[jay79]

Good morning all,
This is my first post. Just recently got my hands on a 2020 M550i and like everyone, I love it but want a little more.
Got an intake from N63intake coming in, VRSF dps as well. Took my car to Above and Beyond in WPB, FL and my car is untouched by BMW updates so I am good to tune. I looked at a lot of them and I am down to either DME tuning or Carbahn. Mainly due to support purposes. I dont have the time to sit and mess with my car and I like talking to ppl in person, old fashioned I guess.
Anyhow, I have looked and the two companies claim the same numbers essentially:

DME Stage 2: 700 hp/ 650 tq
Carbahn: 698 hp / 700 tq

Forgive my ignorance but is there much of a difference bewtween the two? I know this is crank hp and whp is about a 20% drop +/- a few.

Spoke with Carbahn and they will tune my car for the dps Im getting. FL doesnt do emissions testing. Its done via the BMW dealership down here.

My questions is are these numbers legit. I can see spending 500 xtra on a tune to match my warranty but Ive read a lot of great things about DME as well. Just wanna go with the company that will make sure it done right with awesome support. Any experiences with both or bad with one? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[Manley00]

Originally Posted by jay79

Good morning all,
This is my first post. Just recently got my hands on a 2020 M550i and like everyone, I love it but want a little more.
Got an intake from N63intake coming in, VRSF dps as well. Took my car to Above and Beyond in WPB, FL and my car is untouched by BMW updates so I am good to tune. I looked at a lot of them and I am down to either DME tuning or Carbahn. Mainly due to support purposes. I dont have the time to sit and mess with my car and I like talking to ppl in person, old fashioned I guess.
Anyhow, I have looked and the two companies claim the same numbers essentially:

DME Stage 2: 700 hp/ 650 tq
Carbahn: 698 hp / 700 tq

Forgive my ignorance but is there much of a difference bewtween the two? I know this is crank hp and whp is about a 20% drop +/- a few.

Spoke with Carbahn and they will tune my car for the dps Im getting. FL doesnt do emissions testing. Its done via the BMW dealership down here.

My questions is are these numbers legit. I can see spending 500 xtra on a tune to match my warranty but Ive read a lot of great things about DME as well. Just wanna go with the company that will make sure it done right with awesome support. Any experiences with both or bad with one? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Have you researched BOOTMOD3? If mine were unlocked that would be the easy choice. Their OTS maps are fantatsic. Beyond that though- there are some of the best tuners in the world that utilize it to tune our cars. Search RK tunes M550 on YouTube. Be blown away.

[mike@x-ph.com]

Originally Posted by Manley00

Have you researched BOOTMOD3? If mine were unlocked that would be the easy choice. Their OTS maps are fantatsic. Beyond that though- there are some of the best tuners in the world that utilize it to tune our cars. Search RK tunes M550 on YouTube. Be blown away.

+1

[jay79]

Looked at BM3. Only shows 26% hp bump on 93 octane which is lower than both DME and Carbahn. All seem to get the M550i to 600 whp with dp's. RK's tune is milder than the video made. How would the tranny hold up with 650 whp?

Forgive my ignorance.

[AmooManiak]

Originally Posted by jay79

Looked at BM3. Only shows 26% hp bump on 93 octane which is lower than both DME and Carbahn. All seem to get the M550i to 600 whp with dp's. RK's tune is milder than the video made. How would the tranny hold up with 650 whp?

Forgive my ignorance.

Take what Carbahn says with a grain of salt. I have yet to see a real dyno showing those figures. Their N63TU2 vs N63TU3 numbers do not add up. If you were to go by what they say, the older engine makes more torque on the Stage 1 tune than the newer one on the stage 1. Also they have the engines all mixed up. On their website they show the 2018 G30s having the same engine as the 2020 850i - which is not the case.

https://carbahnautoworks.com/product...ne-model-n63r/

https://carbahnautoworks.com/product...ne-model-n63b/

I would expect BM3 to be one of the more aggressive tunes. And nothing beats flashing from home.

[2022M550i]

Curious to see if anyone has put significant miles on their engines with these tunes and to see how they held up. I've been involved with motorsports for a long time and have seen so many issues with power adders on stock assemblies. It seems too good to be true to be pushing out this kind of steam without issues.

[jay79]

I havent been able to much of anything on a Carbahn dyno amd Ive been researching for the past 2 weeks. The biggest draw to me is its done by the dealer and my car is covered. I have seen good reviews as well.

Not gonna lie tho, RKtunes 20% sale code has me leaning hard that way now. Not bad for under 800 bucks. Seen mixed reviews about them but mostly positive. That being said, DME and BM3 have great reviews as well. Decisions....

I do have a question tho. I know my car is unlocked however, I was wanting to get the Idrive 7 software updated so I can have android auto. Will that wipe the tune or should I get it done firsr and then unlock it if BMW does lock the DME. From what Ive read, pre June 2020 cars can get unlocked again if the dealers does an update.

[jay79]

Originally Posted by Manley00

Have you researched BOOTMOD3? If mine were unlocked that would be the easy choice. Their OTS maps are fantatsic. Beyond that though- there are some of the best tuners in the world that utilize it to tune our cars. Search RK tunes M550 on YouTube. Be blown away.

Did some more research on BM3. Not much more expensive than the RKtune on sale. Was able to find a good youtube vid showing a dude going through all the steps. It looks like you can drill it down exactly to what you want. After watching that and reading some disappointment with Carbahn dragy times, it makes sense. Carbahn straight up states they lower the torque in 1st and 2nd for driveability. With the BM3, I can adjust each gear to what I want correct? Thats pretty sweet.

