Akra EVO + ESS Tune Review

[GOLFFRR]

awesome you will be happy Just shoot Roman@ESS a pm and he will have you up and running in a couple days pretty fast turn around.

[Justin(OKC)]

Thanks for the review....I think I'm taking the plunge as well!!

[GOLFFRR]

^^Nice. Sweet car by the way,

[bape_sta206]

Originally Posted by GOLFFRR

^^Nice. Sweet car by the way,

jumped on the bandwagon!

[GOLFFRR]

sweet!

[lenzm3edan]

I have to agree with you on the ESS tune, the removal of the cold start is a must, my wife hated me for installing the exhaust she said at start up it made the items in the kitchen (above the garage) vibrate , so what I did was open the garage start it up and pull out quickly to the end of the drive way away from the house. I decided a week later to do the tune and have been happy with it, no complaints from the wife, kids or neighbors. sounds close to stock.

[GOLFFRR]

I loved the cold starts in my last few cars, but just doesn't fit in where I live so this was perfect!

[tmntmn]

I'm considering removing the cold start also, its just way to loud in the morning

[Justin(OKC)]

I ordered mine today. Cold start is a mild issue for me. Dash light is definitely an issue. I've been holding out because I wanted to know if the performance benefit was really worth the extra cash. Based on this thread, I went for it. Can't wait to get this installed! (ordered stoptech trophy's as well, today!)

Jimmy, thanks for the compliment on the car. It seems that everytime I see one of these Individual colors, I have a little regret on my decision. Don't get me wrong, I love my color combo. Wish I could own more than one!! Your car is beautiful. I have major respect for your car!

[GOLFFRR]

Awesome! congrats on the tune plus BBK baller!

Looking forward to reading your review as well!

[corrado79]

Originally Posted by GOLFFRR

You know this exhaust is great. I have not encountered any issues with drone whatsoever. the sound inside the cabin is just a tad louder then stock. I am constantly on my phone so it was very very important for me to have a system that I could easily talk on the phone and not have any annoying exhaust noise drowning out the caller. Its perfect DD exhaust IMO

Thanks for the review! This is probably exactly what I am going to do on mine. Glad you are so happy with the setup.

Does the ESS tune avoid any CEL's?

[SECRET M]

am i the only one that experiences a huge power drop at 2-2.5k rpm?

[stylinexpat]

Originally Posted by SECRET M

am i the only one that experiences a huge power drop at 2-2.5k rpm?

I mentioned this a long time ago and none of the vendors were able to chime in which means the issue until today has not been resolved ESS never responded to this one. If you look at the Dyno graph you can clearly see that there is a dip in that range. Reminds me of the old dip with the E46 ZHP models that was never resolved either.

[SECRET M]

yeah, i mostly ignore it, but in daily driving, i hit it in 5th or 6th around the city. it's really annoying that a 4.0L V8 has trouble with power at 2.5k.

[Morning Hawk]

Jimmy,

Some questions for an aspiring M3 owner. I'm a MOD slut as they say, so I'm doing all my research on the MODs right now before I pull the trigger on the purchase.

1. Does the Akra EVO automatically produce a Check Engine Light (CEL) once installed? (that's the assumption I've picked up from reading the forums on Akra EVO's, hence the "Delete-R" references)
2. I assume the ESS Tune also provides a way to erase the CEL,... but what happens when you have a legitimate problem and the car needs to warn you with a CEL? Does it never show a CEL since you've erased it?
3. Just out of curiosity. You mentioned that the tune was easy to install, with just a cord... where in the car did you plug in the ESS Tune (location)?
4. If you had to bring the car back to BMW for any reason (general maintenance, recall, etc.) and you re-flash your ECU back to stock w/ the ESS Tune, is there "any" way that BMW could find out that the ECU had been remapped or modified at any point? I guess what I'm getting at is the concern for the warranty... [I figure I ask this since you work for BMW ]

Otherwise, beautiful M and I hope to actually have the same setup when I finally get mine. The Akra EVO has been something I've been eyeballing for a while!

[GOLFFRR]

Jimmy,

Some questions for an aspiring M3 owner. I'm a MOD slut as they say, so I'm doing all my research on the MODs right now before I pull the trigger on the purchase.

1. Does the Akra EVO automatically produce a Check Engine Light (CEL) once installed? (that's the assumption I've picked up from reading the forums on Akra EVO's, hence the "Delete-R" references)

Yes the Akra Evo will give you a CEL, if you dont like looking at it you can get the Akra Delete or what I recommend a tune

2. I assume the ESS Tune also provides a way to erase the CEL,... but what happens when you have a legitimate problem and the car needs to warn you with a CEL? Does it never show a CEL since you've erased it?

This is a great question; I would assume that a tune is written to erase specific errors. So the tune is written to erase the error that the exhaust system is sending out which would mean it is not written to erase error's on anything else? I am really not sure about that my friend and you bring up a great point. This might be something you will want to shoot Roman@ESS a PM about bc I don’t know

3. Just out of curiosity. You mentioned that the tune was easy to install, with just a cord... where in the car did you plug in the ESS Tune (location)?

