HELP WANTED ESS or AA

[MarinoC]

hope everyone is having a good day so far. im fairly new to the group and am looking for some help. i have a 2012 bmw m3 with 25K miles and im the original owner on it and looking to add a supercharger. i've narrowed it down to either a stage 2 AA or a ESS 625. where i need your guys help in is which is the better buy? the most reliable one where it wont give me headaches down the road. one that is low maintenance because i only drive it in the summer time and being from northwest indiana/chicago area its only nice here 4-5 months out of the year which then it turns into my daily driver. also, this probably will sound stupid but im being honest, which of the two would have the louder BOV, ive only heard them on video never really in person or in one while driving. i have a youtube video of my car if you guys would like to take a look and give me some feedback on it as well that'd be awesome. also who ever is a sneakers guy follow me on IG@marinoc23. any info would be greatly appreciated.

[/QUOTE]

[agenator]

Another nwi m3! Nice! I am from the region as well! I am personally going with the ess soon and have heard nothing but good things about it. Whatever kit you choose don't forget to get the rod bearings addressed too!

[Hierlevelz]

ESS gets my vote. The valves recirculates so you'll be hard pressed to hear the blow of sound.

[radiognome]

ESS uses Vortech supercharger and AA uses Rotrex. You might want to check those two before you make your decision. I chose ESS 650

[ASBSECU E93]

Check out the Sticky S/C owners list. You'll find ESS is a 2:1 choice against all other brands from most on this forum.

If $$ isn't a consideration - have you evaluated Harrop? Their kit is well engineered with considerably less maintenance requirements.

[jeff@autocouture]

Pm sent!

[MarinoC]

Originally Posted by ASBSECU E93

Check out the Sticky S/C owners list. You'll find ESS is a 2:1 choice against all other brands from most on this forum.

If $$ isn't a consideration - have you evaluated Harrop? Their kit is well engineered with considerably less maintenance requirements.

thanks for the help ill look into harrop, but money does play a factor in this case

[JEllis]

Both are good. I would look at installation. Some SC kits are way more invasive. The AA SC uses an air to air intercooler which is fantastic but you really hack up the front clip to fit it. The ESS kit uses a small AMG derived air to liquid heat exchanger, not as efficient but easier to fit. I ended up purchasing an ESS kit for a lot of these reasons. However, I like the packaging of the Rotrex SC unit better and wish that there were was another SC option on the market that combined the compactness of the ESS kit with the small size of the Rotrex unit.

[MarinoC]

Originally Posted by radiognome

ESS uses Vortech supercharger and AA uses Rotrex. You might want to check those two before you make your decision. I chose ESS 650

took a look at that before and vortech seems to be the one used the most on other s/c's, which makes me feel like its more of the reliable one. thanks for the help

[MarinoC]

Originally Posted by Hierlevelz

ESS gets my vote. The valves recirculates so you'll be hard pressed to hear the blow of sound.

thanks for the info i appreciate it

[MarinoC]

Originally Posted by agenator

Another nwi m3! Nice! I am from the region as well! I am personally going with the ess soon and have heard nothing but good things about it. Whatever kit you choose don't forget to get the rod bearings addressed too!

thanks for the help, i appreciate it

[MarinoC]

Originally Posted by JEllis

Both are good. I would look at installation. Some SC kits are way more invasive. The AA SC uses an air to air intercooler which is fantastic but you really hack up the front clip to fit it. The ESS kit uses a small AMG derived air to liquid heat exchanger, not as efficient but easier to fit. I ended up purchasing an ESS kit for a lot of these reasons. However, I like the packaging of the Rotrex SC unit better and wish that there were was another SC option on the market that combined the compactness of the ESS kit with the small size of the Rotrex unit.

thank you for that info, i appreciate the help.

[SflBimmer8484]

Hey,

Our stage 2 is extremely reliable and comes with a full 2 yr unlimited mile warranty on all parts included in the kit. As others have stated our kits differ in many ways. Choice of blowers, our intake filter placement, intercooling method and so on. If you have any specific questions please do not hesitate to give me a call 305-233-9300 Ext 227

Our kit also comes with 3 Bov's so if sound is important to you well take a listen below.

[8k4]

ESS

[BNBM3]

You can definitely hear the BOV's on the AA kit. As Andrew stated, the kit has 3 of them. They aren't obnoxious but clearly there when shifting under stress. During normal driving you won't hear them, but when you get on it, they are there.

I had my kit installed at AA, so I can't speak for the difficulty. But I can tell you it's a first class operation. Andrew and the guys are rock stars and will take care of you, period.

I like that the AA kit looks great, better fit and finish. It looks much better than ESS and uses the factory air intake points. So it's a very clean look. The ESS kit looks like they ripped the intake manifolds out and just slapped a supercharger. It's sloppy and lazy looking (just my opinion, folks).

Ultimately they all perform about the same. So if you don't mind a little bit more time consuming install but want a better look and the BOV sound, I'd go with AA. Have them paint the manifold white to match your car

[SflBimmer8484]

Here is that manifold we spoke about

[tom @ eas]

Originally Posted by MarinoC

hope everyone is having a good day so far. im fairly new to the group and am looking for some help. i have a 2012 bmw m3 with 25K miles and im the original owner on it and looking to add a supercharger. i've narrowed it down to either a stage 2 AA or a ESS 625. where i need your guys help in is which is the better buy? the most reliable one where it wont give me headaches down the road. one that is low maintenance because i only drive it in the summer time and being from northwest indiana/chicago area its only nice here 4-5 months out of the year which then it turns into my daily driver. also, this probably will sound stupid but im being honest, which of the two would have the louder BOV, ive only heard them on video never really in person or in one while driving. i have a youtube video of my car if you guys would like to take a look and give me some feedback on it as well that'd be awesome. also who ever is a sneakers guy follow me on IG@marinoc23. any info would be greatly appreciated.

Welcome to the forum! Like others have said, you'll find that ESS is dominant in the M3 supercharger world. The kits install and perform well for daily drivers.

More info on the kits can be found in this thread: http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?p=19594681



Give me a call and I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Originally Posted by ASBSECU E93

Check out the Sticky S/C owners list. You'll find ESS is a 2:1 choice against all other brands from most on this forum.

Well more than 2:1. ESS is all we see on the West Coast. We've installed, dynoed and serviced a ton of kits ourselves. Just take a look at the top 5 in the 60-130 thread:

E9X Supercharged M3's

5.95 - VT3M33 / E92 M3 DCT / ESS VT4 800 - Built Motor / 97 octane / 3 shifts
6.14 - DLSJ5 / E92 M3 DCT / ESS VT750 SC - Built Motor / 100 Octane / 3 shifts
6.16 - Madsex343 /E92 M3 DCT / ESS VT600 / 94 octane / 3 shifts
6.23 - Mikewads / E92 M3 DCT / ESS VT600 SC, 100shot Nitrous 3rd on/93oct/3 shifts
6.36 - Gpower / E92 M3 6-MT / Gpower SKIII SC - Built Motor / 1 shift

link: http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=630463