Dinantronics M3/M4 Performance Tuner Review

[Cloud9blue]

Btw, as someone pointed out earlier. That's not a good way to strap down a car for dyno. The straps should go around the barrel of the wheels, so the load is parallel to the rolling direction of the wheels. The way your shop did it around the spoke create a lot stress on the steering tie rods (which was essentially pulling steering rack at the oppposite direction)...

[jskrilla]

Quality post. Just kinda disapointed that it only went up 13 hp. I would of hoped this would be more for the price you pay. I know weather factors in also but by that much?

[atg4]

Originally Posted by Money2536

http://dinancars.com/warranty/

"CARS NO LONGER COVERED BY THE ORIGINAL VEHICLE MANUFACTURER’S NEW CAR LIMITED WARRANTY
Dinan® Performance Products are warranted for a 2-year, unlimited mileage period from the date of original purchase. Dinan’s warranties are transferable when ownership of the vehicle into which the Dinan products were originally installed is sold.
To obtain service under this warranty, the vehicle or Dinan® product must be brought, upon discovery of a malfunction or defect in materials and/or workmanship, to any Authorized Dinan Dealer during normal business hours. In the event of a warranty claim, Dinan will repair or replace, at its sole discretion, any defective Dinan component upon receipt of the item and proof of the original purchase in the form of a lawful invoice. This warranty does not include reimbursement for repairs to any original vehicle manufacturer’s component(s) that may have been affected by a Dinan component. Labor charges associated with the repair or replacement of a Dinan product will be reimbursed at the Authorized Dinan Dealer’s standard hourly rate, based upon the original vehicle manufacturer’s and/or Dinan’s schedule of flat rate labor times. The defective component must be returned to Dinan for verification of the defect before any warranty adjustment will be made. A reasonable period of time must be allowed for warranty replacement, shipping and/or repairs to be completed after the vehicle or product is received by an Authorized Dinan Dealer or Dinan’s facility."


AKA a voided warranty. Who cares about the Dinan warranty?

[MrFukengruven]

Originally Posted by drlukas

Dinan promised a 42 hp gain over stock, the figure an unbelievable 516 hp!!! Sorry but it seems Dinan is jocking with customers money. Or I'm wrong?

If they promised a 42bhp gain, he'd be at 467bhp... not 516bhp. Although Im sure stock whp-wise, its more around 460bhp than the "425bhp" BMW advertises.

[dmk08]

Originally Posted by MrFukengruven

If they promised a 42bhp gain, he'd be at 467bhp... not 516bhp. Although Im sure stock whp-wise, its more around 460bhp than the "425bhp" BMW advertises.

They say 'Rated HP' is 425, 'Stock HP' is 474, and 'Dinan tuned' is 516. These are rated at 6000 RPM as that's where they saw max gains. Check out the dyno in their thread or on their site.

[FogCityM3]

Dinan works closely with BMW on all warranty issues. The few warranty claims made when there were Dinan products installed (I think there are literally a couple out there and that's it) were either resolved entirely by Dinan or a combination by BMW and Dinan to the benefit of vehicle owner. This is a tested warranty and few vendors would be able to offer this and I don't know of any vendor that contacts BMW and seeks a sharing of responsibility with them. So people should care very much about prior tests and resolutions of the warranty and make informed decisions based on that information, rather than uninformed statements.

QUOTE=alexandertg21;16745734]"CARS NO LONGER COVERED BY THE ORIGINAL VEHICLE MANUFACTURER’S NEW CAR LIMITED WARRANTY
Dinan® Performance Products are warranted for a 2-year, unlimited mileage period from the date of original purchase. Dinan’s warranties are transferable when ownership of the vehicle into which the Dinan products were originally installed is sold.
To obtain service under this warranty, the vehicle or Dinan® product must be brought, upon discovery of a malfunction or defect in materials and/or workmanship, to any Authorized Dinan Dealer during normal business hours. In the event of a warranty claim, Dinan will repair or replace, at its sole discretion, any defective Dinan component upon receipt of the item and proof of the original purchase in the form of a lawful invoice. This warranty does not include reimbursement for repairs to any original vehicle manufacturer’s component(s) that may have been affected by a Dinan component. Labor charges associated with the repair or replacement of a Dinan product will be reimbursed at the Authorized Dinan Dealer’s standard hourly rate, based upon the original vehicle manufacturer’s and/or Dinan’s schedule of flat rate labor times. The defective component must be returned to Dinan for verification of the defect before any warranty adjustment will be made. A reasonable period of time must be allowed for warranty replacement, shipping and/or repairs to be completed after the vehicle or product is received by an Authorized Dinan Dealer or Dinan’s facility."


