Anyone installed Active Autowerke Z4M Performance Software Tune?

[racerbruce]

Performance increase?
Any error code lights?
Any emissions compliance issues?

[Bossdog]

Yes, a few months back. It does a nice job smoothing out through the power curve, it improves pull into the higher RPM's. The performance improvement over 4000 RPM was easily noticeable. The smoothness as the RPM climb is very noticeable. It seems to me it would be of great value of I were tracking, slightly less so for a street car because you're not really winding it out most of the time.

The modification of the sensitivity to the gas pedal makes it a bit twitchy, the "sport mode" button you already have is ON all the time with this mod. I'm not sure why they do that, if its an option I'd leave the Sport mode button active to your selection.

All and all, I felt it was a fine way to spend $500. I sent my ECU to them, but now AAW has reduced the price of the cable you need to where it makes sense to just buy the cable and upload the program yourself. I spent $56 for 2-day shipping and insurance of $1200

I just checked their web site, they have dropped the Z4M Tune $50 since I got it a few months ago and the Cable cost is now $50. No codes or issues of that sort, everything went smooth.

I would do it again!

[pokeybritches]

I didn't have the sport mode set to "on". The button operation behaved like stock. I believe there was an option to have the button turn on automatically when the car was turned on.

It's been a few years since I had the AA tune. I remember that I was happy with it. There are no night and day differences. One member here gained 26 whp, while another lost a little bit of power which AA then corrected with a retune.

[racerbruce]

Thanks guys -
Agreed; would order w/SPORT activated by the button. Any idea if the member that lost power but AA corrected can provide info - to hopefully prevent this from occurring?

[NickyC]

Wow, thanks for the information guys. A possible 26whp increase is pretty significant for not much money!

With the cable mentioned by Bossdog, is the tune removable, or am I *stuck* with it once it's tuned?

Thanks again for the info!

[Steenos]

I had an AA tune with o2 readiness. I liked it alright and it helped me pass emissions with headers/400 cell cats. My understanding at first was that if it was o2, when I changed out the cats it wouldn't matter.

Well I changed out the cats to 100 cell. With the 300 cell cats on I would get an intermittent CEL. One day it would be on and one day it would be off. I'm assuming that it would need to be retuned with the 100 cell?

With Active Auto headers, Active Auto tune, DKF Section one and Stromung exhaust I only got 288whp.

[pokeybritches]

Originally Posted by NickyC

Wow, thanks for the information guys. A possible 26whp increase is pretty significant for not much money!

With the cable mentioned by Bossdog, is the tune removable, or am I *stuck* with it once it's tuned?

Thanks again for the info!

A flash tune can always be overwritten.

Mfanatic325 has a thread on his 26 whp gain.

[NickyC]

Originally Posted by pokeybritches

A flash tune can always be overwritten.

Mfanatic325 has a thread on his 26 whp gain.

Thanks I'll check it out!

[pal]

I have had the AA tune on the Z4MC for about 3+ years now. It did made the throttle super linear and smooth all the way to redline. This is very noticeable on track where modulation and rolling onto throttle on corner exits became much easier. As for power, I think it added between 2-5whp on a dyno on my car with European headers.

[deemo319]

Originally Posted by pal

I have had the AA tune on the Z4MC for about 3+ years now. It did made the throttle super linear and smooth all the way to redline. This is very noticeable on track where modulation and rolling onto throttle on corner exits became much easier. As for power, I think it added between 2-5whp on a dyno on my car with European headers.

That's very good on-track characteristics but do you think 2-5 whp is sufficient for its price?

[pal]

Originally Posted by deemo319

That's very good on-track characteristics but do you think 2-5 whp is sufficient for its price?

To me, the linear and super smooth throttle response on track has been worth it. It allowed me to manage corner exits better and start to take my driving a notch further and also drop lap times. If I had to do it again, I would.

At the end of the day, the S54 in the Z4M is pretty maxed out from the factory. The AA tune just cleaned up the engines response and I was not expecting much in terms of power and was happy not to lose anything. If you are looking purely for numbers on a dyno, European headers that delete a set of cats are your best bet - I picked up 17whp and more mid-range torque with this and the butt-dyno noticed it right from the get go as well.

[racerbruce]

The Seattle area AA installer of the software (Broadstroke Associates) states AA provided info of 15 RWHP and the SPORT button cannot be programmed to function by pressing the SPORT button as programmed from BMW....

[pokeybritches]

Originally Posted by racerbruce

The Seattle area AA installer of the software (Broadstroke Associates) states AA provided info of 15 RWHP and the SPORT button cannot be programmed to function by pressing the SPORT button as programmed from BMW....

I'm not sure why they would have issues with the sport button. Mine functioned normally with the software. Are you able to mail the ECU to AA?