[DrAnzo2.0]

Any idea what the target boost pressures are for the stage 2 tune?

[18EM2]

Originally Posted by aerobat

Just coming home from 750km on German no-limit autobahn.
Stage 2 really shines here. The power in 5-6-7 is sooo good.
Over 200km/h it is just a new car.

What other mods do you have?

[aerobat]

Originally Posted by 18EM2

What other mods do you have?

Fabspeed DP and CSF IC.
Before Stage 2 it was pretty dead over 230 now I easilly passed 280 on tacho.

[18EM2]

280 KPH? That’s fast.

[aerobat]

Originally Posted by 18EM2

280 KPH? That’s fast.

As said on tacho, not gps. Not sure what deviation there is.

[18EM2]

I gotta a chicken and egg question . Do I buy the tune and submit my base tune file then install the down pipe or the other way around?

[VF-Engineering]

Originally Posted by 18EM2

I gotta a chicken and egg question . Do I buy the tune and submit my base tune file then install the down pipe or the other way around?

That's entirely up to you.

The benefit of OBDII Port Flashing is that you can have
your various Stage Level performance files saved to your
computer for use when deemed appropriate.



Keep in mind that some software levels are not legal for
on-road use in some localities/regions which is why port
flashing with map switching capability is soo important.

[VF-Engineering]

As a side note ...

Who's excited about Bimmerfest this year?

...and what sorts of BF Show Specials would you guys like to see?

[untzklee]

Nezil,

Did you get this answered by any chance? I'm curious myself.

Originally Posted by Nezil

I've had my M2 for a few months and a few thousand miles now, and am now considering a tune, mostly for street but maybe track at some point.

I had some questions that I did email VF about, but got no response so I'm posting here instead in the hope that VF-Engineering might see the notification and get back to me on here:

1. I recently read a few posts back that the Auto Start Stop feature becomes disabled by the Hex tune. I'm interested in having the car behave similar to stock, but obviously with greater performance. Is this information correct, and is there any way it can not be disabled, even if I opt out of the GTS Startup Roar feature?
2. What is your recommendation before taking the car to a dealership for service. My understanding is that it's possible to load the factory tune back to the DME, but I've also read that there is a limit to the number of times the DME can be flashed before it fails. I usually remove all coding changes before going to the dealer, and reset all errors. This might be a waste of time to be honest, it doesn't take long.
3. I read on the forum thread that you created a flash that did not include the GTS style overrun. I'm not sure at this point if I'll like that feature or not, and if there are other features that might be 'optional' like this. Is it possible to get additional flash files for the different options so that I can make the decision?
4. I found another thread that talked about carbon deposits stuck to the rear of the car. Not just the tail pipes, but the trunk lid. There was some discussion about if the GTS style overrun was causing this, due to additional fuel being un-burnt and creating additional soot. Is there any truth to this idea?
5. What happens to the stock Comfort / Sport / Sport+ / Traction / DSC Off modes with your Hex Tune? Are the characteristics retained pretty much as they were before?
6. What happens to the 'overboost' feature of the N55 engine with your Hex Tune? I assume it is lost because that overboost is effectively being made available all of the time.
7. Is it confirmed that there is an issue with the Power and Torque screen? My kids love watching that when they're in the car, and I'd rather that not be negatively affected by this tune. I'm fine with the scale increasing, but not if stage 1 only gets half way round the gauge now. Is the scale the same for Stage 1 and 2?

[pruettfan]

I have had stage 1 programed for about 3-4,000 miles and 6 track days so I should chime in and provide some information. The car retains all of the regular factory features in all modes so start stop, throttle response etc. In comfort mode there is more power and you can feel the torque but it is very comfortable just a little more umph. I drive mostly in sport which is perfect for me, a little more overrun but nothing crazy. In sport plus (MDM) the car really gets aggressive both in power/torque, exhaust burbbles etc. I tracked for 2 days with a buddy who has a bone stock M2 (on the same tires and brake pads) on the straights I had a slight but noticeable advantage, he has far more track experience so our track times day one were in his favor, that flipped on day two when the track was ran in opposite directions and given our experience differences I would say overall track performance over stock in inconclusive. BTW the temps were in the high 90's and the car did well. When we quickly reviewed data it appeared most of the time i had a 1 mph advantage on the straight (top speed not average). Yes you get carbon deposits all over the place, not a big deal and frankly not something that alarms me. After the first 2 track days I decided to do an oil analysis as my car is at 30,000 miles and it came back perfect as expected. I can tell you that those watching us go around commented that my car sounded distinctly different than his, not better or worse just more raspy apparently. I will do the down pipe and intercooler as well as stage 2 this summer to prep for our awesome winter season here. Planning on 12-14 track days a year BTW.
Hope this helps

[Nezil]

Originally Posted by untzklee

Nezil,

Did you get this answered by any chance? I'm curious myself.

No, I didn't, which to be honest did disappoint me quite a bit; I'd heard that VF Engineering's customer support was good, but it was non existent in my experience. I sent emails to VF Engineering directly, as well as in this thread, and PM'd some forum users who were VF customers as well but got no responses.

proTUNING Freaks responded to a similar set of questions within 24 hours, though they've been slightly less quick at responding to follow up questions. Other BM3 users reponded to PMs very quickly though, so I went that route.

I'm sure that VF's solution is good, but the thing that killed it for me was the fact that I got no response from ANYONE on if Start / Stop was disabled with the Hex tunes. BM3 also doesn't prevent Start / Stop from working, and so far at least, hasn't given me any carbon deposits... I might check again though, it's probably too early to say for sure on that one.

