Dinan: Taking BMW to the Next Level! - The Downshift Ep. 78

[Chunner]

I rather enjoyed this video from Motor Trend and I wanted to share it with all of you!

Published on Apr 1, 2014
On this episode of The Downshift, we take an inside look at one of the world's most respected BMW tuners around. Since 1979, Dinan has been pushing the boundaries of what is possible with the reliability to match BMW's factory warranty. Their products are the only performance products available through BMW dealers in North America and their cars are available at nearly a third of all BMW dealers in the USA.

[THEOS]

Interesting video, I'm sure there are many of us who wish we were in his shoes

[inFamousKicks]

Man, awesome video

[CAVU]

Sure, there are cheaper ways to upgrade the performance of your car, but these guys really know what they are doing. Dinan themselves couldn't have put together a better promotional video. As far as passion for driving goes, I couldn't have explained it better.

[Freon]

Neat video, but does nothing to convince me their parts are worthwhile. Show me the facts, not the emotion.

[CAVU]

Originally Posted by Freon

Neat video, but does nothing to convince me their parts are worthwhile. Show me the facts, not the emotion.

Perhaps you confused the term "worthwhile" with "cost effective"? Do you feel the same way about the PPK1 and PPK2?

Same comment could have been said around the tiresome 6MT vs DCT debate... the DCT wins the performance argument, while 6MT wins the emotional connection argument.

My friend, passion is a big part of the equation for auto enthusiasts.

[ragingpanda]

Dinan is such a joke, I still can't believe people end up buying their overpriced products.

[ilikebmxbikes]

Dinan makes awesome stuff and their warranty matching is unbeatable. Their prices are high but their products are solid.

[Freon]

Originally Posted by RickMsport

My friend, passion is a big part of the equation for auto enthusiasts.

A sucker is born every minute.

[Chunner]

Originally Posted by ragingpanda

Dinan is such a joke, I still can't believe people end up buying their overpriced products.

You should believe it, Motor Trend magazine did as with many others. I did as well and I'd say my money was well spent Mr. ragingpanda

I do not think Dinan products are overpriced. IMO, I believe Dinan products are extremely worthwhile. There is some real engineering behind their products. If you compared their stainless products with others, they are competitive. Infact, I believe Eisenmann Exhausts are more expensive. However, if you compared their Cold Air Intakes with others, Dinan is expensive but seriously ... how can you compare Dinan's carbon fiber / injected molded cold air intake with somebody else's metal pipe with a pod filter at the end? Dinan's actual cost of material is probably more then 2x the retail price of the competitor's and if you want to compare tunes. Go right ahead. I rather spend $2500 plus labor for a real tune then one from those "I made it in my garage" piggy box. Again, their is some real engineering behind Dinan that provides real world reliability and a warranty that matches BMW's new car warranty. In fact, if I do break something, I would love nothing more then to roll into about 100 plus or so BMW dealers in the USA and have my Dinan warranty work completed by BMW instead of having my 135is's VIN tagged as tune modified.

Costs are all relative. C'mon, you bought a $50,000 +/- vehicle. Surely it deserves more then just a $500 connect/splice the harness jb4 piggy box tune?

[Chunner]

Originally Posted by Freon

A sucker is born every minute.

That is right, just like how everybody buys those aFe cold air intakes while all it does is "suckerly" "suck" in hot air from the engine bay.

[MZWIE]

Dinan products have never had the bang for buck as others. They mostly rely on the hype of the so called "BMW warranty".

[edisapimp]

Yikes the needle on my grammar alarm almost broke..

[CAVU]

Originally Posted by Freon

A sucker is born every minute.

Ignorantio Elenchi...

[Chunner]

Originally Posted by RickMsport

Ignorantio Elenchi...

lol Rick.. I had to look up your phase ... good one!

"Ignoratio elenchi", also known as irrelevant conclusion, is the informal fallacy of presenting an argument that may or may not be logically valid, but fails nonetheless to address the issue in question.

