BMW M3 Forum (E90 E92) - View Single Post - Gintani N/A tune and customer service review

skiv23 · 12-10-2017, 03:52 AM

So, here we go. It is a long post but it's worth reading if you are about to get that tune.

I was looking for an option to get a tune for my 2008 M3. I decided that if I had got one then it would be one of the ESS, BPM, Gintani or Evolve, but after reading some posts on forums I decided to go with updated OEM firmware (241e) and DCT GTS only. Few months later instagram suggested me one guy called c63nyc with ridiculously fast N/A M3 that had also an amazing burble and flames running Gintani tune. After having burble on my and friend’s 335s I was excited to get one. At that time only last 3 mentioned companies had this option. I couldn’t find any good video of Evolve burble and there were only 2 left. I wrote an email to Mike and Gintani asking if this feature can be sold separately from their tune. Both said no and I had to buy the tune. But Mike also mentioned that the car might have slight lurching upon deceleration. So I decided that the tune wasn’t worth it’s money.

Time flew by and Mike’s topic appeared with some tune explanation or whatever (it was deleted) and some arguments from Gintani. Few weeks later I found out that Gintani has an extremely hot group buy with a price that is worth the tune (in my opinion) and I was in. They had an amazing customer service at that point, every question was answered that day or early morning next day (timezone difference is huge). They also put a price on a customs -ish paper on the parcel to what I had asked to be there.

Later there was another topic by some guy who went from BPM to Gintani and couldn’t be more happier. There were some hot discussions, Mike turned up with his thoughts about burble and Gintani’s tune. The Gintani turned up with their explanation of how it works, etc. There were also some customers except topic starter that were also happy with their tune for a long time and different cars. This was only strengthening my thoughts about Gintani’s tune.

The cable arrived, Gintani sent me files (with and without burble, btw) and an instruction. I followed it, updated to 241e (although I had one, but to make sure I follow the guide), and then loaded the tune with burble. I have to say that I decided NOT to go full catless and have secondary HFC because I didn’t like the sound on a different X-pipe and had only primaries deleted WITH secondary o2 delete (both hard- and software). My friend and I went for a test. My friend noticed that the power was quite linear starting from low RPM (I will get back to it later). We found a nice straight road and did some burble runs inside and outside. I must admit the burble is so damn cool. On one of the runs when my friend was driving the car and I was standing outside I couldn’t believe my eyes because I saw a small backfire on downshift but on the following downshift there were huge flames coming out of exhaust. I couldn’t be happier because Alex and Nick told me that there’s no chance it would shoot flames with secondary cats.

Next morning I had a CEL (o2 sensors - heating), not an issue, I think Gintani can fix that. Driving happy all day I noticed a weird sound after 7k RPM and higher. I took my friend for a ride. He also noticed it but thought this was no big deal. I wrote an email to Gintani asking if they can fix the CEL and explaining that I have o2’s removed and also asking about the sound on the video (although video can’t really tell the difference). This was October 26.

4 days later I thought that they might’ve missed my message and wrote again. Guys were very surprised that I don’t have those (dot). Meanwhile I decided to have some VBox runs to see the difference. My best 100-200 kmph is 9.8s at +8C and ~75% humidity. It was +8C and high humidity the day I had my runs with the tune and I ran 10s. I wrote an extra email asking if CEL might affect the power somehow and would humidity affect N/A car this much. The answer was yes, it can and that I can’t remove o2s without software update. I told them that I had this fixed on my stock firmware asking if they can update their files also. Nick told that he would talk to Alex to create a file, but Alex is out of town and will be there next week. Ok, no issues, appreciated.

3 days later we had the same conditions as the day I had had the best 100-200 run and the time was 9.8… I asked my friend to come. He has 2013 M3, catless X pipe (with CEL

) and nothing more, stock. We had VBox runs and head-to-head runs, all the same. I asked Gintani what can be the issue that my car isn’t any faster than stock. 3 days later I had to bump again. Nick said that he doesn’t know what to tell me, I should be gaining power, not losing or staying the same and wondered if I followed the guide properly. Also told me that if I want to test, I can load 241e again and that would be stock.
I flashed back to stock and the time was the same 9.8s. Nick said that he doesn’t understand what going on and asked if I had burble and other tune-features in case the tune is not flashed properly. But all of those were working just fine. I was asked when I had my sparks replaced (10k km). I reminded about having files updated.

Later that day I remembered that there was an issue with having my stock DME updated with o2 removal. Someone said there was a tune box like a JB4. I opened the ECU box and my friend found that there’s something covered in non OEM tape. 3 wires and 1 shut-off wire. I took photos and left it there. I also noted pin numbers in order to find out what it is. I couldn’t find any pinout for MSS60, but there was a topic by some guy asking for it and Mike Benvo told him that he had it (2013, quite long ago). I sent photos and info to Gintani asking for pinout. I also took my chance and sent a PM to Mike if he still has the pinout and what those can be.