[pruettfan]

Originally Posted by Nezil

No, I didn't, which to be honest did disappoint me quite a bit; I'd heard that VF Engineering's customer support was good, but it was non existent in my experience. I sent emails to VF Engineering directly, as well as in this thread, and PM'd some forum users who were VF customers as well but got no responses.

proTUNING Freaks responded to a similar set of questions within 24 hours, though they've been slightly less quick at responding to follow up questions. Other BM3 users reponded to PMs very quickly though, so I went that route.

I'm sure that VF's solution is good, but the thing that killed it for me was the fact that I got no response from ANYONE on if Start / Stop was disabled with the Hex tunes. BM3 also doesn't prevent Start / Stop from working, and so far at least, hasn't given me any carbon deposits... I might check again though, it's probably too early to say for sure on that one.

I had very good support with VF, even a followup email to make sure all was well and I got the support I needed from the boss. What I was told though was that the number of tunes they have sold has exceeded their expectations and they were scrambling a bit to bring in more staff. I suspect that is where some have had problems. In my case they were very patient and even logged into my laptop and walked me through the process because I am not a windows guy and some of the steps and finding the files was confusing (guess that means i'm officially old). Overall VF has a solid reputation, any of these products requires a bit of a leap of faith so I went with where I was most comfortable. Had I not received responses to my questions I would have felt very differently.

[Nezil]

Originally Posted by pruettfan

I had very good support with VF, even a followup email to make sure all was well and I got the support I needed from the boss. What I was told though was that the number of tunes they have sold has exceeded their expectations and they were scrambling a bit to bring in more staff. I suspect that is where some have had problems. In my case they were very patient and even logged into my laptop and walked me through the process because I am not a windows guy and some of the steps and finding the files was confusing (guess that means i'm officially old). Overall VF has a solid reputation, any of these products requires a bit of a leap of faith so I went with where I was most comfortable. Had I not received responses to my questions I would have felt very differently.

Yeah, I don't hold a grudge against VF, I'm sure they were busy, and to be honest, I'd love to try a Hex tune with my car, and maybe some day I will.

One of the things I have appreciated with the BM3 platform, is the log gathering system. I'm currently not 100% happy with the OTS tunes in the BM3 platform, because my car is pulling timing under hard load, but whilst I'm not happy with that situation, it does give me the knowledge that that is happening, and the opportunity to investigate doing something about it. It's kind of something that i didn't know that I wanted until I had it, but worth mentioning.

[Dav3]

Anyone done this tune on a manual M2?

I can see how it drastically improves an Automatic but have never tuned a manual yet and was wondering what are the big differences?

[VF-Engineering]

Our apologies for not replying to your post sooner.


As you know, we're quite active here on the forum,
so I'm actually quite surprised that we missed this.

In regards to e-mails; when people say they didn't
receive a reply in a timely manner, we typically find
that they missed the "-" (dash) in @vf-engineering.

[gtaM2]

Originally Posted by Nezil

Yeah, I don't hold a grudge against VF, I'm sure they were busy, and to be honest, I'd love to try a Hex tune with my car, and maybe some day I will.

One of the things I have appreciated with the BM3 platform, is the log gathering system. I'm currently not 100% happy with the OTS tunes in the BM3 platform, because my car is pulling timing under hard load, but whilst I'm not happy with that situation, it does give me the knowledge that that is happening, and the opportunity to investigate doing something about it. It's kind of something that i didn't know that I wanted until I had it, but worth mentioning.

i will be going with HEX pretty soon, from what ive seen and read between the lines i believe their tune is the most reliable for a daily driver and for someone like me who would prefer not to always monitor the vehicle all the time

[TT1351]

Originally Posted by lopm2

Anyone done this tune on a manual M2?

I can see how it drastically improves an Automatic but have never tuned a manual yet and was wondering what are the big differences?

I do, on 6 speed 2017 Performance Edition, Fabspeed 200 cel DP, AA Intercooler and charge pipe, Hex Stage 2, to sum it up in a word, the difference is, wait for it... POWER!

[untzklee]

Originally Posted by gtaM2

i will be going with HEX pretty soon, from what ive seen and read between the lines i believe their tune is the most reliable for a daily driver and for someone like me who would prefer not to always monitor the vehicle all the time

Me too I can't wait to get my hands on them soon.

[jessetaylor1]

Just did my Wagner catless downpipe on the M which already had Hex stage 1 on it and all I can say is holy crack and pops! This thing sounds insane.

What should I expect when going to stage 2? Big difference? And how recommended is an intercooler as this car is my DD with little-no track use?

[Gimmethecash]

Originally Posted by lopm2

Anyone done this tune on a manual M2?

I can see how it drastically improves an Automatic but have never tuned a manual yet and was wondering what are the big differences?

2017 with manual trans, Fabspeed 200 cell cat, Wagner IC and stage 2. Runs as smooth as stock, but more power. I get about 5-6 quick squeaks in sport mode when I grab 2nd & the rear tires bust loose.

[arwin]

Originally Posted by jessetaylor1

Just did my Wagner catless downpipe on the M which already had Hex stage 1 on it and all I can say is holy crack and pops! This thing sounds insane.

What should I expect when going to stage 2? Big difference? And how recommended is an intercooler as this car is my DD with little-no track use?

honestly, I went from stock to stage 1 and then to stage 2 after I installed my downpipe. I felt the biggest difference in from going stock to stage 1.

I'm sure stage 2 is probably faster but the difference between stock and stage 1 felt like a bigger difference from stage 1 and stage 2

[emargul]

Originally Posted by arwin

honestly, I went from stock to stage 1 and then to stage 2 after I installed my downpipe. I felt the biggest difference in from going stock to stage 1.

I'm sure stage 2 is probably faster but the difference between stock and stage 1 felt like a bigger difference from stage 1 and stage 2

I second this. The biggest jump to me was from stock to stage 1.