Recommend me a BMW tuner
Discussion
Hi all, I am after recommendations for a local tuner who can fit a sports exhaust and remap for my car. Not much in the way of options that I can find.
I have looked at Litchfield but they are far away and expensive, I could purchase a mapping licence via Android from MHD and do it myself for £250. I would rather go to a bespoke tuner though if possible.
Evolve in Luton have been mentioned to me and seem very good. I found a local company called JK Electrics but I am really after a solid company with good reputation. Anywhere else to consider other than Evolve?
Cheers
I have looked at Litchfield but they are far away and expensive, I could purchase a mapping licence via Android from MHD and do it myself for £250. I would rather go to a bespoke tuner though if possible.
Evolve in Luton have been mentioned to me and seem very good. I found a local company called JK Electrics but I am really after a solid company with good reputation. Anywhere else to consider other than Evolve?
Cheers
I looked at Litchfield, they will put on a "generic map" with no before and after RR. Total time would be 90 mins. At £600 and a 4 hour round trip to boot, it is the least value of options I found.
Regal were an option, same price but with RR included and 45 mins away. The reason I chose BW was that it was recommended from a moderator and other members of BabyBMW. Your right, there are some crap maps out there, BW claim to have significant custom in resolving and re mapping cars that have been poorly mapped. This should be a bespoke map written for my engine based on its data, so I am happy with that.
Regal were an option, same price but with RR included and 45 mins away. The reason I chose BW was that it was recommended from a moderator and other members of BabyBMW. Your right, there are some crap maps out there, BW claim to have significant custom in resolving and re mapping cars that have been poorly mapped. This should be a bespoke map written for my engine based on its data, so I am happy with that.
I lucked out, and wouldn't go anywhere else now, BW seem one of the last existing custom tuners who will take time and do a good job.
I gained just under an extra 100bhp over stock from the map alone, nothing else on the car was touched. I even got suspicious about the numbers so booked it in with Charlie at SRR, where it read even higher than BW. The 630NM helps too.
So far driven 4500 miles on it, not a warning light or issue at all. You have to take the place with a pinch of salt though, it is quite messy and to be honest feels quite dodgy. You just have to trust that Jason knows what he is doing, and this has been proven over and over.
I gained just under an extra 100bhp over stock from the map alone, nothing else on the car was touched. I even got suspicious about the numbers so booked it in with Charlie at SRR, where it read even higher than BW. The 630NM helps too.
So far driven 4500 miles on it, not a warning light or issue at all. You have to take the place with a pinch of salt though, it is quite messy and to be honest feels quite dodgy. You just have to trust that Jason knows what he is doing, and this has been proven over and over.
Believe it or not, Jason was in Spain, it was done remotely via his sons. This seems common practice, so if you can get past the non physical presence of having it done remotely by his sons ( family business ) then it's fine. I was there literally all day, the car must have been dynoed around 12 times at least throughout, and I paid less than some do for a flash licence, so I don't believe it to be a gimmick. Why waste money dynoing a car for no reason, plus, I wasn't there for a chunk of it as went off to get food / drink and a walk, but heard it being done as I was walking back 2 hrs later so know they were working on it.
Yes mine is a 240i, 39k on clock at time of work done. Any questions asked were answered, I had done my research prior to booking so I already knew about longevity and wear and tear. These engines are about as highly regarded as they can be, 460bhp is considered the general point at which you should think of changing things, and this would only be fuel pump, Sports Cat and possibly exhaust mods. But - you can run a Stage 2 map on a stock B58 car, they don't NEED a fuel pump or sports cat to achieve this. The gains of changing those are minimal ( 15 - 20 bhp ) so it starts to get into the law of diminishing returns. ( All this from people who have done so on BabyBMW, not the tuner before I get accused of bias by others ).
Stock turbo is good for 500bhp, internals are good for far more. In the USA many B58s have had a turbo upgrade, new fuel pumps and exhaust, and with a bit of Meth are running silly power ( 550 - 700 bhp ). Another company have taken a B58 to 1000bhp by making similar modest changes. All in all, my 430bhp feels comparatively safe. It is also not very noticeable - the pull is smooth and almost linear, this is the hidden gem of a decent map as it should be subtle and useable. Smooth but consistent ascending power delivery is key, and not always obvious from the drivers seat when mapped smoothly with good curves. I initially questioned the reported gains on mine, hence why I went to SRR a few months later.
Of course, never say never, and I am very interested in the effects on the engine. Most in the know recommend keeping air filter standard, not gapping the plugs, and generally keeping the engine as OEM as possible if your running Stage 1 / 2. There will always be the anomaly engine that may have problems, but, I haven't heard of one yet and I know many people who are running heavily modified B58's with little to no issues.
