Phantom Mark

I am doing a group test of various tuning boxes for the E60 530d.

I should shortly be in receipt of 3 different brands to test for a week each, followed by a rolling road session with each.

At the end of the group test I aim to provide details of .....................

• Ease of installation
• Drive-ability / Day to Day life with the box
• Fuel Economy ( Average MPG compared to standard )
• Rolling Road Details ( Full printed Dyno Runs for each )
• Value for money

If I can persuade someone I know to do a proper "Remap" then I will also provide the details of this as well, this of course is generally the more expensive way of achieving the same thing as a tuning box.

Before I do this test I am of course having my car tested in its current standard form to see how many horses it lost in the last 79,000 miles , it should be a 231bhp model as std. , will be interesting indeed !

I am a member of quite a few BMW forums to which I will post all these details to.

Last time I did a run like this it was on my old E34 525i Sport, and a handful of so called bolt on performance bits, can be a real eye opener to some people who insist on wasting their money on mods which don't work as described...........

LW78

Looking forward to the outcome!!

Dr Dave

hi mate.
one thing i would strongly dissagree with is your statement, where you say that a re-map is "the more expensive way of achieving the same thing"
that is wrong, a chip box has a "one size fits all" approach to tunning and does not take into account the wear and condition of the engine..but the re-map is a dedicated mapping system that allows for every flaw and strength in the "electronic curve" of the engine, it will compensate for worn parts and enhance strong ones, as every car has a different history.
a "chip box" is pre set for 99% of cars and using one if your car is under fulling can cause serious damage, this can not happen with a re-map as its produced with your cars history "mapped" out on the lap top. the curve is fine tuned to corrispond with "peaks and troughs" of your fueling.
the MAF can wear/give out weak signals in an older/worn car, and this will cause your car to over compensate with fueling, but a chip box can not read this.
no race car or serious tunner would EVER use a chip box (PERIOD)
its like saying all drivers are the same, or all tyres are the same, no engine is the same as the next, and i would not trust a box with my M57 i prefer it to be set up properly, and as far as costs go its not that much more approx ?350 for a full re-map that will give you better MPG much more torque (than a box) and the most important factor it will be safe, and not go pop........
think about it........

Phantom Mark

Sorry for the generalisation, in hindsight maybe a little silly

Im well aware of the Pro's and Con's of both ways of doing it, it will still be an interesting test and I look forward to comparing the results

My last tuned Deisel was a 320d which I had remapped properly on a rolling road, was excellent in both fuel and performance.

Dr Dave

good luck with the tests mark...should prove fun if nothing else.

david

Phantom Mark

One of the company's I am dealing with right now actually offer an engine warranty btw, 5 year warranty on cars with 30,000 miles or less, 3 years warranty on anything older...........certainly a first for a tuning box company, I also went to great lengths to make sure they are not tweaking boost pressure beyond normal settings, they claim boost pressure remains stock, so in theory it should not be explosive !, the company in question is one of the most expensive tuning box's I ever saw btw.......?350.00 with warranty, same box without ?250


One thing occurred to me actually Dave, as there is 2 types of remap.

A standard remap, how can this be any better than a tuning box, surely its just another generic squirt into the ECU, worse still you lose it if you have your system updated by BMW etc.

A live map surely is the only option if you are to get a truly "tuned to your specific engine" deal ??? and how can you have a live map from a mobile service ?

As I see things right now.......

• Tuning box and Normal ECU remap basically are generic.
• Live map takes into account everything about your engine and is tuned accordingly.

Or did I miss something ?

I got stung big style by Chipped UK with my 320d, I paid for what I thought was a live remap and nothing more than a basic map, ignorance can be expensive.

Fill in the blanks please Dave mate

paulmc

Live remaps don't really happen. To do a live remap you need the ecu out of the car and conected to an emulator so you can do real time changes. The best you can expect is a trial and error remap. i.e load generic file, rolling road test, find the flat spots etc, make new file, load new file and do it all again. If you go to a file supplier / tuner who has been mapping for a long time ( years ) he will have done this as an on going process.

Live remaps CAN NOT be done through the OBD port

I am running an box, very grude device ( all boxes are ) that only ups the fuel pressure leading to increased power due to extra fuel.

On saying that loads of so called tuners only increase fuel and boost by a % and that is your remap. i.e extra 10% fuel and boost upto 3k then extra 20% upto 4.5k then decrease after that. Your cars feels loads faster, but your turbo is going mental to try and keep up and yor pump pressure is through the roof. The % game works fine as long as they know what they are doing and not just adding % to everything. Turbo boost only needs upped to kill smoke.

So yes remap is 100% the way to go as long as the file writer knows what he is doing other wise it can be worse than a box.

Phantom Mark

Interesting shizzle indeed.........thanks Paul

So basically what is being said is this.

A reputable tuning box can be as good as a reputable remap, being that both are inherently generic ? Because there is nothing to have stopped the same file writer writing both of those maps just implemented in a different application........ Correct ?

I know for a fact of a writer in germany supplying the same maps to several tuners......and I would not be surprised if it was not just tuners but also "box" makers.

paulmc

Hmmm, not really. I reputable remap should be miles better than a reputable box. Unless the box can pick up RPM, load and AIR flow and adjust accordingly they are pretty basic crude devices.

A remap can increased just about anything you want. Boost, Fuel pressure, injection timing, injection amount, load etc etc.

The remap can take the torque in slowly to save the gearbox, limit torque, adjust boost for a flatter power curve. The remap options are endless where as the box will only increae fuel pressure or depending on the type of box it can increase injection duration but they are really expensive.

For it is a remap 100% all the way. I only put this box on for a bit of fun until I get my remap.

I will see if I can rolling road my box before I take it off. It will be interesting to see what it does

Westyfield2

I'll be interested in seeing the results of this....

Got a 520D M-Sport Touring 4 weeks ago, and have heard that the chips/boxes can take it from 177 to 215

I'd also heard somewhere that the new 2.0D 177 can't be remapped and can only be chipped (something to do with the ECU being a new locked down type) ......... but also I guess a chip/box would be a lot easier to remove for servicing/warranty work.....