[WretchedRefuse]

Originally Posted by jay79

...

I do have a question tho. I know my car is unlocked however, I was wanting to get the Idrive 7 software updated so I can have android auto. Will that wipe the tune or should I get it done firsr and then unlock it if BMW does lock the DME. From what Ive read, pre June 2020 cars can get unlocked again if the dealers does an update.

My understanding is that your DMEs will definitely be locked after upgrading your iDrive software. It's possible for the DMEs to be unlocked after the update, but this requires removing both DMEs from the car and doing a bench unlock. You can't do it yourself so you will need to find somebody to do it for you. It's not cheap, and if the iDrive software is ever updated again, the DMEs will be locked again.

[Antec800]

Carbahn blows

[WretchedRefuse]

Since you're doing an intake and downpipe anyway, I suggest you consider getting a platform like BM3 and then paying for a custom tune. That way you get a tune that's tailored to your specific car. I've heard that also installing cooler plugs works well with the downpipe. Let us know how it goes! I'd really like to know how much you can squeeze out of the 2020.

[jay79]

Well, decided to go with BM3 and the dude from BM3 South Florida actually came to my work and was gonna tune a stage 1 until my parts get here. Thats pretty bad ass. Unfortunately, my DME is locked and needs to be bench unlocked. Once that happens this week, I am just gotta call him and he will walk me through so I dont mess anything up. This way once, my parts are installed, I can do the stage 2 with my son. He is stoked about it as much as me.

[jay79]

Originally Posted by jay79

Well, decided to go with BM3 and the dude from BM3 South Florida actually came to my work and was gonna tune a stage 1 until my parts get here. Thats pretty bad ass. Unfortunately, my DME is locked and needs to be bench unlocked. Once that happens this week, I am just gotta call him and he will walk me through so I dont mess anything up. This way once, my parts are installed, I can do the stage 2 with my son. He is stoked about it as much as me.

On the fence whether or not I should just go get the Idrive updated since its already locked and then bench unlock it since they have been doing it to cars around mines age whenever they come. Its a different ecu right so they couldnt perma lock it like the newer models could they?

[WretchedRefuse]

I've had the dealership update my iDrive before and was able to bench-unlock the DME after, so no "perma-lock" that I'm aware of! But please don't give them any ideas.

Since you want Android Auto, I'd say do it and then get the DMEs unlocked. If your car is under warranty, you could try searching various threads to see if there's a way to get them to do it for free.

[jay79]

So BMW is updating the car and I get a call asking if my car was tuned cuz I have carbon fiber paddle shifters. Lol.

[Manley00]

Originally Posted by jay79

So BMW is updating the car and I get a call asking if my car was tuned cuz I have carbon fiber paddle shifters. Lol.

I mean, obviously paddle shifters give you 300hp!!

[WretchedRefuse]

Originally Posted by jay79

So BMW is updating the car and I get a call asking if my car was tuned cuz I have carbon fiber paddle shifters. Lol.

Do you have just the extensions or the complete unit that requires pulling out the airbag assembly to replace? If the latter I can understand their question a little better. In fact they might have been asking to offer skipping the DME module update if your car has been tuned.

[jay79]

Originally Posted by WretchedRefuse

Do you have just the extensions or the complete unit that requires pulling out the airbag assembly to replace? If the latter I can understand their question a little better. In fact they might have been asking to offer skipping the DME module update if your car has been tuned.

They were actual replacements, not stick ons.

[jay79]

Originally Posted by WretchedRefuse

I've had the dealership update my iDrive before and was able to bench-unlock the DME after, so no "perma-lock" that I'm aware of! But please don't give them any ideas.

Since you want Android Auto, I'd say do it and then get the DMEs unlocked. If your car is under warranty, you could try searching various threads to see if there's a way to get them to do it for free.

They did it for free.

[HerkHealer]

Originally Posted by AmooManiak

Take what Carbahn says with a grain of salt. I have yet to see a real dyno showing those figures. Their N63TU2 vs N63TU3 numbers do not add up. If you were to go by what they say, the older engine makes more torque on the Stage 1 tune than the newer one on the stage 1. Also they have the engines all mixed up. On their website they show the 2018 G30s having the same engine as the 2020 850i - which is not the case.

https://carbahnautoworks.com/product...ne-model-n63r/

https://carbahnautoworks.com/product...ne-model-n63b/

I would expect BM3 to be one of the more aggressive tunes. And nothing beats flashing from home.

+1

I actually emailed them asking how the 2017-2019 M550's were making MORE HP than the 2020's and up .......which not only make 70 more HP stock, but also have a New Crank, Pistons, Rods, Turbos, Iginition, etc..
Tuners have commented on how the 2020+ motors are "tuner happy" and built to handle more power.

Never heard anything back.......

[AmooManiak]

Originally Posted by HerkHealer

+1

I actually emailed them asking how the 2017-2019 M550's were making MORE HP than the 2020's and up .......which not only make 70 more HP stock, but also have a New Crank, Pistons, Rods, Turbos, Iginition, etc..
Tuners have commented on how the 2020+ motors are "tuner happy" and built to handle more power.

Never heard anything back.......

I've seen similar things somewhere else. Racechip shows the non-competition M5 making more power than the competition M5 with the same piggyback. Competition has 25 more hp stock, but somehow makes less if both have the same racechip installed.

The "weaker" engines are either more tunable, or their dynos are not working properly

[jay79]

Well, I got the Idrive updated. Got everything except remote start. Ugh, that drives me nuts. Will go aftermarket for that. Got the DME unlocked but I gotta have PFT update the maps to the newer software tomorrow before I flash it. Almost there.