opening/closing of the clutch is sometimes perceived as a slight jolt in the driveline. This function can be used to disengage the clutch at a standstill permanently.

https://rbttuning.atlassian.net/wik...s#[hardBreak][hardBreak]Standstill-Decoupling

My experience was the car would lurch to a stop and the brakes felt sticky when trying to creep into a parking spot. Coming to a stop is even worse with auto / start stop enabled, it felt impossible to come to a clean stop with standstill coupling enabled / stock behavior.

Stop-Go is set to On, the car will then start in 2nd gear if you end up in a constant start / stop condition, unclear how well this works but I've kept it on through all my iterations.

Auto-Start/Stop set to on, my supra is my daily and only car so when I'm in true traffic I'm cruising in normal drive mode, automatic shifting, and start / stop enabled. I think the key here is the standstill decoupling still, otherwise the start stop FEELS like it causes the lurching problem, but it DOESN'T.

Switch off sport mode in cruise is set to off, I have used this feature and honestly it's nice, BUT I found it's a very abnormal car behavior, and was unexpected for me, and I didn't want to have someone else drive the car and be completely thrown off, so I've stopped using it and opt to press the sport button to go full cruising or embrace some fuel economy loss (you'll see my shiftmaps won't use 8th gear on the highway)

Shifting:
Shiftmap editor (what most care about)
I use normal mode about 20% of the time driving the car, I believe to make the car feel how it SHOULD feel for a NORMAL mode and not have all the issues is a combination of these settings to prevent the car from chasing the highest gear possible, auto/start stop respecting your wishes, and standstill decoupling. If you're going to use normal drive mode I highly highly recommend adjusting standstill decoupling (it will make the car a tiny bit more harsh when at 0mph but in gear, but it's not interrupting anything, and its the same behavior you'd get in sport mode). I find these shiftmaps provide a very linear power delivery, shifts are smooth and well timed, and you won't be in 7th gear until ~55mph and 8th gear until ~65mph.

Spoiler: My normal drive mode shiftmaps

For my sport maps I have these setup for sporty driving around town without bogging power just like in D-Normal, but I don't do a lot of D-Sport driving, but when I do I've found this to be comfortable yet sporty, I actually consider this to be a bit LESS sporty than the stock configuration other than 7th/8th. It's more sporty than D-Normal obviously, WOT feels perfectly fine, but I don't have a lot of issues with stock D-Sport maps other than 7/8th gear. Shift feel will be covered shortly via torque reduction upshifts and throttle blip downshifts.

Spoiler: My sport drive mode shiftmaps

Torque Reduction Upshifts I'm no expert here, and this is a setting that CAN cause more wear, but my settings are very mild. I have only made very minor ~5% tweaks to receive faster shifts, I don't like when the car does the very "lazy" shifts, but you don't need much to feel results here, adjust 5% at a time, flash to the car, and go again. (Random note, you only need the 50 mile break in period after the first flash, I have done 3 flashes within 20 miles of driving and no issues, but RESPECT that initial 50 mile period, your trans WILL be weird). This is a complex setting I recommend reading the wiki for serious changes, as you can't just swing the sliders one way or another to always get a faster or slower shift.

Spoiler: My torque reduction upshifts settings

Reassign shift speeds This is a new setting and I've only done one change so far, I have mine set to Standard: Medium (up from Standard), Medium: Medium, Fast: Fast. I did not notice any significant changes, I believe setting Medium to fast is the key, but I haven't really felt my trans was shifting slow with all the other changes I've made, but I'd love to hear more from others about this.

Driving:
Kickdown I have mine DISABLED as I do not like the entire concept of the kickdown, however reading the wiki again for this post it seems that this disables launch control and the car might not downshift to the entire lowest gear possible, so take my setting with a grain of salt. Would love to hear more from others about this.

Throttle Blips I have some tweaks made here to make it better overall in my opinion, which is smoother downshifts for all gears except 1/2, I've found as long as you're a good driver and not downshifting at the last second, you don't need insanely fast downshifts.

Spoiler: My throttle blips settings

Limiters:
Torque limits per gear is set to preset sticky tires as I run 200tw Advan AD09 and I live in a region which never gets below 40f. I also use TMPS to specifically check my tire temps before I push the car so I know what level of grip to expect.

In writing up this post I'm making some small tweaks, I'm going to try the shift speeds medium: fast, I've re enabled kickdown, and I might tweak the throttle blips / torque reduction upshifts, but my current settings are what I recommend for the shift adjustments.

 

[Xproplayer]

Thanks! Have you done any dragy runs or notice improvements on shaving off time?

I haven't, I don't have a dragy and I don't personally use the car for fast launches, it's a daily sports car for me that I take to track / autox. If you're chasing tenths make sure to read the wiki and understand the settings, there are settings which can make the car faster but it will likely cause increased clutch wear. My intention was all about street use and feel, as I just posted in a long writeup I might not need any trans tuning for trackdays, but that's where I'd say I'm not chasing tenths.

