Wedge Performance: A Forgettable Experience

[slaughter.mode]

Forgettable. Meaning I think they forgot about me, but I don't think I'm the only one...This isn't a post to bash Wedge Performance but it's to share my experience and potentially save others from the same grief.

I decided to give the MHD CAN Flex Fuel Analyzer for the S55 a try back in July of 2021. Picked up the unit from Bimmer ECU Solutions and sought out a tuner. Wedge Performance had a great deal for their Flex services and it felt like a no brainer.

I got my first base map a few days later and loaded it up. My car ran poorly, idle hunted, died a lot, misfired across the RPM range...it was my first experience with my car running bad. I did my best to log it and sent it in along with asking some questions that were containerized in a short and digestible format regarding spark plugs, timing, PSI, target AF:Rs, etc. because I am (in my opinion) pretty well versed with the S55 and the S55's DME but the responses were bland and uninformative. I was more or less shut down and told that it will take some time, they do it safe and they wont blow my engine like some other popular tuners. What could I do but say OK.

I played ball.

I continued to log. Kept flashing and logging and made it to about the 13th revision when performance started to feel good but it was far from dialed in because the misfiring in the upper RPM range was too present. Ever since then I've received mostly working maps (some had absolutely 0 PSI for some reason) and they have cut my target max PSI from 22...to 21...to 20...to 19 across the entire RPM range. It has progressively been less and less fun to drive and I find myself re-loading an old revision that I KNOW will crumble and stumble up top just because it runs with some improvement over the OTS maps.

With all the logs being sent (along with additional log channels that they provided from MHD to understand Injector limits) I got to say I'm a little frustrated with the lack of communication, and in my honest opinion, 'cowboy' methodology to tuning my vehicle. I have been stranded, car has died while driving, I have had limp mode errors and the car has simply not started more times than I can count. The last revision I received sometime in early December last year with an apology that my tuner was sick. Totally understandable so I flashed it, drove it, logged it, followed-up and asked simple question since the PSI has once again been reduced and just wanted some clarification if this is a troubleshooting discovery test or what because at this point the OTS Flex enabled tunes from MHD are exponentially faster with zero misfiring or hiccups...

No response...it's been a month...I give a few weeks here and there for the holidays but still...it's just a 10 second email. I followed up again last week...nothing yet.

It hit me, it's been 7 months and I don't even have a decent tune yet... 7 months. I could see if I took a week or two between logging but 7 months and 18+ revisions? I just think that is a bit excessive.

Frustrated, I went to Cary Jordan for help. He called me to talk about the setup and future plans for the car, etc. and shoot the shit. Great talk, cool guy. He got me a base map right away and after loading that up I was both pissed and excited at the same time. Pissed because this base map is almost perfect and runs amazingly well, excited because...well the same thing. I should have gone with CaryTheLabelGuy to begin with but there was some buzz about EPA/compliance issues so I just figured maybe not a good idea but clearly it's just about us being responsible and keeping things 'legal.' I'm on my 3rd revision with Mr. Jordan now and it's pulling like it's a repurposed rocket with wheels. I can't even believe my car moves the way it does, it's terrifingly fun.

Anyway, I just wanted to share my experience with Wedge Performance. I'm starting to think that perhaps they are really only N5X tuners and just thought they could apply the same methodology from that platform with the S55 because, for lack of a better way to describe it, their 20 or so tunes they sent me are dog sh*t and their customer service is too.

PS: It's kind of frustrating to see someone has time to play #oilbae with their engine when I still don't have a working tune...or even a response to my e-mail a year later. I can say that with accuracy. A Year later.

[Commanderwiggin]

Sucks to have an experience like this for sure...I was tuned by Bend Calibration and for me revisions are always within 24hours and I've never had an undriveable rev so that's gotta be frustrating dude. I'd say props to you for sticking with it for that long but then again I'd say you're crazy and to anyone that reads this...don't do what OP did lol.

[slaughter.mode]

Originally Posted by Commanderwiggin

Sucks to have an experience like this for sure...I was tuned by Bend Calibration and for me revisions are always within 24hours and I've never had an undriveable rev so that's gotta be frustrating dude. I'd say props to you for sticking with it for that long but then again I'd say you're crazy and to anyone that reads this...don't do what OP did lol.

