You asked for it, here it is: Valet 'Mode' Flash

[THE TECH]

Originally Posted by BMWJ

This is why.... Unfinished product without the button. Way to much effort in current form

Not unfinished whatsoever. It's an addition to an already great product and something that no one else even offers.

[Amri215]

Maybe you guys should post a video of it use..may help?

[Merlosso]

I had this feature back in 2003 on my AccessPort for my WRX but even that was a hassle to get it out of the glovebox, plug it in, flash the map, unplug, and put it back in the glovebox. The fact that you're working on making this switchable on the fly is awesome. Keep up the great work. I can't wait to see what else you come up with.

[Mike Benvo]

Originally Posted by Amri215

Maybe you guys should post a video of it use..may help?

The first post has a video of it in action.

It's definitely not the most convenient thing to use every time you valet you car - but there are many cases where it does come in handy:
1) You're leaving town and someone is "watching" over your car
2) Your car goes to an independent shop for a repair. My car is going to run this when it goes to the dealership, I'll tell you that. They abuse our cars.
3) Your friend/kid/etc is borrowing the car and you want to make sure they don't abuse the car or unnecessarily speed.

At this point it's not really designed for you to flash this all the time. It's more of one of the scenarios above which may come a couple times a year.

Best of all it's free. Just another added benefit. I didn't make this because I wanted it myself (although now that I did, I will use it). I made it because many people asked me for it.

[Darth One]

it's an awesome idea though. agree that to become truly mass-market usable it needs on-the-fly switching capability.

one suggestion - what would really be great is if you made it so the trunk can't be unlocked/opened in this mode.

[surlynkid]

Thanks for working on this Mike. I know I asked for it. I would not use it every time. But I could see instances. I may set something like this when we go out in my vehicle in case the 16 year old gets any ideas. Please continue the effort to make it more "hot-swappable" on the fly.

[aussiem3]

Show some patience ... This is a heads up and R&D of what's coming your way. User feedback and comments is extremely important at this phase. I am confident the finished product will be good and user friendly like all products releases by Mike. Please provide positive feedback.

[Fen335i]

I think you are really on to something with this...but like many have said, an easy one button on/off design would seal the deal for me. It sounds like you are working this now, so that's great news! I hope you are able to figure something out. I can see myself using this feature all the time with both valets and my future inexperienced child who wants to take the car out for a special "date night"... IF I could easily limit the car's capabilities, I might be inclined to let them take it....maybe. ;-)

[Darth One]

well, if we're looking for a tune that will stop our kids doing the stupid shit we did with our parents' cars...then Benvo needs to offer a GPS option, a Breathalyzer option, and a tune that can somehow detect when the backseat is occupied by two or more naked asses

[PrimoM3]

Subscribed. Thanks and keep up the good work!

[wheatpaste]

This is a great idea, and I'm anxious to see further development.

I'm actually pretty surprised that BMW didn't bake in some of this functionality with the key-dependent settings available through Comfort Access. Seems like it would have been really easy to designate one key as the "valet" key with lowered rev limit, top speed, etc...

Anyways, thanks for offering what BMW didn't.

[Munit]

I don't see why anyone would do this for a dealer trip? Talk about a dead give away that you have been tuning your engine-to the point of offering a feature like this means you have been definetly digging around in the ECU and car and would give them reason to really put a magnifying glass on any warranty work.

Not sure how that is worth it to avoid them flogging a car that is meant to be flogged. Like I said above, nobody could thrash my car harder than I do-I thrash the living hell out of it and it runs perfectly. Only guidelines I follow is I always wait until temps are up to the middle of the guage or so before stepping on it. Besides that its a no holds barred thrash fest.

Given bmw limits revs to 5500 when cold, really damage done even if trying to flog it when cold is limited.

I see this being good for valet at dinner or something but that would require a quick flip option.

[m33]

This is cool and i recommend it. AJ made me a 3500 rpm 35mph limit file about a month ago i can load whenever i leave the car somewhere where i don't want people driving it .

[crabman]

Originally Posted by Darth One

well, if we're looking for a tune that will stop our kids doing the stupid shit we did with our parents' cars...then Benvo needs to offer a GPS option, a Breathalyzer option, and a tune that can somehow detect when the backseat is occupied by two or more naked asses

What he <--- says.

[m33]

Originally Posted by THE TECH

Not unfinished whatsoever. It's an addition to an already great product and something that no one else even offers.

If your referring to the Valet option "Not true", I got my valet mode through ESS about a month and a half ago .

