[jyeah]

Now that I have some spare time from work and home improvement, I figured I would sit down and spend a few minutes writing a review of all the mods that I have done to my car and the vendors I have dealt with in the process.

Please note that I am trying to keep review short and I am trying to be as objective as I can.

I do want to mention that all aftermarket vendors do not cover your labor if their product is defective. They would only offer replacement and refund. However, labor accounts for a significant portion of the cost, so bear that in mind as you make modifications to your car. It can be very frustrating as some vendors I have dealt with shipped parts that were defective from the start and cost me quite a lot on labor, downtime, and headaches.

OEM Modifications:
Vendor: Tischer; great vendor, helpful response, reasonable price, fast shipping
1. OEM BMW PPK Stage 2 Upgrade
Pros: Slight power upgrade with an additional small auxiliary radiator cooler and upgraded radiator fan, factory warranty intact
Cons: Additional dealership charge to program
2. OEM BMW PE
Pros: Aggressive exhaust sound, factory warranty intact
Cons: Drones and loud cold start for AT
3. OEM BMW PS
Pros: Noticeable handling improvement, factory warranty intact
Cons: Harsher ride and bottom of front bumper scrapes on ramps/bumps easily due to lowered ride, bad value for handling improvement

Side note, if I can go back in time. I would skip the BMW PE and BMW PS, but keep the BMW PPK Stage 2 Upgrade.

OEM+ Modifications:
Vendor/Installer: LTMW; reasonable prices with very friendly and helpful staff, but inconsistent scheduling
4. OEM M3 suspension upgrades (subframe bushing, control arms, sway bars)
Pros: Noticeable handling improvement, factory warranty intact
Cons: Nothing major

Aftermarket Modifications:
Vendor/Installer: LTMW
5. Stoptech Trophy Sport BBK 355mm front/345mm rear *(my favorite upgrade)
Pros: Noticeable brake improvement, no brake fading, looks great
Cons: Expensive
6. Ohlins R&T Coilovers with Vorshlag camber plate (after I sold my PS, my second favorite upgrade)
Pros: Noticeable handling improvement over PS with good ride comfort better than stock
Cons: Slightly on the expensive side
Vendor: Defiv Fabrication; great vendor, super helpful, and quality parts
7. Defiv LSD lockdown kit
Pros: Quality Piece
Cons: Adds significant gear whine due to solid differential bushings
Vendor: Vishnu; helpful responses
8. Vishnu LPFP upgrade kit
Pros: Works as advertised, no issues
Cons: None

Side note, I mainly dealt with Ivan, Rene, Phil and Melissa at LTMW. All great people to deal with. Ivan and Rene have both since moved on. Ivan is now a one-man operation at Strasse Sport, look him up if you need anything.

Vendor: Mike@N54Tuning; good prices, helpful responses, fast shipping
Installer: Evolution Racewerks (ER); very friendly and helpful staff, reasonable labor prices, but difficult to schedule (they are usually very busy)
9. ER CP + Forge DV (previously had Tial BOV) + ER FMIC + ER Sports Oil Cooler
Pros: Great fitment, quality parts, improved cooling noticeably
Cons: BOV's do not work well with AT, hard to control when it blow offs, sold the CP + BOV and bought another ER CP with Forge DVs. The short CP to intercooler silicone coupler can cause a boost leak when things are not fitted completely, switched to a longer coupler eased the issue.
10. Wavetrac LSD for bolted AT differential housing
Pros: Works as advertised, best valued LSD if the first unit was not defective
Cons: My first unit went bad, made grinding noise and had lots of metal shavings when opened up, but was replaced under warranty excluding labor (which was several hundred dollars)

Vendor: RB Turbo; helpful responses, quality parts and good customer service
Installer: ER
11. RB thermostat bypass plate
Pros: Quality piece
Cons: None
Vendor: Improved Racing; fast shipping
12. Improved Racing 180F thermostat
Pros: Works as advertised
Cons:None

Vendor: Mike@N54Tuning
Installer: LTMW
13. AR Catted DPs
Pros: Quality DPs with no emission lights for the first year, adds a nice aggressive tone to stock exhausts
Cons: Emission lights came on after a year, very tight fitment

Vendor: Apex Racing Parts; very responsive staff
Installer: LTMW
14. Apex ARC-8 17x9" ET-30 Wheels
Pros: Light weight wheels (save 10 lbs per wheel over stock), fits Stoptech BBK, improvement in ride comfort from 18" wheels and looks great
Cons: None, I bought mine black, but repainted silver due to supply issue

Vendor: RB Turbo
Installer: European Motor Works (EMW); the most competent shop I have ever dealt with, with very helpful and friendly staff and reasonable labor prices, owner John Handal is extremely knowledgeable (former BMW engineer recommended me to his shop)
15. RB Stage 2 Hybrid Turbos
Pros: Noticeable power gain with no real issues
Cons: Exhibits an audible turbo spool

