Dinan Upgrades

[j2m]

FWIW - I had a pretty bad experience with Dinan last year. I spent about $16K on Dinan parts and labor... suspension, exhaust, wheels, pedals, spacers. The only thing they got right was the pedals. Suspension was not right from the beginning, I went back and forth with Dan Mcniff for about 4 months, although he agreed the suspension was faulty he never did anything about it. Basically the car was too low in the back and suspension tweaked so it was uneven, side to side. I traded my 335 in and took a bath on the suspension. Spacers were $300 and faulty (refunded), exhaust was black and didn't match (dinan replaced), Wheels.... Don't even get me started. DON'T EVER order wheels through Dinan. They have no effin idea what they are doing. Offsets were way off and they refused to talk with me about it. MY EXPERIENCE is that Dinan's customer service is lacking in a serious way. I will NEVER have a Dinan part on my car again.

That being said, there are many people that have had positive experiences with Dinan. For me it's not as much about the $ as the quality and peace of mind of knowing that I am dealing with a company that will stand behind their product.

Customer service starts AFTER the $ exchanges hands and must involve the vendor answering the phone, returning phone calls and answering e-mails.

IMO DINAN throws around the "warranty" word but the company lacks the customer service skills and the proper staff to substantiate the claim. Warranty is worthless UNTIL YOU NEED IT.

There are many vendors that will provide true customer service as well as a quality product, do some research and make decisions accordingly BUT please do not make the mistake that I did and choose Dinan for (1) peace of mind/warranty (2) Quality of ALL products.

[Car54]

Originally Posted by Rekrul

+1 for xpipe


IMO best one on the market.

True but it doesn't qualify for the Dinan warranty match...same as the accompanying tune. The tune which is pretty much mandatory to shut down CEL. Their biggest perk is offset by their best product.

[bigjae1976]

Originally Posted by j2M3

FWIW - I had a pretty bad experience with Dinan last year.

Just curious, was it through Dinan themselves or was it your dealership?

[j2m]

Originally Posted by bigjae1976

Just curious, was it through Dinan themselves or was it your dealership?

I actually called Dinan directly and spoke to the west Coast Sales Rep (Chris M) who worked out all of the specific details of my order, made recommendations, Spec'd everything out and then he then sent me to the dealership to process my order and collect my $ and arrange installation. The dealer was a pass through, the entire time I was dealing directly with Dinan.

[MDyDinanM]

Originally Posted by j2M3

FWIW - I had a pretty bad experience with Dinan last year. I spent about $16K on Dinan parts and labor... suspension, exhaust, wheels, pedals, spacers. The only thing they got right was the pedals. Suspension was not right from the beginning, I went back and forth with Dan Mcniff for about 4 months, although he agreed the suspension was faulty he never did anything about it. Basically the car was too low in the back and suspension tweaked so it was uneven, side to side. I traded my 335 in and took a bath on the suspension. Spacers were $300 and faulty (refunded), exhaust was black and didn't match (dinan replaced), Wheels.... Don't even get me started. DON'T EVER order wheels through Dinan. They have no effin idea what they are doing. Offsets were way off and they refused to talk with me about it. MY EXPERIENCE is that Dinan's customer service is lacking in a serious way. I will NEVER have a Dinan part on my car again.

That being said, there are many people that have had positive experiences with Dinan. For me it's not as much about the $ as the quality and peace of mind of knowing that I am dealing with a company that will stand behind their product.

Customer service starts AFTER the $ exchanges hands and must involve the vendor answering the phone, returning phone calls and answering e-mails.

IMO DINAN throws around the "warranty" word but the company lacks the customer service skills and the proper staff to substantiate the claim. Warranty is worthless UNTIL YOU NEED IT.

There are many vendors that will provide true customer service as well as a quality product, do some research and make decisions accordingly BUT please do not make the mistake that I did and choose Dinan for (1) peace of mind/warranty (2) Quality of ALL products.

Just speculating here:

Did you have your install done at an authorized Dinan installation center? If not then maybe that is part of the problem. If you did, then what you are describing sounds like a dealership problem, not a Dinan problem. At least it comes off that way. If you spec'd everything out with Dinan, then sent the parts to the dealer and a) they were faulty or b) installed incorrectly, I would think you would have to work with the dealer (assuming it's an authorized center) to correct the problem. The dealer, not Dinan should be liable for improper installation. Secondly, if it was a warranty issue for a faulty part, the dealer needs to identify it and arrange a warranty claim to submit to Dinan.

I'm quite pleased with my Dinan stuff. So I'm curious to hear more about the details and circumstances with your experience.

[j2m]

Originally Posted by mdyaman

Just speculating here:

Did you have your install done at an authorized Dinan installation center? If not then maybe that is part of the problem. If you did, then what you are describing sounds like a dealership problem, not a Dinan problem. At least it comes off that way. If you spec'd everything out with Dinan, then sent the parts to the dealer and a) they were faulty or b) installed incorrectly, I would think you would have to work with the dealer (assuming it's an authorized center) to correct the problem. The dealer, not Dinan should be liable for improper installation. Secondly, if it was a warranty issue for a faulty part, the dealer needs to identify it and arrange a warranty claim to submit to Dinan.

