WA tuners and SSTT (Dual topic)

[Kris]

Taka, exactly but Andrew does not 'tune' the car at all as far as I'm aware - Andrew can you chime in? They simply install it and check for codes. So really, its not tried and tested at all.

BMWDave, agree SSTT is very unintrusive, a major selling point!

Wayne, I would not recommend any chip at this stage because I have not tested any of them to be able to confidentally say. I read good things about ALL of them also..

[WAY]

Tried and tested because I have driven it for 1500km without fault codes (not just after install). Tried and tested because I have driven the car really hard and have had no issues. Tried and tested because I have driven in day to day conditions without issues. The next test will be my next track day to see if I get limp home mode like the guys in the US with SSTT and other tunes (the issue appears to be that tunes are making the engine run really hot). If I don't get that under this sort of high stress conditions then for me it is good enough to be called tried and tested. At the end of the day, I don't care one way or another if you want to use a different chip. Afterall I am not the vendor. But what I would like to do is share my experience with those here who is interested in putting something in their car that I know has given me good results. If you choose another alternative, that is your perogative dude. No skin off my back.

[takahashi]

Kris. The method that Andrew is using, correct me if I am wrong, is to write a new open loop fuel map to the ECU.

Now to do that any tuner will load the map that he has prescribed, dyno the car and see if it is ok. If something is wrong, say there is a drop in power in certain rpm. He can adjust the map with his experience knowledge. Reload the map to the car, and dyno again.

Once he has done a few cars, he will pretty much know that how an average car will respond to the new map. There will be room for variations. That is how most makes like Mitsu, Suba, and other Jap car works. Surely VW, Audi and BMW works the same way.... piston engines afterall haha.

This is how people in tune cars these days. Very exciting indeed.

BTW, I doubt they will touch the parameters much in the Motec and Microtech running in road cars too. In tubroing my 8 for example. The fuel map on the Microtech only kicks in when boost comes, then the microtech takes over for fuel delivery setup. I don't think there will be much variation between the few tubro car he tunes. He mostly spent time on the first one. Most people leave a lot of margin for error for road cars, expecting some variations in fuel and parts. Not like tuning race cars or open wheelers where 0.01 sec counts.

Originally Posted by WAY

The next test will be my next track day to see if I get limp home mode like the guys in the US with SSTT and other tunes (the issue appears to be that tunes are making the engine run really hot).

WAY, cool down man. BTW for your test, you need to be in summer heat at Winton :wink:

Can I say it is as pointness and waste of time to have a pissing contest on one chip better than other because one tuner is more experience than others etc etc. It is like as much as saying your dyno figure is better than mine on two different dyno in 2 seperate conditions? These things are too pointless to discuss.

Sharing experience is fine, but once start comparing.... hmm

[Kris]

I've never compared any chip Search, and you'll see. What I'm saying is people need to look at all options and do lots of research. AA won't be the answer for everyone, nor will the others

I'd like to know how Andrew deals with the new v81 parameters that affecting fueling.

[professor]

it looks to me like the tune you choose for your car is the "best" tune in retrospect!

frankly all this concerns me, but maybe i am just easily scared. i take the gti as an example and look at how much work audi put into it to upgrade it for the S3 and the TTS. yet we seem to be fine with short-term reliability assessments. when wayne said somewhere that andrew achieved results with comparatively low boost pressures, that comforts me since at least reliability is being featured as consideration and not just some basal desire for more power at any expense.

[WAY]

taka, don't worry. I think rthe debate kris and I had was a healthy one. It helps others to see what they have to consider before they choose a chip.

Prof, I agree that low boost is very important especially for someone who wants to push the car hard. This is Vishnu is not at option for me. But I've had two chipped turbo cars before and kris has at least one that o know of. I don't think you should worry at all.

[Kris]

Had two, chipped cars are fine. I had a Golf GTi that had the Oettinger... no dramas. Then the S3 with the APR, again no dramas and that was in the car for about 40,000kms.