Days passed, I found out that this could be o2 faker. Not the right word, no info on google. Sleepless night and I found out that this is called o2 sim (or simulator). Almost instantly I found an online shop with the same thing that I have but for N54. Doing some googling I could finally find a document of how to install it (it’s called a BMS DPFIX). There was also a guide for a S65. I told guys that I found how to remove this thing. They told me to remove it and drive around to see what error codes I get in order to know what to shut. Weird right? But ok, no issues. Mike also answered what those pins are and suggested me to remove that thing. (Thanks Mike Benvo )

November 20. It’s been 2.5 days since I removed the DPFIX and the only codes I had - o2 heating. Nov 22 - bump. They said they’re closed for holidays but they’ll get me something by friday. That’s ok. Did a few bumps later - nothing. Nov 30 - I bumped to instagram. Nick (I believe) said that Alex was finishing up everyone’s files (I believe they had another group buy or whatever) and Nick would be sending them out. Dec 7 - I wrote short “Guys?” and it was read, no answer.

I believe this is the end of our story, I will have my exhaust redone in order to put o2s back, hope this will help.

Here are the summaries:
+ car burbles like a monster with nice flames

- isn’t faster than it was before or stock and they can’t do anything about it. I wanted to suggest some dyno runs with TeamViewer maybe, but what’s the point.
- weird sound after 7k rpm. On stock file it MUCH quieter.
- customer support. Some other guys on forums said its 5/5. I guess it is when there are no issues.
- some issues with downshifts. It happens from time to time, not constant, couldn’t record it. In short - dash shows lower gear but the car is lurching as hell and RMP jump as if I had a 2 step. Didn’t mention this to Gintani because I know what answer would be.
- remember linear power from lower RPMs? It’s not. It goes smooth to some point then hits you in the back as if the clutch was fully engaged.
- 5 weeks to get that file updated that can be done in ~2h? Yet not even done.

After all that I’m not even sure if it’s safe to run this tune. Probably better to have this money saved for a supercharger.

P.S. I also wrote a message to a guy who was in a group buy with me and had his review here too asking if he had any vbox runs to see the difference, but he didn’t reply to me either although being online lately :thinking: FL_M3

UPD: CEL issue has been fixed by putting o2's back.

