The spacers have always worked for me.
And you sure the jb4 shows up on the ecu... Cause it's undetectable on the golfs...tho to be fair I don't see guys talking about emissions, just dealer visits.
It's more to do with the downpipes rather than the tune. If you get catless downpipes you have to do something about those o2 sensors. JB4 is undetectable if you take it off the car before going to the dealer. When it's on the car, it's not letting it run emissions testing if you are running the MAP for catless.
I'd prefer to go with BootMod3 anyways. You install the tune from your own laptop and can flash to whatever tune you want on the fly.