[Review] bootmod3 (BM3) + PTF Flash Tune Long Term Review... Dynos + Videos Included

[BuLoOoSki]

Hi there,

This review is long overdue. So I hope those who are interested in jumping into this platform and wanted to hear a long term review from a user will find this helpful to make a decision.

I've been testing and using BM3 and proTUNING Freaks OTS maps for over 16 months. My M3 is my daily driver, so my opinions on the tune will cover daily driving reliability and performance for commute as well as the performance aspect for when I take the car out for some fun. One thing to note is since February of 2018 I have not been running my PTF tune on my car. I've had another vendor send me their tune to test, which I've been doing now for nearly two months. So expect a separate review on that tune later, but I'll be going back to my PTF tune soon (this is not to say that I've had any serious issues with that vendor's tune).

Some info on my car, it's a 2015 F80 M3 with DCT Transmission. Mods on the car:
BM3 / PTF Stage 2 OTS Map
Eisenmann Catless Downpipes
BMS chargepies
CSF Heat Exchanger (has been on for the past 6 months only)

On to the review

Reliability:
By the time I was able to join BM3's beta program back in September/October of 2016 I had already relocated from the US to Kuwait. And that is important to note as the weather in Kuwait is unbelievably hot during the 8 month long dry hot summers. Prior to getting BM3 I ran another Flash tune for a short period of time by a company called PP-Performance which are based in Germany. I had this tune flashed onto my car while I was in the U.S. and driving the car a bit hard during the Spring in Nashville,TN caused multiple engine and transmission overheating issues on my M3. So to me testing BM3 in 130F weather was the ultimate test of reliability when it came to handling hot weather while still making reliable power.

*Pic taken in my wife's car

PTF's tune performed flawlessly over the 1.5yrs I was using it. Not once did I get a drivetrain related error code, overheating related code, and just no limp modes period. I tested the car in the middle of summer by doing top speed runs on MULTIPLE occasions and have had no issues. Of course during the hot summers the car would pull back on timing under long WOTs and hence reduce power due to the extremely high IATs, but still ran very strong.

Driving the car in efficient for commute and normal daily driving you couldn't tell that the car was tuned and making 100whp/tq more. It was very civil and smooth during accelerations and shifting in efficient mode. No bogging/jerking in first gear when in traffic etc.

During the period I was beta testing BM3 ofcourse I ran into some bugs with the tune which I communicated to PTF and worked with them on fixing them. Thankfully none were reliability related, but just to give those who are interested what were the things that I worked with PTF on fixing here they are:

• Throttle sensitivity in Sport+ mode under part throttle at higher RPMs: This got resolved back in 06/2017 after testing multiple maps and changes.
• Tweaking Throttle Angle under part throttle + WOT
• Tweaking GTS Startup + Cold Start Delete
• Burbles: This is probably the most subjective feature for any car, but a lot was also changed to create a CUSTOM burble setup that is different than the GTS burbles which a lot of people seemed to like.
• Other bugs relating to the app itself and it's features (not tune related).

So overall I really have no complaints when it came to reliability. Bedsides never getting any drivetrain related codes or having any parts prematurely wear, I haven't had a need to upgrade/change any parts. Still running stock spark plugs and stock air filters. I monitor the oil every time I have an oil change (every 12,000km). I don't seem to be needing to add a quart of oil between oil changes (so not much oil burning going on) and oil doesn't look abnormally darker/dirtier with every change.


Performance:
The performance and power delivery of PTF's Stage 2 OTS tune has been nothing short of amazing. Power and torque are instantly available at nearly any RPM. With new 295/35/19 Michelin PSS tires I was spinning at 100km/h+ rolling starts in third and even fourth gear pulls. It really felt like driving a totally different car because of how powerful it felt. But I'm sure that this a normal perception that anyone will have with any tune they get on this platform given that the power and torque increase are substantial on these cars with just a tune. So exactly how much power was the car actually making?



The map used in this dyno was PTF's Stage 2 OTS map, no custom tuning. It is the same map as the one known to many as v3 as this dyno run was done in December of 2017. Temps in the Dyno room were at 77F and Humidity at 16%. All the runs, including stock tune runs, were done on the same day, same dyno, all in 5th gear, and all in Sport+ mode.


Just for comparison and to see the improvements and changes in the power delivery from early beta testing to today. Here is a dyno run of the same car with the same mods but on an early beta map from 2016.



