[mfischer95]

Hey guys,

I am new to this forum, as well as owning a BMW. This is my first car new car purchase and I couldn't be any happier. I am a huge car enthusiast, but I lack the engineering/mechanical proficiency to perform a lot of what I'd like to do. I am 22 and am looking to slightly improve the performance of my 2 series. So far I have purchased a BMS jB4 and k&n air filter. I plan to purchase an intake as well, but I am not sure which kind to get and where to buy from. I daily the car to and from work, as well as do a bit of travel for work in the car. I would also be interested in purchasing an exhaust in the future. I live in central Jersey. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

[F22santiago]

Originally Posted by mfischer95

Hey guys,

I am new to this forum, as well as owning a BMW. This is my first car new car purchase and I couldn't be any happier. I am a huge car enthusiast, but I lack the engineering/mechanical proficiency to perform a lot of what I'd like to do. I am 22 and am looking to slightly improve the performance of my 2 series. So far I have purchased a BMS jB4 and k&n air filter. I plan to purchase an intake as well, but I am not sure which kind to get and where to buy from. I daily the car to and from work, as well as do a bit of travel for work in the car. I would also be interested in purchasing an exhaust in the future. I live in central Jersey. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

Originally Posted by mfischer95

Hey guys,

I am new to this forum, as well as owning a BMW. This is my first car new car purchase and I couldn't be any happier. I am a huge car enthusiast, but I lack the engineering/mechanical proficiency to perform a lot of what I'd like to do. I am 22 and am looking to slightly improve the performance of my 2 series. So far I have purchased a BMS jB4 and k&n air filter. I plan to purchase an intake as well, but I am not sure which kind to get and where to buy from. I daily the car to and from work, as well as do a bit of travel for work in the car. I would also be interested in purchasing an exhaust in the future. I live in central Jersey. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

Hey Matt! You sound familiar! lol. Id look no further than BMS for intake, they all do the same more or less, some just look better. As far as exhaust, I'll let someone else chime in as I remember the options for even the 228i were pretty limited

[stevenvillatoro]

I risk getting trounced for my post, but you asked for advice, so...

Remember that every modification has a consequence. You gain something, but you also lose something. Often, mods are made without considering the downside of the equation. The downsides may be unforeseen or unpredictable, and often aren't the focus of 'mod' discussions forum threads.

This is your first new car, and you rightfully "couldn't be happier about it," yet... you're already looking to change it. I felt the same way as you about my first new car (at around your age). I was enthralled with it, and yet started to monkey with it. Change this; upgrade that. The joy of changing it lasted for a few weeks, and then lost its novelty. But worse, the car entirely lost its appeal to me, as a direct result of my relatively simple mods (which I could not afford to reverse on my then-student budget).

So, my advice is to take your time... what's the hurry? First, enjoy the brand new car as it is. Get to know its characteristics, and think carefully about the pros - but **especially** about the potential cons - of each one that you're considering. Think about warranty, ease/cost of later deleting the mod, impact of a modded car on resale value, how any mod is backed up by its manufacturer, how mods can deteriorate ride comfort, or cause noise, vibration, and harshness issues, how visual mods can be sources of trendy disappointments, etc., etc.

That's enough of my cautious counterpoint. Good luck with what you do; I hope you enjoy every minute with your new car! Now, back to letting others contribute to this sort of advice that you're probably more eager to hear, ha ha.

[BarryJI]

Originally Posted by stevenvillatoro

I risk getting trounced for my post, but you asked for advice, so...

Remember that every modification has a consequence. You gain something, but you also lose something. Often, mods are made without considering the downside of the equation. The downsides may be unforeseen or unpredictable, and often aren't the focus of 'mod' discussions forum threads.

This is your first new car, and you rightfully "couldn't be happier about it," yet... you're already looking to change it. I felt the same way as you about my first new car (at around your age) ? I was enthralled with it, and yet started to monkey with it. Change this; upgrade that. The joy of changing it lasted for a few weeks, and then lost its novelty. But worse, the car entirely lost its appeal to me, as a direct result of my relatively simple mods (which I could not afford to reverse on my then-student budget).