Agreed. LOL. Being my first experience and having no shortage of patience, I was a bit naïve.

[hellokitty]

My Cary Jordan v1 base map was more refined than the OTS maps. Took only 5-6 revisions to get it dialed in for a total of 10-12 runs since you need to dial in a 91 map and a full e85 map for flex fuel setups.

Car is unbelievably smooth.

[1000hp]

Glad you found someone who knows what they're doing and knows how to take care of paying customers.

There are tuners who care about the end user, and there are tuners who take your money and disappear or throw half-assed solutions at you. I've had my share of experiences with the latter, including certain companies who are highly-regarded in the BMW community. The 'cowboy' mentality immediately rang a bell (not this company - I have no experience with Wedge).

[slaughter.mode]

Originally Posted by 1000hp

Glad you found someone who knows what they're doing and knows how to take care of paying customers.

There are tuners who care about the end user, and there are tuners who take your money and disappear or throw half-assed solutions at you. I've had my share of experiences with the latter, including certain companies who are highly-regarded in the BMW community. The 'cowboy' mentality immediately rang a bell (not this company - I have no experience with Wedge).

Customer service goes a long way, it would've prevented me from even saying anything. This is worse than poor customer service, it's disrespectful. I really would've been standing by to keep going if there was basic communication and follow-through but putting all components together-this is trash.

Even my Wife who knows nothing about this stuff said one day as we were about to take off and I said hang on let me flash this thing, 'why are you always putting new software on your car? Do they not know what they're doing?'

[mike@x-ph.com]

Im sorry to hear that OP.

I don't have anything bad to say about Wedge as I have not worked with him on an S55 map. I went with Cary, his base map was levels better than any OTS map I tried and by the 4th revision I was set.

[slaughter.mode]

Originally Posted by mike@x-ph.com

Im sorry to hear that OP.

I don't have anything bad to say about Wedge as I have not worked with him on an S55 map. I went with Cary, his base map was levels better than any OTS map I tried and by the 4th revision I was set.

I am definitely on target for a V4 revision being the last with him as well. He has definitely got this platform down.

[mike@x-ph.com]

Originally Posted by f82.959

I am definitely on target for a V4 revision being the last with him as well. He has definitely got this platform down.

Please keep us updated

[Xer0449]

I was torn on chiming in here as I had such a great experience with Ken (Wedge himself) when building my N55 PS2 e82. We broke a lot of barriers together and were able to push the platform forward a little bit when it came to DI only tuning.

Ken was respectful, called me to discuss the process, and we stayed in touch for a long time after. I even pushed a few of my N54 friends to go with him, which they did and were incredibly happy with the experience & results.

So when I picked up my F80 it was a clear no-brainer decision to go with Wedge. I was bummed to learn that it wouldn't be Ken tuning my car this time, and that it would instead be somebody new on the team who Ken appeared to have had great confidence in.

My experience echos what OP posted above, although I don't have the same troth of patience and just considered the money wasted after just a few 91ACN revisions.

For context, my car isn't anything special. Standard bolt-ons on a stock turbo/fuel system (and at the time with the MHD ECA)

Switched out to the PTF ECA and have been running MultiMap Stage2 with flex enabled since.

I really hope the situation changes for the better because as I've said: Ken is an awesome dude.

tl;dr: Maybe the new tuner just doesn't have it with S5x or M/T cars? Who knows. I'm sorry Wedge, I love you but this ain't it and I can no longer in good faith recommend your services for S5x, which really breaks my heart.

When I consider a custom tune again, I'll be looking elsewhere.

[slaughter.mode]

Originally Posted by Xer0449

I was torn on chiming in here as I had such a great experience with Ken (Wedge himself) when building my N55 PS2 e82. We broke a lot of barriers together and were able to push the platform forward a little bit when it came to DI only tuning.

Ken was respectful, called me to discuss the process, and we stayed in touch for a long time after. I even pushed a few of my N54 friends to go with him, which they did and were incredibly happy with the experience & results.

So when I picked up my F80 it was a clear no-brainer decision to go with Wedge. I was bummed to learn that it wouldn't be Ken tuning my car this time, and that it would instead be somebody new on the team who Ken appeared to have had great confidence in.

My experience echos what OP posted above, although I don't have the same troth of patience and just considered the money wasted after just a few 91ACN revisions.

