[speedfan]

Hi everyone,
I've recently got the DirectFlash from ESS for my car, an e90 325i LCI, 2.5L engine, Euro model.

ESS told me I would get 8-15hp before hand.

Anyways, Just finished tuning the ECU today.

I try to be subjective & not letting the mentality of spending money equals getting good result to cause any bias.

Right after finishing up with the tune. The mechanic started the car, gave it a bit of gas & right away he told me "we got some hp, I can tell".

I gave it a bit of gas & felt that the rpm was more responsive. it rev'ed quicker.

I took it out for a spin.
in D mode: got a slide kick, I could tell there was some gain in torque, but not much.
in DS mode: I dont drive in this mode so I didnt bother to try it.

in M mode: very obvious that the car pulled hard from low rpm, & at top end. it's very obvious.

I'm somewhat content with the tune & the money I've spent.

[shazzy04]

Sounds good!

is this like the aa tune? where it completely replaces it?


how much did you pay?

[speedfan]

Im not sure about AA, but with ESS, yes it replaces the software, it can hold up to 10 tunes, & you can swith among the tunes if you change your parts, & you can reverse it back to stock.
I paid $895 as advertised on the website.

[kamek]

Originally Posted by speedfan

Im not sure about AA, but with ESS, yes it replaces the software, it can hold up to 10 tunes, & you can swith among the tunes if you change your parts, & you can reverse it back to stock.
I paid $895 as advertised on the website.

What I don't understand is that the ESS tune is being classified as a "standard tune" as BMCoupe_782 has told me. He said that ESS does not specifically tweak the tune to your existing mods, but instead the software "adapts" to them, which only leads me to think that this is a fancy BMS PBX. Unlike the ESS tune and BMS PBX, the AA tune is actually tailored to the car per its mods, meaning it'll perform how it was specifically designed to.

So this all leads me to ask: What's the purpose of holding up to 10 tunes when the only available tune right now is a simple standard one that's generic to all vehicles? And also, is this worth the $895 paid?

I mean, yes, you do get the flash tool to remove and reflash the tune at your convenience, but just like the AA, there is no resale value because the ESS tool is VIN locked to your car. I'm still having trouble justifying the price, and I'm still swayed towards AA until ECS can prove me different!

Any thoughts on this?

[BMCoupe_782]

I like the ESS tune - but I know I really just paid for the convenience of being able to flash at will. There's definite hp/tq increases and I'm totally satisfied with the performance gains. Heard nothing but good things about the AA tune as well. Most go with them, as they are a few hundred dollars cheaper.

[mike-y]

Originally Posted by kamek

What I don't understand is that the ESS tune is being classified as a "standard tune" as BMCoupe_782 has told me. He said that ESS does not specifically tweak the tune to your existing mods, but instead the software "adapts" to them, which only leads me to think that this is a fancy BMS PBX. Unlike the ESS tune and BMS PBX, the AA tune is actually tailored to the car per its mods, meaning it'll perform how it was specifically designed to.


Any thoughts on this?

While the AA tune is tailored for specific mods, its still not a tune specifically for YOUR car, which means your car also has to adapt to it. Unless you drive down there, and they tune your car on the dyno, the tune isn't going to be exact for your car, and it will have to adapt.

Every car is a bit different, even ones with the same or similar mods. The ESS tunes most likely consist of different base maps that change operating parameters (allow more timing or more fuel if needed), each one maybe tailored to specific mods, similar to the what the AA tune is.

point being, on any tune you have, the car adapts so that it runs as best it can within the parameters that are set by that tune. Even when you get the AA tune, it takes a couple of weeks for it to fully adapt. And even after that, it may not be perfect.

[kamek]

Originally Posted by mike-y

While the AA tune is tailored for specific mods, its still not a tune specifically for YOUR car, which means your car also has to adapt to it. Unless you drive down there, and they tune your car on the dyno, the tune isn't going to be exact for your car, and it will have to adapt.

Every car is a bit different, even ones with the same or similar mods. The ESS tunes most likely consist of different base maps that change operating parameters (allow more timing or more fuel if needed), each one maybe tailored to specific mods, similar to the what the AA tune is.

point being, on any tune you have, the car adapts so that it runs as best it can within the parameters that are set by that tune. Even when you get the AA tune, it takes a couple of weeks for it to fully adapt. And even after that, it may not be perfect.

Thank you mike-y for the clarification. I wasn't aware that the tunes still needed time to adapt regardless of design.

With all said, ESS' tune is still not tailored to a car's general mods. Does anyone know if this is something ESS will be offering in the future and for free?

[sales@ESSTuning]

E9X and all modern BMW's run fully adaptive engine management systems. This means they will always adapt on their own to run the targets given in the software. There is no such thing as "custom tuning" a fully adaptive system for a stock car or a car running simple bolt on mods like air filters, mufflers etc.. as these do not make enough of a difference that the vehicle cannot self correct. You can and should run different software for things such as headers, downpipes and cams as these require emissions and other changes to be accounted for and we do offer software for these scenarios.

You can use the Directflash to store and switch to custom options such as valet mode, race gas map etc.. and on turbo vehicles you can switch between different stages of software that run different boost levels in some cases.

[Francis M.]

Thanks for the clarification...

[t1mmy]

i never bought that AA designs tunes specifically for your car, or that it was any true value-added even if they did.

I think they do different tunes for different cars, and its a good tune... but i'm skeptical about the whole 'tune to your car' thing

[speedfan]

kamek,
While I cant answer your question, but there's a thread in this section made by me about why I chose ESS.
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showpo...81&postcount=7

I've heard good things about AA tunes & quite a few members here have chosen them. However, after I did a bit of search & reading about the tunes between AA & ESS, my gut feelings told me to go with ESS.

Cheers,
D

[BMCoupe_782]

good stuff. thanks for taking the time to shed some color about this tune.

Loving the ESS tune so far

Originally Posted by Roman@ESS

E9X and all modern BMW's run fully adaptive engine management systems. This means they will always adapt on their own to run the targets given in the software. There is no such thing as "custom tuning" a fully adaptive system for a stock car or a car running simple bolt on mods like air filters, mufflers etc.. as these do not make enough of a difference that the vehicle cannot self correct. You can and should run different software for things such as headers, downpipes and cams as these require emissions and other changes to be accounted for and we do offer software for these scenarios.

You can use the Directflash to store and switch to custom options such as valet mode, race gas map etc.. and on turbo vehicles you can switch between different stages of software that run different boost levels in some cases.

[TSM330i]

I sent Roman from ESS a pm about this thread. I knew he would be the only one who could shed light on the questions being asked.
Thank you Roman.