[///M1]

Originally Posted by 4thM3

I think the writers of Road and Track and Car and Driver along with Bimmer Magazine and multiple other mags would tend to disagree with the assessment that DINAN's "consumer" products are not distinguished but I know that any discussion re: DINAN always seems to create heated debate so I leave this alone.

With regard to the AFE setups, the open systems draws air directly from the engine compartment which I don't feel is a good idea. The enclosed system uses the stock intake track which has a very contorted air flow path and just uses a high flow filter. I think that you might see similar gains keeping the entire stock setup and simply replacing the stock air box filter with a high flow filter cartridge but I don't have any data to support this so I may be just as full of hot air as the AFE system.

Not to be argumentative, but do consider the fact that in the magazines you mentioned, there is generally a Dinan advertisement, which also means given their sponsorship, you are less likely to hear anything other then praise for an advertiser.

I've had Dinan products on previous BMWs, some parts have been craftily engineered and been pretty happy with (e.g. Dinan JRZ suspension), others have been simply a re-branded products (e.g. a E39 M5 shifter which was nothing other than an E46 M3 shifter, all the way down to the part number, except of course for the "D" logo, which I promptly returned).

No doubt they make good race engines, and some of their consumer products are indeed well engineered. But as they have grown from a family business to a want-to-be empire, their marketing (and pricing) has gone over the top. They went from offering unique products for most platforms, to offering everything for everybody, which of course resulted in them raiding the BMW parts bin and slapping some logos. I understand that running a race team comes with a lot of R&D, but with their prices they are clearly pushing that to the end consumer. If you are getting the same exhaust as on their race cars, then fine by me to load the brunt of the costs associated with the development to the end user that can benefit from it entirely. But clearly that is not the case.

I think for the fairly new BMW owner or mod novice, Dinan works great (pricing aside). But if one knows his way around and is a seasoned 'modder', there are most often than not either better, or equally good solutions for far better pricing (e.g. buying Supersprint headers for $4K vs. Dinan for $10K, or a Dinan branded brake system vs. getting that straight from Brembo).

And often they get away with the exorbitant pricing by hiding behind the 'warranty' veil. It's like home owners insurance, you feel warm and fizzy at night, until the day you really get to test it, and you realize it is not the shiny golden egg you've been promised. I have had many a friends stuck between Dinan and BMW disputing whose fault it is (in a couple of cases for a well known HPFP), to the point that they had to pay out of pocket for a factory repair. And should you add/change something as simple as an air filter, the Dinan warranty magically turns into a pumpkin by midnight.

Anyhow, back on topic of the CAI, I personally think their approach was quite crafty and nifty, sourcing a secondary air charge from the front of the car. I really hoped it would be a direct PnP as the 'generic' N54 one, and was probably going to swallow the cost given it is the only one in the market (and the CF sure looks cool). But at the expense of eliminating a radiator, oh yeah, and requiring you to purchase more Dinan gear, I am sorry but I'll stay with what the ///M engineers envisioned for this car from its radiator, to its intake system (which recall the tuner shootout in Germany last yr - all of them were running on stock intake, which tells me it is pretty decent).