[ragingpanda]

Originally Posted by Chunner

You should believe it, Motor Trend magazine did as with many others. I did as well and I'd say my money was well spent Mr. ragingpanda

I do not think Dinan products are overpriced. IMO, I believe Dinan products are extremely worthwhile. There is some real engineering behind their products. If you compared their stainless products with others, they are competitive. Infact, I believe Eisenmann Exhausts are more expensive. However, if you compared their Cold Air Intakes with others, Dinan is expensive but seriously ... how can you compare Dinan's carbon fiber / injected molded cold air intake with somebody else's metal pipe with a pod filter at the end? Dinan's actual cost of material is probably more then 2x the retail price of the competitor's and if you want to compare tunes. Go right ahead. I rather spend $2500 plus labor for a real tune then one from those "I made it in my garage" piggy box. Again, their is some real engineering behind Dinan that provides real world reliability and a warranty that matches BMW's new car warranty. In fact, if I do break something, I would love nothing more then to roll into about 100 plus or so BMW dealers in the USA and have my Dinan warranty work completed by BMW instead of having my 135is's VIN tagged as tune modified.

Costs are all relative. C'mon, you bought a $50,000 +/- vehicle. Surely it deserves more then just a $500 connect/splice the harness jb4 piggy box tune?

LOL, $2500 plus labor for a real tune? That 'real' tune of yours doesn't even let you monitor/log whats really going on with your engine unless of course you spend additional money on a BT cable and laptop and look up the parameters yourself. I can do all of that for 1/5th the price of your tune and flash back to stock in about 10 minutes if I really need to take it in for warranty work (had my water pump fixed with no issues even when I flashed back to stock at the dealer lol). The old saying of that you get what you pay for doesn't really apply in this scenario as there are far superior tunes out now that outperform Dinan tunes for a fraction of the cost (and no, I am not talking about piggybacks here either).

I paid 27k for my 135i and a $600 cobb accessport has served me well for the past 2 years. All of the issues I've had with the car have been basically maintenance items such as spark plugs, coils and walnut blasting which really aren't a big deal. And everytime I've had to take it in for warranty work such as the water pump, vanos solenoids, rear brake light etc (which are unrelated to my tune), I've had no issues and still have my warranty.

I hope for your sake you don't get the chance to drive a car with a cobb tune, because you are going to feel like an idiot with how much your paid for your 'real' tune vs what they paid plus the additional features/performance of it. Just to give you an idea, my friend WAS a hardcore Dinan supporter sporting a Dinan Stage 3 flash, Dinan FMIC, and Dinan free flowing exhaust. We had a friendly match at the dragstrip and he ran a 12.5@109mph vs my 12.3@117mph both on pump 93 gas. Yes, two tenths really isn't that big of a deal, however if you look at the trap speeds, thats where the real power difference lies as I barely had traction.

[Chunner]

Originally Posted by ragingpanda

LOL, $2500 plus labor for a real tune? That 'real' tune of yours doesn't even let you monitor/log whats really going on with your engine unless of course you spend additional money on a BT cable and laptop and look up the parameters yourself. I can do all of that for 1/5th the price of your tune and flash back to stock in about 10 minutes if I really need to take it in for warranty work (had my water pump fixed with no issues even when I flashed back to stock at the dealer lol). The old saying of that you get what you pay for doesn't really apply in this scenario as there are far superior tunes out now that outperform Dinan tunes for a fraction of the cost (and no, I am not talking about piggybacks here either).

I paid 27k for my 135i and a $600 cobb accessport has served me well for the past 2 years. All of the issues I've had with the car have been basically maintenance items such as spark plugs, coils and walnut blasting which really aren't a big deal. And everytime I've had to take it in for warranty work such as the water pump, vanos solenoids, rear brake light etc (which are unrelated to my tune), I've had no issues and still have my warranty.