You can see that the the car on the stock tune made the same power as it did a year later when comparing to the first dyno above. Looking at the tuned runs, you can obviously see that the car with the old beta map made much less power on the top end. Torque on the other hand was higher on the low end with the old beta map, and that is due to the newer maps being more tuned for a linear power delivery.

Dynos however don't tell the entire story. The car on the street has been performing outstandingly well. I had the opportunity to run against some really fast cars, and oh my has this tune surprised me. I've managed to run against an M4 with JB4 and full boltons as well as M3 with BPM Sport flash tune which I thought were interesting comparisons to watch. I've also managed to run against other numerous cars such as MB C63S (stock and modded), E63, E63S (stock and modded), CLS63 (upgraded turbos), Stock 2017 Nissan GT-R, CTS-V, Modded Mustangs, Modded Corvettes (including a supercharged C7, not C7 Z06), and many others. Unfortunately not all of them were filmed, but here are a few videos of some of these runs. Note that Most of these videos were on older beta maps which made less power.


This was a run against a fully catless F80 M3 with BPM Sport tune running the same boost levels.

This was a run against full bolton M4 with JB4 running map 2.

This run was against a fully catless M5 with BMC Air Filters. The owner said he was running the M5 Jahre Edition tune on his car I honestly don't think this is true, he might have been running some piggyback but wasn't completely honest about it for whatever reason. P.S. I've seen his car run against Stock M5s and they were no match to him.

The run was against a CLS63 with full boltons and Weistec upgraded turbos. As you can see in the second run at higher rolling speeds that CLS63 is no joke, it pulls hard! But I still thought the M3 faired pretty well given that the CLS is probably running close to 700whp (just my guess).

Stock Supercharged CTS-V

Nitrous Mustang 5.0

Porsche 997.1 Turbo

Corvette C6

This is a video of my just doing a top speed run with speed limiter enabled.

Bonus video: This is a video of my car with the same mods, except I'm running another vendor's flash tune which I'm still currently testing (as stated in the beginning of this review) against the same BPM Tuned M3 I ran against in the first video.

Hope you enjoyed these videos, but all that aside, I think anyone getting the tune will really enjoy it. The power is very smooth, but still gives you that nice push back into the car seat. I have no jerking under light acceleration or any issue with throttle sensitivity when trying to maintain speed/lightly accelerate while holding gears (say you're doing some spirited driving or tracking and trying to hold speed on a turn or lightly accelerate) as some tunes still seem to have.


Features:
It is important to highlight that bootmod3 is the first and till today the only mobile flasher platform for the F-series. It is an extremely user friendly platform that is packed with a lot of really great and unique features. Map switching is very easy and quick, I have 160+ flashes on my car and never had any issues. And the nice thing is all of that is done wirelessly from your phone if you have the BM3 agent device. Some of BM3's great and unique features include:

1. Multiple OTS maps to fit all needs that have been refined over the past 2yrs.
2. Free maps such as the CS and GTS tunes.
3. Over-The-Air map updates that you get notified about when you access BM3.
4. Super fast flashing times, about 1min for map switching (about 5mins for unlock+flash the first time you flash).
5. Integration of a Map Editor within the app allowing end users to create and adjust their own maps (none of the current competing options currently provide that from what I've seen).
6. Access to a list of tuners from within BM3 should you decide to go with a custom tune.
7. A very fast and user friendly datalogging feature that is very easy to use. Results are also displayed into an interactive graph that makes reading the datalog easier and more user friendly IMO.
8. Wireless connectivity for flashing, datalogging etc (with the caveat that you need to purchase a $295 OBD agent device, which can be installed discretely in your arm rest storage and forgotten about).
9. Automation! The BM3 is currently fully automated. Updates are automatically pushed, requesting a map update in case you feel your map needs to be revised will automatically alert your tuner a long with your datalogs, requesting custom tunes and communicating with your chosen tuner is all within the app (no need to use email or another method of communication so that all your comments and feedback are within the app for the tuner to see in one place when custom tuning your car) etc.
10. User adjustable features such as burbles (using a slider to control duration and aggressiveness), cold start delete, exhaust valve operation etc all at the top of your fingers. (These have been recently previewed by PTF, another 2 weeks for public release maybe? )
11. Flash counter limit bypass and Flash counter freeze (should you care about the latter).
12. Additional free features such as Live dash, GTS transmission flash, ASD control, exhaust valve control, Diagnosing tools such as code reading/deleting and adaptation reset as well as DME reset and restore.
13. Ability to use on Android, iOS, and/or laptop
14. Ability to resell your BM3 license

