Curious how come no handheld tuners for BMW?

[HotLap]

Having been modding American muscle cars for many years now, one of the best mods available is the handheld tuner (read Diablo Sport / Excalibrator, etc.) where you simply order the tuner loaded with the two or three tunes you want then plug into the OBD port, upload the stock tune, then download whatever tune you want. This gives you the ability to revert to the stock tune in about 60 seconds before taking your car in for service, etc. You can even go to a dyno shop and have them test/develop a truly custom tune for your car with your specific mods. Your preordered tunes can be for power, economy or even to match your mods. You can even manipulate many of the tune's parameters right through the handheld device...why don't these handheld tuners work with BMW's - they must have OBD ports and their ECU codes must be crackable just like everyone else's?

[guarnibl]

I do this with my Kenne Bell Mustang -- though I had Tim @ Modular Power House tune mine.

To be honest, I'm not sure... maybe not enough competition / demand in that department that would justify it?

[dcstep]

Bosch does a much better job of protecting the codes and their patents than the US and Asian makers.

I was talking about this with my local dyno-tuner the other day. It's a particular problem here near Denver, where the mile high altitude screws up any static ECU developed in California, Florida or New Jersey at sea level. He said that he regularly gets German car owners in that installed a chip and didn't feel any improvement. He says that they're usually right and they may even lose power because BMW, Audi and Porsche do much better high altitude testing than some shop in Miami.

My guy says that he knows of a guy working on the software, but he is keeping a low profile and will only license the software through tuners with dynos to properly set it. He wouldn't tell me the name, but promised to put me on the first call list if it comes out.

Meantime, I'm adding throttle bodies and exhaust and praying that the car won't go too lean post mods (looks like I've got a decent margin for error, based on my baseline dyno runs).

Dave

[Canyon Junkie]

Originally Posted by dcstep

Bosch does a much better job of protecting the codes and their patents than the US and Asian makers.

I was talking about this with my local dyno-tuner the other day. It's a particular problem here near Denver, where the mile high altitude screws up any static ECU developed in California, Florida or New Jersey at sea level. He said that he regularly gets German car owners in that installed a chip and didn't feel any improvement. He says that they're usually right and they may even lose power because BMW, Audi and Porsche do much better high altitude testing than some shop in Miami.

My guy says that he knows of a guy working on the software, but he is keeping a low profile and will only license the software through tuners with dynos to properly set it. He wouldn't tell me the name, but promised to put me on the first call list if it comes out.

Meantime, I'm adding throttle bodies and exhaust and praying that the car won't go too lean post mods (looks like I've got a decent margin for error, based on my baseline dyno runs).

Dave

Who is your tuner in Denver? And what were your AFR's stock up here?

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by Canyon Junkie

Who is your tuner in Denver? And what were your AFR's stock up here?

I use MAC Autosport in Parker. The AFRs (sniffed at the tailpipe unfortunately) ranges from 14.5 at 1,000 rpm, dropping to just under 12.5 at 8000 rpm after hovering around 13.0 from 4 through 6-grand.

Dave