Quote:
Originally Posted by TLud
Frank, let me try to clear up your confusion here. Mike, feel free to correct me if I mistate anything.
Powerchip offers what is known as a standard or generic tune, which is made for the E9X M3 generally. I'm sure they also have a number of variations of this standard tune which account for various modifications, like air filters, aftermarket mufflers and mid-pipes, etc. Essentially, a standard tune is a one-size-fits-all type solution and will get your car pretty close to maximum performance. It is a very quick and easy process with a quick pre-loaded software flash through the OBDII port.
These standard tunes are initially created by putting a template or demo car on a dyno and playing with the fuel map, timing, and other settings to optimize engine performance over the entire load range. This is what you are referring to as a custom or dyno tune. That tune, while customized to that particular car, can be used as a standard or generic tune on other similarly modified cars of the same model.
While standard tunes will get your software pretty close to optimal because our cars are essentially the same, no two cars are exactly like (your car isn't exactly the same as the car the standard tune was original prepared on), so additional performance benefits can be found by custom tweaking the settings on your car specifically. Obviously, this has to be done on a dyno and requires going into your various engine management maps and modifying specific settings based on repeated dyno runs. The biggest benefit to a custom tune isn't so much the increased power (the standard tune will get you most of the way there), but rather improved feel. A custom tune will allow you to smooth out the torque and power curves.
As far as pricing, if I understand Mike correctly, Powerchip is offering the standard tune (basic flash with a standard map -- no dyno required) for $800. If we get enough people signed up, Powerchip would send someone out here personally and the custom tune would be $990 plus the cost of the necessary dyno time wherever the work is done. If we have fewer than 8 people interested in a custom tune, Powerchip would do the tune remotely (we'd put our cars on the dyno here and Powerchip would modify the settings remotely from California) and it would cost a bit more (unclear how much though).
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Thank you for the post. You are correct on every account.
The remote tune will be slightly more expensive, but let's see how many people we get and hopefully we'll see you in Texas.
I do want to point out, however, that the $800 tune is a custom tune fitted to your mods for cars that do not have changes to the emissions system (cats/headers). For cars with changes here, it will be slightly more. But I'm working with you guys to keep costs down and get you the best bang for your buck. That's why it's best for us to come out your way if there is enough interest.
The retail Stage II price is $1490, and Stage I is $990. For those of you that qualify for stage II, I'll be able to knock $300 off which brings us to 1190 and 800 respectively.
remember that dyno tuning is usually $500 more per car, but if we have enough interested, I'll waive that totally.