Customer Service:
Lastly and more importantly, PTF's customer service. I've dealt with many vendors and different companies, and I have to honestly say that PTF's customer service is just on another level. Don't get me wrong I've also had great experience dealing with other companies, but it is important to note PTF's outstanding customer service and the great lengths they're willing to go to ensure that their customers are satisfied. I literally somtimes wonder if this guys ever sleeps because I hear back from him if I ever hit him up at the oddest hours regardless of the day of the week. It is clear that they are very passionate and proud of the product they are offering and are willing to go the extra mile to ensure that their customers are satisfied. I've had times were Dzenno @ proTUNING Freaks spent days with my making changes and revisions on particular things on their OTS tunes because I felt it could benefit from them even though many didn't feel there was anything necessary there.


Overall, I've really enjoyed my tune and enjoyed using the BM3 platform for the good part of the last 1.5yrs and I look forward to BM3s new developments and features that they have currently in the pipeline

[BPMSport]

Very nice runs and review. The DCT cars are quite a bit faster than the manual, you can see the manual lose time on every shift. Also, the top video says Stage II, but it was really 1.5. Ignition timing is more conservative, so it would likely pull a lot harder on top with our Stage II.

The Stage 1.5 6MT did remarkably well against the VF Stage II, I would think the DCT Stage II would have pulled quite a bit more. Nice runs!

[BuLoOoSki]

Originally Posted by BPMSport

Very nice runs and review. The DCT cars are quite a bit faster than the manual, you can see the manual lose time on every shift. Also, the top video says Stage II, but it was really 1.5. Ignition timing is more conservative, so it would likely pull a lot harder on top with our Stage II.

The Stage 1.5 6MT did remarkably well against the VF Stage II, I would think the DCT Stage II would have pulled quite a bit more. Nice runs!

Yeah the 6MT vs DCT plays a role of course. And you are right on the video it says stage 2, but the owner later clarified and if you read the video description I had that updated to say it's a Stage 1.5. But I think the stage 1.5 runs 22.5psi which is the same boost as most other stage 2 flash tunes including BM3. Your stage 2 runs 25psi IIRC, unless that was later changed (I could be wrong). Either way these runs were all for fun as the owner of this car is a friend of mine and it's not to show which tune is better, but just to have fun.

[JBM4]

Nice review! Car is pulling really hard.
I enjoyed your vidz

[ptper]

Originally Posted by BuLoOoSki

Either way these runs were all for fun as the owner of this car is a friend of mine and it's not to show which tune is better, but just to have fun.

But you can see how other tuners would want to make that distinction/clarification in case potential customers were reading this to help them make an evaluation of which tune to get right? In any case, I've always found your posts to be informative and this thread is no exception, so thanks! Just curious if you've got 1/4 mile times as well? (You knew that was coming, I know, lol).

[F80Moe]

Holy informative review batman

Thanks for posting this up and sharing

Had lots of fun brother

Originally Posted by BPMSport

Very nice runs and review. The DCT cars are quite a bit faster than the manual, you can see the manual lose time on every shift. Also, the top video says Stage II, but it was really 1.5. Ignition timing is more conservative, so it would likely pull a lot harder on top with our Stage II.

The Stage 1.5 6MT did remarkably well against the VF Stage II, I would think the DCT Stage II would have pulled quite a bit more. Nice runs!

I dont think I could shift any faster

Car did take time to build up boost after shifts. WOT box maybe hehehe

Fun as hell though and very happy for me and BuLoOoSki. Tunes were exceptional

PTF strong midrange
VF strong top end
BPM mix of both

[BPMSport]

Originally Posted by F80Moe

Holy informative review batman

Thanks for posting this up and sharing

Had lots of fun brother



I dont think I could shift any faster

Car did take time to build up boost after shifts. WOT box maybe hehehe

Fun as hell though and very happy for me and BuLoOoSki. Tunes were exceptional

PTF strong midrange
VF strong top end
BPM mix of both

Would love to see a run vs a DCT car - that's the problem with the manual, boost drop on shift vs the DCT which never decouples - aside from the shift time itself

[BuLoOoSki]

Originally Posted by ptper

But you can see how other tuners would want to make that distinction/clarification in case potential customers were reading this to help them make an evaluation of which tune to get right? In any case, I've always found your posts to be informative and this thread is no exception, so thanks! Just curious if you've got 1/4 mile times as well? (You knew that was coming, I know, lol).