I'm quite pleased with my Dinan stuff. So I'm curious to hear more about the details and circumstances with your experience.

It was installed at a authorized Dinan/BMW dealer.

I was communicating directly with Dinan regarding the warranty, the dealership was not in the loop and Dinan only pushed me off to the dealership after they didn't want to deal with me anymore, by that time I was frustrated and was trading in my 335 for my M3 and quite frankly I had given them more than enough time to make the situation right and they refused. It was not worth my time to continue to argue with Dinan about the suspension and wheels. So I traded in my 335 and moved forward.
Dinan acknowledged that the springs were faulty but they would not send new springs, I waited for 4 months and asked repeatedly.
I did not spec the wheels with Dinan, they spec'd the wheels and assured me that they would fit. I trusted that they knew what they were doing. I won't make that mistake again
Anyway, don't want to thread jack and I am positive Dinan makes a great X-Pipe, Stroker, exhaust sounds great... and we all know they are a good company. I just had a bad experience with them. The only reason I post my experience is because I DO NOT want people thinking that Dinan is the TOP SHELF BMW tuner, and hassle free. I had to learn the hard way, hopefully I can help others consider all options before going blindly with a company that makes promises they may not fulfill.
My problem with Dinan was not the lack of quality and failure of their product that I experienced. Every manufacturer will have quality issues from time to time, I completely understand this. Dinan's problem is with their customer service. Dinan has a warranty department that you have to deal with when you have a problem. They have great customer service on the front end, the back end is a different story.
Most people that love Dinan have never had to deal with a problem with Dinan. Hopefully you never will have to...

[MDyDinanM]

/\

No worries. Thanks for the elaboration.

[soberin]

Originally Posted by Tony_KB

So if you didn't get a premium on the e46 with mods, what makes you think that you will get a premium on the new one? Have you seen cars that have the dinan badge sell for more than a regular stock m3 ?

Just curious if you or anyone has this info...

Cheers

Premium resale with Dinan parts is just dreaming. Resale value is going to be based on mileage, with maybe a bit extra for Dinan stuff, provided the buyer really knows what the mods mean. No way to recoup even a fraction of the cost & installation of mods.

[Radiation Joe]

Originally Posted by j2M3

It was installed at a authorized Dinan/BMW dealer.

I was communicating directly with Dinan regarding the warranty, the dealership was not in the loop and Dinan only pushed me off to the dealership after they didn't want to deal with me anymore, by that time I was frustrated and was trading in my 335 for my M3 and quite frankly I had given them more than enough time to make the situation right and they refused. It was not worth my time to continue to argue with Dinan about the suspension and wheels. So I traded in my 335 and moved forward.
Dinan acknowledged that the springs were faulty but they would not send new springs, I waited for 4 months and asked repeatedly.
I did not spec the wheels with Dinan, they spec'd the wheels and assured me that they would fit. I trusted that they knew what they were doing. I won't make that mistake again
Anyway, don't want to thread jack and I am positive Dinan makes a great X-Pipe, Stroker, exhaust sounds great... and we all know they are a good company. I just had a bad experience with them. The only reason I post my experience is because I DO NOT want people thinking that Dinan is the TOP SHELF BMW tuner, and hassle free. I had to learn the hard way, hopefully I can help others consider all options before going blindly with a company that makes promises they may not fulfill.
My problem with Dinan was not the lack of quality and failure of their product that I experienced. Every manufacturer will have quality issues from time to time, I completely understand this. Dinan's problem is with their customer service. Dinan has a warranty department that you have to deal with when you have a problem. They have great customer service on the front end, the back end is a different story.
Most people that love Dinan have never had to deal with a problem with Dinan. Hopefully you never will have to...

I don't know if you were around during the M/DCT lag debacle a few years ago, but Dinan fixed it for me; not BMW. Dinan customer service has been outstanding for me, whether it's software upgrades, walking me through the design process of the monoball front bushings or Steve himself working with me on the design of my e46 suspension (which had not a one Dinan part on it). I'm going to venture a guess that your experience is not typical of Dinan customers.

[PetrolFumes]

anyone do the stroker motor?

[MDyDinanM]

Originally Posted by MPowerrE92

anyone do the stroker motor?

Not a M3, but my friend had a V10 stroker installed for his m5 and has nothing but good things to say. I got to drive it and I was impressed. A lot more power and added torque in the low rpm range.

[RoundTwo]

Originally Posted by SehrSchnell

+1!

An M3 brony? THAT'S something new to me...

[positiveions]

Originally Posted by j2M3

I actually called Dinan directly and spoke to the west Coast Sales Rep (Chris M) who worked out all of the specific details of my order, made recommendations, Spec'd everything out and then he then sent me to the dealership to process my order and collect my $ and arrange installation. The dealer was a pass through, the entire time I was dealing directly with Dinan.

Sorry to hear about your misfortune.
The Supercharger was taking a dive on my 'ol E36 M3, and was over the allowed warranty. Dinan replaced the unit no question asked.

[Tony_KB]

Originally Posted by eatrach73

FYI, there was an e46 M3 for sale at a local BMW dealership, that had extensive upgrades from Dinan. The car was sold over retail BBK, and it didn't last a day. Goes to show you .

Good to know, beacause mine has the badge