jon dee

OK... enough with the subjective opinions and time for a sanity check 1. Sports mode is by definition a mode for people who like to drive in a "sporty" manner... keeps the revs up and use the gears for best performance type of thing. So it is unreasonable to expect Sports mode to behave like Drive at low throttle openings... point taken. 2. Linear throttle effectively flattens out the torque curve to make acceleration progressive with throttle opening. This creates a throttle response similar to that of a non-sporting N.A. engine. But taking away that surge of acceleration a turbocharged engine delivers when the throttle is opened removes a lot of the enjoyment obtained from driving a 335i. Linear throttle and Sports mode are not complementary features... choose one or the other. Today I rolled back to MHD Stage 1+ ver 8 without selecting linear throttle. Main idea was to get a baseline impression and eliminate any unusual effects due to the linear throttle feature. My initial impressions are that the Stage 1+ tune has cleared up a lot of the "slow takeup" when moving off from a standstill. I will need more seat time to be sure, but right now I don't think I will be needing linear throttle... AND... the fun factor is back Sports mode behaves as expected with the car eager to get down to second when slowing/braking into low speed corners. This is (and was) a bit disconcerting when trying to drive the car sedately, but the annoying "bobble" has gone. And once I start to drive a bit more enthusiastically, the downshifts become a natural part of "high rpm use all the gears" driving. Again, i will have to use Sports mode a few more times to firm up my impressions, but I am liking it more now. I lost sight of the fact that with Stage 1+ being a more aggressive tune than Stage 1, it could be expected that the driving experience could be more sports focused. As for linear throttle, it does what it says on the box for Drive mode. But I enjoy driving and that surge of acceleration when the turbos hit ???? Cheers...

Being how this is a fly by wire throttle setup there are a lot of complex tables that need to be adjusted to get from the stock throttle response to a linear response. Juggling seven balls while riding a unicycle down steps would be easier than writing the software for linear throttle. First, the throttle is a butterfly valve that does not have a linear control curve. Second, turbo output is not linear with engine speed. And third, the DME runs a closed loop system that tries to match torque delivered to its best guess at torque required based on how far and how fast you press the gas pedal. All of this has to be weighed against a drivers expectations and the need to ensure that throttle response, acceleration, gear changes and so on are safe and acceptable to a wide range of drivers/car owners. Meeting all those goals is no easy task and I think that MHD have done a pretty good job of smoothing out throttle response for those owners who prefer a relaxing drive experience to a sporting one. However, for people like myself who just wanted to smooth the initial drive takeup when moving off from a stop, the linear throttle feature has also sucked a lot of the fun out of throttle response while driving (at least in D for drive mode). This is just an observation and not a criticism. It is necessary to try new features to get a firsthand impression of how they work and then decide if you want them or not. As I said, I will try driving in sports mode to see if and how that is affected by the linear throttle feature. If there is little or no affect on sports mode then it may be that having the option to knock the shifter sideways when feeling sporty and leave it is drive when driving across town may be the best of both worlds EDIT: Well that didn't take long !!! One short trip over and back the hill up the road from home and I can tell you that there is no way that Sports mode could substitute for Drive when pedaling softly. Uphill the car holds gears for far too long... like 4000rpm with very little load, and downhill it is far too eager to downshift into second. Shifting in and out of second is accompanied by a disconcerting "bobble" as if the lockup is releasing early enough to allow a little free running followed by the load being taken up with a small bump. I can't say if this is just the way Sports mode is in the Stage 1+ tune or if linear throttle is having some negative effect on light throttle driving. Doesn't matter... I don't like it and won't be using it. I'll try flashing Stage 1+ without linear next to get a better idea. Cheers...

Went for a leisurely lope up to Foxton and back today... about 230km all up... and nothing but D for Drive the whole way. Got a bit of a feel for it now and the car really does seem emasculated with the linear throttle mode. Nice and relaxing to drive especially around town and in traffic, but definitely need to encourage kickdown to get a decent passing maneuver going on at 110-120kph Going to try sports mode for a while now and see how that feels by comparison. .. tough job but someone has to do it... Cheers...

I think I lost the plot there for a moment Must have been in Sports mode when I thought I was in normal mode... DOH !!! When I went for a drive this morning in normal mode the car behaved just like normal. So I will stay with the Stage 1+ tune for a few months and see if there really is any downside compared to Stage 1. The linear throttle mode is like the car is on Valium... all that pent up "ready to kick ass" feeling is gone. I missed it today... feels like the car dropped 100hp overnight. But it makes stop and go driving soooo much easier, that I'm going to see if I can re-train my right foot to be a bit more aggressive now that the lightswitch effect is gone. Cheers...

