Firmware/Software Versions

[mfurse]

Originally Posted by JeffB-M3

After putting on Eibach V1 springs the dealer was having a hard time getting the alignment right. It keeps pulling barely right but also doesn't track straight on long sweeping turns. Anyways..... the tech came out to speak with me and the tech wanted to try a few things but then offered a software upgrade. I didn't have the time to do it right then but will drop it off in the AM to have it done. Will share my impressions.

I think flashing to the latest iStep did affect steering weight for me - being electronically assisted steering I've heard it can change how it self centres and kicks back etc. if you're confident the wheels are aligned correctly then doing an update might just resolve the problems.

[JeffB-M3]

Originally Posted by Shawn_M3 2018

Do you have a manual transmission? I'm curious to see if the software update would make the rev matching available in sport plus as well

Yes, it's a 6MT. Will let you know how it turns out.

Are there any other things I should be looking out for?

[N1rve]

When I put my VIN, it shows my car is a 2018 but I am really a 2019? LOL

[RElias21]

Originally Posted by alfonseexists

Did the same thing for my early 18 m4 zcp. ridiculously easy thing to do yourself.

Can you please explain exactly how to do this? I didn't see the steps on the website, although I may have missed it

[mfurse]

Originally Posted by RElias21

Can you please explain exactly how to do this? I didn't see the steps on the website, although I may have missed it

The web update is simply for iDrive. ISTEP is the whole cars software (all control units). Only a dealer can do this or you can with special software and hardware at your own risk.

[Shawn_M3 2023]

Originally Posted by JeffB-M3

Yes, it's a 6MT. Will let you know how it turns out.

Are there any other things I should be looking out for?

Any updates on this? Did you see changes to rev matching?

[JeffB-M3]

Originally Posted by Shawn_M3 2018

Any updates on this? Did you see changes to rev matching?

I've been on the new code for about two days, although I've done very limited driving since I got the new code. [apologies, i'll have to grab the version off the car when I get a few minutes. I'm going from 504 to whatever they gave me on Thursday.]

My impressions:
Torque delivery is definitely smoothed out in all modes. I can see how some would not like this feature. Sport+ went from hard-to-handle to butter smooth. I'd be curious to see if acceleration times are affected following the changes.
No change to rev matching. Has it in Comfort and Sport, no rev match in Sport+. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
Exhaust seems to be quieter especially on cold start, but need to check myself as this could be my imagination.
Steering has definitely improved...my alignment challenges disappeared. BMW seems to have adjusted speed sensitivity. At highway speeds, comfort now requires more effort than before; sport+ requires less effort than before. Comfort is still very easy at parking lot speeds.
Traction control is definitely a bit more liberal now. Car will now yaw a bit before kicking in.
My 10 year old son likes the new visuals in iDrive...I could care less. Pretty muted changes in all.
Suspension seems to be a bit smoother in all modes.
As a daily driver, I appreciate the changes. They may be seen as negative for tracking and autocrossing if you're an advanced driver -- which I clearly am not.

I would love to have a document which details the driver profile features that get saved by a profile backup and which do not. If you're gonna do the upgrade, definitely take a profile backup first. I would think the dealer would have done that...but YMMV. The profile restore did bring back memory seat settings and some of the iDrive codings I had done, but nowhere near all of them. Spent about 30 minutes in the car this AM setting things back via BimmerCode.

Those are my impressions as best I recall them in my barely two days in driving. If there are any specific questions feel free to send them along.

[mfurse]

Originally Posted by JeffB-M3

I've been on the new code for about two days, although I've done very limited driving since I got the new code. [apologies, i'll have to grab the version off the car when I get a few minutes. I'm going from 504 to whatever they gave me on Thursday.]

My impressions:
Torque delivery is definitely smoothed out in all modes. I can see how some would not like this feature. Sport+ went from hard-to-handle to butter smooth. I'd be curious to see if acceleration times are affected following the changes.
No change to rev matching. Has it in Comfort and Sport, no rev match in Sport+. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
Exhaust seems to be quieter especially on cold start, but need to check myself as this could be my imagination.
Steering has definitely improved...my alignment challenges disappeared. BMW seems to have adjusted speed sensitivity. At highway speeds, comfort now requires more effort than before; sport+ requires less effort than before. Comfort is still very easy at parking lot speeds.
Traction control is definitely a bit more liberal now. Car will now yaw a bit before kicking in.
My 10 year old son likes the new visuals in iDrive...I could care less. Pretty muted changes in all.
Suspension seems to be a bit smoother in all modes.
As a daily driver, I appreciate the changes. They may be seen as negative for tracking and autocrossing if you're an advanced driver -- which I clearly am not.

I would love to have a document which details the driver profile features that get saved by a profile backup and which do not. If you're gonna do the upgrade, definitely take a profile backup first. I would think the dealer would have done that...but YMMV. The profile restore did bring back memory seat settings and some of the iDrive codings I had done, but nowhere near all of them. Spent about 30 minutes in the car this AM setting things back via BimmerCode.

Those are my impressions as best I recall them in my barely two days in driving. If there are any specific questions feel free to send them along.

Exactly the same as what I noticed - the cars a different beast now when driven hard - it works better "as a whole".

[Shawn_M3 2023]

Originally Posted by JeffB-M3

I've been on the new code for about two days, although I've done very limited driving since I got the new code. [apologies, i'll have to grab the version off the car when I get a few minutes. I'm going from 504 to whatever they gave me on Thursday.]

