N63TU 50i tunes, mods, numbers (1/4, 0-60 etc) dyno thread

[perry8912]

Originally Posted by mikew2069

I read on an early post on this thread that some people reported that they went into the dealership and had their warranty voided after flashing back to stock with BM3. Has that been fixed?

I have JB4 on my F30 and have never had an issue at any dealership and I don't even take it off.

Well, if you have engine related problem, then you will have an issue at dealership.

[mikew2069]

Originally Posted by perry8912

Well, if you have engine related problem, then you will have an issue at dealership.

So if you have BM3 and flash back to stock, they can still detect it?

[perry8912]

Originally Posted by mikew2069

So if you have BM3 and flash back to stock, they can still detect it?

Yes, if they want to, they can.

[Doberman16]

Originally Posted by perry8912

Yes, if they want to, they can.

What he said, lol.

There are definitely cases of people getting warranty work done after being tuned without any hassle, but still a risk.

[FSociety]

Originally Posted by Doberman16

What he said, lol.

There are definitely cases of people getting warranty work done after being tuned without any hassle, but still a risk.

Yep, it all depends on a few variables. What type of warranty work, your relationship with the SA and dealer, if the car had a premature issue already (get it fixed before tune), a lot of weak or older components come out to light sooner with tune than stock, as long as you flash back to stock and lock dme and drive on stock tune about 50 miles car should be back to normal. If anything BM3 is the last tool to get detected these days as it uses your same software ids to flash back to stock while others are flashing different versions because they cannot keep or maintain every rom version out there
Going on 2yrs now with BM3 I may know a thing or two

It's a mechanic, its meant to fail someday, use precautions keep it maintained properly, let engine oil temp needle rise to 160F+ before going bonkers.

[mikew2069]

Originally Posted by FSociety

Yep, it all depends on a few variables. What type of warranty work, your relationship with the SA and dealer, if the car had a premature issue already (get it fixed before tune), a lot of weak or older components come out to light sooner with tune than stock, as long as you flash back to stock and lock dme and drive on stock tune about 50 miles car should be back to normal. If anything BM3 is the last tool to get detected these days as it uses your same software ids to flash back to stock while others are flashing different versions because they cannot keep or maintain every rom version out there
Going on 2yrs now with BM3 I may know a thing or two

It's a mechanic, its meant to fail someday, use precautions keep it maintained properly, let engine oil temp needle rise to 160F+ before going bonkers.

Is the general consensus BM3 > BPC? In terms of power/gains and reliability/safety?

[Rotzy]

Originally Posted by mikew2069

Is the general consensus BM3 > BPC? In terms of power/gains and reliability/safety?

I would think so. It's cheaper, includes built in data logging capabilities, has the possibility of custom tuning from many different sources and is easier to install.

BPC seems to be a great company, but when it comes to tuning, BM3 really is the leader right now.

[Doberman16]

Originally Posted by Rotzy

I would think so. It's cheaper, includes built in data logging capabilities, has the possibility of custom tuning from many different sources and is easier to install.

BPC seems to be a great company, but when it comes to tuning, BM3 really is the leader right now.

To be fair, BPC does offer tunes via the BM3 platform, so you could pretty easily have both if you wanted.

[Rotzy]

Originally Posted by Doberman16

To be fair, BPC does offer tunes via the BM3 platform, so you could pretty easily have both if you wanted.

That's good information! Last time I contacted them, they were pushing their own product and not really thrilled to do custom tunes thought BM3. Any idea what they charge for their own tune through BM3?

[mikew2069]

Originally Posted by Doberman16

To be fair, BPC does offer tunes via the BM3 platform, so you could pretty easily have both if you wanted.

What would be the benefit of doing both? Pay twice?

[perry8912]

Originally Posted by mikew2069

What would be the benefit of doing both? Pay twice?