Yes it was very easy to install. When you buy the tune set up I did Roman sends you a flash drive and a cord that connects into your laptop and your ECU. You take the flash drive which contains the software for the tune and install it onto your laptop. Once you have the software on your PC you then plug the cord into your USB port of your laptop and the other end into your ECU which is located driver side front door right around the hood release button. There is a small plastic panel that just clips off. You then download your cars data onto your PC. The software groups this info into two folders. Once this is complete you mail it to ESS. ESS receives your data and writes the tune for your car and emails it back to you. Once you get the email you take those folders which contain the tune and download them into your car and you’re done. It was really simple for me

4. If you had to bring the car back to BMW for any reason (general maintenance, recall, etc.) and you re-flash your ECU back to stock w/ the ESS Tune, is there "any" way that BMW could find out that the ECU had been remapped or modified at any point? I guess what I'm getting at is the concern for the warranty... [I figure I ask this since you work for BMW ]

There is a way that you can flash it back to stock at anytime. Most dealership if you flash back to stock before you bring the car in they will not knock you however like I always tell everyone MOD AT YOUR OWN RISK Any mod can technically void your warranty if it is not OEM.

Otherwise, beautiful M and I hope to actually have the same setup when I finally get mine. The Akra EVO has been something I've been eyeballing for a while!
Yes this is an awesome set up and I am very happy with it as I know you will be also

I hope this info helps once again I am not an expert on all this stuff all I can do is tell you my personal review on the products for any technical question I would recommend you contact the vendor who supplies the product that you are interested in

[GOLFFRR]

Originally Posted by corrado79

Thanks for the review! This is probably exactly what I am going to do on mine. Glad you are so happy with the setup.

Does the ESS tune avoid any CEL's?

Yea the ESS tune erased the CEL Def can't go wrong with the Akra its pretty awesome

Originally Posted by SECRET M

am i the only one that experiences a huge power drop at 2-2.5k rpm?

I will have to look for this. I have not noticed any power drop if anything I feel as though I gainned more power down low then I had before. Interesting Ill see tonight on my way home

[Roman@ESS]

Originally Posted by Morning Hawk

Jimmy,

Some questions for an aspiring M3 owner. I'm a MOD slut as they say, so I'm doing all my research on the MODs right now before I pull the trigger on the purchase.

1. Does the Akra EVO automatically produce a Check Engine Light (CEL) once installed? (that's the assumption I've picked up from reading the forums on Akra EVO's, hence the "Delete-R" references)

2. I assume the ESS Tune also provides a way to erase the CEL,... but what happens when you have a legitimate problem and the car needs to warn you with a CEL? Does it never show a CEL since you've erased it?

Our tune only addresses the increased emissions code. Any other code will still show and any code designed to trigger the SES will still function as intended.

3. Just out of curiosity. You mentioned that the tune was easy to install, with just a cord... where in the car did you plug in the ESS Tune (location)?
4. If you had to bring the car back to BMW for any reason (general maintenance, recall, etc.) and you re-flash your ECU back to stock w/ the ESS Tune, is there "any" way that BMW could find out that the ECU had been remapped or modified at any point? I guess what I'm getting at is the concern for the warranty... [I figure I ask this since you work for BMW ]

Otherwise, beautiful M and I hope to actually have the same setup when I finally get mine. The Akra EVO has been something I've been eyeballing for a while!

As far as the question on Akrapovic and the below 3k RPM power loss some notice it and some do not. On our dyno we had a slight loss of power below 3k RPM's. We were able to identify a resolution for it and incorporate it into our Akrapovic specific tune.

[SECRET M]

Originally Posted by Roman@ESS

As far as the question on Akrapovic and the below 3k RPM power loss some notice it and some do not. On our dyno we had a slight loss of power below 3k RPM's. We were able to identify a resolution for it and incorporate it into our Akrapovic specific tune.

actually i didn't experience this huge drop with the exhaust alone and no tune.

[Roman@ESS]

Originally Posted by SECRET M

actually i didn't experience this huge drop with the exhaust alone and no tune.

It's not huge but it can be measured. Like I said some feel it and some do not.

[SECRET M]

Originally Posted by Roman@ESS

It's not huge but it can be measured. Like I said some feel it and some do not.

maybe there's something wrong with my tune then. the car cannot accelerate at a reasonable speed at WOT in 5th or 6th if it rolls through this range unless i feather/back-off the throttle.

in 4th, if i'm cruising in this range and hit WOT, the car judders and stutters forever before finally picking up speed. if i use moderate throttle, it gets through fine.

in 2nd and 3rd, it totally eats sh*t and violently judders it's way through at WOT, but it at least gets through.

it's annoying to me that if i'm in 4th and there's an emergency, that slamming on the gas will actually result in the engine choking up rather than picking up speed.

i've voiced this issue in the past and nobody seems to care.

[Roman@ESS]

Originally Posted by SECRET M

maybe there's something wrong with my tune then. the car cannot accelerate at a reasonable speed at WOT in 5th or 6th if it rolls through this range unless i feather/back-off the throttle.

in 4th, if i'm cruising in this range and hit WOT, the car judders and stutters forever before finally picking up speed. if i use moderate throttle, it gets through fine.

in 2nd and 3rd, it totally eats sh*t and violently judders it's way through at WOT, but it at least gets through.

it's annoying to me that if i'm in 4th and there's an emergency, that slamming on the gas will actually result in the engine choking up rather than picking up speed.

i've voiced this issue in the past and nobody seems to care.

What software is in the car?