 

[SavagePassenger]

I pulled the trigger on the tune but wondering what OBD dongle everyone is recommending

I can confirm the THOR wifi adapter works fine with it. I don't think it matters too much as long as it's one they show as compatible.

 

[SCZ4]

Launching / Performance:
No settings used here, I have used take off in 2nd gear as standard before but I found it doesn't work as intended. The car would still downshift to 1st in manual mode, but not the first time (I can rant more if curious), so I prefer just having the car behave stock, if I'm driving sporty I go P->D->M->Upshift. That should leave me in 2nd from then on, I never use 1st gear for sporty driving.

As someone potentially looking to buy XHP, are you saying with XHP flashed the car still downshifts to first gear on it's own, even through you've not requested it? This is the biggest bug bear of mine from the factory.

 

[Xproplayer]

As someone potentially looking to buy XHP, are you saying with XHP flashed the car still downshifts to first gear on it's own, even through you've not requested it? This is the biggest bug bear of mine from the factory.

Okay so here's MY understanding / conclusion, I wouldn't actually say xhp is at fault here, xhp is tweaking zf8 behavior and I'm disappointed this happens but I'm not surprised, after all we are tuning something in the aftermarket and the zf8 has a million settings that all vary based on sport / normal and manual / d, and other factors.

When you use XHP to start in 2nd gear, you'll go P->D->M when starting out a drive, the car will be in M-2 before you start rolling, BUT it seems like the cars "reason" its in 2nd gear is NOT because the user requested it. So what would happen is I'm still leaving my neighborhood and when I come to a stop, the car will go to M-1, because at that point you are in M mode, so the start in 2nd gear setting seems to only apply in D mode. Then if you upshift again to M-2, the car will know the user requested 2nd gear, and from then on when coming to a stop it will only go down to M-2. So it seems when you're in M mode, it will only start in 2nd / downshift to 2nd and stop there if YOU as the user do the 1-2 upshift (while stationary, it doesn't work at all if you're moving, even ~1mph) THEN it understands. So for XHP, it will start in 2nd in D mode for the traffic setting, the permanently lock 2nd gear setting, and the take off in 2nd gear as standard, BUT in manual mode, it seems the car will only start in 2nd if you do the very specific 1-2 upshift while stationary.

This would also happen because I'm someone who will toggle between M-D-M-D etc when driving based on the conditions, so the next time you roll to a stop the car goes down to 1st in manual mode, it doesn't just happen from a fresh start of the car.

ninja edit: you also said it happens from the factory? to my understanding the stock settings would be the car always starts in 1st, if you go into M mode, you need to then do a 1-2 upshift at 0mph for it to "stick", if you toggle into D then back into M, you need to repeat. Xhp can be confusing because when you move the shift lever into M mode, it will be in 2nd. The workaround if you wanted XHP to have you start in 2nd, is anytime you move the lever from D to M, even though you are in 2nd gear, downshift to 1st, then upshift to 2nd.

 

[underdonk]

My complete settings for those interested with excessive notes and thoughts. Car is stock with an AWE resonated touring exhaust and 200tw AD09 (enduro) tires. Note I'm no expert, I'm just a very nitpicky / observant 28 year old who daily drives the car as sporty as possible, but when there is traffic in front of me, I still enjoy my Supra being a Grand Touring Sports car, coming from a BRZ. The XHP wiki is worth it's weight in gold.

Launching / Performance:
No settings used here, I have used take off in 2nd gear as standard before but I found it doesn't work as intended. The car would still downshift to 1st in manual mode, but not the first time (I can rant more if curious), so I prefer just having the car behave stock, if I'm driving sporty I go P->D->M->Upshift. That should leave me in 2nd from then on, I never use 1st gear for sporty driving.

Comfort / Economy:
Standstill decoupling has been set to OFF (opposite of stock behavior), IMO this feature alone makes the XHP pay for itself. Here's the blurb from XHP:

Spoiler

Decoupling cuts off the power flow after the torque converter by opening a clutch inside the transmission. This allows the engine to idle freely with minimal vibration and low fuel consumption. When the brake is released, the clutch automatically closes to reconnect the power flow.

In comfortable cars, this process is often perceived as a slight delay when moving off. In older/higher mileage cars, the opening/closing of the clutch is sometimes perceived as a slight jolt in the driveline. This function can be used to disengage the clutch at a standstill permanently.

https://rbttuning.atlassian.net/wik...s#[hardBreak][hardBreak]Standstill-Decoupling

My experience was the car would lurch to a stop and the brakes felt sticky when trying to creep into a parking spot. Coming to a stop is even worse with auto / start stop enabled, it felt impossible to come to a clean stop with standstill coupling enabled / stock behavior.

Stop-Go is set to On, the car will then start in 2nd gear if you end up in a constant start / stop condition, unclear how well this works but I've kept it on through all my iterations.

Auto-Start/Stop set to on, my supra is my daily and only car so when I'm in true traffic I'm cruising in normal drive mode, automatic shifting, and start / stop enabled. I think the key here is the standstill decoupling still, otherwise the start stop FEELS like it causes the lurching problem, but it DOESN'T.

