advice on chipping my car

[marwan]

long story short, i have a 2011 ZCP with an Akrapovic Titanium exhaust, my dealer is has a special to chip tune the computer for around $1,900 but he'll give discount since i'm a know loyal customer he says the chip would give me 30-40HP more(total with the exhaust gain), and raises the redline to 9000rpm.

now i'm new to chipping cars, my only concern is raising the RPM to 9000, is that ok? i mean i don't wanna over stress the engine.

it's the best program available since it's covered under BMW and won't have to worry about any problems

should i go for it? the procedure takes about 6-9 hours, i can drop my car off in the morning and have it by afternoon after work.

and last, how badly would the tuning affect the fuel consumption?

if all goes well, i'm having it done next week.



Marwan,

[schnell325]

9,000 rpm? Seriously?

Time to ask the dealer a "few" more questions about it.

(I am being polite towards your dealer)

[revthelev]

sounds too risky 9k

[marwan]

ill investigate more, get the programing procedure name(its german) and see if the 9000rpm is true or now.

marwan,

[karussell]

sounds interesting especially that your dealership backs it up. I highly doubt that BMW GmbH would cover any warranty claims that can be tied to the modified programming and aftermarket parts, but maybe the dealer would offer a limited warranty to that effect. make sure whatever you agree on to get it in writing. I would be concerned about losing some low-end torque in exchange for more hp at very high rpm levels.

[GreasyGinzo]

+30 to +40hp on NA motor ECU flash...no way. The Chevy LS motors in various Corvettes are getting about that with full exhaust (including bigger headers) ram air system and a tune.

[creepy coupe]

If it needs to rev to 9k it would suggest the extra power is all at the top of the RPM range, I wonder how useful is that?

[EmmDrei]

Imho: utter, complete and total bs!

The M3 GT2 runs at a max. of 8.750 rpm (see here) so how in the world is the untouched stock engine going to withstand 9.000 rpm?

Chip tuning a na engine is something that makes sense to finetune an engine that has had mechanical tune done. Chip tuning an na engine to gain power without touching the rest of the engine simply won't work. Were should the power come from? Ok... in this case by raising the max. rpms, but that would only make sense, if the stock redline cut the engine off at max. power output. It doesn't.

PS: Oh... btw... if it's that easy to make the M3 produce 450 horse, why would BMW go through the trouble of building a 4.4 litre engine for the GTS? Wouldn't logic tell oneself, that they would have used "Wonder-Chip" instead?

[Radiation Joe]

^^^^ What he said. ^^^^

Your dealer is wrong. You won't get significant power from a chip tune.

[James T. Kirk]

marwan may be only getting part of the story. There are plenty of ways to tune his NA engine 30-40 HP: High performance filter, cold air intake, pulleys, exhaust upgrade and then a software upgrade (chip). All that will get you up 40 HP, no problem.

His mechanic's claim on 9000RPM is b.s., however. Get your upgrade, marwan, but don't over-rev.

P.S. I'm a big fan of yours. Loved your work on 24.

[EmmDrei]

Originally Posted by James T. Kirk

All that will get you up 40 HP, no problem.

All that will get you 40hp if the first thing you tune is the dyno!

[Radiation Joe]

Originally Posted by James T. Kirk

marwan may be only getting part of the story. There are plenty of ways to tune his NA engine 30-40 HP: High performance filter, cold air intake, pulleys, exhaust upgrade and then a software upgrade (chip). All that will get you up 40 HP, no problem.

His mechanic's claim on 9000RPM is b.s., however. Get your upgrade, marwan, but don't over-rev.

P.S. I'm a big fan of yours. Loved your work on 24.

Let's not go there. 40hp is possible, I'll agree. It is, however, NOT "no problem". This has been debated ad nauseum on this forum. The point of this thread is that the OPs shop told him they could chip tune his car to the tune of 40hp and 9000 rpm, which is total and utter BS.

[JohnnyRoaster]

The OP said 30-40 including the gain from the exhaust. I would guess the Akrapovic is good for around 20 hp if it is the full system. That means the tune is only 10-20. I would be concerned about the revs going that high but the gain seems plausible.