The only thing I choose to do is regular preventative maintenance, such as oil change at least once yearly, and keeping on top of brake fluid, coolant and filters before they are due. I am very sympathetic in the way I run my engine, good warm up and down with not so many traffic light grand prix take offs. The transmission should not have any issues with doing them, but, I want to preserve my own machinery - why cause it the stress unnecessarily? The B58 is far more in its element when pressing on in motion anyway ( 30mph plus ).
I have been recommended to change my spark plugs every tear by Jason. I will prob do this at it's next service in April - although, BMW say they are not due. Where are you based?
Yes mine is a 240i, 39k on clock at time of work done. Any questions asked were answered, I had done my research prior to booking so I already knew about longevity and wear and tear. These engines are about as highly regarded as they can be, 460bhp is considered the general point at which you should think of changing things, and this would only be fuel pump, Sports Cat and possibly exhaust mods. But - you can run a Stage 2 map on a stock B58 car, they don't NEED a fuel pump or sports cat to achieve this. The gains of changing those are minimal ( 15 - 20 bhp ) so it starts to get into the law of diminishing returns. ( All this from people who have done so on BabyBMW, not the tuner before I get accused of bias by others ).
Stock turbo is good for 500bhp, internals are good for far more. In the USA many B58s have had a turbo upgrade, new fuel pumps and exhaust, and with a bit of Meth are running silly power ( 550 - 700 bhp ). Another company have taken a B58 to 1000bhp by making similar modest changes. All in all, my 430bhp feels comparatively safe. It is also not very noticeable - the pull is smooth and almost linear, this is the hidden gem of a decent map as it should be subtle and useable. Smooth but consistent ascending power delivery is key, and not always obvious from the drivers seat when mapped smoothly with good curves. I initially questioned the reported gains on mine, hence why I went to SRR a few months later.
Of course, never say never, and I am very interested in the effects on the engine. Most in the know recommend keeping air filter standard, not gapping the plugs, and generally keeping the engine as OEM as possible if your running Stage 1 / 2. There will always be the anomaly engine that may have problems, but, I haven't heard of one yet and I know many people who are running heavily modified B58's with little to no issues.
The only thing I choose to do is regular preventative maintenance, such as oil change at least once yearly, and keeping on top of brake fluid, coolant and filters before they are due. I am very sympathetic in the way I run my engine, good warm up and down with not so many traffic light grand prix take offs. The transmission should not have any issues with doing them, but, I want to preserve my own machinery - why cause it the stress unnecessarily? The B58 is far more in its element when pressing on in motion anyway ( 30mph plus ).
I have been recommended to change my spark plugs every tear by Jason. I will prob do this at it's next service in April - although, BMW say they are not due. Where are you based?
Edited by Armchair_Expert on Monday 16th November 17:53
No drop in fuel efficiency I have noticed. I do mainly short journeys and always ensure I get the most out of the car when I do drive it, generally my MPG sits between 23 and 27 but I reset it a few weeks when we drove the kids down to Dorset and over 180 miles I saw over 30mpg. It will sit at 36mpg + if your sat at 75/80 the motorway.
This is a car I drive rarely, I commute to London by train and my wifes barge gets taken most other places. This just sits on the drive and covers 5k a year roughly of pure fun miles. Less so in Winter too, at the moment I am doing 200 miles a month which is made up of 2 commutes to London on a Sunday when trains don't run early enough and some shopping trips. This will increase from March when weather improves.
Fuel tanks are small, costs no more than 60 to fill from empty and you will get circa 220 - 320 miles depending on how you drive it.
What you describe above is exactly what I wanted, one stop map and walk away with no issues. Its exactly what I have got, so far. If you hop onto BabyBMW there is plenty of info available there and BW have their own forum so you can ask Jason questions directly...
This is a car I drive rarely, I commute to London by train and my wifes barge gets taken most other places. This just sits on the drive and covers 5k a year roughly of pure fun miles. Less so in Winter too, at the moment I am doing 200 miles a month which is made up of 2 commutes to London on a Sunday when trains don't run early enough and some shopping trips. This will increase from March when weather improves.
Fuel tanks are small, costs no more than 60 to fill from empty and you will get circa 220 - 320 miles depending on how you drive it.
What you describe above is exactly what I wanted, one stop map and walk away with no issues. Its exactly what I have got, so far. If you hop onto BabyBMW there is plenty of info available there and BW have their own forum so you can ask Jason questions directly...
I've just noticed something really creepy, which someone needs to explain.
All references to BW in the initial 5, 6 and 7th posts other than mine have changed to "CPC in Amersham". They used to read BW. And no edit notes beneath, despite the change being made very recently ( as I read this back not too long ago ). Someone has changed them covertly, and the content.
This is wizardry.
All references to BW in the initial 5, 6 and 7th posts other than mine have changed to "CPC in Amersham". They used to read BW. And no edit notes beneath, despite the change being made very recently ( as I read this back not too long ago ). Someone has changed them covertly, and the content.
This is wizardry.
Edited by Armchair_Expert on Thursday 19th November 22:38
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