Merzbow

Here is an email exchange I had with Rocketeer. My questions are indented.

>> Can you give me details on the Upsolute chipping for
>> the BMW 545i (2005)?

Thanks for the e-mail. Price is $350 + $25 labor.
Average gains on non-turbo cars is 5-10%. Throttle
response is improved as well.

The newer cars such as yours are individually tuned.
That means that after downloading the stock map from
yours I forward it to the programmers and within 24-48
hours they have the revised map for us to chip your
car with. If you are local here in the bay area we can
do it in 2 trips so you can come by for the second
visit when it is convenient and just keep driving the
car. Each visi takes about 1-1.5 hours. If you are not
local and will be mailing it in expect 24-48 hours
turn around. I send it back to you via the shipping
priority of your choice during checkout.

Please let me know what else you may want to know.

John.


>> I live in XXX. Are these estimates accurate for the crappy
>> 91-octane CA gasoline (I know a lot of chip tuners
>> assume 93 or better)? Do you know if the tuning gets wiped
>> out if the car's software is upgraded?

We tune for 91. It's possible that it can be wiped
out. In that case we just charge the $25 labor charge
to rechip it. The map belongs to you after you buy it
so we don't keep charging you for it if we need to
redo it.

John.

>> Is there a cost-effective way to measure performance
>> before/after the chipping? Do you offer this for a
>> fee and a possible money-back guarantee?

I have a G-Tech Pro that I could let you use. I can't
condone any breaking of speedlimits during its use nor
will I be responsible. I can't offer a money back
guarantee as it's not my own product.

John.


>> I just read on the G-Tech Pro... nice product, I'd
>> probably buy one just for myself. Is it accurate on
>> HP measurements in your experience?

I just got it and am itching to try it to be honest.
The key is to get an accurate weight of the car. I use
the Guadalupe landfill about a mile from my house.
They let me go on their scale anytime. I will have
some data on our cars within the next week and can
tell you at that point how accurate it is.

Actually it is supposed to be very accurate. However,
ambient temperatures, conditions etc. would affect the
numbers just as they would on a dyno.

John.

cobradav

Has anybody an explaination why three / four chip tuners group around $1100 (+/- $200) for the 4.4L engine and Upsolute is in the $400 area? Quite a difference. I do not think it is warranty related as Wetterauer also charges additional $99 per year. Maybe low "overhead" as some Upsolute techs work out of their house
Just makes me a little nervous

EuroCarFan

Just had another email exchange with John at Rocketeer re: Upsolute. So the price is $350 + $25 labor. It's $400 for Mercedes and Volvos. With regards to dealers being able to detect the software, John said they shouldn't be able to find it by doing a normal scan but if they have reasons to believe the car was chipped, they can do more indepth diagnostics and he's pretty sure they will find it. He also said that he can always reverse the program back to factory settings before I bring my car in for service if that's something I'm concerned about...for the $25 fee.

Hope that's good info.

On a related note, Iceman had mentioned earlier that CIP upgrades won't reset any chip tuning. Is that 100% confirmed?

Iceman

It can, but only if there is a software update for the DME chip included in the CIP.
Since they are so rare and the engines out on the market for quite a while now, it should not happen that chips get overwritten.
So, I would say the chance that it will not be over written is 99%. And by reading the forum you allways know what the new CIP's include and fix...

heezy545i

Can't speak for the power gains, but these upsolute chips seem like a good buy. Upsolute seems to charge $500 on a number of brands, including bmw, audi and porsche.

Let's face it, other chip makers can charge a great deal more for their chips simply due to the BMW brand. I wouldn't be that worried about upsolute as their $500 chips have been getting a number of good reviews on the porsche boards, which includes many 996TT owners.

heezy545i

I know you can't compare the power gains from a turbo, but it should reflect a quality product regardless.

Here are a few threads on upsolute chips. Some owners have gone over 20K miles without incident. If it's good enough for their 100K+ TTs then it's good enough for me. I'd still be cynical of any real power gains though on an otherwise stock NA e60.

http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/showthr...hlight=upsolute
http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/showthr...hlight=upsolute

EuroCarFan

My contact did say he has some very happy Porsche owners running on Upsolute. Your info confirms this.

cobradav

Here is a summary of what I have found so far. I sent an email to DMS to try to get their numbers. Hope to add it soon. But at least four reputable dealers claim an average increase of 25 HP and 25 ft/lb torque.

Added - this is for 4.4L engine (x45)

EuroCarFan

cobradav, this is awesome. Thanks for putting the visuals together.

heezy545i

Cobra,

What type of car and engine are those numbers for?