Quote:
Originally Posted by stealth.pilot
Dave - your description of the M Performance Division seems completely off.
M Performance products are made by BMW M Gmbh. BMW is the owner. And BMW is located in Germany. M Performance Products come from Germany. Not from Georgia.
Now I do know that there is a tuning shop in Alpharetta, GA, Performing Imports that told me they have an upgraded exhaust from Boysen (BMWs exhaust supplier for the OEM M5 exhaust) with BMW stampings on it and also BMW high flow cats. He said the exhaust includes downpipes and mid pipes, but use the same OEM tailpipes. This product was apparently developed by Boysen in Germany and is distributed through Noelle Motors - a German distributor who supplies it to Performing Imports in Georgia. He also said they have access to BMW Development software for the M5 through some back channel and they can tune it. Anyone who analyses the ECU will see BMW signature in the code.
However - this is not a BMW M Performance product. It is a gray market product from BMWs suppliers with some prototype software from BMW. It is not sold by BMW and does not have any warranty coverage from BMW.
So this isn't an M Performance Product. If BMW decides to make it an M Performance product then it would be distributed with M Performance branding and sold through BMW dealers with BMW warranty.
|
Ah ha! This makes more sense. I really had no clue, hence all the questions. This seems to be completely possible. Considering the location of my source and the fact that he said that he rode in his friends M5 with the tune in it, I assume in Georgia. Ok so, I think that we can conclude that this is not an official BMW M Performance tune or parts, instead it may be a back channel product like you said.
This could also be the reason why my source has not yet directly answered any of my questions, and is the reason why I started this thread, to get more information from the community to test the plausibility of his statements. Also I may have opened a can of worms here, as I'm sure a lot of people will be wanting to contact this shop in Georgia. A tune with a BMW signature on it should be able to pass inspection when you plug your M5 into any dealership computer. Hmmm.....