The M3/4 and M5/6 ECU's have been heavily protected and the only way to extract more power has been with the piggybacks. Which have been effective & convenient. These ECU's were eventually cracked & bench flashing was available a while ago. But it was not mainstream. The risk of using one's warranty has always been the main consideration in choosing a piggyback over a bench flash.
Well, in the space of a very short couple of months, the tables have turned. A few JB cars have lost their motorplan even after removing the JB and clearing all faults. It seems that if its a big claim, the ECU is interrogated with very low level diagnostics between Rosslyn & Munich and faults that have been cleared can be picked up. And specifically faults on the MAP, TMAP and fuel pressure sensor have been deemed enough "evidence" of a piggyback and the motorplan cancelled.
And in this same breath, cars with a bench flash tested by this same low level diagnostics or FASTA or any other method have not been detected to have been flashed. I personally have had 6 cars scanned specifically for mods and they have not been detected.
Obviously, this is the status quo at the moment and things can change in the future. Anyway, the nett result is an influx of ///M cars being booked in with us and bench flashed. Some of them like M4 competition packs with 30k on the clock. i have done 4 M45 CP's in a week, M6's, M5's, M135's and M235's. on Wednesday I bench flashed 6 cars in 1 day.
And the question of which is better is going to be a ridiculously mundane battle along the lines of Liverpool vs Man United. So I will just post the figures. The throttle response on the different modes can be tuned in the map, so all customers thus far have uttered the same thing after jumping out of the initial test drive. "Dam, the throttle is so responsive now". Also he lag is decreased just a notch and the power is whole lot more progressive and linear.
VANOS and VALVEtronic tuning is also done in the map, and anti-lag is an option. Top speed limiter removal and increased rev limiters as well. Although those 2 features can be picked up by FASTA. Also cold-start removal and a whole heap of other options are available.
F12 M6 ECU on the bench:
JB Stage 1 on this M6 vs flash, Stg2 with BCM made 503kw on the same car.
Brand new M4 Competition pack being modded:
And another 1:
Yet another M4 being bench flashed:
Surgically opened and resealed with not even a hint that it was ever opened:
The process of writing an F80 M3:
And the end result:
Plenty M135is done too:
This M135i went from 195kw to over 300wkw witgh bench flash!
Mini Cooper also getting the treatment:
Well, in the space of a very short couple of months, the tables have turned. A few JB cars have lost their motorplan even after removing the JB and clearing all faults. It seems that if its a big claim, the ECU is interrogated with very low level diagnostics between Rosslyn & Munich and faults that have been cleared can be picked up. And specifically faults on the MAP, TMAP and fuel pressure sensor have been deemed enough "evidence" of a piggyback and the motorplan cancelled.
And in this same breath, cars with a bench flash tested by this same low level diagnostics or FASTA or any other method have not been detected to have been flashed. I personally have had 6 cars scanned specifically for mods and they have not been detected.
Obviously, this is the status quo at the moment and things can change in the future. Anyway, the nett result is an influx of ///M cars being booked in with us and bench flashed. Some of them like M4 competition packs with 30k on the clock. i have done 4 M45 CP's in a week, M6's, M5's, M135's and M235's. on Wednesday I bench flashed 6 cars in 1 day.
And the question of which is better is going to be a ridiculously mundane battle along the lines of Liverpool vs Man United. So I will just post the figures. The throttle response on the different modes can be tuned in the map, so all customers thus far have uttered the same thing after jumping out of the initial test drive. "Dam, the throttle is so responsive now". Also he lag is decreased just a notch and the power is whole lot more progressive and linear.
VANOS and VALVEtronic tuning is also done in the map, and anti-lag is an option. Top speed limiter removal and increased rev limiters as well. Although those 2 features can be picked up by FASTA. Also cold-start removal and a whole heap of other options are available.
F12 M6 ECU on the bench:
JB Stage 1 on this M6 vs flash, Stg2 with BCM made 503kw on the same car.
Brand new M4 Competition pack being modded:
And another 1:
Yet another M4 being bench flashed:
Surgically opened and resealed with not even a hint that it was ever opened:
The process of writing an F80 M3:
And the end result:
Plenty M135is done too:
This M135i went from 195kw to over 300wkw witgh bench flash!
Mini Cooper also getting the treatment:
raise:
