[Yiolli]

Let's see who has survived with the a BMS jb or jb4 the longest without serious problems in their F30/F32 N20 N26!

This will serve to motivate more members to tune and also relieve my anxiety over my brand new jb! Also can help by knowing what issues people have had so we can get ahead of them

How long have you been running your tune and at what mileage? Think any maintenance resulted from the modifications? Any tips / suggestions? Thoughts on performance?

[Munchi435i]

You'd be better off asking this question in the N20 section since this is the N55 area

[n55david]

Wrong forum buddy.. and i have zero plans to run a jb4 for anything lol

[Yiolli]

Originally Posted by Phantom10R

Wrong forum buddy.. and i have zero plans to run a jb4 for anything lol

Embarrassing.... do you have against JB other than other products work better

[n55david]

Originally Posted by Yiolli

Embarrassing.... do you have against JB other than other products work better

Seriously?

I mean the main reason to not use a JB4 is that software solutions are vastly supperior... soooooo what else is there?

[Liandri]

Sounds like you don't have much understanding about tuning. Jb4 is a piggyback, something that modifies signals in and out of the ecm. It works, but is arguably a half ass way to do it. Modifying/flashing the software at the ecu is the correct way. The only situations I see where you would piggyback over flash is if your under warranty, if flashing is not available, or if you needed a specific feature on the jb4 not currently available in bm3 or mhd.

Before you do any sort of tuning/adding power you need to make sure your fluids are maintained/clean. I used to think this went without saying but I couldn't be further from the truth

Just based on your thread here, you should do some more googling and searching the forum for the numerous other threads that will help you gain the knowledge you need. If you have anxiety over the platform you chose, you made a mistake somewhere or didn't fully research or comprehend the information

[Yiolli]

Originally Posted by Liandri

Sounds like you don't have much understanding about tuning. Jb4 is a piggyback, something that modifies signals in and out of the ecm. It works, but is arguably a half ass way to do it. Modifying/flashing the software at the ecu is the correct way. The only situations I see where you would piggyback over flash is if your under warranty, if flashing is not available, or if you needed a specific feature on the jb4 not currently available in bm3 or mhd.

Before you do any sort of tuning/adding power you need to make sure your fluids are maintained/clean. I used to think this went without saying but I couldn't be further from the truth

Just based on your thread here, you should do some more googling and searching the forum for the numerous other threads that will help you gain the knowledge you need. If you have anxiety over the platform you chose, you made a mistake somewhere or didn't fully research or comprehend the information

I think I do understand the difference between a piggy back and a flash tune. I choose what I did because from what I've read, it's just as safe (or unsafe) for the cars health to use the piggyback as it is to run a flash tune at a similar (ish) dollar value. I've searched and searched, and what I see is that flash tunes work more effectively/smoothly than piggyback tunes.....ok well this JB unit is $390 and I can pull it on and off without a trace in 5 minutes.

So personally it doesn't matter to me that I could have a flash tune that's more smooth with power delivery, etc. For me the question is "am I more likely to spend money on car maintenance if I use a piggyback vs flash ?"

Please let me know if my thought process is utter trash! Also reducing my oil changes to 5k miles. Any other fluids you would keep at eye on at 51k miles?

[Yiolli]

Originally Posted by Phantom10R

Seriously?

I mean the main reason to not use a JB4 is that software solutions are vastly supperior... soooooo what else is there?

I have a JB which is $390 and there's no work required. What price range are you comparing as vastly superior?

[Munchi435i]

Originally Posted by Yiolli

I have a JB which is $390 and there's no work required. What price range are you comparing as vastly superior?

MHD flash tune, $250 for the flasher and $99 for any map pack, total of $350....vastly superior compared to JB, JB4 or any piggy back!

[Liandri]

Originally Posted by Yiolli

I think I do understand the difference between a piggy back and a flash tune. I choose what I did because from what I've read, it's just as safe (or unsafe) for the cars health to use the piggyback as it is to run a flash tune at a similar (ish) dollar value. I've searched and searched, and what I see is that flash tunes work more effectively/smoothly than piggyback tunes.....ok well this JB unit is $390 and I can pull it on and off without a trace in 5 minutes.

So personally it doesn't matter to me that I could have a flash tune that's more smooth with power delivery, etc. For me the question is "am I more likely to spend money on car maintenance if I use a piggyback vs flash ?"

Please let me know if my thought process is utter trash! Also reducing my oil changes to 5k miles. Any other fluids you would keep at eye on at 51k miles?

Very good, no your process isn't trash at all. We all chose the path we agree with, I'm just overly OCD since I have a $50k car on the line and that's just my style anyway.

You would end up doing the same maintenance tuning either way. But I can definitely recommend, being a mechanic, you change the trans and all driveline fluids if your keeping the car for a long time. If your xdrive that includes transfer case and front diff as well. My rear diff fluid was garbage at 3yr/22k, surprisingly. The 8hp fluid was slightly darker than new, and the 4 magnets in the pan were lightly dusted with shavings.
I do 3000mi oil changes personally, but that's because fluid maintenance is nothing compared to replacing powertrain assemblies. We have had a couple dead n20/26 engines come through the shop in the past year so if you don't already change your oil yourself, you could do that to make up the extra cost of lower mileage intervals.

