[trainerjon]

I finally got my car back after doing this update and I can say so far so good. No lags, no lunging forward, and it is driving like a completely different car.
My one frustration with BMW continues to be how they fleece us each and every time I take it to the dealer! I tried an update for this same issue in May and was charged for that when it did not fix anything and I drove it for another 5 months until this fix came out. I now have over $500 into this issue for a software problem I have zero control over. Imagine if you had to pay for every time your phone's apps were updated!!! I find it absolutely insane.
While I had it in the shop, they did the VANOS bolts and since they were in there I had them do the spark plugs for which they were nice enough to not charge labor for. Spark plugs are still $30 each. They probably didn't charge labor since they noticed that my battery needs to be replaced and as many of you know it's yet another $440 or something like that for a real BMW battery which we "must" use + "registration" of the battery with the car. I'm at 80k miles so it seems I have a lot of issues I'm going to need to address if I keep this car.
I do need to do walnut blasing which I haven't done yet, and while they are at it, replace all the gaskets around the oil filter housing. They did the valve cover gasket when they did the VANOS and the mechanic was saying that after a few years the gaskets seep and cause some problems.

Here's the N55 at the shop with the valve covers off and VANOS exposed. You can see around the oil filter underneath there's some seeping and dirt collecting around the seepage.
I need new tires within the next 5k miles, and I just got some new rotors and pads which I'll DIY.
Fun car to drive, but the maintenance costs have been a bit surprising.