Paddles conversion is pretty straightforward... just need the msport wheel with paddles (typically around the $1000 mark) and a simple harness to run from the column to the shifter housing. Not really fussed about doing the conversion as I don't mind using the shifter or letting the trans decide which gear to use Cheers...

Looks like paddles were an option that was not ordered on my car. Current version on xHP in manual mode locks each gear until the shifter is used, removes the rev limiter and removes the forced upshift feature. Sports and standard modes as usual but with throttle blips on downshift and altered shift points etc. Probably going to reflash without the linear throttle feature just to check if this has any influence on the trans performance. Broke my own rule of only changing one thing at a time to allow each change to be evaluated before implementing the next change. Cheers...

No paddles in my waka I use the shifter in manual when I feel the need but otherwise I am happy to let the trans do its stuff. Third is a very competent gear for moving quickly without having the engine roaring. Second is overkill even for quite tight corners if not in race mode. I'm going to run my full test circuit again just to verify that my initial impression is valid. If I still don't like it I will try ver8 1+. It seems like ver 9 1+ may have changed the trans behavior from ver 8 stage1, and I did not expect that. Cheers...

Finally flashed MHD 1+ and selected the linear throttle option. As suggested, the linear throttle makes the pedal response a lot more like the pedal response of a NA engine, and that definitely helps with getting away from the lights smoothly. The Stage 1+ tune (ver9 beta) also definitely produces more power but introduces a side effect that I'm not sure that I like. On Stage 1 the engine uses 3rd and 4th over most of my "test track", whereas Stage 1+ is super keen to get down into 2nd when 3rd would be adequate. Admittedly my test track is a twisty bit of country road with a lot of corners so the average speed is not high, but Stage 1 handled the corners fine yesterday without feeling the need to constantly chop down to second. I'm wondering if this is side effect of being further into throttle (%TPS) with the linear throttle, or if it is just what the Stage 1+ tune does ? Anyone else notice the same thing ? Cheers...

Looking at a tidy set of style 195 wheels. $600 bare and $700 with runflats with reasonable tread. Not too different to the look I am after and could be tempted if nothing I like better pops up. I like driving on decent name brand tyres with a known history, so the plan is to get a set of new Potenza RE003's under the car when funds allow. Cheers...

Thanks man. There are a few for sale off shore but by the time you pay the asking price, add shipping, GST and sundry other government perks, the landed cost is kind of high for used factory wheels. I'm a bit of wheel whore and if 216's are too hard to find, after a while I will see something else I like and go after that. I like the 216 because it looks like it is made for GO and not just for SHOW Cheers...

Looking for a set of factory 216 wheels to suit 3 series e92 Front: 18 x 8 ET34 and Rear: 18 x 8.5 ET 37. Prefer good original condition but would consider wheels that need refurbishing if the price is right. No cracks, weld repairs bent or dented rims but stone chips, scratches and a bit of kerbing no problem. Cheers

Good call I had that on my list of things to do but completely forgot about it. I'll make a point of implementing linear throttle before my next drive. Cheers...

Probably been asked a hundred times before but to avoid asking a noob question in the tyres and wheel forum I'll ask here Who has run 265/35-18 instead of 255/35-18 on factory 335i 8.5" wide wheels ? I know that it is pushing the envelope a bit but did it cause any handling problems ? Did it rub under any circumstances ? I've seen some cheap semi-slicks for sale and thought I might grab a pair since I have a spare set of wheels that aren't doing anything special Cheers...

Interesting I find that the off idle throttle response on the 335i is quite abrupt if you happen to get on it suddenly by accident. Most of the time around town I am quite slow off the line as I try and "squeeze" the throttle slow and easy to avoid having first gear "bite" firmly. This is probably because the engine makes a lot of torque from low revs. I don't drive the car a lot so maybe it also means I have to adjust my driving habits I know that the Audi guys do a lot of complaining about the Bosch valves, but most of that is down to the fact that Audi install the valves with the connections reversed from the way that BMW install them. They have their reasons for doing that but the downside is that the valves are prone to "leaking" and "quacking" at higher boost levels. If I get a bad valve I would look at replacing the pair with GFB valves ex Aussi. I bought one a while ago to use as a diverter for my s/c Corolla and they look like a quality piece. As it turned out it wasn't suitable for my application and I ended up using a modified turbo legacy factory blowoff valve. Yeah... I agree that stage 1+ is a decent compromise for a bit more performance without pushing the car outside of its design parameters. I like it quiet, comfortable and refined... just as a luxury coupe should be. If I want a sports car or a race car I'd rather buy one than spoil the BM by trying to make it into one. Oh yeah, and I'm familiar with the phrase... famous last words Cheers...

