Advanced derv piggyback's - any of them any good?
Discussion
Just acquired an E90 335d and thinking ahead about getting a little more out of it. It's currently under BMW's used approved warranty and I'd like to keep it that way, so remap is out of the question I guess. Been doing a little research and it seems there are boxes around which do a lot more than just feck with fuel rail pressure. The likes of Hartge, AC and also Steinbauer offer plug and play boxes which are more advanced, but a) are they any good and b) are there any others which are recommended / proven? Would normally steer clear of anything besides a remap but I'm open to suggestions
Swampy1982 said:
A video about a aud$20 eBay chip from Ukraine on a Honda s2000 isn't relevant to the question.Doodlebug87 said:
Just acquired an E90 335d and thinking ahead about getting a little more out of it. It's currently under BMW's used approved warranty and I'd like to keep it that way, so remap is out of the question I guess. Been doing a little research and it seems there are boxes around which do a lot more than just feck with fuel rail pressure. The likes of Hartge, AC and also Steinbauer offer plug and play boxes which are more advanced, but a) are they any good and b) are there any others which are recommended / proven? Would normally steer clear of anything besides a remap but I'm open to suggestions
The ones from the likes of DTUK do what it was says on the tin and work but they're pretty simple devices in that they generally just up your fuel and turbo pressure and that's it. I'm not a fan of them personally and consider them to be a poor man's remap but users of them seem to sing their praises and I've not read of any engine catastrophies so they seem to work. As the prices of them are about in line with what a custom remap would cost you, the only advantage of them is that you can remove them and flog them on Ebay when you sell the car.Haha, as mentioned I'm not referring to a resistor in a box.... I'm not even sure why you'd put one of these on an NA car anyway, especially with an engine which is very fussy about it's air fuel ratio!
I have been put off by DTUK despite not reading any horror stories - I had a chat with one of them and when I asked what the implications on the fuel rail and turbo pressure actually were, they told me that they didn't know. Turbo engines are generally always built with a good level of tolerance/safety in mind, as opposed to highly strung NA engines, so there are are gains to be had - that said, when a company can't tell you what the actual change in pressure will be, not even as a percentage over the range, then I'm sorry but no thanks!
The Steinbauer, AC Schnitzer, Hartge etc (I believe all made/supplied by Steinbauer) all take a different approach from what I can see. They link in to the injectors and instead of upping fuel rail pressure, they lengthen the time which the injectors are open for in accordance with engine load. To be honest, even the boxes which change the rail pressure wouldn't be too bad if they followed a similar approach ie. monitor the RPM and load, up the pressure within a certain, safe, tolerance and tail it off where it would become unsafe. My main question is, are there any others out there which can do this?
The JBD for the 335d is highly rated in America and used by many people, but again it is just a box which ups the rail pressure and nothing else. Again, no horror stories at all (and I have been digging!), but I just think I'd be worried if I had one plugged into my new P&J.....
I have been put off by DTUK despite not reading any horror stories - I had a chat with one of them and when I asked what the implications on the fuel rail and turbo pressure actually were, they told me that they didn't know. Turbo engines are generally always built with a good level of tolerance/safety in mind, as opposed to highly strung NA engines, so there are are gains to be had - that said, when a company can't tell you what the actual change in pressure will be, not even as a percentage over the range, then I'm sorry but no thanks!
The Steinbauer, AC Schnitzer, Hartge etc (I believe all made/supplied by Steinbauer) all take a different approach from what I can see. They link in to the injectors and instead of upping fuel rail pressure, they lengthen the time which the injectors are open for in accordance with engine load. To be honest, even the boxes which change the rail pressure wouldn't be too bad if they followed a similar approach ie. monitor the RPM and load, up the pressure within a certain, safe, tolerance and tail it off where it would become unsafe. My main question is, are there any others out there which can do this?
The JBD for the 335d is highly rated in America and used by many people, but again it is just a box which ups the rail pressure and nothing else. Again, no horror stories at all (and I have been digging!), but I just think I'd be worried if I had one plugged into my new P&J.....
Sadly not for the 335d, they offer a performance pack for the 330d which brings it up to roughly the same level as it's bi-turbo cousin but nothing for the 335d. I'm assuming this is mainly to avoid it treading on their line of M cars (I'm not claiming the 335d would bend space and time but with a remap they do well against most cars in a straight line!)... Would obviously much rather go down this route... ACS offer a full warranty which is meant to cover whatever BMW don't, but then it costs a couple of grand for the privilege!
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