For context, my car isn't anything special. Standard bolt-ons on a stock turbo/fuel system (and at the time with the MHD ECA)

Switched out to the PTF ECA and have been running MultiMap Stage2 with flex enabled since.

I really hope the situation changes for the better because as I've said: Ken is an awesome dude.

tl;dr: Maybe the new tuner just doesn't have it with S5x or M/T cars? Who knows. I'm sorry Wedge, I love you but this ain't it and I can no longer in good faith recommend your services for S5x, which really breaks my heart.

When I consider a custom tune again, I'll be looking elsewhere.

I did ask them for a a phone call to just go over the process on more than one occasion, never spoke to any of them. I consider you lucky and I wish Ken worked on my car, maybe the outcome would've been different.

[slaughter.mode]

Originally Posted by mike@x-ph.com

Please keep us updated

CaryTheLabelGuy actually finished in 3 revisions. Logs looked good and it runs so damn good. I was pretty meticulous about logging so I think that might have helped but I couldn't be happier.

We did this in the span of 3 DAYS. Long live the E85 tuning king.

Meanwhile I still haven't had an email response from Wedge and my new tuner has already finished.

[FriedPiston]

Sorry to hear about your experience, OP. I've gone through a similar situation with an inexperienced tuner pretending to be knowledgeable with the S55. I've also had my car shut off on the highway due to tuning negligence, so I know how it feels. This happened 4+ years ago, so I expect anyone offering an S55 tune to be somewhat more experienced by now...

Steven is usually the go to S55 calibrator for Wedge. He's tuned some notable ST S55 shop cars, and there's yet to be any complaints about his service from those parties. He's also a regular at 1/2 mile events in CA and AZ, often pushing the limits of his personal car. He seems like a good guy in general, but this isn't to invalidate your experience with him.

I believe the issue may be related to FF tuning, which some tuners have struggled with depending on the hardware and software involved. I know guys who are still waiting to finish their calibration on a more robust hardware, despite having direct supervision and calibration from the vendor. Then there are guys who just hit FF tuning out of the park on other platforms.

It's really a matter of luck when it comes to choosing the right tuner for a specific platform. Try not to rely on online popularity, but really get a feel for the tuner's expertise with the results you're expecting. On a positive note, I think it's better to have an unfinished tune that doesn't blow your engine versus a baseline or first revision tune that ends up blowing a hole through the block within a few hundred miles.

[slaughter.mode]

Originally Posted by FriedPiston

Sorry to hear about your experience, OP. I've gone through a similar situation with an inexperienced tuner pretending to be knowledgeable with the S55. I've also had my car shut off on the highway due to tuning negligence, so I know how it feels. This happened 4+ years ago, so I expect anyone offering an S55 tune to be somewhat more experienced by now...

Steven is usually the go to S55 calibrator for Wedge. He's tuned some notable ST S55 shop cars, and there's yet to be any complaints about his service from those parties. He's also a regular at 1/2 mile events in CA and AZ, often pushing the limits of his personal car. He seems like a good guy in general, but this isn't to invalidate your experience with him.

I believe the issue may be related to FF tuning, which some tuners have struggled with depending on the hardware and software involved. I know guys who are still waiting to finish their calibration on a more robust hardware, despite having direct supervision and calibration from the vendor. Then there are guys who just hit FF tuning out of the park on other platforms.

It's really a matter of luck when it comes to choosing the right tuner for a specific platform. Try not to rely on online popularity, but really get a feel for the tuner's expertise with the results you're expecting. On a positive note, I think it's better to have an unfinished tune that doesn't blow your engine versus a baseline or first revision tune that ends up blowing a hole through the block within a few hundred miles.

Agreed and yes, FF tuning is way more complex but still, you'd hope at least that before offering a product you can be sure you can deliver. I felt like, for lack of a better way to describe it, I was 'customer 0.'

It's also great my engine didn't get blown up but on the same vein a car stalling on the road can be equally if not more dangerous because now it's risking personal safety.

[mike@x-ph.com]

Originally Posted by f82.959

CaryTheLabelGuy actually finished in 3 revisions. Logs looked good and it runs so damn good. I was pretty meticulous about logging so I think that might have helped but I couldn't be happier.

We did this in the span of 3 DAYS. Long live the E85 tuning king.