AKA a voided warranty. Who cares about the Dinan warranty? [/QUOTE]

[ska///235i]

Originally Posted by BuraQ

Overall best results comparison

Stock - 430 whp and 405 wtq
Dinan - 443 whp and 454 wtq


13 whp gains
50 wtq gains

Cost $2500

Key point the op is satisfied with the results, for now , and yes Dinan does have good quality mods. Im not a fan of their tuning engineering when it comes to "customer end user" purpose. I know they could probably get 100 whp out of the S55 if they wanted but unfortunately thats not how Steve Dinan rolls

However, Dinan with their flash tuning had done much better with power on previous BMW turbo charges cars. Their stage one for just the N54 and M5 and M6 produced more whp than just 13. They are known to be torque whores, they love tuning for torque on their cars.

So they shine with that torque but not the whp, which needs some serious improvement and I hope they update it.

Anyhow, enjoy your new tune, dont go beating up on the younsters too much

Thats disappointing imo

[DocWeatherington]

Originally Posted by Money2536

I'm going to take to an airstrip event in January, so maybe we will be able to get the car up against a stock one or see just how bad I get beaten by a JB4 car. I may be looking for volunteers to drive the GT3 to see which car is faster.

I SWALLOW, for a GT3... I might even let you find deep deep dark places.

What can I say I am a male car whore

[DocWeatherington]

Originally Posted by Money2536

Dinan stated there would be no adaptation time. That's why I drove 90 miles from Tampa right to my local shop. Remember Dinan is in CA with much different weather conditions. In one of the photos the humdity shows 68%, but I did the runs at 80+ percent humidity and almost 90 degrees. Even in these conditions I saw over 50 whp and 75 wtq improvements in the mid-range. Let's say we use a 12% correction factor for drivetrain losses that would yield about 57 chp and 85 ctq. According to my calculations, that is more than advertised.

Again, why does everyone get so hung up on peak hp gains? The gains I'm showing in very harse weather conditions seem very consistent with Dinan's claims. This is not a shop car that I am interested in pushing to the limits of what's possible. I'm taking my family to church and driving to my office.

By the way, thanks for all of the comments and interest. I hope I've helped others make a decision for or against.

Matt

What about the GT3?

[Cloud9blue]

Originally Posted by Money2536

I'm going to take to an airstrip event in January, so maybe we will be able to get the car up against a stock one or see just how bad I get beaten by a JB4 car. I may be looking for volunteers to drive the GT3 to see which car is faster.

That's what I am talking about

GT3 (991 and 997.5) should be able to kill the F80 on pretty much any kind of race though whether it is 1/4 mile or road course. The only thing that F80 might have an edge is a 80-120 time, given its torque.

[Money2536]

Originally Posted by alexandertg21

"CARS NO LONGER COVERED BY THE ORIGINAL VEHICLE MANUFACTURER’S NEW CAR LIMITED WARRANTY
Dinan® Performance Products are warranted for a 2-year, unlimited mileage period from the date of original purchase. Dinan’s warranties are transferable when ownership of the vehicle into which the Dinan products were originally installed is sold.
To obtain service under this warranty, the vehicle or Dinan® product must be brought, upon discovery of a malfunction or defect in materials and/or workmanship, to any Authorized Dinan Dealer during normal business hours. In the event of a warranty claim, Dinan will repair or replace, at its sole discretion, any defective Dinan component upon receipt of the item and proof of the original purchase in the form of a lawful invoice. This warranty does not include reimbursement for repairs to any original vehicle manufacturer’s component(s) that may have been affected by a Dinan component. Labor charges associated with the repair or replacement of a Dinan product will be reimbursed at the Authorized Dinan Dealer’s standard hourly rate, based upon the original vehicle manufacturer’s and/or Dinan’s schedule of flat rate labor times. The defective component must be returned to Dinan for verification of the defect before any warranty adjustment will be made. A reasonable period of time must be allowed for warranty replacement, shipping and/or repairs to be completed after the vehicle or product is received by an Authorized Dinan Dealer or Dinan’s facility."


