[XutvJet]

I've decided to go with the Dinan Stage 2 ECU upgrade. Every vendor seems to list $2,316 for the ECU which is the Dinan list price. Are there vendors that can sell for less than Dinan MSRP? If yes, who are they?

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

PM sent

[BEM-S4]

I would just encourage you to balance savings vs getting from BMW Dealer / authorized Dinan Dealer close to you. Yeah you may save 5-10% on product buying online but is saving $100 worth dealing with warranty issues if something comes up?

My dealer for example discounts some but he's not the bottom price by a negligible amount. But it's a real relationship with a real person and regardless of BMW or Dinan paying for the warranty repair you've got a single person to handle all that crap for you bc it's literally the same person dealing with both BMW and Dinan.

[bryan_G01]

Don't even bother. use your money on a flash tune or nothing.

I had Dinan s3. Your better off just leaving that money in your pocket.
The hard parts are fine, but get off that piggyback asap.

[XutvJet]

Originally Posted by bryan_f22

Don't even bother. use your money on a flash tune or nothing.

I had Dinan s3. Your better off just leaving that money in your pocket.
The hard parts are fine, but get off that piggyback asap.

I'm not interested in a flash tune. The Dinan Stage 2 works for me because:

1) It has a warranty (I still have 25 months of warranty left)

2) It's a far better piggyback device than the others because of the parameters monitored. It's designed for power and OEM like driveability where as the others are designed solely for power and can result in wonky power delivery.

3) With a flash tune, I'm at the mercy of the tuner if I want it completely removed from the car.

4) I don't want to risk BMW telling me to go pound sand if a major problem occurs and they see that I have a flash tune on and they want no part in fixing the car, warranty or not. A Dinan BMW dealer will be far more willing to accept and work on the car.


I know the Dinan Stage 2 is laughably pricey, but I can afford it. Plus, a flash tune would cost me $1,200+ all in for basically similar power numbers. I'm willing to spend that extra $1,000 of peace of mind.
Plus, I can realistically make back 25-30% ($600-700) reselling the Dinan unit later. With a tune, there's nothing.

I'm not obsessed with power and actually find the stock power of my 6MT M235 to be quite decent.

[XutvJet]

Originally Posted by BEM-S4

I would just encourage you to balance savings vs getting from BMW Dealer / authorized Dinan Dealer close to you. Yeah you may save 5-10% on product buying online but is saving $100 worth dealing with warranty issues if something comes up?

My dealer for example discounts some but he's not the bottom price by a negligible amount. But it's a real relationship with a real person and regardless of BMW or Dinan paying for the warranty repair you've got a single person to handle all that crap for you bc it's literally the same person dealing with both BMW and Dinan.

I do plan to do that. The local BMW dealer I do to is a Dinan shop. I'm getting the MP LSD as well and will see if they're willing to give me a deal for both.

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by XutvJet

I do plan to do that. The local BMW dealer I do to is a Dinan shop. I'm getting the MP LSD as well and will see if they're willing to give me a deal for both.

Yeah you may have some luck doing a bundle deal. I'm always just up front with my guy - we have a good relationship that I've cultivated over the years - and say look msrp is whatever I can get it online from random place for X% off, what can you do? It always works out.

One other thing if you go the CAI route for example, the job is damn simple except for trimming the support bracket if you've got one on your car. That requires skill and tools many folks may not have but it's simple for shop. My guy at least (yay Matt and Thomson!!!) sold me the kit for good price (within a few bucks of lowest but not rock bottom) and cut the bracket for me, then I did the install myself in 10 mins and saved that $100 or whatever on labor.

That's a long winded way of saying with a good relationship and both sides willing to work a little with the other you can have 1. Help and 2. Very good pricing.

[mike@x-ph.com]

Pm sent

[Raymondo1234]

Just switched from FBO with dinan stage 3, to a frank smith flash tune.

Dynoed with dinan, it was 341 whp. After the flash tune I was up to 382 whp.

[XutvJet]

Originally Posted by Raymondo1234

Just switched from FBO with dinan stage 3, to a frank smith flash tune.

Dynoed with dinan, it was 341 whp. After the flash tune I was up to 382 whp.

I've seen Dynojet runs of Dinan Stage 2 M235s and 335s MPPK equipped cars showing around 350-360whp and 380-390wtq and Dinan Stage 2 cars with downpipes showing 360--370whp and 390-400wtq. That's plenty for me plus warranty coverage for a few years. I don't intend on getting a downpipe. I'm basically looking for something marginally quicker/faster than a M2 6MT which is 12.7-12.9@110-112mph car. I'm not about chasing numbers, worrying about how much faster the other guy is, or what tune gets me the most power for the money. I want warranty coverage and a conservative tune focused on driveability. Also, I want something I can easily remove and sell when it comes time to get rid of the car.

[Rayscott]

Originally Posted by BEM-S4

Yeah you may have some luck doing a bundle deal. I'm always just up front with my guy - we have a good relationship that I've cultivated over the years - and say look msrp is whatever I can get it online from random place for X% off, what can you do? It always works out.

One other thing if you go the CAI route for example, the job is damn simple except for trimming the support bracket if you've got one on your car. That requires skill and tools many folks may not have but it's simple for shop. My guy at least (yay Matt and Thomson!!!) sold me the kit for good price (within a few bucks of lowest but not rock bottom) and cut the bracket for me, then I did the install myself in 10 mins and saved that $100 or whatever on labor.

That's a long winded way of saying with a good relationship and both sides willing to work a little with the other you can have 1. Help and 2. Very good pricing.

I'm in the same boat. My guy (European Motorcars) is an authorized Dinan installer and one of the best mechanics in the area. His primary business is German cars but he will work on most Eureopean cars. He also has a good relationship with BMW. I take comfort in asking for his advice on mods knowing he stands behind the Dinan products and his prices are fair. I send my detailing customers to him for service and he refers his customers to me. It is a very good relationship.

[Benandluna]

I’m stage 2, with a cai and fabspeed cat. A buddy has an wrk and dyno was 370 390 who, and my car feels as fast or faster. I def pull on him on the freeway.

I will admit the car felt noticely faster post stage two tune, and again post fabspeed cat. It’s a lot of power and not too crazy feeling. My dealer is also Dinan friendly and are ok with simple mods. My rep did say they are not ok with piggy’s and other Ecu tunes, and will open a puma case to check if they suspect a tune was in there.