What's up fellow M5ers, after a long awaited reflash after my D/A disaster, (D/A pretended to tune my ecu but really just sent it back stock then I had to pay shipping for them to fix the prob which I still wasn't happy with) I stopped by Powerchip for a tune and this is the story:
I've been talking back and forth with Travis from Powechip who is a member of the boards for over a year and finally bit the bullet. We are lucky to have him aboard to provide support and answer questions. Travis first contacted me after the D/A contreversy I had and offered to make things right. I, like others on the board knew of powercihp's existence, I had decided to go with D/A simply because they produced the twins and I figured they knew what they were doing. Unfortunately had as I found afterwards, their customer service has come under fire and it seems like they're riding the coat tails of their previous work. That's another story altogether, but the intial contact from Travis already impressed me with the company. Even after Travis had contacted me I did some board searches and even looked at testimonials on their site and it seems as though they do a lot of E39 M5's. So my experience started from walking in the door, they had a board that said, "welcome M5board.com members." I felt like it was there just for me but I'm sure it was just left over from the last event.
Travis came outside to greet me and kept complementing my car's color scheme, it made me feel good about this 7 year old car. As I waited for the car to be reflashed, I spoke at length with Travis and Ben and they are true car enthusiasts which made the experience more enjoyable, we talked about everything including the gran turismo series, the game of course
It was great just hanging out with these guys even if there was no tune involved, they gave me food, a good convo, and even a few dupont registry's to take home. It was like being a guest in someones house and i definetly had great hosts. It reminded me of this quote by Dave Chappelle, it's at the end of this clip where he says, "what else do you want?" YouTube - dave chappelle - michael jackson
Now as I was leaving Travis called Evosport to see if they can help install my new coilovers and he told them to take care of me as I had a bad experience with another shop and he wanted to help change the tide. It would suffice to give me the contact info to a reputable shop, but to call them while I'm there and tell them to take care of me is just another one of those things that shows the true nature of these guys. I can't overexaggerate enough how I felt being there and being treated so well to make it an accurate account of what happened.
I know I've waisted a lot of time on my experience without mentioning once the software yet, but I think it's important for potential customers and people looking for a tune to be able to have an idea of who they'll be working with. NOW on to the tune. I turn on the car I hear my usual rumble and I start to exit the parking lot, at around 3k rpms i push down a little on the pedal, get to second and put the hammer down. Several times during my trip home I just mashed the pedal, went through a few gerars and watched peoples reactions as I flew by. My car is fast, it's always been pretty fast I like to think, but it's too early to speculate on any hp gain. The car absolutely feels better, tighter, stronger, but from my understanding the ecu needs some mileage to adapt and show its true benefit. The only thing I can compare it to feeling like is when it's super cold outside and you floor your car and you are surprised at how much faster it feels than at regular operating temp, it felt like even though it was 80 degrees outside on my way home the car was acting like it's ice cold outside.
I'm very happy with the tune, I'm even more happy about my treatment by these guys at powerchip and it's the best bang for the buck mod I've done to this car. I can't say enough good things about them, I'm going to be an advocate of theirs for as long as I live. They gave me a discount for being a board member so it came out to $890, was done in 30 minutes at their shop and I got a bunch of souvenires to boot. I will post my thoughts as the car adapts and let you all know how it progresses.
Thanks to Travis and the guys at Powerchip for the enjoyable experience, anyone local who wants a ride in my car to see how it feels just give me a holler and I'll be happy to give you a ride. I charge admission though...
The Following 7 Users Say Thank You to PedM5 For This Useful Post:
So did Powerchip tune it to the mods you have? Especially your custom headers?
I told the guy doing the tune that i've got full exhaust including headers and high flow cats and an intake, he asked if I had any secondary air flow issues I said nope and he said he's had a few M5ers he's been talkin back and forth with to see if he can resolve it for them, but they weren't computer literate and were out of state so hopefully they join the board, get some information and someone can help them out.
I had a headache pretty much since I left powerchip and I think I gave myself a beating by flooring it and burying the back of my head into my headrest. I'm about to go to the gym and see how the car feels when it is actually cold, if you don't hear back from me I'm probably in the hospital with brain trauma lol
__________________ 2003 Sterling Grey M5
Dinan Free Flow Exhaust, Dinan Rear Sway Bar Super Sprint Headers Custom tuned by ESS
Rogue Octane SSK and WSR
CNS Racing clutch and flywheel
DICE Ipod connectivity
Bimmian Black Kidney Grilles
AngeliBright V3 6000k LED Upgrade, HID Fogs
Ultimate Pedals
BSW Stage 1 speaker upgrade/BSW Subwoofer
Rear Wheels Up Front (275s all around) Supercharged by ESS!! (Kit number 01)
Last edited by Blockdoc; 23rd September 2008 at 09:13.
Well, it is not quite "custom", but they do have a bunch of "off the rack" configurations for most combinations. You can get a custom tune, but it is probably not worth the money unless you are tracking the car.
You do get a much better throttle response, so that normal feels like sport on with stock tuning and sport on really adds some snap. That may simply be some software tuning for the stepper motors, but to me it puts the throttle and the rate of acceleration in synch the way it should be.
And at $890 it may be a little more expensive than others, but when I traded in my Dinan software for PC, I thought it was well worth the money!! The car is so much better it feels almost like a different car. (no Dinan bashing here, I have other Dinan stuff on my car, check my sig).
As noted, their customer service is second to none. These guys are great to deal with and they put out a first class product. And they have a great turnaround time whether you are uploading and downloading from your PC or you are having them do the DME upgrade at their facility.
No affiliation, just a long time, very satisfied customer.
Regards,
Jerry
__________________
'01 Black/caramel
Dinan Stage 3 suspension, SS jet coated headers, ESS SC kit, open brake ducts, Hamann front splitters, TEC cupholder, U.S.(Euro style) tilt/slide armrest, 6k HID fogs, 6k super white low beams, V1/Stealth1, dual head LI, 2.65 diff w/40% lockup/2x dynamic, compact spare, Euro trailer hitch, Mocal oil cooler, ACS type rear spoiler, Rogue custom SSK and tranny mounts, ST 355 BBK (fronts), BP sway bar brackets, Bluetooth retrofit
The Following User Says Thank You to gsfent For This Useful Post:
Glad you got your tune finally done...Powerchip does a great job and one of the leaders on tuning cars
__________________ Mods: 91 octane with occasional 100 octane
"Illegitimus non carborundum"
" Despite its supercar attributes, the M5 still doubles as a soberly practical, spacious saloon - only with the ability to scare four passengers in comfort all the way to the local coronary unit". Top Gear
Glad you got your tune finally done...Powerchip does a great job and one of the leaders on tuning cars
Hey, I was talking to Travis and he mentioned you, I was talking about getting larger MAF housing's and needing a tune for it and they said they did that for you, how'd it work out?
__________________
2002 LMB in and out
53k miles & counting
AFE+A/A Intake
Britalman Exhaust
High Flow Cats
Custom "Tiger" Headers
Clutchmasters Stg 3
JB Racing flywheel
19" BBS CH's
H&R Coilovers
Dinan Sway Bars
. My car is fast, it's always been pretty fast I like to think, but it's too early to speculate on any hp gain. The car absolutely feels better, tighter, stronger, but from my understanding the ecu needs some mileage to adapt and show its true benefit. The only thing I can compare it to feeling like is when it's super cold outside and you floor your car and you are surprised at how much faster it feels than at regular operating temp, it felt like even though it was 80 degrees outside on my way home the car was acting like it's ice cold outside.
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