If you are not satisfied with the bm3 ots map, and want more aggressive tune, then you can customize it thru bpc or other vendors.
But to be fair, you will get 11.8s 1/4 miles with only bm3 stage 1 tune. That’s enough for me.
But you may want more.....

[Rotzy]

Originally Posted by mikew2069

What would be the benefit of doing both? Pay twice?

At it's core, BM3 is a universal flash and data logging utility that unlocks the DME and allows tuners to make modifications to the software. As a bonus, it happens happens to include OTS maps which, for most people, is all you will need. If you happen to want a custom tune, BM3 is still the product to start with as almost all custom tuners can provide BM3 compatible tunes, for a fee.

If you buy a tune directly from a shop who has their own propriatary flash utility (like BPC), and later decide you want to try something different from another tuner, you would not be able to use the flash utility from the first tuner (eg. BPC) since their propriatary software will only work with their tune. This is where BM3 is king. It is universal and most tuners can use it.

[Doberman16]

Originally Posted by Rotzy

At it's core, BM3 is a universal flash and data logging utility that unlocks the DME and allows tuners to make modifications to the software. As a bonus, it happens happens to include OTS maps which, for most people, is all you will need. If you happen to want a custom tune, BM3 is still the product to start with as almost all custom tuners can provide BM3 compatible tunes, for a fee.

If you buy a tune directly from a shop who has their own propriatary flash utility (like BPC), and later decide you want to try something different from another tuner, you would not be able to use the flash utility from the first tuner (eg. BPC) since their propriatary software will only work with their tune. This is where BM3 is king. It is universal and most tuners can use it.

Couldn't put it better myself! If you want to tune, I'd highly recommend going BM3 and if you're not happy for whatever reason, look at custom. Or if you wanted to start doing a mix of E85* would be another reason to go custom. I can tell you on the 50i, the OTS 93 AND 91 Octane maps are STRONG as hell. The acceleration is just so insane.

[FSociety]

Originally Posted by Rotzy

At it's core, BM3 is a universal flash and data logging utility that unlocks the DME and allows tuners to make modifications to the software. As a bonus, it happens happens to include OTS maps which, for most people, is all you will need. If you happen to want a custom tune, BM3 is still the product to start with as almost all custom tuners can provide BM3 compatible tunes, for a fee.

If you buy a tune directly from a shop who has their own propriatary flash utility (like BPC), and later decide you want to try something different from another tuner, you would not be able to use the flash utility from the first tuner (eg. BPC) since their propriatary software will only work with their tune. This is where BM3 is king. It is universal and most tuners can use it.

+1

If I ever get N63TU or S63TU i'd get Halim@HCP custom tune if you're remote and if local in NJ Kevin from GoLabWorxs is good too.

With these cars being so complex I would not get another tune outside of BM3 at this age in time.

[mikew2069]

BM3 it will be then. I wonder if they'll have any black Friday deals. Only had this car for a weekend and I'm already a couple grand deep in parts on the way.

[DuSh]

Originally Posted by mikew2069

BM3 it will be then. I wonder if they'll have any black Friday deals. Only had this car for a weekend and I'm already a couple grand deep in parts on the way.

If you join BM3 facebook group - you'll be able to buy BM3 license for 1/2 the price from users who sell their BM3 license. You can only resell it 1 time, and by consensus it's usually sold for 1/2 price (give or take). So it's a most affordable way to get in

Also, BM3 is not a tune. It's a tuning platform software that allows you to flash your car with various tunes. Keep in mind that with BM3 license you will only get 1 off the shelf (OTS) tune. However, as couple x5 50i people experienced OTS for n63tu is very good tune, so it should be sufficient. If in the future you'll need some specific changes - you can always ask any tuner who works with BM3 platform (btw including BPC) to write you one custom tune.

BPC on the other hand are a company who does not only tunes, but everything from maintenance to building custom engines and participating in racing in USA. BPC has several world records and they are basically #1 imho in BMW world in US. They've build a custom 1500whp engine based on s63tu M5 with proprietary custom tune - which set couple records already and they offered an upgrade kit for s63tu customers (very expensive tho).