Just saying

[THE TECH]

Originally Posted by m33

If your referring to the Valet option "Not true", I got my valet mode through ESS about a month and a half ago .

Just saying

I stand corrected then. I'd never heard of another offering.

[BMWJ]

I see it as pointless right now... If you can just flip a switch, than hey it's cool. But if you're bringing your car to a place where you have to hook it up to a computer and rewrite the software first... then I suggest you find a better place to hangout. It would be ridiculous to bring it to a dealership this way, and if it's that much trouble to go out to dinner somewhere let someone else drive, take a different car, public transportation, or just find a different restaurant. If you're going to program it before you leave your home, then why bother to have this car, the drive there is what counts.

[Bmw135er]

[quote=Munit]Cool features but kind of useless if you can't switch maps. How can the vishnu and jb3 stuff have been doing map switching for years? Is it because their chips can do that and a flash cannot?[quote=Munit]

That's because the"chips" that Vishnu and BMS offer are not a real tune. They are signal modifiers that fool the DME, not tune it. It's a lot easier to do as an external device than actual reflash. If you want that, perhaps the procede is your cup of tea on the M3. In that regard, you would be the minority.

[Mike Benvo]

Thank you to everyone that made positive comments or gave us constructive critism.

Originally Posted by Munit

I don't see why anyone would do this for a dealer trip? Talk about a dead give away that you have been tuning your engine-to the point of offering a feature like this means you have been definetly digging around in the ECU and car and would give them reason to really put a magnifying glass on any warranty work.

Not sure how that is worth it to avoid them flogging a car that is meant to be flogged. Like I said above, nobody could thrash my car harder than I do-I thrash the living hell out of it and it runs perfectly. Only guidelines I follow is I always wait until temps are up to the middle of the guage or so before stepping on it. Besides that its a no holds barred thrash fest.

Given bmw limits revs to 5500 when cold, really damage done even if trying to flog it when cold is limited.

I see this being good for valet at dinner or something but that would require a quick flip option.

I would do it for a dealer trip. Why? Because they abuse your car. I've seen this in front of my eyes over twenty times.

Dealers rarely notice things like this, and to me it doesn't matter even if they see it. The key is to have a realationship with your service advisor/tech. After that's established there's no need to worry about them flagging your car. I set most of my local customers up with my SA and tech to make sure they are always taken care of. Regardless, out of every car I have tuned I have NEVER heard of a SINGLE warranty denial ever. In fact, never heard of denial from anyones tune really, other than a gentleman in Singapore who blew his motor and would not disclose who the tuner was.

One of my friends about three years ago had a 335 and asked me for a 17PSI file. I told him it would blow his turbos eventually especially the way he drove. He said he wanted it anyway. Boy.. that was one fast 335i.

At 49,500 miles the turbos were replaced under warranty at a random dealer without any issues. Even took the car in with the tune and they gave it back with the tune.

Stock cold rev limit is based on coolant temp, and usually the cars will have a rev limit of 6500 RPM on starting. When you start the car, oil temps are probably between 50 and 70F. Taking a car to 6,500 RPM with oil temps that low would be serious abuse. This is why we limit it to 4,500 in our tune (and release it more slowly) in the tune. To be honest, I would have limited it even lower, but the instrument cluster manufacturer didn't paint the wheel red far enough, so if you reduce it lower than 4,500 (which is totally possible), you'll have the silver color up by the redline instead of red. Damage might be 'limited' to an extent, but it's enough to wear the motor prematurely for sure.

Not sure why you wait until the needle is dead center, that's also not necessary. You can flog it before that and the oil will be at an acceptable viscosity level even before 210F.

Originally Posted by Munit

Cool features but kind of useless if you can't switch maps. How can the vishnu and jb3 stuff have been doing map switching for years? Is it because their chips can do that and a flash cannot?

Originally Posted by Bmw135er

That's because the"chips" that Vishnu and BMS offer are not a real tune. They are signal modifiers that fool the DME, not tune it. It's a lot easier to do as an external device than actual reflash. If you want that, perhaps the procede is your cup of tea on the M3. In that regard, you would be the minority.

Exactly.

Piggybacks are not real 'tunes' and in my opinion is more of a hack than anything else. I would never run one on my personal car. You're limited to an extent when using them. They 'trick' the stock ECU instead of doing the right thing. Of course map switching is going to be easier with them because they aren't switching anything in the DME at all, they are just tricking the DME in a different manner to achieve the desired result. They are prone to fault codes and other issues, and go against the cars overall well being IMO.

