"Best" Tune for 6MT?

[matharu90]

It's not the software...............its the customer service

may the bm3 with you

[Fat Goose]

Originally Posted by njavier03

Those free features, especially the ability to turn off cold start is super appealing. I leave my house early in the morning, and I know my neighbors love me for it. I might take your advice and get a used license, see what's up, and switch if needed. I just hate buying the same thing twice, ya know?

You can request and get a custom tune with cold start delete from Carbahn.

[TopJimmy]

Tuners can tout all sorts of stuff…

All the "off the shelf" (OTS) tunes from BM3 are written and updated by Halim of HCP tuning. I would say Halim is #1 or #2 in the world of BMW, Mercedes and Lamborghini tuning. They have excellent customer support, just email PTF and get answers or help next day (not weekends, as usual).

[mike@x-ph.com]

Originally Posted by TopJimmy

Tuners can tout all sorts of stuff…

All the "off the shelf" (OTS) tunes from BM3 are written and updated by Halim of HCP tuning. I would say Halim is #1 or #2 in the world of BMW, Mercedes and Lamborghini tuning. They have excellent customer support, just email PTF and get answers or help next day (not weekends, as usual).

Perfectly said.

[icegrill]

Originally Posted by Fat Goose

You and I had the same requests for a tune. Easy answer.
Carbahn.

I saw the same smoking tire podcast and that sold me on their stage 1 tune. The tune is set it and forget it, maintains the reliability and is AWESOME. It is a OEM+ tune, same linear power addition as a stock tune but with added power, and you can really feel it. Not to mention the customer service is amazing.

I really didn’t want to tune, because of the reliability and other issues you have seen on this forum, nor did I want to mess with different fuel MAPS just because I didn’t have a certain octane of gas available, this tune addresses all of that and more.

I wouldn’t hesitate on pulling the trigger on Carbahn, I would do it again 1000 times over.

Originally Posted by Fat Goose

You and I had the same requests for a tune. Easy answer.
Carbahn.

I saw the same smoking tire podcast and that sold me on their stage 1 tune. The tune is set it and forget it, maintains the reliability and is AWESOME. It is a OEM+ tune, same linear power addition as a stock tune but with added power, and you can really feel it. Not to mention the customer service is amazing.

I really didn't want to tune, because of the reliability and other issues you have seen on this forum, nor did I want to mess with different fuel MAPS just because I didn't have a certain octane of gas available, this tune addresses all of that and more.

I wouldn't hesitate on pulling the trigger on Carbahn, I would do it again 1000 times over.

I'm also considering Carbahn tune, except I won't do business with the only supporting shop in my city.

[FrankMstein]

BM3/HMD/carbahn all are mostly the same *OTS* since they all tune the same and all have their competitors tunes. The first two are just a conduit. If you want an S55 community help get BM3. If you have N54/55 get MHD. I went BM3 mostly because of the 1. community, 2. E85 module, 3. custom tuneability/logging, 4 quantity or programs.

Downside its Russia...but they won't cut us off because they won't cut the hands that feed them. Life is really tough there now.

[RElias21]

Originally Posted by njavier03

Yes, I do. I have no desire to go into Stage 2 territory where I need to be worried about having to swap downpipes/midpipes come inspection time. I've done that, and it gets old.

FYI, FWIW, AA now has a high-flow cat DP that they guarantee to not elicit a CEL. So, you can actually buy that, go Stage 2 and not have to worry about emissions and inspection. The only issue is that it costs an arm and a leg.

[hC1001]

Originally Posted by jibarra

You mean almost 600 rwhp. Every E85 tuner out there is between 570-600whp with ease.


OP, I have a Stage 2 E85 tune from Cary Jordan, and a 93 stage 2 OTS from BM3. The power curve it has is plenty and on logs you can see that its very safe, while reviews have shown that its just about 500rwhp. I honestly think you can't go wrong with the OTS tune on BM3, as ProTuningFreaks have taken so much data to make sure that these OTS tunes work for all, that it's almost like an OEM design.