AKA a voided warranty. Who cares about the Dinan warranty?

I'm guessing you didn't actually read what you are quoting.

[Money2536]

Originally Posted by DocWeatherington

What about the GT3?

I'm getting close! I'm trying to get raped a little less on my C2S. I have two new allocations as options and one new, clean, untitled 2014 that is 95% of what I want. So I'm trying to decided do I want it now or do I want the exact build. Decisions, decisions. Either way, I'm getting smoked on my C2S.

[DocWeatherington]

Originally Posted by Money2536

I'm getting close! I'm trying to get raped a little less on my C2S. I have two new allocations as options and one new, clean, untitled 2014 that is 95% of what I want. So I'm trying to decided do I want it now or do I want the exact build. Decisions, decisions. Either way, I'm getting smoked on my C2S.

Get it the exact way you want it, how often do you buy a GT3? Unless the 14 is at a decent discount. What color?

[F80JMcD]

Originally Posted by Money2536

I'm getting close! I'm trying to get raped a little less on my C2S. I have two new allocations as options and one new, clean, untitled 2014 that is 95% of what I want. So I'm trying to decided do I want it now or do I want the exact build. Decisions, decisions. Either way, I'm getting smoked on my C2S.

Or you could buy something that's actually going to be worth a lot more $ in 20 years...

[PBR ME]

Buy a 997.2 RS....Mine is 3-1/2 years old, and worth what I paid for it. It also has a proper Trans. It truly is the closest thing to a race car for the street. The 991 GT3 is the first of this variant, won't hold its value, has a bad stigma due to the motor recall, and is NUMB by comparison to the 997.2. Is it as fast, no, but its so much more fun!!!

And for Thread content...I will be installing the Dinantronics tuner next week after my break in service. given the choice of who to trust on this subject, I could put every one of the posters in this thread, and Steve Dinan in a row, and despite his mom jeans and white reeboks, Id choose him every time. I know him, have had him build me race engines for more than a year of pro racing (thats louts of engines), and he knows his shit. <-----PERIOD

[Dinan_Engineering]

Originally Posted by PBR ME

Buy a 997.2 RS....Mine is 3-1/2 years old, and worth what I paid for it. It also has a proper Trans. It truly is the closest thing to a race car for the street. The 991 GT3 is the first of this variant, won't hold its value, has a bad stigma due to the motor recall, and is NUMB by comparison to the 997.2. Is it as fast, no, but its so much more fun!!!

And for Thread content...I will be installing the Dinantronics tuner next week after my break in service. given the choice of who to trust on this subject, I could put every one of the posters in this thread, and Steve Dinan in a row, and despite his mom jeans and white reeboks, Id choose him every time. I know him, have had him build me race engines for more than a year of pro racing (thats louts of engines), and he knows his shit. <-----PERIOD

Thanks for the kind words. A conversation has been developing on the M5 thread that Steve felt the need to respond to and explain some things about the DINANTRONICS Performance Tuner (goes with the knowing his s*** aspect of your post).

You can read the entire thread if you want but the synopsis is that a user posted his review of the DINANTRONICS performance tuner and Steve Dinan took notice and felt the need to explain why the reviewer noticed the changes he did. Link to the last page of the thread below.

http://f10.m5post.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16791691&postcount=155

The straight to the point meat however you can read below...

