A little tuner action: AA vs Stock vs Powerchip

[powertrip]

Hey all, I had the chance to have my car dyno tuned by Mike & Jeremy over at Powerchip today. I have always suspected that my AA flash was lacking top-end power, so I asked if they could run my car with the AA flash, then flash back to stock, and finally dyno tune it using their software.

Mike and Jeremy were both a pleasure to work with, and they worked their asses off to get my car where I wanted it.

This chart represents AA vs stock vs Powerchip. All dyno runs were done today at Autowave (an independent unaffiliated shop) and the weather was a scorching 95-97 degrees.



Drive review:

Okay, so now for the good part...drive time . Obviously the car is MUCH faster, especially up on top-end where it's just violent. Shifting from 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd induces an amazing amount of wheelspin and an ear-to-ear grin. Besides the added power I'm amazed by how much smoother the car idles, and how much more responsive and muscular it feels when driving around town. One last observation....it could just be my mind playing tricks on me, but I'm pretty sure the exhaust is louder (could be that the throttle snaps open earlier ).

[mixja]

Gees - not a good endorsement for AA, but a great endorsement for Powerchip...it would be interesting to see the "standard" Stage II tune.

I have the Stage II tune as well although not a custom tune - it's great, feels like it has a bit more power than the standard Stage I tune even though Powerchip state it provides no more power.

[powertrip]

Yeah, unfortunately the AA tune just doesn't put down the numbers with my mods. It is a very smooth tune, but just lacking on top-end.

Originally Posted by mixja

Gees - not a good endorsement for AA, but a great endorsement for Powerchip...it would be interesting to see the "standard" Stage II tune.

I have the Stage II tune as well although not a custom tune - it's great, feels like it has a bit more power than the standard Stage I tune even though Powerchip state it provides no more power.

[BPMSport]

I'm glad you love the software. I thought the car was an entirely new animal once we flashed it with the last tune. I would also highly suggest powertrips exhaust setup to anyone - it sounds like an F1 car and makes great power.

mixja: Stage II makes more power than Stage I. We do claim a power gain on the Stage I to Stage II software. The added exhaust flow allows us to manipulate other values to increase horsepower and torque. Powertrips car was very strong - putting down that much power in that kind of weather is not easy.

We just became sponsors of the board today so please stay tuned tomorrow for the full writeup with dyno's, videos and pictures of our shootout event today. It also includes an AA Supercharged M3, and a 2009 SL65 Black Edition as well. Feel free to contact me via email or phone regarding the software.

Mike

[05SCM3]

Good stuff!

[SCCAForums.com]

Awesome numbers Powertrip! I knew you'd be happy!

Just wait... the best surprise is yet to appear... if it's anything like my tune from Mike, I'm actually 'averaging' about a mile per gallon BETTER now too!

Definitely good thorough guys over there!

Dave

[Alias]

So with 100 Octane you will see 400+ to the wheels

[m34jlp]

and i thought i was crazy when my AA tune seemed to make little to no extra power

[SCCAForums.com]

This is why I try to recommend to everyone 'before and after' dyno! It's the best $100 bucks you'll ever spend!

Peace,
Dave

[powertrip]

I think it may have made a little when I was stock, but it was holding my car back once I went with HFC's. Powerchip FTW .

Originally Posted by m34jlp

and i thought i was crazy when my AA tune seemed to make little to no extra power

[m34jlp]

thats when i really noticed (after removing all the cats). i went back to get it retuned and they said it wasnt making power because i still had my stock muffler...it made like 330rwhp...doesnt/didnt seem right to be so low with no cats, aa filter, aa tune...

[powertrip]

Originally Posted by m34jlp

thats when i really noticed (after removing all the cats). i went back to get it retuned and they said it wasnt making power because i still had my stock muffler...it made like 330rwhp...doesnt/didnt seem right to be so low with no cats, aa filter, aa tune...

Exactly what I was running into...I was 15-20whp down from where I should have been.

[BPMSport]

Originally Posted by Alias

So with 100 Octane you will see 400+ to the wheels

Yes, 400whp with 100 octane is not unrealistic at all. I think it might even put down a tad more.

If anyone is interested in getting powertrips custom tune, you can contact me via phone, email or the board.

[Omar@ActiveAutowerke]

Mike,

Long time no talk... Good to see you found a home at Powerchip.

I can honestly say I didn't expect anything else from you for a first post a sponsor...

Assuming your data is correct..... were each of these runs documented the best runs for AA,stock, and Powerchip...? Did the dyno operator do each run the same, etc, etc.???

To publicly attack AA (even though indirectly) on a forum and imply that we are selling software that loses power over stock is ridiculous and shows a poor taste (lack) in judgment.