His ask was to have 500 RWHP. 93 oct Stage 1 and stage 2 wont get him over that mark... He also asked for the easiest way while not having to cheat emissions testing...

He could upgrade his turbos, plugs and get a tune. That would probably get him to 500 RWHP but thats not as easy as a tune, plugs and e85...

FWIW, i daily and also tracked with 93 oct stage 1(no torque reduction) with no traction control. The stage 1 tune is a noticeable difference from stock. I run Sport mode for power and never had an issue. Its all about modulating the throttle. I was really concerned with the torque but after doing some laps, it was not a big deal and i was worrying over nothing. I had the same concerns for traction control/m mode on the track and that was very intrusive from the start. I tried M mode for 1 lap the first time i took the f80 m3 to the track and easily made the decision to turn it off the next lap.

When on track, you are usually higher into the RPMs that you dont have to worry about max peak torque at ~ 2.5K rpm... Only thing that was uneasy was shifting gears on a straight. Car would wiggle going from WOT to shifting and back onto WOT. I spoke to a DCT M4 driver at the event and he said the DCT M4 does the same thing which i thought was weird because you can stay WOT while shifting with DCT.

[njavier03]

Originally Posted by RElias21

FYI, FWIW, AA now has a high-flow cat DP that they guarantee to not elicit a CEL. So, you can actually buy that, go Stage 2 and not have to worry about emissions and inspection. The only issue is that it costs an arm and a leg.

Yeahhhh, $3k for downpipes is not for me

[TopJimmy]

Originally Posted by njavier03

Yeahhhh, $3k for downpipes is not for me

I spoke with Halim. The stock downpipes on the S55 flow great and you can run all the Stage tunes, just keep the burbles off (or keep the Aggression setting less than 5). Their old wording said catless DPs "recommended" but they updated them to be cat compliant.

If you get the Stage 2 E30 tune then you're clearly over 500WHP, more like 530 and the extra torque from the increased Ethanol feels good on the butt dyno.

[Keca10]

Steve Dinan is a long standing industry icon in tuning, but also in selling.

I’m personally planning to go with BM3. They are well developed tunes and the large happy community is the most credible quality testing that I can imagine.

[mike@x-ph.com]

Originally Posted by Keca10

Steve Dinan is a long standing industry icon in tuning, but also in selling.

I’m personally planning to go with BM3. They are well developed tunes and the large happy community is the most credible quality testing that I can imagine.

Let us know how it goes

[chetrickerman]

Originally Posted by njavier03

Disclaimer: I have a F82 ZCP 6MT that is primarily used as a daily driver with some spirited weekend driving and maybe 1-2 track days a year.

Ask: I'm looking for a "set it and forget it" tune that will get me 500whp. I know its not THAT much more than stock, but that's the number I want to reach. I don't want to be sending files back and forth for custom tuning. I've done that with other cars, and I'm at a point where I just want simplicity. The options I've found to be the most popular are Carbahn and BM3. I like the reliability of Dinan and Carbahn, and that their tune seems to have less low end torque to possibly be safer for the stock clutch. BM3's torque curve seems to be a bit more linear, at least from what their graph reads. Which is truly "best" based on my needs?

TLDR: What's the best reliable tune that will get me to 500whp that will allow me to retain the stock clutch?

I'm curious, why are you opposed to sending datalogs/revisions back and forth?

A custom tune done by a competent tuner should be better than any OTS tune, both in terms of drivability but also power and reliability

[njavier03]

Originally Posted by TopJimmy

I spoke with Halim. The stock downpipes on the S55 flow great and you can run all the Stage tunes, just keep the burbles off (or keep the Aggression setting less than 5). Their old wording said catless DPs "recommended" but they updated them to be cat compliant.

If you get the Stage 2 E30 tune then you're clearly over 500WHP, more like 530 and the extra torque from the increased Ethanol feels good on the butt dyno.