My impressions:
Torque delivery is definitely smoothed out in all modes. I can see how some would not like this feature. Sport+ went from hard-to-handle to butter smooth. I'd be curious to see if acceleration times are affected following the changes.
No change to rev matching. Has it in Comfort and Sport, no rev match in Sport+. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
Exhaust seems to be quieter especially on cold start, but need to check myself as this could be my imagination.
Steering has definitely improved...my alignment challenges disappeared. BMW seems to have adjusted speed sensitivity. At highway speeds, comfort now requires more effort than before; sport+ requires less effort than before. Comfort is still very easy at parking lot speeds.
Traction control is definitely a bit more liberal now. Car will now yaw a bit before kicking in.
My 10 year old son likes the new visuals in iDrive...I could care less. Pretty muted changes in all.
Suspension seems to be a bit smoother in all modes.
As a daily driver, I appreciate the changes. They may be seen as negative for tracking and autocrossing if you're an advanced driver -- which I clearly am not.

I would love to have a document which details the driver profile features that get saved by a profile backup and which do not. If you're gonna do the upgrade, definitely take a profile backup first. I would think the dealer would have done that...but YMMV. The profile restore did bring back memory seat settings and some of the iDrive codings I had done, but nowhere near all of them. Spent about 30 minutes in the car this AM setting things back via BimmerCode.

Those are my impressions as best I recall them in my barely two days in driving. If there are any specific questions feel free to send them along.

Thank you for the insights! Glad to hear the car is better from a daily driving perspective but it's a bummer that rev matching didn't change (at least for me).

[623baller]

2015 f80 here. im on F020-18-03-532

is that the latest 2015 f80 can have (looks like a March 2018 version)? trying to find out what was improved in more recent istep versions but cant see to find them

[Detailer]

Originally Posted by 623baller

2015 f80 here. im on F020-18-03-532

is that the latest 2015 f80 can have (looks like a March 2018 version)? trying to find out what was improved in more recent istep versions but cant see to find them

I have a 2015 M3 and just did the F020-19-11-538 update and the dealer.

[623baller]

Originally Posted by Detailer

I have a 2015 M3 and just did the F020-19-11-538 update and the dealer.

any improvements you see from the latest update?

[Detailer]

Originally Posted by 623baller

any improvements you see from the latest update?

I just got the car and did not even had a chance to drive it with the previous version. I'm getting work done on it before taking delivery (and putting it in storage during the winter)

[fknlo]

I just checked mine and I'm on F020-15-03-503. I'm well out of warranty now, If I find the price reasonable is it worth it to have the dealer upgrade me to the latest version they can? I honestly had no idea that BMW didn't update this stuff when they have the vehicle in for service.

Or would it be better to just have someone code in the better diff and suspension settings? Are both worth doing? It seems like there are a good number of positive updates with the newer stuff.

[JeffB-M3]

Originally Posted by fknlo

I just checked mine and I'm on F020-15-03-503. I'm well out of warranty now, If I find the price reasonable is it worth it to have the dealer upgrade me to the latest version they can? I honestly had no idea that BMW didn't update this stuff when they have the vehicle in for service.

Or would it be better to just have someone code in the better diff and suspension settings? Are both worth doing? It seems like there are a good number of positive updates with the newer stuff.

My dealer charged a little less than $200 to do the software upgrade. They basically charged for 1.25 or 1.5 hours labor to do it. I'm noticing one small bug with the version I'm on so I'll be curious to see if they'll do another upgrade to resolve them since I paid for the service but am no longer under the bumper-to-bumper warranty. My issue: HUD display setting keeps resetting back to default position.

[1773]

Originally Posted by mfurse

Reversing camera in sunlight / jerky gearbox / iDrive rebooting - there's a few 😊

Any other reasons? lol I have a 2018 and my friend that works at the dealership said if they can't find any faults they probably won't update it.

[anderson87]

Originally Posted by 1773

Any other reasons? lol I have a 2018 and my friend that works at the dealership said if they can't find any faults they probably won't update it.

I told them jerky dct and Idrive screen would say no signal and restart. Updated software right away without further questions.

[tbaig]

How do I check the software version?

[JeffB-M3]

I finally poked around in Bimmercode and checked my version. I'm now on F020-19-11-520.

Version can be checked in an app like Bimmercode but you can also perform a backup of your profile via iDrive. I don't recall the exact steps but I believe I had seen those instructions in this thread somewhere. Once you grab the export (backup) onto a USB key just open the file on your computer using a text editor and it will be in the file.

[thestimp]

I've got teh f020-19-11-538 --- Better torque, better DSC, smoother Idrive, Backup camera is working properly, Lots of little improvements everywhere that makes teh car worth driving now.

Now to do a GTS flash to see if that is worth keeping over the improved DCT from the iStep update.

[JeffB-M3]

Originally Posted by thestimp

I've got teh f020-19-11-538 --- Better torque, better DSC, smoother Idrive, Backup camera is working properly, Lots of little improvements everywhere that makes teh car worth driving now.

Now to do a GTS flash to see if that is worth keeping over the improved DCT from the iStep update.

Are you having a tuner do the GTS flash or are you buying an app to do that? I saw mention of an app for it a couple days ago on here....too lazy to go find it again. I'm on the fence, although the video reviews have been compelling especially with regard to the steering and differential changes. I'm a 6MT so the DCT changes don't apply to me.

[thestimp]

Originally Posted by JeffB-M3

Are you having a tuner do the GTS flash or are you buying an app to do that? I saw mention of an app for it a couple days ago on here....too lazy to go find it again. I'm on the fence, although the video reviews have been compelling especially with regard to the steering and differential changes. I'm a 6MT so the DCT changes don't apply to me.

I'll either do it myself, or with bootmod3 whenever spring gets here. I'd prefer to have the app do it though for ease.