I was fully expecting the BMS set at 3.5 on 93 octane to be as fast or faster than the stage 1 Dinan . I have fully defended the BMS on several occasions on the forum and it was effective at mKing my car faster . I decided to switch because of throttle modulation issues I noticed on track and the strip with the BMS and a limp mode issue on track from high EGT . It was apparent from when I looked at the harness for the Dinan and BMS the difference between the products technically are far more than I thought . The Dinan ECU has factory looms that tie directly into each banks ECU . It does far more than fool the TMAP sensor like the BMS and looks it , really quality parts . I expected quality equipment what I didn't expect was the Dinan stage 1 IS FASTER significantly than the BMS set to 3.5 on 93 octane . The BMS makes more tq down around 3 k but that came with slight delay then tq surge especially when trying to modulate the throttle or coming off boost, it also would cause a delay in mid rpm shifts in 1st and 2nd gear . The Dinan has stock throttle response , the DCT shifts instantly again in ANY situation and the car pulls significantly harder than the BMS above 5k RPM . It's enough where it is very obvious that the car is faster( > 30 hp at 6k ) .I am fully pleased with it so far and its worth it to me just for the increased drivability and safety alone . (10/10 DCT function and throttle modulation for the Dinan, really worlds different between the two ) When the weather cools off again to a neutral DA I will do full testing in my level location as numbers will be the definitive word .

Steve Dinan took notice of your post and wanted to address it directly. He thought a more thorough explanation of what you were experiencing was in order. His response is below.

"Thank you for noticing the smother operation of the Dinan ECU when compared to the competition. I thought a technical explanation of why it is so smooth might be of interest. Just to clarify the reason why you are experiencing better throttle response in general and ultimately what feels to be “more” power is based on the complexity and better control of engine tuning parameters of the DINANTRONICS system as a whole.

The DINANTRONICS Performance Tuner is MUCH more than just intercepting signals as some seem to think. There are more correction factors and calculations going on in the background of our box than anything else we have seen on the market thus far. We compensate for every necessary variable so the factory ECU is not fighting itself trying to correct mismatched variables and ultimately robbing you of power.

When Dinan is done tuning on the dyno we then go out on the road and do extensive tuning to improve performance. The road environment is different! You have better cooling on the engine, intercooler as well as more ram air. This results in better cylinder filling (more pressure in the cylinder) and requires slightly less boost to avoid excessive detonation. When you are done tuning on the road the car accelerates faster but will show a lower number on the dyno. We believe we are selling acceleration not dyno numbers.

Our numbers on a dyno may not be the max numbers out there but there is a reason. If we were to add that extra boost that other companies run, the engine will be into the knock control system so much that you can feel the correction it is making. In addition the other units on the market do not do fuel correction they rely on the O2 sensor and knock control system to drag the mixture to the correct level. The problem with this is when you change gears it takes some time for the factory ECU to determine what this correction is; resulting in a flat spot until it figures it out. This is what you were feeling. The Dinan ECU has advanced fuel control features that add fuel to the engine so we are not relying on the factory ECU to compensate for the lack of fuel. We also have a feature that adds fuel only during gear changes to quench detonation that occurs from the spike in load as a result of the gear change. The better fuel control provides dramatically better drivability. This higher level of tuning for the road and lack of pauses on gear changes make the Dinan car faster even if you measure a lower number on the dyno. Even if more boost is a little faster what good is it if the car has bad drivability."

[RingMeister01]

Interesting

[irablumberg]

Any 1/4 mile data for cars with the Dinan Tuner?

[Roadkiller]

Originally Posted by Dinan_Engineering

Thanks for the kind words. A conversation has been developing on the M5 thread that Steve felt the need to respond to and explain some things about the DINANTRONICS Performance Tuner (goes with the knowing his s*** aspect of your post).

You can read the entire thread if you want but the synopsis is that a user posted his review of the DINANTRONICS performance tuner and Steve Dinan took notice and felt the need to explain why the reviewer noticed the changes he did. Link to the last page of the thread below.

http://f10.m5post.com/forums/showthr...1008125&page=8

The straight to the point meat however you can read below...



Steve Dinan took notice of your post and wanted to address it directly. He thought a more thorough explanation of what you were experiencing was in order. His response is below.