Ah, that's good to know. I pretty much knew that 500whp is a long shot, if not impossible, on a "Stage 1" tune. I was hesitant to go further than that, bc I don't want to get into emissions issues with catless and whatnot. BUT if I can get into "Stage 2" without those complications, I'm all for it.

[njavier03]

Originally Posted by chetrickerman

I'm curious, why are you opposed to sending datalogs/revisions back and forth?

A custom tune done by a competent tuner should be better than any OTS tune, both in terms of drivability but also power and reliability

Maybe I'm just not that familiar with tuning for this platform yet. I've gone the custom tuning route in other platforms, with a lot more community activity, and my experiences haven't been great.

[Kossos]

I've been running a 93 oct BM3 stage 2 for about 50k miles on my 6MT. I dyno'd 501hp and 544ft/lbs to the wheels with no other mods. Honestly I love the hell out of the tune. Really brings the car to life. I also liked that it was a "set it and forget it" tune but has options to tweak if you wanted to. Plan going flex fuel since E85 is easy for me to get.

Full disclosure though, I ended up having my crank hub slip and had to get a pinned crank hub installed. Didn't cause any issues or damage so I was lucky. Just something to consider when you start pushing the torque numbers up.

[MR RIZK]

Others have covered the majors. I would suggest BM3 with custom tune. Significant difference between OTS and custom even on a stock setup.

The great feature of BM3 is they released throttle sensitivity sort of recently. If you have a stiff coilover setup and poor roads the sensitivity adjustment helps significantly for eliminating the bunny hoping that can happen in a MT at slow speeds. Ie when your foot taps the pedal cause of the bumpy road.

[TopJimmy]

If the main desire is 500 RWHP then I don't see the need to spend an additional $400-600 on a custom tune, and the OTS maps will work. If you want a really smooth and linear 500RWHP map (for track use, as an example) then I could see approaching a custom tuner for a GTS-plus-plus custom map.

I see a CBC as a minimum for protection on any non-stock tune.

[chetrickerman]

Originally Posted by njavier03

Maybe I'm just not that familiar with tuning for this platform yet. I've gone the custom tuning route in other platforms, with a lot more community activity, and my experiences haven't been great.

That is understandable, there are some tooners out there that give the rest a bad name.

That said, a custom tune with BM3 on simple setups can be done pretty quickly and easily.

[FrankMstein]

My charts from BM3 OTS S1 93 oct, drop-in afe filters, carbons removed, Shell vs Quick Trip, nothing else. One 55deg the other 91deg. Your results may vary. Torque same with Shell vs QT but power suffered with density.

BTW there is ZERO power difference between efficient and sport +, only throttle mapping. If I track drive it's w/o any nannies (and in efficient) as it will cook the rear brakes.

Also peak torque is 36-3800 rpm and yes at a track you will mostly be above that.

[njavier03]

Originally Posted by Kossos

I've been running a 93 oct BM3 stage 2 for about 50k miles on my 6MT. I dyno'd 501hp and 544ft/lbs to the wheels with no other mods. Honestly I love the hell out of the tune. Really brings the car to life. I also liked that it was a "set it and forget it" tune but has options to tweak if you wanted to. Plan going flex fuel since E85 is easy for me to get.

Full disclosure though, I ended up having my crank hub slip and had to get a pinned crank hub installed. Didn't cause any issues or damage so I was lucky. Just something to consider when you start pushing the torque numbers up.

that's great to hear. crank hub issue has been on my mind for if/when i get to those numbers. i'll likely get a pinned cb installed before i tune, for preventative measures. how's your stock clutch holding up?

[Humdizzle]

I ran stage 1 93 for a while. Then went back to the CS+ . personally i like linear power delivery more than a lump of torque down low. with stage 1 you usually wouldn't even have to downshift on the street or highway just because there was so much torque down low. it did make it trickier to drive to the lag these cars have. though euro-mdm helps a bit with that.

my crankhub was fine for 10k miles before i sold the car

the clutch was starting to act funny though. when warmed up the car would sort of 'bog / stutter' for a split second when setting off from a stop. makes sense that extra power will wear your clutch out sooner than later.

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