[CP911]

Greetings from a F22 M240i owner! Posting here because the F30 crowd is much larger and there is way more traffic and experience here than in the respective F22 forum. Planned track days are coming up soon and I'm determined to bleed my own brakes properly instead of paying ~$250 for the dealerships or indy shops to do it for me. Figure having experience in using ISTA+ and doing my own programming will pay dividends in the future as well for other tasks.

Please bear with me here. In my limited spare time, I have been reading up on various resources posted in your forum here to learn as much as I can about ISTA+, hardware interfaces, etc. However, I am in need of clarification around several points:

1. Is DSC pump activation for M Sport brake bleed considered a Diagnostic function or Programming function? I am thinking it is programming function, but want to be 100% sure before I invest hundreds of dollars in the ICOM A2 programming module.

2. Is the $750 BMW ICOM NEXT module (BMW P/N 81312360883) the only reliable choice of HW for programming? Has anyone had luck (good or bad) with this cheap Chinese knock-off on eBay for ~$240? What about this slightly more expensive knock-off that looks just like the OEM ICOM NEXT unit and is being advertised as a "faster new generation" unit?

3. Do these ICOM modules (OEM or knock-off) work right out of the box for the at-home DIY'er or do they need firmware updates, offline licensing hacks, etc. to work properly?

4. Who is offering a reliable source for the latest ISTA+ software package? My car is a 2018 M240i and I want to make sure I'm getting the newest (but also reliable and bug-free) software to give me the most feature capability with my car. I notice eBay sellers from the UK are offering the software based on release date - for example, "2019.03" for March 2019. Do I want the bleeding edge release or is it safer to go with say a "2018.12" release?

5. Are there any security concerns with any of these software packages or Chinese knock-off ICOM modules? Having worked for a Fortune 500 IT company, I know first-hand that the Chinese can play dirty, and I'd like to know if there are any legitimate privacy concerns either with my car's location, as an example, or with a hacked version of ISTA+ on my computer. I am thinking to buy a separate Lenovo laptop just for garage use that will not be connected to the internet just to be extra safe, but is there anything else to be concerned about here in terms of security or my car's integrity?

6. Lastly, am I going to need an external power supply for the brake bleed job? I haven't been able to determine if a power supply is needed for all or only some programming functions. If I need one, which one are you guys using and where can I buy one?


If you can't answer all of my specific questions, no problem. Just looking to piece this information together even if it comes a little at a time, so whatever help you can provide to get me on the right track here is going to be GREATLY appreciated!

Thanks so much in advance!

[CP911]

Well, it seems like no one has answers to my questions regarding the ICOM HW, so I did what seemed like the safer thing and just bought the OEM BMW unit.

I found it new from www.bmwpartsworldwide.com for $520 shipped. About ~$150 more than the Chinese knock-offs on eBay, but a lot better than the ~$750 most online retailers are selling for. I called and they said it will take about 2 weeks to come from Germany. Not too bad. Should give me time to find a power supply, get a laptop set up with ISTA, etc.

Really looking forward to learning how this stuff works and eventually bleeding my own brakes before my 1st track day this season!

[andino]

I used ISTA's built in program to bleed my M Performance brakes. I didn't use any additional hardware though. I had a pressure bleeder hooked up to the fluid tank and followed the instructions on ISTA as to when pressure was needed and such.

[BMWILUVU]

Why do you need ISTA to bleed brakes?

[andy184]

Originally Posted by BMWILUVU

Why do you need ISTA to bleed brakes?

you don't but it can trigger the ABS unit for a few seconds and help cycle the old fluid out of the pump.

[Fplcman]

Originally Posted by CP911

Well, it seems like no one has answers to my questions regarding the ICOM HW, so I did what seemed like the safer thing and just bought the OEM BMW unit.

I found it new from www.bmwpartsworldwide.com for $520 shipped. About ~$150 more than the Chinese knock-offs on eBay, but a lot better than the ~$750 most online retailers are selling for. I called and they said it will take about 2 weeks to come from Germany. Not too bad. Should give me time to find a power supply, get a laptop set up with ISTA, etc.

Really looking forward to learning how this stuff works and eventually bleeding my own brakes before my 1st track day this season!

I have the knock off one for about 2 years now. No problems at all. I got it off eBay and it worked right out of the box. You will need to get the software installed on a computer. Once you get it going it is fairly easily and plenty of people on here to help. Good luck