I could go into more specific supporting mod stuff but I have n55, and was already established this is in the wrong section best of luck though, tune smart, maintain your car like it's the space shuttle and it should reward you with far less headache and money out of pocket over the course of ownership.

[n55david]

Originally Posted by Yiolli

I have a JB which is $390 and there's no work required. What price range are you comparing as vastly superior?

[Yiolli]

Originally Posted by Phantom10R

Whatsup??!

[Yiolli]

But then we're changing software. Isn't there something to be said about having the piece of mind of getting some extra performance without changing too much about your car?

I'll admit I don't know much about the ECU but it feels like a risk to be changing software. Not to mention warranty

Also is it really vastly superior stage 1? Or is it just slightly smoother, more options for later.

[Munchi435i]

Originally Posted by Yiolli

But then we're changing software. Isn't there something to be said about having the piece of mind of getting some extra performance without changing too much about your car?

I'll admit I don't know much about the ECU but it feels like a risk to be changing software. Not to mention warranty

Also is it really vastly superior stage 1? Or is it just slightly smoother, more options for later.

Honestly no one here can chime in on perfomance gains, pros, cons etc on a platform that we don't own....this is the N55 section. Post your thoughts on the N20/N26 section for more feedback and accurate information.

[Yiolli]

Originally Posted by Munchi435i

Honestly no one here can chime in on perfomance gains, pros, cons etc on a platform that we don't own....this is the N55 section. Post your thoughts on the N20/N26 section for more feedback and accurate information.

Sorry honestly having trouble with my app and I accidentally submitted this draft

[n55david]

Originally Posted by Yiolli

But then we're changing software. Isn't there something to be said about having the piece of mind of getting some extra performance without changing too much about your car?

I'll admit I don't know much about the ECU but it feels like a risk to be changing software. Not to mention warranty

Also is it really vastly superior stage 1? Or is it just slightly smoother, more options for later.

There isnt any more risk than a JB4... and the dealer can see the overboosting etc and will know if they want to regardless. You arent warranty safe with a piggyback.

[Fuel-It!]

Originally Posted by Yiolli

Let's see who has survived with the a BMS jb or jb4 the longest without serious problems in their F30/F32 N20 N26!

This will serve to motivate more members to tune and also relieve my anxiety over my brand new jb! Also can help by knowing what issues people have had so we can get ahead of them

How long have you been running your tune and at what mileage? Think any maintenance resulted from the modifications? Any tips / suggestions? Thoughts on performance?

BMS purchased one of the first N20 328i cars in the USA years ago and has been running a JB4 on it ever since, over 100k miles now, many of them HARD driven and raced. Countless dyno runs, etc.

[Yiolli]

Originally Posted by Fuel-It!

BMS purchased one of the first N20 328i cars in the USA years ago and has been running a JB4 on it ever since, over 100k miles now, many of them HARD driven and raced. Countless dyno runs, etc.

Interesting...they probably maintain it better than the average person though

[Fuel-It!]

Originally Posted by Yiolli

Interesting...they probably maintain it better than the average person though

They change the oil every 10k miles or so, not much else that I know of. I think they did plugs at some point.

[435gc]

I've had jb4 for a little over a year. No complaints related to reliability. The only complaint I had was with daily drivability. Boost would kick in hard like there was a on/off switch.

I bought the mhd flasher and uploaded the BMS back end race flash. Now it's a dream to drive. Just like stock but way faster. Also the linear throttle function that mhd has is awesome and made the purchase worth it just for that. BMS support has been great as well. Best of both worlds especially if you already have a JB4 and want a better running car and dont want to fork out the money to fully switch tunes.

[Yiolli]

Originally Posted by 435gc

I've had jb4 for a little over a year. No complaints related to reliability. The only complaint I had was with daily drivability. Boost would kick in hard like there was a on/off switch.

I bought the mhd flasher and uploaded the BMS back end race flash. Now it's a dream to drive. Just like stock but way faster. Also the linear throttle function that mhd has is awesome and made the purchase worth it just for that. BMS support has been great as well. Best of both worlds especially if you already have a JB4 and want a better running car and dont want to fork out the money to fully switch tunes.

Interesting. I should look into that. I'm just running the JB stage 1. Two days in I really like it but I have no plans to change anything else. I figure if I'm gonna spend $1k+ in mods I might as well just trade in the 428i for a 435i of similar mileage for an extra few thousand. Wish I did it on the front end

[Yiolli]

Originally Posted by 435gc

I've had jb4 for a little over a year. No complaints related to reliability. The only complaint I had was with daily drivability. Boost would kick in hard like there was a on/off switch.

I bought the mhd flasher and uploaded the BMS back end race flash. Now it's a dream to drive. Just like stock but way faster. Also the linear throttle function that mhd has is awesome and made the purchase worth it just for that. BMS support has been great as well. Best of both worlds especially if you already have a JB4 and want a better running car and dont want to fork out the money to fully switch tunes.

Had an experience this morning with the boost on/off switch explanation you had.

Was in ECO PRO.....and I stepped on it to merge into the middle lane (morning rush hour) and the car MOVED like I've never seen before in eco pro. It's like the boost just came out of nowhere once your foot goes past a certain point


EDIT: this is NOT a complaint. Nice to feel it working