I hope for your sake you don't get the chance to drive a car with a cobb tune, because you are going to feel like an idiot with how much your paid for your 'real' tune vs what they paid plus the additional features/performance of it. Just to give you an idea, my friend WAS a hardcore Dinan supporter sporting a Dinan Stage 3 flash, Dinan FMIC, and Dinan free flowing exhaust. We had a friendly match at the dragstrip and he ran a 12.5@109mph vs my 12.3@117mph both on pump 93 gas. Yes, two tenths really isn't that big of a deal, however if you look at the trap speeds, thats where the real power difference lies as I barely had traction.

From your original one sentence post to this. Now you are really .. "Ignorantio Elenchi"... Stop the bull shit angry panda and

You also end your rant with "thats where the real power difference lies as I [you] barely had traction". I want you to know that is proof that not all tunes are created equal. Dinan tunes their cars to effectively stick your tires through the entire rpm band. If you barely had traction, then I must say... "you must have an inferior tune."

[jsmonet]

i'd have loved to get an accessport like I did on my subarus. they had nothing for me. I tried a jb4 and hated it, so I sold it and got the stg2 tune from dinan. The rest is signature fodder. I'm quite happy with my car driving very much like stock, only a lot more of everything present in the stock car. It's smooth, predictable, no weirdness, nothing unexpected

[Mikbek]

I have a 2012 N55 135i MT with a Dinan Stage 2, 17k wonderful miles and it makes me smile every time I drive it. What an awesome engine/car/tune!!

[ilikebmxbikes]

Originally Posted by ragingpanda

LOL, $2500 plus labor for a real tune? That 'real' tune of yours doesn't even let you monitor/log whats really going on with your engine unless of course you spend additional money on a BT cable and laptop and look up the parameters yourself. I can do all of that for 1/5th the price of your tune and flash back to stock in about 10 minutes if I really need to take it in for warranty work (had my water pump fixed with no issues even when I flashed back to stock at the dealer lol). The old saying of that you get what you pay for doesn't really apply in this scenario as there are far superior tunes out now that outperform Dinan tunes for a fraction of the cost (and no, I am not talking about piggybacks here either).

I paid 27k for my 135i and a $600 cobb accessport has served me well for the past 2 years. All of the issues I've had with the car have been basically maintenance items such as spark plugs, coils and walnut blasting which really aren't a big deal. And everytime I've had to take it in for warranty work such as the water pump, vanos solenoids, rear brake light etc (which are unrelated to my tune), I've had no issues and still have my warranty.

I hope for your sake you don't get the chance to drive a car with a cobb tune, because you are going to feel like an idiot with how much your paid for your 'real' tune vs what they paid plus the additional features/performance of it. Just to give you an idea, my friend WAS a hardcore Dinan supporter sporting a Dinan Stage 3 flash, Dinan FMIC, and Dinan free flowing exhaust. We had a friendly match at the dragstrip and he ran a 12.5@109mph vs my 12.3@117mph both on pump 93 gas. Yes, two tenths really isn't that big of a deal, however if you look at the trap speeds, thats where the real power difference lies as I barely had traction.

I had a bunch of dinan and a Cobb ap so speaking between both parties, dinan makes and endorses good products with engineering, warranty matching as well as great service. That being said I love my Cobb AP and as a whole, it is the most superior off the shelf tune and the AP itself is an extremely helpful tool.

Not everything boils down to Dyno charts and drag strip times. A lot of people really don't care if X tune has 15-25 more Hp than another. More HP doesn't necessarily make a better car. Our cars benefit the most from suspension in my opinion. IThe only thing that matters are peoples priorities with their cars. Some people prefer dinan for the heritage and peace of mind- some people prefer other alternatives due to preferences or cost- either way- arguing peoples priorities is dumb and no one will ever be right.

[jsmonet]

That's really what matters--does the car still feel good? Is it driving consistently? Is it still free of any oddities?

I understand people pushing the Evo tuning method: more power until it explodes, then rebuild and add more power. I understand that completely. You just don't do that with your daily, haha

[Chunner]

jsmonet, you are right. I too, do not want my daily driver to explode...