[BMW9]

I'm Planing and preparing for a Dinan Reflash for my 550. I want to do this with a BMW Dealer. The two closest Dinan BMW dealers to me are New Port Beach BMW and Crevier BMW. I hear that Crevier is a more customer satisfaction oriented Dealer.

If you have had any experience with Crevier.....
Can you please recommend a good service representative that is generally willing to give good deals and is flexible with minor warranty issues.

I am going to take advantage of the 20% discount that Dinan is offering.

[j3o3t3]

if you want to take a drive to BMW San Diego, I recommend Glenn Widdop, the best, been working w/him for years.

[vortexx]

I recently did the Dinan upgrade at Crevier. Mark Hsieh was my Service Advisor. He was helpful and responsive.

[BMW9]

Ok Thanks to all I think SD is a little too far. I'll go with Vortexx's referral. i will call Mark and will let him know you refered me.

How do you like it Vortexx? does it really transform the car?
Is throttle response better too? Engine smoothness maintained?

[indus]

Wow! So BMW NA endorse Dinan products and don't invalidate your warranty if you have their ECU reflash?

[delvek]

Do any of these performance modifications threaten warranty coverage? Durability/reliability of engine?

[78mao]

crevier is awesome! i had mark hsieh as well when i was there last time!

[BMW9]

As far as I know, BMW NA does not officially endorse Dinan products. However they do have a working relationship. Some BMW dealers (not all) carry and sell Dinan products. If you modify your car with a dinan product and something goes wrong, BMW will send a rep to evaluate the car. If the problem is determined to be caused by the dinan product, then BMW will not cover the cost to fix the problem. Your warranty will not be voided, however its the same thing, as BMW will not cover it. But your warranty will still remain for other non dinan related problems if they arise. In a perfect world, This is where Dinan steps in and covers the cost of repairs. they usually do, but i have read some complaints on the forums about dinan disputing that a particular problem was not caused by them and the customer had to go back and forth between BMW and Dinan. This is why I am going to Modify may car at a BMW dealer who also sells and installs dinan products, that way if there is a dispute between dinan and BMW, the dealer is the one that does both, and the dealer would have to sort out who they get the money from.
Most people are very happy with their dinan tunes and have no issues. Dinan does a lot of R&D and knows BMWs very well. Although I am taking some risk, at least there is some sort of a warranty that should cover me in case something goes wrong with my car.
For example if you do a Dinan re-flash and your suspension fails, BMW will cover that because dinan re-flash does not effect the suspension. But, if your turbo charger fails, then, dinan would have to step in because the tune puts more boost through the turbos so BMW would not pay for it.

[BMW9]

regarding durability, I think that BMW over engineers their cars and there is some room for more power. But, just like any car if you are going to beat it and drive it very hard all the time you will wear down the moving parts faster whether its modded or stock. The Dinan tune puts more stress on the engine, turbos, transmission, etc, But I am not going to drive my car at full boost all the time. Boost builds up only when you accelerate or at top speed where the car is trying to accelerate and the wind resistance won't allow any more acceleration (or going up a hill... you get the idea) so, when you are cruising around at part throttle maintaining steady speed, you are barely using the turbos. The 550 is a 4.4 liter twin turbo V8 that revs to 7000 rpms. It puts out only 400 hp. Some 4.0 liter engines can put out 400 hp with out turbos. This is not to say that BMW cannot do the same, they have done it with the M5 and M3. My point is that this engine is not very stressed and it is tuned for torque 450lbs. Max boost in this car is 9.8 psi which is pretty low for a turbo engine . I think there is some room to push this car further (Dinan takes it to 14.5 psi), but there is always some risk and some more wear and stress on the car. there are many other factors like injectors getting maxed out, heat soak, pipes leaking because of more boost pressure etc. I rely on Dinan to do their home work on such issues. I am going to give this car back after 3 years and about 45K miles. If I drive it hard in short bursts and no extensive high boost driving, I should be OK. However I am taking some risk and will be exposing the car to some more stress. Can it take it? we'll have to wait and see.

[vortexx]

Originally Posted by BMW9

Ok Thanks to all I think SD is a little too far. I'll go with Vortexx's referral. i will call Mark and will let him know you refered me.

How do you like it Vortexx? does it really transform the car?
Is throttle response better too? Engine smoothness maintained?

The car remains virtually the same in normal driving. Engine smoothness is the same, throttle response is also the same, below about 3000 rpm. Above 3000 it really pulls. The 0-60 times arent substantially improved, however 40mph to 100 mph happens in a flash.

[BMW9]

Update: Could not get a hold of Marc. Dropped off my car with Arron at Crevier on Saturday afternoon and got a loaner.

Car is still there. 3 days so far for an hour's worth of reflash. he said the last car they did took them 2 days because of some software problem. must have been your car Vortexx. Getting a bit frustrated because he said it would be ready in one day.