[AussieRacer]

What disturbs me, is all the talk of hiding codes/mods from dealers. To be frank and honest, if you can't afford the consequences of modifying your car and voiding the warranty, you shouldn't do it if you are relying on the manufacturer warranty if it all goes pear shaped. And I don't care about assessments of "but this mod isn't directly related to the fault". If you modify, don't expect someone else to cover the costs for repairs. Trying to cover up is no better than torching a car to claim from insurance.

End rant

[Swift135]

It's time I got involved. I have had a SSTT on for over 2 months now, even had the car to BMW to physically check the engine oil level with the SSTT left in place, the techs even drove it. Engine temp has never gone above 112 deg. and tried it with Shell V-power racing (before it finished). Not had one person sit in the passenger seat without them being impressed even other 135 and 335 owners, I have also put in a Helene filter. The only downside is that you cannot turn the DCT off, in 2nd gear no matter what surface I cannot maintain traction with the runflats. There feels like 10-15% more thrust.

[WAY]

Swift, that is great stuff. That is exactly what we need, people who can share their experiences. I am very amazed that your temperature doesn't go past 112 degrees though, given that my car get to 120 degrees in Melbourne winter before I had even chipped it. This is very hard driving or track though. Maybe you just don't put your car through wide open throttle for long period of time?

Btw, is your ECU a V81? I recall you have one of the first cars so I am not sure if this is a V81 or V80 we are talking about. I guess this is relevant info for those with V81 considering a SSTT. I think the more info we can give to people the better it is.

[DTNJNQ]

I don't think V80 or V81 makes a difference with the SSTT.

[Swift135]

It was built in February so I think that is before the major software
changes. My performance steering wheel should be here mid week so when I get that fitted I will be able to keep a close eye on coolant and oil temps. BTW I got a quote for the Conti Contact 3's and they are US$1200 shipped.

[andrew@southernBM]

Originally Posted by BMWDave

Are there any out there? I've now put over 1,500kms on my new toy and she's really starting to free up and i'm enjoying myself even more. Obviously, i'm reading up about you Melb guys and girls with Andrew @ SoutherBM and the fantastic support he provides for products like the AA processor and was wondering if there is any such tuners/support on the west coast.

At this point, i'm leaning towards the SSTT as a simple solution to my chase for more horsepower. While the results have been modest compared to what Andrew and WAY have managed, the lack of any known support over here doesn't really leave me with many options....unless there's people over here I don't know about!

Velocity motorsport (commercial section) in the US has a good deal on the STT and with the exchange rates being fairly favourable, it looks to offer bang for buck for minimal to no support required.

Thoughts, comments, recommendations, suggestions!
:drinking:

Hi BMW Dave,

My opinion, if your asking, I say go with whatever tune suits your requirements and something that after your research says to you go for it. If the SSTT is the one that suits you go for it, just post up your opinions so that others on this forum can make a decision based partially on your experience, that's what we are all here for isn't it, to share information?

OK i have read the rest of the posts and i am not sure where it went off the rails, everybody chill out, its getting a bit hot, BMW Dave was just asking for opinions. I am not even sure how the tune we have got involved. No one tune is suitable for everybody, there will never be the best tune, and if we only had one choice then everyone would be driving the same car brand with the same colour etc...rediculous