So, my advice is to take your time... what's the hurry? First, enjoy the brand new car as it is. Get to know its characteristics, and think carefully about the pros ? but **especially** about the potential cons ? of each one that you're considering. Think about warranty, ease/cost of later deleting the mod, impact of a modded car on resale value, how any mod is backed up by its manufacturer, how mods can deteriorate ride comfort, or cause noise, vibration, and harshness issues, how visual mods can be sources of trendy disappointments, etc., etc.

That's enough of my cautious counterpoint. Good luck with what you do; I hope you enjoy every minute with your new car! Now, back to letting others contribute to this sort of advice that you're probably more eager to hear, ha ha.

I think this is sage advice.

You can ruin a high-end car with over-aggressive tuning. It?s one thing if you intend to track the car, quite another if you wish to retain your BMW?s refined manners alongside much-enhanced performance. A compromise may well be called for, then, when tuning it for the street. You should consider Dinan if you can afford it, for the peace of mind their warranty brings and for the refinement of their tunes. Intakes can be of limited value. If I were you I would limit my initial wave of mods to a high-quality piggyback tune and possibly pipes. Do it in careful stages and don?t pay for performance you will never get to use on the street.

[Maynard]

Good advice - these cars are well-engineered, so not as much correcting factory shortcuts, more a matter of altering reliability vs. power curves. And the warranty issue is the biggest thing, at least for me (run a search for threads on that for some background). Even Dinan is now voiding warranties (or BMW won't warranty their modded engines?).

[jmwilson125]

Originally Posted by mfischer95

Hey guys,

I am new to this forum, as well as owning a BMW. This is my first car new car purchase and I couldn't be any happier. I am a huge car enthusiast, but I lack the engineering/mechanical proficiency to perform a lot of what I'd like to do. I am 22 and am looking to slightly improve the performance of my 2 series. So far I have purchased a BMS jB4 and k&n air filter. I plan to purchase an intake as well, but I am not sure which kind to get and where to buy from. I daily the car to and from work, as well as do a bit of travel for work in the car. I would also be interested in purchasing an exhaust in the future. I live in central Jersey. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

For intake if you do not want cel get a dinan, eventuri, or are closed intake. Any others may cause a cel like the injen that I have. They can also cause the car to act strange and hesitate at lower rpm . If you do have the jb4 then you can unplug your maf which should fix this. It worked for me. I'd reccomend doing some research on running jb4 maffless if you go this route.

I got more on my car. Then I added a catless downpipe. I love the sound and increased power. If I were to do it over I probably would have tried armytrix cat back.

If you go catless you will get a check engine light. I believe fabspeed is the only one out there who makes a.sport cat and guarantees no cel. I would reccomend stock exhaust with a fabspeed cat. This will get you more power and a better sound. Axel back will just get you a better sound. If you do not care about cel and needing a cat to pass emissions, then go catless. It is a lot cheaper. I run vrsf and love it.

If I could do everything over again I probably would have done fabspeed cat with armytrix exhausts.

If you do run any sort of tune you should upgrade the charge pipe. Those have a tendency to break under higher boost. I believe vrsf and er make those. I have an er.

Last steps would be e35 mix (if you have e85 available) , water methanol injection, and a fmic.

If you have done all of this then you have to look at supporting mods for the increased power. A colder spark plugs is usually encouraged. Wider stickier tires are needed to put down the power. Stiffer suspension, bushings, and diff lockdown kit can all help the chassis feel more rigid and in line with the power.

All that being said. I do agree with the guys above, you should get to know the car in stock form and decide what areas may be inadequate for you. Does it really need more power? Does it need to be louder? Does it need to be stiffer?

[3rdcoast228i]

Why void your warranty on your brand new car?

[3.0L]

Originally Posted by mfischer95

Hey guys,

I am new to this forum, as well as owning a BMW. This is my first car new car purchase and I couldn't be any happier. I am a huge car enthusiast, but I lack the engineering/mechanical proficiency to perform a lot of what I'd like to do. I am 22 and am looking to slightly improve the performance of my 2 series. So far I have purchased a BMS jB4 and k&n air filter. I plan to purchase an intake as well, but I am not sure which kind to get and where to buy from. I daily the car to and from work, as well as do a bit of travel for work in the car. I would also be interested in purchasing an exhaust in the future. I live in central Jersey. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

Simple: Trade your car in on a new M4: No CEL's; no voided warranty; possibility of diminished value due to mods is eliminated...