We have sold hundreds of these upgrades with several members (respected) posting honest reviews.. many of them with dyno charts showing noticeable improvements over stock...

Congrats to Powerchip for joining the E9X m3 community but please try not to use Active Autowerke to promote your product. Hopefully the Powerchip Management will reel you in Mike....

We will have more data from our in-house dyno next week to support this..

Hope everyone has a good weekend

All the best.

[stylinexpat]

This looks interesting

[stylinexpat]

Originally Posted by Alias

So with 100 Octane you will see 400+ to the wheels

400+ to the wheels would be nice

[powertrip]

Hey Omar,

All of these runs were done by Mike @ Autuwave whom I have known for quite some time. This isn't an attack on AA, as I stated in an earlier post I think the AA tune made power on my car when it was stock. However, your tune is a one size fits all deal and it's not optimized for my parts combination. I've got 10k miles behind the wheel of this car and believe me...the Powerchip tune is makin' the power. Please don't make it out to be a "this guy's attacking AA thread." I have run several of your products and put up nice reviews when they are due. With that said, I can't endorse your tune for those us running aftermarket (or no) cats. I wish you all the best .

Originally Posted by Active Autowerke

Mike,

Long time no talk... Good to see you found a home at Powerchip.

I can honestly say I didn't expect anything else from you for a first post a sponsor...

Assuming your data is correct..... were each of these runs documented the best runs for AA,stock, and Powerchip...? Did the dyno operator do each run the same, etc, etc.???

To publicly attack AA (even though indirectly) on a forum and imply that we are selling software that loses power over stock is ridiculous and shows a poor taste (lack) in judgment.

We have sold hundreds of these upgrades with several members (respected) posting honest reviews.. many of them with dyno charts showing noticeable improvements over stock...

Congrats to Powerchip for joining the E9X m3 community but please try not to use Active Autowerke to promote your product. Hopefully the Powerchip Management will reel you in Mike....

We will have more data from our in-house dyno next week to support this..

Hope everyone has a good weekend

All the best.

[mixja]

Originally Posted by powertrip

Hey Omar,

All of these runs were done by Mike @ Autuwave whom I have know for quite some time. This isn't an attack on AA, as I stated in an earlier post I think the AA tune made power on my car when it was stock. However, your tune is a one size fits all deal and it's not optimized for my parts combination. I've got 10k miles behind the wheel of this car and believe me...the Powerchip tune is makin' the power. I wish you all the best .

+1 this isn't an attack on AA - after all, the AA tune was an off the shelf tune that would have been developed for stock exhaust system, whilst the Powerchip tune was a custom tune optimized specifically for your car and your modifications....

What it does highlight for me anyway is that I think once you go down the full exhaust path, you really need a custom tune, regardless of whose tune it is. Unless of course AA bring out a specific tune for their full exhaust systems, but that only works if you are an AA customer for everything...

[powertrip]

Actually I think my car would easily hit 400whp if it would have been 20 degrees cooler and were catless. I'm really pleased with the performance given the conditions and my set-up .

Originally Posted by Alias

So with 100 Octane you will see 400+ to the wheels

[gthirtyfizle]

I think im really close to 400 as well

[05SCM3]

Originally Posted by Active Autowerke

Mike,

Long time no talk... Good to see you found a home at Powerchip.

I can honestly say I didn't expect anything else from you for a first post a sponsor...

Assuming your data is correct..... were each of these runs documented the best runs for AA,stock, and Powerchip...? Did the dyno operator do each run the same, etc, etc.???

To publicly attack AA (even though indirectly) on a forum and imply that we are selling software that loses power over stock is ridiculous and shows a poor taste (lack) in judgment.

We have sold hundreds of these upgrades with several members (respected) posting honest reviews.. many of them with dyno charts showing noticeable improvements over stock...

Congrats to Powerchip for joining the E9X m3 community but please try not to use Active Autowerke to promote your product. Hopefully the Powerchip Management will reel you in Mike....

We will have more data from our in-house dyno next week to support this..

Hope everyone has a good weekend

All the best.

Easy AA, no one is attacking your company or products. Don't be so defensive. The dyno numbers are the dyno numbers - they were not collected and posted to bash AA.

Further, the slights directed at Mike are petty and unnecessary.

[powertrip]

Originally Posted by 05SCM3

Easy AA, no one is attacking your company or products. Don't be so defensive. The dyno numbers are the dyno numbers - they were not collected and posted to bash AA.

Further, the slights directed at Mike are petty and unnecessary.

+1...I asked Mike to run all three maps, so bashing him was completely uncalled for .