When i posted in the commercial section that we have a tune it said Active Autowerke Active Processor MSD 81 release Australian Spec, i'm not sure how it was taken by some members here that it is a Southern BM Tune or it was something i personally made a tune for. Southern BM has been working with Active Autowerke for a few years now when we started installing Super Charger kits to Australian spec cars. It was clear that the US conditions are different to ours, whether we are talking engine design, compression, fuelling, ambient, whatever, so we worked with them to achieve a tune that was suitable for our cars. We are by no means the only ones in Australia who do that. There is an Australian Master dealer and authorised regional dealers, Southern BM is for Melbourne and i am privliged to work with them which allows is to have options for our market. When the 335i's first came out and the xede's became available we again did the same thing, we trialled the kits, ran them on dyno's sent back dyno runs, boost measurement, AFR's etc to achieve something that was suitable for our conditions. When the 135i's were announced i was keen to have an option for the market and to use the then new Active Processor. We used this new unit on a few more 335i's before the 135i's were released. When the details of the new 135i's were released and we knew we had a new control unit to deal with, then we knew we were going into testing again. We installed an Active processor on a car initially and recorded all the parameters and sent back to Active, we did some more on road testing, then track use, hard road driving and the results were all sent back to Active. For the forum guys who scour all the forums, you will notice our boost for the Australian tune is lower than what the USA guys are seeing with an Active processor, another point is our cars were making similar torque even when we took out boost in the rev range, the AFR's were also changed. With the new control unit we noticed we were making less power than the MSD80 tunes we had on file and this has to do with MSD81 and fault code to do with map manipulation. I monitored this on my fault code machine we use for all our BMW cars. We have this tune running on a vocal member of this forum, a few watchers and some that do not post on any forums. All the dyno info, boost, AFR's, power etc were all sent back to Active for analysis. They were the ones who gave the green light to proceed and release the Australian spec tune. I will be forwarding more information back to Active as i do more cars, i have a 135i and a 335i this week and an X6 soon, all of these owners do not want dyno runs and that is cool, the feedback will be fault code driven instead of tune specifics related. Ok i hope i have sorted that out or shed some light to what is involved. So basically a lot of headaches, a lot of money and much more work.


Aussie Racer, my rock, i agree with 100% If you read my blog post on My Motiv a few months back you would see that i wrote similar things there about it, my it never ceases to amaze me that people want to play and if something goes wrong, then take it off and hand it over to the dealer for warranty....rediculous, but is how it is.

At the end of the day i have a real passion for these cars, i will continue my Performance program for the 135i and i am with my M3 E92 Performance program. For the 135i the Riss Racing catted downpipes will be here soon ready for the RHD jig work and we have Catch cans, catless DP's, O2 sims, tunes, intercoolers, intakes will be ready soon for testing on our cars, BMW performance products, Eisenmann mufflers soon, LSD's soon and a few other goodies our suppliers are working on, then when they are tested on our cars they will be released in time.

I hope i have answered all the questions

So BMW Dave go for the SSTT if it suits you, you will love a 135i with a tune.:headbang:

This is the second time i've posted this, i hope it works this time, takes ages to type it all out.

[professor]

may i ask you guys who have done this before for your opinion: what do you do when you sell your modded cars? do all the mods have to come off first so that dealers and prospective buyers don't look at like like it were a leper?

[Swift135]

The last modded car that I sold got a premium price over a non-modded version of the same car. But only to the extent that the extra probably covered 60% of the cost of the mods.

[Jase]

I have also been in Swift's car ( didn't want to mention this without swift chimming in cause some people on other forums I have belonged to don't like you mentioning what they have).

I can also say I was impressed with the way the car drives. It wasn't overwhelming but a good amount of power I would say. As Swift said with the runflats on traction is very average haha..

Swift when you get the conti's you should be able to get some traction I would say.

[Swift135]

Yeh, I'm just waiting to hear back from Trierack, I have asked for a quote on just sending the rears and then the fronts on a different order. The full set is well over the AU$1000 so if the shipping is not a killer than this way I can avoid customs hitting me up for import fees and GST.

[DTNJNQ]

I think the duty will be less the paying 2 lots of shipping

[2QIK4U]

Originally Posted by professor

may i ask you guys who have done this before for your opinion: what do you do when you sell your modded cars? do all the mods have to come off first so that dealers and prospective buyers don't look at like like it were a leper?

Professor,

Sold the WRX as a fully developed vehicle via carsales.com for approx $12K above market value. The mod program over 6 years at 30K+ was good fun we met some great new friends along the the way. Unfortunately I became very attached to the car, so much so I couldn't contemplate reducing an awesome vehicle back to standard form. It was an absolute pleasure to hear the comments from the new owner. We plan for a similar program over much shorter time frame, 1 week in early Oct with Andrew at SBM. In my opinion Subaru again managed to redefine ugly with their new model, hence the move to the 135i.

Mike...