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Alright peeps, here's the scoop.
Turns out my original source was mistaken when he stated that these performance mods were BMW M Performance parts. Stealth Pilot got a direct hit on my Battleship when he posted the information about Performing Imports. I was just contacted by Ron at Performing Imports and he has told me the following:
- The tuning software is in fact unofficial software. It is BMW development software. He has access to it because of a relationship he has with someone in Germany.
- It does in fact have BMW Signature, so it should not raise and flags, but Performing Imports will however not make a statement one way or the other as to whether or not it can void the warranty. The voiding of your warranty is still up to your dealership, service advisor, and general service manager as it always has been. However, because this tune is actual BMW software and not a hack-job from an aftermarket tuner, it will be kind of like installing the Euro Spec SMG software on the E60 M5's SMG. The Euro Spec software for the SMG III was a BMW designed software tune but never released for the U.S. Market. It is not illegal to have a BMW designed part on your car.
- The software itself costs $3999.00 but the installation is $1000.00. It takes many hours to do it. The ECU cannot be sent to Performing Imports, it has to be done in the car. The software not only addresses the DME’s – the F10 M5 has 2 DME’s -, it also makes changes to the CAS and the DST.
With that said, Ron from Performing Imports has graciously offered to come out to Southern California to perform the software tune for those who want it. He said that it would not be worth it for him to come out here to tune just one car, as he will have pay for his own plane ticket and lodging. He has suggested that I put the word out and see how many people are interested in him installing this tune here in Southern California. I told him, what are you crazy?! I know like a billion people in SoCal who would want this tune on their M5! Haha!!
So the question is now, who in SoCal wants to do this? However there are some requirements that have to be met, he'll need a place to do it and he'll need a voltage supply for the cars. A battery charger will not work, it has to be a flash programming voltage supply. So we may need a professional shop to sponsor his work, or if anyone has the proper equipment we can do it at their house.
Before jumping the gun, I suggest that you consider cost involved and that fact that at some point this year, other tuners will have software out, which may be better, but I highly doubt any aftermarket tuner will be able to have a BMW signature on their software.
If you live in another location with many F10 M5's around you, I suggest that you start getting your own groups together and contact Ron to see if he would be willing to come out and do your cars.
We can get a list of Southern California people together here, or we can start another thread somewhere else. Don't matter to me. What's the consensus?
Oh also I forgot to ask him, if he takes credit card, or cash only. I just contacted him about this and he'll get back to me shortly. Thanks!
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