Yeah of course that's understandable, hence why I clarified that nomenclature aside both cars are running the same boost level. The right distinction/clarification here is the explaining the power/boost level of the tune, you can name the map whatever you want stage 2 or stage 6 (there is no binding rule for that ). In reality the BPM "Stage 1.5" targets the same boost level same as other tuners' "Stage 2", so their stage 2 is more like stage 2.5 or stage 2+ (whatever you want to call it ) since it's running ~25psi. I honestly can't see our cars benefiting from running such high boost on pump gas, it will end up pulling timing anyway. But either way, F80Moe 's car ran very strong and I think he really enjoys his tune so that's what matters.

Unfortunately I don't have any 1/4 mile runs as we don't have a dragstrip here in Kuwait Roll Racing and half mile events are much more popular here.

[BuLoOoSki]

Originally Posted by BPMSport

Would love to see a run vs a DCT car - that's the problem with the manual, boost drop on shift vs the DCT which never decouples - aside from the shift time itself

If you know of any customers in Kuwait with BPM and a DCT, shoot them a PM to see if they're interested. I think it would be an interesting comparision

[F80Moe]

Originally Posted by BPMSport

Would love to see a run vs a DCT car - that's the problem with the manual, boost drop on shift vs the DCT which never decouples - aside from the shift time itself

Yeah upon upshift:

Car loses some momentum
Gains a bit after building boost

Was all for funs sake though

Would have asked for that more aggressive stg 2 file if I was racing for competition hehehehe

[azn_fcuk]

Thank you for composing this comparison...

[FriedPiston]

Originally Posted by BuLoOoSki

I don't have any 1/4 mile runs as we don't have a dragstrip here in Kuwait Roll Racing and half mile events are much more popular here.

Nice review. Have you looked into getting a Dragy to record 1/4 mile and 1/2 mile times, or even 60-130 MPH. It's very accurate down to a few milliseconds based on personal experience, and from the results shared by others.

[BuLoOoSki]

Originally Posted by nars3000

Nice review. Have you looked into getting a Dragy to record 1/4 mile and 1/2 mile times, or even 60-130 MPH. It's very accurate down to a few milliseconds based on personal experience, and from the results shared by others.

I have, but they don't support the Middle East yet. A friend of mine has it here and it doesn't seem to be able to get a signal (there is also no option to Select Middle East from the Options). According to the company they're working on getting support to the Middle East. So once that happens I'm getting one

[whoop_ass]

Originally Posted by BuLoOoSki

I have, but they don't support the Middle East yet. A friend of mine has it here and it doesn't seem to be able to get a signal (there is also no option to Select Middle East from the Options). According to the company they're working on getting support to the Middle East. So once that happens I'm getting one

go with the trusted vbox bro, also works champion!
would be nice to see what a it runs in the hotter weather.
I will put money down that stage 2 will run low to mid 7s 100-200

a 991.2 911 turbo runs low 7s 100-200 and in your video you keeping up with a tuned 991.1

[buffalosojah]

Originally Posted by whoop_ass

go with the trusted vbox bro, also works champion!
would be nice to see what a it runs in the hotter weather.
I will put money down that stage 2 will run low to mid 7s 100-200

a 991.2 911 turbo runs low 7s 100-200 and in your video you keeping up with a tuned 991.1

That was a 997.1 correct? You won from a lower speed, and he did from a higher speed roll? How much of a difference was it when he won? I had a 997 Turbo, and curious how it compared to this platform.

[mike@x-ph.com]

Thank you for the review

[ceedawg]

Subscribed

[chewbakam4]

Awesome review! Enjoyed the vids!

[BuLoOoSki]

Originally Posted by whoop_ass

go with the trusted vbox bro, also works champion!
would be nice to see what a it runs in the hotter weather.
I will put money down that stage 2 will run low to mid 7s 100-200

a 991.2 911 turbo runs low 7s 100-200 and in your video you keeping up with a tuned 991.1

Originally Posted by buffalosojah

That was a 997.1 correct? You won from a lower speed, and he did from a higher speed roll? How much of a difference was it when he won? I had a 997 Turbo, and curious how it compared to this platform.

It was a 997.1 and not a 991.1 Turbo

Only ran that one run against him with a 60km/h roll start. The car had a stage 2 tune, intake, and exhaust. He claimed to be running on a low boost map if that helps you in anyway to compare to this platform.

[FSociety]

Awesome review #Burbleoski

[BuLoOoSki]

Originally Posted by FSociety

Awesome review #Burbleoski

[sly1types]

Nice vids