Consider this analogy: imagine BM3 a software company who produces a good and popular apple app, while BPC is Apple itself who produces not only software, but hardware and does many other things too.

As of now both OTS tune from BM3 for n63tu and BPC n63tu tune are good (as are many other proprietary tunes from other companies), but for you specifically it's cheaper to buy used BM3 license rather than pay twice the money for BPC tune. For me it's another story as I already bought BPC tune long time ago and now I have an option to buy tune updates for $100. So for me it makes little sense to buy BM3 license. I'm already invested into BPC tune.

The weather finally cooled down here in AZ and I'll do a 1/4 Draggy run soon. Will post numbers. Hoping to match 11.8sec shown on BM3 tune.

[FSociety]

Free updates with BM3 OTS maps btw

[Rotzy]

Originally Posted by DuSh

...but for you specifically it's cheaper to buy used BM3 license rather than pay twice the money for BPC tune...

One caveat to buying a used license: it does not include the OTS maps. You have to buy the map pack for an additional $150 (N63TU/50i) or $50 (N55/35i) to get OTS maps with a used license. At the right price, it's still a good deal, but it's not the same as buying it directly.

[mikew2069]

Originally Posted by Rotzy

One caveat to buying a used license: it does not include the OTS maps. You have to buy the map pack for an additional $150 (N63TU/50i) or $50 (N55/35i) to get OTS maps with a used license. At the right price, it's still a good deal, but it's not the same as buying it directly.

Very good info, thanks guys. What do you mean by its not the same as buying directly? Just the fact that you have to buy the OTS map separately?

I got on FB and started tooling around that group. May be a dumb question but there are a bunch of peeps selling licenses for other platforms - F30, F10, F80, etc. Do I need to find one specific to the F15 N63TU? Or will any of them work?

[Rotzy]

Originally Posted by mikew2069

Very good info, thanks guys. What do you mean by its not the same as buying directly? Just the fact that you have to buy the OTS map separately?

Yes. Buying a new license directly from PTF comes with:
1. The ability to resell it.
2. Access to (if I'm not mistaken) all available OTS maps.

A used license has neither of these benefits forcing you to purchase the $150 OTS maps bundle. A used license can still be cheaper overall if you get it at the right price.

I got on FB and started tooling around that group. May be a dumb question but there are a bunch of peeps selling licenses for other platforms - F30, F10, F80, etc. Do I need to find one specific to the F15 N63TU? Or will any of them work?

You either need to find one for a V8 (N63TU/S63TU) or you will have to pay PTF the difference between the cost of the original price of the used license you buy and the original price of a V8 license. It starts getting complicated!

[mikew2069]

Originally Posted by Rotzy

Yes. Buying a new license directly from PTF comes with:
1. The ability to resell it.
2. Access to (if I'm not mistaken) all available OTS maps.

A used license has neither of these benefits forcing you to purchase the $150 OTS maps bundle. A used license can still be cheaper overall if you get it at the right price.



You either need to find one for a V8 (N63TU/S63TU) or you will have to pay PTF the difference between the cost of the original price of the used license you buy and the original price of a V8 license. It starts getting complicated!

Got it. I'll just wait and see if they have a black Friday sale and just buy it direct. Starting to get boxes showing up on my door almost daily so these little things will keep me busy for a while.

[DuSh]

So a quick update: a member from facebook group Anthony B. (some of you know him) got a 11.87sec @116mph 1/4 mile result. I think at this point that's a fastest confirmed result we have for n63tu 50i with stock turbos.
He has a BM3 tune with OTS tune for 93 octane.

My fastest time was 12.16sec @114mph via Draggy but it was in 110F heat. I'm still experimenting with manual shifting. I'm going to run another run soon since we finally got cool weather here in AZ. Looking to beat his time and become fastest in the world x5 f15 50i on stock turbos lol