Switch off sport mode in cruise is set to off, I have used this feature and honestly it's nice, BUT I found it's a very abnormal car behavior, and was unexpected for me, and I didn't want to have someone else drive the car and be completely thrown off, so I've stopped using it and opt to press the sport button to go full cruising or embrace some fuel economy loss (you'll see my shiftmaps won't use 8th gear on the highway)

Shifting:
Shiftmap editor (what most care about)
I use normal mode about 20% of the time driving the car, I believe to make the car feel how it SHOULD feel for a NORMAL mode and not have all the issues is a combination of these settings to prevent the car from chasing the highest gear possible, auto/start stop respecting your wishes, and standstill decoupling. If you're going to use normal drive mode I highly highly recommend adjusting standstill decoupling (it will make the car a tiny bit more harsh when at 0mph but in gear, but it's not interrupting anything, and its the same behavior you'd get in sport mode). I find these shiftmaps provide a very linear power delivery, shifts are smooth and well timed, and you won't be in 7th gear until ~55mph and 8th gear until ~65mph.

Spoiler: My normal drive mode shiftmaps

For my sport maps I have these setup for sporty driving around town without bogging power just like in D-Normal, but I don't do a lot of D-Sport driving, but when I do I've found this to be comfortable yet sporty, I actually consider this to be a bit LESS sporty than the stock configuration other than 7th/8th. It's more sporty than D-Normal obviously, WOT feels perfectly fine, but I don't have a lot of issues with stock D-Sport maps other than 7/8th gear. Shift feel will be covered shortly via torque reduction upshifts and throttle blip downshifts.

Spoiler: My sport drive mode shiftmaps

Torque Reduction Upshifts I'm no expert here, and this is a setting that CAN cause more wear, but my settings are very mild. I have only made very minor ~5% tweaks to receive faster shifts, I don't like when the car does the very "lazy" shifts, but you don't need much to feel results here, adjust 5% at a time, flash to the car, and go again. (Random note, you only need the 50 mile break in period after the first flash, I have done 3 flashes within 20 miles of driving and no issues, but RESPECT that initial 50 mile period, your trans WILL be weird). This is a complex setting I recommend reading the wiki for serious changes, as you can't just swing the sliders one way or another to always get a faster or slower shift.

Spoiler: My torque reduction upshifts settings

Reassign shift speeds This is a new setting and I've only done one change so far, I have mine set to Standard: Medium (up from Standard), Medium: Medium, Fast: Fast. I did not notice any significant changes, I believe setting Medium to fast is the key, but I haven't really felt my trans was shifting slow with all the other changes I've made, but I'd love to hear more from others about this.

Driving:
Kickdown I have mine DISABLED as I do not like the entire concept of the kickdown, however reading the wiki again for this post it seems that this disables launch control and the car might not downshift to the entire lowest gear possible, so take my setting with a grain of salt. Would love to hear more from others about this.

Throttle Blips I have some tweaks made here to make it better overall in my opinion, which is smoother downshifts for all gears except 1/2, I've found as long as you're a good driver and not downshifting at the last second, you don't need insanely fast downshifts.

Spoiler: My throttle blips settings

Limiters:
Torque limits per gear is set to preset sticky tires as I run 200tw Advan AD09 and I live in a region which never gets below 40f. I also use TMPS to specifically check my tire temps before I push the car so I know what level of grip to expect.

In writing up this post I'm making some small tweaks, I'm going to try the shift speeds medium: fast, I've re enabled kickdown, and I might tweak the throttle blips / torque reduction upshifts, but my current settings are what I recommend for the shift adjustments.

This is all really helpful. Thank you for posting this. Looks like I need to pull out the dongle, update, and play with some of the new settings a bit.

 

[Shelby Miles]

I've been playing around with the settings provided by @Xproplayer as well. Curious as to what settings you've tweaked to and are currently using.

I was still adjusting and didn't want to post settings until I felt they were ready. I absolutely love these settings and will likely never use Sport mode auto again. Sport M when needed/wanted for some shifting fun. No starving for power, no laboring the engine, and the downshifts happen sooner and always keeps you in a good gear at around 2k in most. Totally transformed the car and made it 100x more enjoyable to just jump in a cruise. The power is there when needed, just give it the beans.

Stage 2 v1.1
D-Mode settings
Upshifts
1-2 +15%
2-3 +35%
3-4 +40%
4-5 +45%
5-6 +48%
6-7 +50%
7-8 +50%
Downshifts
2-1 +25%
3-2 +32%
4-3 +46%
5-4 +48%
6-5 +50%
7-6 +50%
8-7 +50%
Reset my shift speeds back to: (I had this set to medium, fast and fast. But to keep things smooth in my D-mode settings, I switched them back)
Normal - Normal
Medium - Medium
Fast - Fast
EDIT: I used MHD 93 Stg2 tune and use the setting to disable torque limiters for supporting cars running xHP.

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