[harryjchattanooga]

There are some chip manufacturers that say you can get 60 more hp if you buy their chip. They offer a 30 day moneyback guarantee. I know that this cant be real right? But do they do anything at all? They have to do something right? One such company is Thorton chips out of columbus georgia. Cant wait to see some responses.

[BIGW0RM]

Its called a piggyback. They have been around for years and are common enough that most know about them.

They basically fool the engine management and create more power. Most of them all say they create 50-60hp.

Beauty of them is they are somewhat easy to remove in case you need to go to the dealer. That said, if you blow your motor and take it off to play dumb. They can look into the engine logs to see that performance values are higher than stock can create, thus you had a tune of some sort and you loose your warranty.

To me, they are not worth it. Id rather go full tilt and add mods and a protune if I didnt care about my warranty. Risking my warranty for 50-60 HP isnt worth it TO ME.

I tried one once years ago on another M3 and immediately took it off. I found it to be like a on or off switch in regards power delivery and didn't like it.

[Shiza]

Yes, it's a scam. Most modern BMW ECU's are flash-able, so no point in a "chip". Not sure what model you have but get with a reputable tuner if you want it done right and your engine to last.

[unfoundnemo]

Originally Posted by harryjchattanooga

There are some chip manufacturers that say you can get 60 more hp if you buy their chip. They offer a 30 day moneyback guarantee. I know that this cant be real right? But do they do anything at all? They have to do something right? One such company is Thorton chips out of columbus georgia. Cant wait to see some responses.

changing ecu mappings or running a piggyback tune on top of the default map... it increases PSI in the turbos and such... a lot of people run them, but there are definitely some that are better/safer than others. not sure which car you're talking about, but go into the right sub forum and look to see what others are happy with.

[grannyknot]

That's hilarious, not only do you get 60hp that was just left on the table and forgotten about but you also get 5 more mpg.


A good professional tuner can get you 15-20hp depending on what modifications you have done to your engine, the more performance mods the higher the hp you can expect.
To get an extra 60hp you are talking custom headers and intake, new cams, head porting, maybe lighter pistons and rods.

[Raimo5]

Originally Posted by grannyknot

That's hilarious, not only do you get 60hp that was just left on the table and forgotten about but you also get 5 more mpg.


A good professional tuner can get you 15-20hp depending on what modifications you have done to your engine, the more performance mods the higher the hp you can expect.
To get an extra 60hp you are talking custom headers and intake, new cams, head porting, maybe lighter pistons and rods.

You can get a lot more out of an engine with a simple stage 1. There is plenty power and fuel economy left on the table, because laws and ethics (unless you are Volkswagen) demand so.

Tuning is a balancing act between power output, fuel consumption and tailpipe emissions. You can pick two out of three that you want to improve and leave one to sacrifice on. Usually people pick power and fuel consumption and wont even bother to think about how many people die prematurely because of air pollution in dense cities.

[TheMechanic]

Cheap. Reliable. Good Extra HPower.

Pick 2 out of 3.

[Patton250]

Originally Posted by Raimo5

You can get a lot more out of an engine with a simple stage 1. There is plenty power and fuel economy left on the table, because laws and ethics (unless you are Volkswagen) demand so.

Tuning is a balancing act between power output, fuel consumption and tailpipe emissions. You can pick two out of three that you want to improve and leave one to sacrifice on. Usually people pick power and fuel consumption and wont even bother to think about how many people die prematurely because of air pollution in dense cities.

I want you to know you just made my day. Unless I’m extremely lucky I doubt very seriously that today anybody will say something as funny as what you just did. You’re the man.

With a professional tune you can easily add 150 hp to these cars without any engine modifications. Of course you would only do that if you don’t care about warranty as some have already mentioned. But please you should be careful so you don’t make anyone die permanently.

[authentic-haggis]

I don't know about BMWs... since it's my first one.

But I can speak from experience that Mercedes dealer tech can easily tell that the engine was tuned, even if you remove all the hardware or software. There are parts of the engine computer with non-removable data that will show how much power the car was making and if it exceeds factory spec by too much, they knew that it was messed with. That resulted in denial of warranty repair, but couldn't really blame them, right?

[freakystyly]

Originally Posted by grannyknot

A good professional tuner can get you 15-20hp depending on what modifications you have done to your engine, the more performance mods the higher the hp you can expect.
To get an extra 60hp you are talking custom headers and intake, new cams, head porting, maybe lighter pistons and rods.

You're correct, this is for naturally aspirated engines. OP doesn't specify what car it is for, maybe it's an E90 or maybe it's not.

Turbo engines are easy mode for tuning in more power in comparison.

[nazali]

you don't get something for nothing.

[vt100]

Originally Posted by grannyknot

That's hilarious, not only do you get 60hp that was just left on the table and forgotten about but you also get 5 more mpg.


A good professional tuner can get you 15-20hp depending on what modifications you have done to your engine, the more performance mods the higher the hp you can expect.
To get an extra 60hp you are talking custom headers and intake, new cams, head porting, maybe lighter pistons and rods.

Man, we're dying dinosaurs in this brave new world
All you've said is true... but for NA engines. My previous 335is could be easily tuned to get extra 60hp just by SW means (well, plus maybe a custom intercooler).

PS: and now imagine that Tesla can add much more only by reshuffling few bytes and not touching the hardware at all