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Car Forum / BMW Cars / June 2006Performance Chips
I have been looking at performance chips promising more horsepower and better fuel economy. Prices range from $4 to over $400. Many are no-name items sold on e-bay and some are well know names like Conforti and Dinan. Does anyone have any first hand experience with these chips. Do they actually work? If so, which is best? I put a bavauto chip in mine -- It does feel different driving it. Not faster, really; but like the car is "lighter" (735i) definately peppy-er now... According to them it remaps the entire throttle -- as I understand it; dinan maps WOT (80% - 100%) but don't quote me on that at all! For kicks I bought a $25 chip off ebay -- put it on. put the original chip in - put the 25 back on -- but my bavauto on. the 25 chip did feel different that stock, but not as much as the bav auto. I'd guess the 25 chip guys bought (or borrowed) a real chip, used an eprom burner they had work and burned a bunch of copies; stuck their own label on it & figured they'd make a few bucks. (don't quote me) The one I bought had outragous claims that just couldn't be true "40 hp gain" and also claimed they developed the fuel mapping themselves. but it did do something. I gave the chip to a friend, who put it in; took it out & tossed it. he wasn't willing to risk damage to his baby with a no-name chip -- I would stick with brand / respected names. >I have been looking at performance chips promising more horsepower and >better fuel economy. Prices range from $4 to over $400. Many are no-name >items sold on e-bay and some are well know names like Conforti and Dinan. >Does anyone have any first hand experience with these chips. Do they >actually work? If so, which is best? --- AntiSpam/harvest --- Remove X's to send email to me. >I have been looking at performance chips promising more horsepower and >better fuel economy. Prices range from $4 to over $400. Many are no-name >items sold on e-bay and some are well know names like Conforti and Dinan. >Does anyone have any first hand experience with these chips. Do they >actually work? If so, which is best? You may get a slight horsepower increase in the newer cars or a significant increase on the earlier cars. Rev limiter is usually bumped a couple 100 RPM. The top speed limiter is disabled. With the electronic throttle cars, the throttle response is quickened. I don't think you'll see a fuel economy improvement. R / John >> I have been looking at performance chips promising more horsepower and >> better fuel economy. Prices range from $4 to over $400. Many are no-name [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > the throttle response is quickened. I don't think you'll see a fuel economy > improvement. I recently red that over time, the OBD2 system eventually overrides the custom programming to get the car back to the design parameters. I believe this happened with my wife's VW turbo. After about a year we could hardly tell the difference between chip mode and stock. Anyone else heard of this? > John Carrier wrote: >> You may get a slight horsepower increase in the newer cars or a [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > could hardly tell the difference between chip mode and stock. > Anyone else heard of this? As a programmer, that's bullshit. The chip has the fuel/ignition map that is used to run the engine, which can't be changed by OBD2, nor would OBD2 know what the "design params" are in the first place. FloydR >>>You may get a slight horsepower increase in the newer cars or a >>>significant increase on the earlier cars. Rev limiter is usually bumped [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > that is used to run the engine, which can't be changed by OBD2, nor > would OBD2 know what the "design params" are in the first place. Yeah, I'd bet mnoney that what got reprogrammed over that year's time was Rex's remembery of what it used to feel like...  Signature-Fred W >>>> You may get a slight horsepower increase in the newer cars or a >>>> significant increase on the earlier cars. Rev limiter is usually [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > Yeah, I'd bet mnoney that what got reprogrammed over that year's time > was Rex's remembery of what it used to feel like... That could well be. I attributed it to degradation of performance due to the accumulating miles. But some of those chip upgrades are piggy-backed onto the stock chip, or attached via the diag connector, so it's conceivable that could be happening with some designs. On the VW the CPU chip was unsoldered and replaced, so that should kill any chance of it there. >>>>> You may get a slight horsepower increase in the newer cars or a >>>>> significant increase on the earlier cars. Rev limiter is usually [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > That could well be. I attributed it to degradation of performance due > to the accumulating miles. On re-reading that, I could be describing the car or the writer. Works either way :) > As a programmer, that's bullshit. The chip has the fuel/ignition map > that is used to run the engine, which can't be changed by OBD2, nor > would OBD2 know what the "design params" are in the first place. I think the fuel map is used under normal operating conditions, but it could be overridden by emissions code based on what the O2 sensor, for example, is saying. That map is ignored, for example, in WOT conditions. In any case, it's not an unreasonable theory to think that something in the engine management code could override the fuel map. >> As a programmer, that's bullshit. The chip has the fuel/ignition map >> that is used to run the engine, which can't be changed by OBD2, nor [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >conditions. In any case, it's not an unreasonable theory to think that >something in the engine management code could override the fuel map. Indeed, the rom-based maps are never ignored, as invoking such behavior would overly complicate the entire engine management system. The values that the maps cough up at any given moment are based on primary inputs such as throttle position sensor, MAF, etc. Those values are then further adjusted based on other real-time inputs such as you mentioned (o2 sensors, knock sensors, torque sensors, etc). "Performance chips" modify the base maps and rely on the ECU operating code to account for the real-time environment... Cheers > I have been looking at performance chips promising more horsepower and > better fuel economy. Prices range from $4 to over $400. Many are no-name > items sold on e-bay and some are well know names like Conforti and Dinan. > Does anyone have any first hand experience with these chips. Do they > actually work? If so, which is best? You might want to tell us what model/year car you have. The EATS chip is best for E34 models. The Conforti is equal to the EATS in the rest. The Dinan has mixed reports from users. I have the Conforti in my car, and I have gained 2 mpg and it changes the whole ride. I don't have to "push" the pedal to make it go. I have an 1994 530i in mint condition and the chip removes the speed limiter, lets you rev to 7000 RPM, and gives better gas mileage. Of course you have to use 91 or above octane forever, but I do that anyway. Here are the links for the chips: http://www.bimmer.info/eatchips/ http://www.turnermotorsport.com/html/show_category.asp?txtsearchParamCat=Engine% 20Chips Oh, and by the way, I have a V8 and the thing came with a rough idle. Now I don't hear sqwat. It's tuned properly now. Doesn't vibrate or make noise and for that alone I'd get this chip. People report slightly better performance and acceleration with the EATS chip even though it's $50.00 less. But that may not be an option, if you have a brand new car. The turner shark injector software(conforti) or the chip are what I would consider installing. It's very easy and will change the entire ride of the vehicle. Best of luck. ER It's a low mileage 1998 Z3 2.8 I'm not familiar with the EATS, but I will check it out. I've been hearing a few things lately that the Conforti tops the Dinan in the HP category, but of course Dinan is recognized by BMW (if that worth anything) ETW >> I have been looking at performance chips promising more horsepower and >> better fuel economy. Prices range from $4 to over $400. Many are no-name [quoted text clipped - 29 lines] > > ER > It's a low mileage 1998 Z3 2.8 I'm not familiar with the EATS, but I will > check it out. I've been hearing a few things lately that the Conforti tops > the Dinan in the HP category, but of course Dinan is recognized by BMW (if > that worth anything) > ETW Be careful about the HP "spec" wars. In just about every case, the only gain in horsepower is in an area of operation that you will use the least: maximum rpm. Unless you are racing the car on the track and wind it up to redline on a regular basis, the benefit you will get from chips, intake, exhaust, etc. will be minimal. What you really want is an increase in torque and power at lower/mid rpms where you can actually use it. There are 3 general solutions to that quest: 1) larger displacement engine. Drop in an M3 engine? 2) forced induction. Turbo/super-chargers increase the effective displacement by cramming more fuel/air into the limited space of the combustion chamber and increase the available energy. 3) The cheapest of all... lower gearing. You will accelerate faster but have a lower top-end. Do you want to go fast (high top speed) or quick? Signature-Fred W |
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