Vendor: VAC Motorsports; very helpful and friendly staff, but had several delays
Installer: EMW
16. VAC N54 Stage 3 Cylinder Head Upgrade
Pros: Works as advertised, bench-marked improvement in flow
Cons: Expensive
Installer: LTMW
17. N54 Oil Pan Baffle
Pros: Quality piece
Cons: None
Installer: ER
18. Ground Control rear toe arms (I sold my Megan Rear Toe Arms in a heart beat when I saw these)
Pros: Quality piece with proper bearings
Cons: None

Vendor: Vargas Turbo (VTT); Tony is very helpful and knowledgable, but VTT has questionable quality control standards. The first set of S2B2 I received had an oil leaking rear turbo. Tony did admit that the oil leak was due to their machining and mentioned that it was being corrected for future turbos. The replacement turbo made loud metal grinding sounds. He did refund the purchase price for the S2B2 Turbos without any hassle, but did not compensate for the HPFP upgrade. He was unwilling to offset any labor costs for both the turbos and the HPFP debacle, but he does have a disclaimer on his order form. I would not have a problem with that if his products were not defective from the start.
Installer: EMW
19. VTT S2B2 Hybrid Turbos (I was going to upgrade from my RB Turbos)
Pros: None
Cons: The rear turbo from the first set came defective with oil leak and replacement unit made loud grinding sounds, significant labor cost and down time
Installer: LTMW
20. VTT HPFP + Fuel Rail upgrade
Pros: Unknown, at least HPFP is working
Cons: Was sent the wrong fuel rail for N55 first and defective HPFP at the start, and does not solve fueling issues as Tony initially advertised for E85.

Vendor: European Auto Source (EAS); friendly and helpful staff
Installer: EMW
21. Akrapovic Evolution Exhaust SS
Pros: Best sounding exhaust (subjective) without being obnoxiously loud
Cons: Drones, cut and welded in stock E90 mid pipes (resonator section) to eliminate drone, sound is dampened after modification

Vendor: Mike@N54Tuning
22. Cobb V3 (upgraded from V2)
Pros: Simple to use
Cons: Slightly expensive and not open source

Vendor: PTF
23. E-tune
Pros: Flexible schedule
Cons: Hard to find good stretch of road to safely do a 3rd gear pull

All in all, if I were to do everything all over again, I would skip the VTT upgrades and the OEM upgrades except the PPK2 upgrades and M3 suspension bits.

The only exterior modifications I made were the OEM performance diffusers and a M3 spoiler, I like the way the car looks at stock.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. I also have pictures, but I don't have the time to upload them.

Hopefully, you found my short review helpful.

[mave198]

So as a tune you're only running the PPK? Or did I miss something.....

[jyeah]

Haha, in the process of a etune with PTF using Cobb V3.

[rooringhusky]

Cant wait until you dyno with the VAC Stage 3 heads and RB Turbos....Should have some pretty incredible numbers

[nitehawk]

Thanks for the nice review!

[Eat.Sleep.Race]

nice reviews!!! Thanks

[chuckc]

Originally Posted by jyeah

Vendor: RB Turbo
Installer: European Motor Works (EMW); the most competent shop I have ever dealt with, with very helpful and friendly staff and reasonable labor prices, owner John Handal is extremely knowledgeable (former BMW engineer recommended me to his shop)
15. RB Stage 2 Hybrid Turbos
Pros: Noticeable power gain with no real issues
Cons: Exhibits an audible turbo spool

+100 on EMW. I was referred to them a number of years ago from another shop that was too busy at the time. I have used EMW exclusively since then for all the reasons you mentioned.

Nice review.

[F80M]

VTT turbo failed again?

[Torgus]

Originally Posted by jyeah

7. Defiv LSD lockdown kit
Pros: Quality Piece
Cons: Adds significant gear whine due to solid differential bushings

According to Rick his product produces ZERO NVH?

[tc535i]

Originally Posted by jyeah

9. ER CP + Forge DV (previously had Tial BOV) + ER FMIC + ER Sports Oil Cooler
Pros: Great fitment, quality parts, improved cooling noticeably
Cons: BOV's do not work well with AT, hard to control when it blow offs, sold the CP + BOV and bought another ER CP with Forge DVs. The short CP to intercooler silicone coupler can cause a boost leak when things are not fitted completely, switched to a longer coupler eased the issue.

I'm having this problem right now with the hump hose, connecting the intercooler hard pipe to the charge pipe itself (extended version). What hose did you switch to? I assume you just got a longer hump hose, since the play in it is essential when connecting a fixed component (like intercooler) to one that moves (motor flexes on the mounts)

[buylongterm]

Great post! Thank you