Hi guys, to give a bit of context I own a BMW M240i 2018, with a catless downpipe and K&N air filter on it, Also I live on a very high altitude (2600mt / 8500ft) which has low ambient pressure, meaning that the turbo will have to work harder to get the target boost.
Speaking on my own experience with the B58 engine, having purchased both MHD and BM3 and tested both, I would definitely go with BM3 and won't recommend MHD especially if you live at a high altitude, and plan to stick with OTS maps... here is why:
In both BM3 and MHD cases, the flash process was smooth, very fast with 0 issues, using the MHD ENET black adapter + RJ 45 cable (+ligthing to RJ45 for iPhone in the MHD flash case).
At the flash moment, I already had XHP stage 3 flashed on my car, as the transmission control unit tune.
All octanes units are AKI units.
All WOTs were taken with DSC fully off, in the same flat surface at night to lower temperatures.
------- MHD experience------
Flashed STAGE 2 93 Octane OTS map, drove the car around 100miles in different driving modes to give time to the tune to adapt, then I took a log doing a WOT on 4th gear on a flat surface: here is the WOT log:
https://datazap.me/u/hardneoark/bmw-...36-37-38-39-40 Even though the midrange boost was OK The log displayed a lot of timing corrections which for sure was no good.
I sent this log to MHD via email (their only contact method), and they replied "this map is too aggressive for your ambient pressure, please install ST1 and send us a new log."
To what I replied:
"So the Stage 2 OTS map is not suited for high altitudes...?"
Here's the stage 1 WOT: https://datazap.me/u/hardneoark/bmw-...og=0&data=4-17
In the second log, the timing correction was still quite messy, and the midrange boost was lowered as expected for a stage 1 tune.
After this, MHD replied:
Your hardware is not able to deliver that power in such "extreme conditions"
Fabian can you please send a revised map for very high altitude?
And so on, so it looks like they're tweaking the map... so far I haven't received any revised map yet.
Conclussion:
I get the sense that neither of STAGE 2 or 1 tunes suited my car for my altitude. Also, I felt like they sold me a STAGE 2 map that wasn't going to work for my ambient conditions... I would have expected them to adjust the STAGE 2 to work better and not just to tell me to use the STAGE 1 map.
------ BM3 experience------
Flashed STAGE 2 93 Octane map, drove the car around 100miles in different driving modes to give time to the tune to adapt, I have to say that from the first moment I tested the car, even in Drive mode the car felt different, like if it was throwing more power more easily, but let's stick to the numbers...
I took a log doing a WOT on 4th gear on a flat surface: here is the WOT log:
https://www.bootmod3.net/log?id=6164...90c67cf114e8ca In this log the timing correction is near nonexistent which is perfect, with a solid boost pressure midrange, lowering down at high rpm as it's expected for a high altitude.
Also, I flashed the STAGE 2 93+ Octane map (map for 93 octane or higher), drove the car as well for a bit, and took the WOT, here is the log:
https://www.bootmod3.net/log?id=6164...90c67cf114e8ca In this log the boost load strategy was different, aiming to a higher timing, which lead to some timing corrections.
I sent this log to BM3 through their support portal on
https://bootmod3.atlassian.net/ and they replied the following:
The first log you sent looks much better.
I'd keep using that 🙂
Stage 2 93 octane it is.
I replied:
Can you elaborate a bit more on how did you come to that conclusion? is it for the fewer timing corrections that occur in the first log?
BM3 reply:
Yup, ignition correction. You want that minimal or zero (best scenario). But the car also adapts over time.
But not only that, your stage 2 93 seems to make much more boost pressure midrange compare to the 2.0 in this case.
At this point, I thanked them and stuck with the Stage 2 93 octane map.
Conclussion:
From the beginning, the stage 2 93 octane map adapted much better to the engine, it was evident in the log results with the near 0 timing corrections, and I also get to feel that while driving the car. Also, their support was amazing, much better than MHD which never replied back to me. BM3 support took the time to analyze my logs and there was no need to adjust the maps, as the STG2 93 octane OTS map worked perfectly for my high altitude conditions.
Overall thoughts
I think BM3 is a more robust platform, their support is great and more organized as you can keep track of the tickets you open since the use the JIRA software for its ticket creation/tracking, whereas with MHD all communication happens over email. Also, the user interface for the tune has more options on the laptop than the iOS app in MHD.
About the tune itself, it seems that the BM3 OTS maps are better suited for high altitudes than MHD OTS maps, so keep that in mind when buying one of the two platforms.
So far I've been super happy with BM3, and how the car runs running their tune, so my recommendation goes to them.