[1sikbmr]

9000rpm... That wont work no no no not at all

[Erhan]

Originally Posted by James T. Kirk

P.S. I'm a big fan of yours. Loved your work on 24.

OP: I wouldn't let that dealer do anything to my car.

[bruce.augenstein@comcast.]

Originally Posted by EmmDrei

Imho: utter, complete and total bs!

The M3 GT2 runs at a max. of 8.750 rpm (see here) so how in the world is the untouched stock engine going to withstand 9.000 rpm?

Chip tuning a na engine is something that makes sense to finetune an engine that has had mechanical tune done. Chip tuning an na engine to gain power without touching the rest of the engine simply won't work. Were should the power come from? Ok... in this case by raising the max. rpms, but that would only make sense, if the stock redline cut the engine off at max. power output. It doesn't.

PS: Oh... btw... if it's that easy to make the M3 produce 450 horse, why would BMW go through the trouble of building a 4.4 litre engine for the GTS? Wouldn't logic tell oneself, that they would have used "Wonder-Chip" instead?

I have the same skepticism in regard to chip tuning a stock naturally aspirated engine, but in point of fact some gains are absolutely possible, since BMW has to warrant their product for years and tens of thousands of miles. One item is around fuel octane. As far as I know, BMW tunes for 91 octane in the U.S., and the aftermarket is free to push that limit, not only past what BMW does for 91 octane, but past what BMW would do for 93.

Or perhaps 100 octane is what the chip may extend to.

In addition, although I have no idea how safe the M3 engine would be at 9000 rpm, there is no question that the car would be faster when revved to about that speed before shifting, even with absolutely stock power and torque curves.

Rule of thumb: Any car will be quickest when revved to about ten percent past its power peak, because that's how you maximise average power during any given run.

[erm324]

and btw, its not a "chip" its called a reflash...

[Erhan]

Originally Posted by bruce.augenstein@comcast.

I have the same skepticism in regard to chip tuning a stock naturally aspirated engine, but in point of fact some gains are absolutely possible, since BMW has to warrant their product for years and tens of thousands of miles. One item is around fuel octane. As far as I know, BMW tunes for 91 octane in the U.S., and the aftermarket is free to push that limit, not only past what BMW does for 91 octane, but past what BMW would do for 93.

Or perhaps 100 octane is what the chip may extend to.

I remember reading about this reflashing stuff. It sounded like a slippery slope to me. My understanding was that to get more hp/tq, eventually certain safety margins were reduced which could cause long term reliability issues, or if margins are reduced to very low levels, even an engine damage is possible.

[persian54]

30-40hp gain is nothing with a full exhaust and tune

since many full exhaust on this forum are showing about 20Whp

and tunes showing 10-20Whp

so 30-40hp shouldn't be impossible

the 9k.. yeah that's... unlikely

[1MORELAP]

Marwan, please post in the tuning forum. You will get much more educated responses there.

1. Power gains are very consistent with what others are getting through a combination of software and full Akra.
2. Setting redline at 9,000 is definitely possible but I would worry about the engine at these RPMs. I would investigate if they can set the limiter at 8,500 instead.

The tune should ALSO disable the check engine light you are getting with full Akra. If they installed CEL delete, then have that removed and software will manage the light better.

[ersin]

Will the dealer keep the BMW warranty?

Cheers.

[Mr.Bimmer]

While I'm happy with my tune, it's certainly not the mod that's going to add 20 30 or 40 RWHP to the car. Nor is it the mod that's going to make you say "holy sh**" after you have it installed. You will however notice a slight improvement in power along with likely the exhaust you put on the car. This car comes pretty much dialed in from the factory.

From my experience, if you had 150lbs of weight in your trunk, drove around aggressively, and then took that weight out and drove the same way, you would "feel" a bigger difference in acceleration comparing those two runs versus having no weight in your trunk with both an OEM tune and and an aftermarket tune. The tune adds a little bit of power, but obvioulsy serves other purposes as well. Example, not having a check engine light or SES light with an aftermarket exhaust that modifies the catalytic converters. Removing the top speed limiter, and other things I'm sure of as well.