[Dave]

Z4 was sold today & with the missus picking up her dinky toy 107 on Sat it means I will have to drive her BMW 120D Sport for a while. Currently has 165bhp, but I've been reading follwing about chipping / remapping it to 210bhp BMW 1 Series :: View topic - ChippedUK 120d Auto Sport

Lose the remaining 2 years warranty for the extra power or not

Anyone on here had their car "chipped" ....& I don't mean the paintwork

[IanHoughton]

Sounds like a no brainer to me, about £300 isn't it ?? Regarding the warranty, who would know ??

[stepheno]

I dunno.....these boy racers......

[Rob Barron]

£300 seems a lot for chips to me. My local chippie only charges £3.95 and that's with a large cod!

[silkstone]

The extra £296.05 is for the badge.

Being a naturally cautious chappie, I wouldn't do it. The power should be adequate as it is, and chipping sometimes increases the peak power at the expense of a flat torque curve, so the car is less easy to drive in traffic etc. Also I wouldn't want to throw away two years' warranty, especially in case the chip damages summat.

Just my £3.95 though, which may be a load of cods.

[Dave]

lol .... potatoes are expensive round here ya know

Re torque, it actually increases it on the Diesels, from 340NM to 400NM

[silkstone]

Aye, but how flat is the power and torque throughout the rev range? Sometimes chipping can mean you've got to rev the sphericals off it to actually get the performance - OK on a track where you can keep it near the red line, but not so good otherwise.

[Dave]

Agree re petrol cars & I can't talk for all diesels, but the Beemer diesels are all detuned a std. That's why the 535D is still same 3.0 diesel as 530D, but tons more power. 118D is 2.0D but less power than 120D, which is less power than newer 123D which is still the 2.0D

[Matt F]

That link is talking about remapping which, IMO, is the way to go - much more sophisticated than a chip/plug in performance box.

I've heard Celtic Tuning are very good in this respect and will remove the map and refund your money if you aren't happy with the results.

And if the warranty invalidation bothers you, try Superchips - their conversions cost more but their own warranty covers any faults that may occur.

[Markulous]

Send it down our way - I've got the local kids to collect a pile of gravel and they are now fully instructed in the delicate art of chipping Beemers!

I say chip it but be prepared for voided warranty (tho' replacing the original prior to service/recovery would be good!) - "the gearbox would never have imploded if you hadn't chipped it"