Put downpipes on hold for the time being. I waited until the car came out of mechanical warranty (purchased by one of the previous owners) before I started installing the parts I bought last year. Got the BMS filters in... the rear one is an awkward fit. Definitely function over form there. Got the Chinese charge pipe in with only minor drama. Had to go to Google to find out how to get the TMAP sensor unplugged, and then the hole for the sensor was over bored by about half a millimetre. That meant the sensor O-ring wouldn't seal so I had to bodge a fix with another O-ring I had lying around. Used the OEM diverter valves as I am past the age of needing a fancy BOV on my car Car seems to run pretty good now with the stage 3 trans tune. It hustles so well in Sport mode that manual is almost redundant. I still have a lower charge pipe and stepped intercooler to install, and then I will upgrade to the MHD Stage 1+ tune. Based on how the car runs right now I might not bother with downpipes. It's difficult to find hard information on the benefits... a gain of "20-30hp with a tune" doesn't mean much if you don't know what percentage was due to the pipes and what percentage to the tune. I'm guessing that if I already have a tune the pipes might only contribute 10-15hp. Most anecdotal evidence seems to be based on butt dyno and throttle response. Not saying that downpipes are not a worthwhile investment, but if I'm going to put out $1000-1200 to buy and get them installed, I'd like to see some graphs and more specific details. The other thing is that I'm not a drag racer or circuit racer, and I don't pay $2500 for a set of tyres !!! I just like driving a nice quiet car that puts the power down smoothly and has the ability handle a bit of abuse at car club events from time to time. I don't expect to win anything... just have fun I like the car as it is at the moment, so I'm trying to figure how far to go with upgrades before the driving experience starts to downgrade ? No LSD, street tyres, stock suspension... sooner or later adding power reaches the point where other OEM components need upgrading for safety / reliability, and ride comfort starts to go down. There is a lot of experience on this site... feel free to add your views, especially if you reached a point where you decided to stop modifying. Cheers...

Couple of interesting developments. When I bought the 335i, before I even sat in it I heard a kind of soft rhythmic beat while the car was idling. I asked the guy selling it... what is that sound ? And he said that's the turbo wastegates. As a total BM noob I was prepared to accept that as I had read about wastegate rattle and thought it was probably related. Fast forward a nine months and I fail a warrant for an exhaust leak. Get under the car and take a look... both downpipe gaskets are toast... pretty much only the two perforated foil layers left from cheap aftermarket gaskets. Did a bit of research after I discovered that OEM gaskets are $50 plus EACH!!! Discovered why the OEM ones work and cheap aftermarket ones fail, so bit the bullet and and bought a set of ELRING gaskets. Whacked them in and suddenly no more "wastegates" noise But wait, there's more !!! Prior to replacing the gaskets I had been getting this CEL for an O2 sensor problem. My scanner showed a 100% fail on one of the WBO2 sensors and after choking on the cost of replacement sensors, I bought a full set of four sensors (which look pretty decent BTW) from China for less than the price of one OEM sensor. I wasn't looking forward to replacing the sensor and thought I would put that off until I installed downpipes. But dang me... since replacing the downpipe gaskets the CEL has not come back, and when I scanned for codes today, not only has the previously "dead" sensor come back to life, but it tests 100% OK Cheers...

V9 is an available option, but it is still marked as being in Beta so I just went for V8. Will need to drive it for a while to get a better idea, but my initial impression is that it is a bit more mellow than V7. I'd like to ask a few questions as to how xHP and MHD co-operate when revising tunes. When MHD say click this button for "manual or xHD flashed auto" trans I'd like to think that they had both agreed on the same settings, and not end up with one tune overriding the other. That had me wondering because my first impression was that MHD V8 had moved towards a linear throttle. But I haven't tried the actual linear throttle option so can't compare. Anyway, I'll be out of the mechanical warranty in another month and I have an intercooler, upper and lower charge pipes, BMS air cleaners and a catch can waiting in the garage. Decided to hold off on the downpipes until I have the other bits installed so I can see (hear) what difference there is in interior sound. I like having a quiet car for a change and don't want to spoil that Cheers...