12-10-2017, 03:52 AM	#1
skiv23 New Member 7 Rep 20 Posts Drives: m3 e92 Join Date: Sep 2016 Location: Europe iTrader: (0)	Gintani N/A tune and customer service review So, here we go. It is a long post but it's worth reading if you are about to get that tune. I was looking for an option to get a tune for my 2008 M3. I decided that if I had got one then it would be one of the ESS, BPM, Gintani or Evolve, but after reading some posts on forums I decided to go with updated OEM firmware (241e) and DCT GTS only. Few months later instagram suggested me one guy called c63nyc with ridiculously fast N/A M3 that had also an amazing burble and flames running Gintani tune. After having burble on my and friend’s 335s I was excited to get one. At that time only last 3 mentioned companies had this option. I couldn’t find any good video of Evolve burble and there were only 2 left. I wrote an email to Mike and Gintani asking if this feature can be sold separately from their tune. Both said no and I had to buy the tune. But Mike also mentioned that the car might have slight lurching upon deceleration. So I decided that the tune wasn’t worth it’s money. Time flew by and Mike’s topic appeared with some tune explanation or whatever (it was deleted) and some arguments from Gintani. Few weeks later I found out that Gintani has an extremely hot group buy with a price that is worth the tune (in my opinion) and I was in. They had an amazing customer service at that point, every question was answered that day or early morning next day (timezone difference is huge). They also put a price on a customs -ish paper on the parcel to what I had asked to be there. Later there was another topic by some guy who went from BPM to Gintani and couldn’t be more happier. There were some hot discussions, Mike turned up with his thoughts about burble and Gintani’s tune. The Gintani turned up with their explanation of how it works, etc. There were also some customers except topic starter that were also happy with their tune for a long time and different cars. This was only strengthening my thoughts about Gintani’s tune. The cable arrived, Gintani sent me files (with and without burble, btw) and an instruction. I followed it, updated to 241e (although I had one, but to make sure I follow the guide), and then loaded the tune with burble. I have to say that I decided NOT to go full catless and have secondary HFC because I didn’t like the sound on a different X-pipe and had only primaries deleted WITH secondary o2 delete (both hard- and software). My friend and I went for a test. My friend noticed that the power was quite linear starting from low RPM (I will get back to it later). We found a nice straight road and did some burble runs inside and outside. I must admit the burble is so damn cool. On one of the runs when my friend was driving the car and I was standing outside I couldn’t believe my eyes because I saw a small backfire on downshift but on the following downshift there were huge flames coming out of exhaust. I couldn’t be happier because Alex and Nick told me that there’s no chance it would shoot flames with secondary cats. Next morning I had a CEL (o2 sensors - heating), not an issue, I think Gintani can fix that. Driving happy all day I noticed a weird sound after 7k RPM and higher. I took my friend for a ride. He also noticed it but thought this was no big deal. I wrote an email to Gintani asking if they can fix the CEL and explaining that I have o2’s removed and also asking about the sound on the video (although video can’t really tell the difference). This was October 26. 4 days later I thought that they might’ve missed my message and wrote again. Guys were very surprised that I don’t have those (dot). Meanwhile I decided to have some VBox runs to see the difference. My best 100-200 kmph is 9.8s at +8C and ~75% humidity. It was +8C and high humidity the day I had my runs with the tune and I ran 10s. I wrote an extra email asking if CEL might affect the power somehow and would humidity affect N/A car this much. The answer was yes, it can and that I can’t remove o2s without software update. I told them that I had this fixed on my stock firmware asking if they can update their files also. Nick told that he would talk to Alex to create a file, but Alex is out of town and will be there next week. Ok, no issues, appreciated. 3 days later we had the same conditions as the day I had had the best 100-200 run and the time was 9.8… I asked my friend to come. He has 2013 M3, catless X pipe (with CEL ) and nothing more, stock. We had VBox runs and head-to-head runs, all the same. I asked Gintani what can be the issue that my car isn’t any faster than stock. 3 days later I had to bump again. Nick said that he doesn’t know what to tell me, I should be gaining power, not losing or staying the same and wondered if I followed the guide properly. Also told me that if I want to test, I can load 241e again and that would be stock. I flashed back to stock and the time was the same 9.8s. Nick said that he doesn’t understand what going on and asked if I had burble and other tune-features in case the tune is not flashed properly. But all of those were working just fine. I was asked when I had my sparks replaced (10k km). I reminded about having files updated. Later that day I remembered that there was an issue with having my stock DME updated with o2 removal. Someone said there was a tune box like a JB4. I opened the ECU box and my friend found that there’s something covered in non OEM tape. 3 wires and 1 shut-off wire. I took photos and left it there. I also noted pin numbers in order to find out what it is. I couldn’t find any pinout for MSS60, but there was a topic by some guy asking for it and Mike Benvo told him that he had it (2013, quite long ago). I sent photos and info to Gintani asking for pinout. I also took my chance and sent a PM to Mike if he still has the pinout and what those can be. Days passed, I found out that this could be o2 faker. Not the right word, no info on google. Sleepless night and I found out that this is called o2 sim (or simulator). Almost instantly I found an online shop with the same thing that I have but for N54. Doing some googling I could finally find a document of how to install it (it’s called a BMS DPFIX). There was also a guide for a S65. I told guys that I found how to remove this thing. They told me to remove it and drive around to see what error codes I get in order to know what to shut. Weird right? But ok, no issues. Mike also answered what those pins are and suggested me to remove that thing. (Thanks Mike Benvo ) November 20. It’s been 2.5 days since I removed the DPFIX and the only codes I had - o2 heating. Nov 22 - bump. They said they’re closed for holidays but they’ll get me something by friday. That’s ok. Did a few bumps later - nothing. Nov 30 - I bumped to instagram. Nick (I believe) said that Alex was finishing up everyone’s files (I believe they had another group buy or whatever) and Nick would be sending them out. Dec 7 - I wrote short “Guys?” and it was read, no answer. I believe this is the end of our story, I will have my exhaust redone in order to put o2s back, hope this will help. Here are the summaries: + car burbles like a monster with nice flames - isn’t faster than it was before or stock and they can’t do anything about it. I wanted to suggest some dyno runs with TeamViewer maybe, but what’s the point. - weird sound after 7k rpm. On stock file it MUCH quieter. - customer support. Some other guys on forums said its 5/5. I guess it is when there are no issues. - some issues with downshifts. It happens from time to time, not constant, couldn’t record it. In short - dash shows lower gear but the car is lurching as hell and RMP jump as if I had a 2 step. Didn’t mention this to Gintani because I know what answer would be. - remember linear power from lower RPMs? It’s not. It goes smooth to some point then hits you in the back as if the clutch was fully engaged. - 5 weeks to get that file updated that can be done in ~2h? Yet not even done. After all that I’m not even sure if it’s safe to run this tune. Probably better to have this money saved for a supercharger. P.S. I also wrote a message to a guy who was in a group buy with me and had his review here too asking if he had any vbox runs to see the difference, but he didn’t reply to me either although being online lately :thinking: FL_M3 UPD: CEL issue has been fixed by putting o2's back. Last edited by skiv23; 12-20-2017 at 02:15 AM..
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