"Thank you for noticing the smother operation of the Dinan ECU when compared to the competition. I thought a technical explanation of why it is so smooth might be of interest. Just to clarify the reason why you are experiencing better throttle response in general and ultimately what feels to be “more” power is based on the complexity and better control of engine tuning parameters of the DINANTRONICS system as a whole.

The DINANTRONICS Performance Tuner is MUCH more than just intercepting signals as some seem to think. There are more correction factors and calculations going on in the background of our box than anything else we have seen on the market thus far. We compensate for every necessary variable so the factory ECU is not fighting itself trying to correct mismatched variables and ultimately robbing you of power.

When Dinan is done tuning on the dyno we then go out on the road and do extensive tuning to improve performance. The road environment is different! You have better cooling on the engine, intercooler as well as more ram air. This results in better cylinder filling (more pressure in the cylinder) and requires slightly less boost to avoid excessive detonation. When you are done tuning on the road the car accelerates faster but will show a lower number on the dyno. We believe we are selling acceleration not dyno numbers.

Our numbers on a dyno may not be the max numbers out there but there is a reason. If we were to add that extra boost that other companies run, the engine will be into the knock control system so much that you can feel the correction it is making. In addition the other units on the market do not do fuel correction they rely on the O2 sensor and knock control system to drag the mixture to the correct level. The problem with this is when you change gears it takes some time for the factory ECU to determine what this correction is; resulting in a flat spot until it figures it out. This is what you were feeling. The Dinan ECU has advanced fuel control features that add fuel to the engine so we are not relying on the factory ECU to compensate for the lack of fuel. We also have a feature that adds fuel only during gear changes to quench detonation that occurs from the spike in load as a result of the gear change. The better fuel control provides dramatically better drivability. This higher level of tuning for the road and lack of pauses on gear changes make the Dinan car faster even if you measure a lower number on the dyno. Even if more boost is a little faster what good is it if the car has bad drivability."

Thanks for sharing.....

[TheRealOrosie]

Just got the DINANTRONCS Performance Tuner Stage 1 install done today at Performance Technic.

I haven't had a chance to really test out the car thoroughly yet, but first impressions are wow! The car is noticeably faster, yet retains the linear power deliver of the stock car. The mid-range shove is kicked up a notch, and I cant wait to wind the car out once I get some safe, open space to do so...and check out the over 5k range of the tach!

This is my 4th BMW, and all (save for my e92 M3) have now been been tuned with Dinan software (e92 335, F10 550i). I have nothing but good things to say about Dinan products. Performance, quality, reliability....all there in spades.

Shout out to Joe and the boys at P-Tech. Awesome service as always!

[Money2536]

Originally Posted by P-TownM3

Just got the DINANTRONCS Performance Tuner Stage 1 install done today at Performance Technic.

I haven't had a chance to really test out the car thoroughly yet, but first impressions are wow! The car is noticeably faster, yet retains the linear power deliver of the stock car. The mid-range shove is kicked up a notch, and I cant wait to wind the car out once I get some safe, open space to do so...and check out the over 5k range of the tach!

This is my 4th BMW, and all (save for my e92 M3) have now been been tuned with Dinan software (e92 335, F10 550i). I have nothing but good things to say about Dinan products. Performance, quality, reliability....all there in spades.

Shout out to Joe and the boys at P-Tech. Awesome service as always!

Awesome man!

[Roadkiller]

Originally Posted by P-TownM3

Just got the DINANTRONCS Performance Tuner Stage 1 install done today at Performance Technic.

I haven't had a chance to really test out the car thoroughly yet, but first impressions are wow! The car is noticeably faster, yet retains the linear power deliver of the stock car. The mid-range shove is kicked up a notch, and I cant wait to wind the car out once I get some safe, open space to do so...and check out the over 5k range of the tach!

This is my 4th BMW, and all (save for my e92 M3) have now been been tuned with Dinan software (e92 335, F10 550i). I have nothing but good things to say about Dinan products. Performance, quality, reliability....all there in spades.

Shout out to Joe and the boys at P-Tech. Awesome service as always!

Nice dude. Be sure to report back after taking it out on the open road.