As I said, I made this because many people requested this. It's not instantly switchable at this point, but it still serves a very valid purposes in many cases. Five minutes to flash is really not that bad. I have some ideas for how to make this more easily switchable in the future, but for now I think this is a good start. Rome wasn't built in a day.

[M3 JP]

Originally Posted by Mike Benvo

Thank you to everyone that made positive comments or gave us constructive critism.




I would do it for a dealer trip. Why? Because they abuse your car. I've seen this in front of my eyes over twenty times.

Dealers rarely notice things like this, and to me it doesn't matter even if they see it. The key is to have a realationship with your service advisor/tech. After that's established there's no need to worry about them flagging your car. I set most of my local customers up with my SA and tech to make sure they are always taken care of. Regardless, out of every car I have tuned I have NEVER heard of a SINGLE warranty denial ever. In fact, never heard of denial from anyones tune really, other than a gentleman in Singapore who blew his motor and would not disclose who the tuner was.

One of my friends about three years ago had a 335 and asked me for a 17PSI file. I told him it would blow his turbos eventually especially the way he drove. He said he wanted it anyway. Boy.. that was one fast 335i.

At 49,500 miles the turbos were replaced under warranty at a random dealer without any issues. Even took the car in with the tune and they gave it back with the tune.

Stock cold rev limit is based on coolant temp, and usually the cars will have a rev limit of 6500 RPM on starting. When you start the car, oil temps are probably between 50 and 70F. Taking a car to 6,500 RPM with oil temps that low would be serious abuse. This is why we limit it to 4,500 in our tune (and release it more slowly) in the tune. To be honest, I would have limited it even lower, but the instrument cluster manufacturer didn't paint the wheel red far enough, so if you reduce it lower than 4,500 (which is totally possible), you'll have the silver color up by the redline instead of red. Damage might be 'limited' to an extent, but it's enough to wear the motor prematurely for sure.

Not sure why you wait until the needle is dead center, that's also not necessary. You can flog it before that and the oil will be at an acceptable viscosity level even before 210F.





Exactly.

Piggybacks are not real 'tunes' and in my opinion is more of a hack than anything else. I would never run one on my personal car. You're limited to an extent when using them. They 'trick' the stock ECU instead of doing the right thing. Of course map switching is going to be easier with them because they aren't switching anything in the DME at all, they are just tricking the DME in a different manner to achieve the desired result. They are prone to fault codes and other issues, and go against the cars overall well being IMO.

As I said, I made this because many people requested this. It's not instantly switchable at this point, but it still serves a very valid purposes in many cases. Five minutes to flash is really not that bad. I have some ideas for how to make this more easily switchable in the future, but for now I think this is a good start. Rome wasn't built in a day.

Mike, don't let these guys mess with you! What you're doing is a great thing! I just wish I had found this thread sooner. Probably 99% of the guys that have left a comment will never experience this, but I'm active duty military currently stationed in Germany. Right now, as I type, my M3 is on a boat on its way to CA. I have absolutely no clue whats being done to it! I only know of what little damage it has now (and by little, I mean a couple rock chips in the hood), but have no idea how hard these guys are running it. It has AKRA EVO, which IMO is the best exhaust ever and has a badass sound during the cold start!

I wish I had known you were doing this, I'd of bought and paid for this no questions asked, with a rev limit of 2500 and 25mph...just so those F-heads at the port couldn't do what I know they're doing now....doggin' my ride. I only know the mileage, but as an example, how many times can a dude red line it in a 1/4 mile.....the odometer may only change by 1 or 2 miles, but how many "pedal to the floorboard" adventures has the car taken in that short of a distance.

Anyway, you should advertise to the overseas guys/military guys who own M's. I guarantee that they'll take you up. FYI: A buddy of mine who owns a MR E92, ESS SC, just got a tune from them and it works....his rev is set at 2800 and max speed is 25mph...in all modes, M on or off.

All I can say is keep doing what you're doing....and damn my luck for not finding this sooner. I still may want your business...we should talk via PM so I know what all there is to offer.

[M3 JP]

a suggestion for something else to add besides this fancy button everyone wants....a way to read what has happened to the car before re-flashing it....I'm sure its possible or being talked about, but I'm too lazy to go back through 42 other posts in the thread

[MRV99]

If I had this tune with my wife, I could easily flash the car before dinner because she is always 10-15 late getting ready. I could flash it and still have time for a beer before we would have to leave. B