Figured it out... MHD changed a bunch of stuff to do with shifting registration/buying from Google Play Store to their own servers. At the same time there were some upgrades and new features released, so now I have a MHD V8 Stage 1 tune instead of a V7, and managed to get the monitoring and logging stuff working. One of the new options is a tune that is stated to be for "Manual (MT) or xHP flashed AT" and that is the tune I am running. Seems like they have tweaked the throttle response to be a bit more linear than the stock "comes in early" response. Feels nice anyways Graphed a couple of logs and pretty easy to see why I am getting that 2C7E o2 sensor CEL. The LTFT1 sensor has flat lined I'll have to get under the car just in case a wire or plug came loose, and see how the logs look with a working sensor. Other stuff doesn't look too bad... rail pressure drops quite low when I'm off the gas but it gets up to good numbers when there is a bit of load on the engine. LPFP seems solid also but I'm no expert, so feel free to point out my mistakes. Cheers...

For unknown reasons I could not get MHD to data log today. But I looked at freeze frame readings from my el cheapo scanner and it showed STFT1 -2.3% and LTFT1 +7% compared to STFT2 -0.8% and LTFT2 +1.6%. Lambda was showing 0.998 or similar. So I guess it is the bank 1 readings that are setting off the CEL. The car had new injectors and plugs less than 10,000km ago, and runs fine. I have noticed that the code seems to come back sooner when I let the car idle for a long time, so I'd really like to get a log to see if the AFR's on the two banks diverge at low IDC but stay nice and close at higher IDC. Need to get the MHD app sorted or find another data logging app that works. Cheers...

This is what MHD is showing. Difficult to find a definitive explanation of the exact function and importance of the post cat sensors. Nearest I can figure is that they that they might have some role in monitoring the cat performance, but more likely they check that the pre cat sensors are achieving stoich in closed loop cruise. If the latter is correct then they will be used by the ECU to offset the pre cat sensors so that the bank does achieve stoich. Just a guess of course So either the fueling has drifted off target or a bad sensor / wiring / connection is causing the post cat sensor voltage to report incorrectly. A log should show what is actually happening and I will try and get one tomorrow. Cheers...

Thanks... I'll see if I can get a bit more detail with the MHD app and try to make a log to see what the AFR's are doing. Cheers...

Managed to get out and have a bit of a drive just to see how the V3 tune stacks up. Got out on the motorway for a few km's and then around my usual backroads test track that is all hills, corners and short straights Previous couple of weeks was just a few short trips tootling around town. Dayyyymn Son !!!! This V3 tune is as smooth as butter around town. In normal Drive the changes are slurred to perfection and hard to detect when not pedaling hard. Even when conditions allow semi-spirited driving the changes don't happen with a bump. This is a very refined sporting trans tune and a big step up from the earlier version... I love it Plus it seems to have eliminated those little moments of indecision that the trans used to have when making up its mind which gear it wanted to be in. Didn't spend much time in Sports or Manual modes but my initial impression is that these have also benefited from the improved shift timing. If you are running a Stage 3 tune I would definitely recommend that you try the V3 upgrade. It is so good now that I would never consider changing back to the OEM trans tune. Cheers... PS: Got a P114B code, same as I have had a few times before. Looks like a post cat O2 sensor problem as the little code reader I carry in the car can't bring up any voltages for one of them. I've been clearing it but it might be time to get it sorted. Any input other than buying a new sensor ?

This is the message I was getting... apparently the factory trans tune is supposed to be backed up automatically before you can flash an xHP tune, but somehow I missed that step when I flashed the earlier tune. Managed to create a mobile hotspot with the wife's phone and once the xHP Flashtool was able to call home it downloaded and updated and flashed the V3 Stage 3 tune successfully. If it fines up a bit tomorrow I'll go for a drive and see if I can pick the difference. Cheers...

Bit of a hiccup with the update. Seems I managed to install Stage 3 without the app making a backup of the stock tune., and now it won't install the update. So I have to find out how to get a copy of the stock tune from xHP. But while I was messing around I did see a post somewhere that says MHD have some updates to their tunes to better match the engine to the trans with the V3 update. So I'll be looking into that next. <=== turned out to be old facebook post from 2017 !!! Cheers...

Hey M3AN, xHP Stage 3 certainly shows what gear you are in when in drive. I see that the trans spends a lot of time in 3rd and 4th around town, when before the flash it would be in 5th and 6th as soon as the load eased up. Makes it more responsive but probably doesn't help fuel economy ? Cheers...