Went to ESS - My Experience there...

[ImpetuousRacer]

It’s an extensive read, but thought it would yield some more detail than what you normally see…


Choosing the place
I was researching available flash tunes for my car. I wanted to go with a reputable company and was considering the big name brands. I also preferred local. I saw EAS post that ESS was in AZ (where I'm from), I did some research that turned back good results, so I decided to call them.

After asking Roman over the phone 1000 questions, he was very knowledgeable. Their guy in house does the tuning, has extensive experience and great reputation, they've done a lot in the valley with great results and no issues and it’s proven. It made sense to me.


Their Facility
Arriving at their facility, it’s the real deal. It’s not just a mail order setup. They have offices, waiting area, restroom, dyno, and a massive facility where it was exciting to see them working on some of their R&D projects that ranged across the board.
You can tell they were extremely well organized on how they had their parts laid when working on cars to how efficient of a setup they had for packing and processing parts orders. Everything was clean and nothing look neglected.


Custom Tuning
I was able to talk to and work directly with the owner/tuner that was working on my car. Before I brought my car in I had BMW update the car with the latest software. Shortly after, I received a CEL from my High Flow Cats which I never had after 10k miles. He confirmed that they increased the sensitivity levels for the O2 and was able to revert the parameters back to pre-update spec. This way I would get no CEL, plus still pass emissions since deleting CEL would put emissions status to Not Ready.
He was able to eliminate cold start as well.


Issues that came up
After flashing the vehicle and putting the ECUs back, there were all sorts of errors and problems. They needed the car longer to diagnose so they let me use their shop car as a free rental.

It turns out that the 2014 iDrive touch controller that I installed was the cause of the issues. Reinstalling the original controller allowed everything to work. This made sense as when I went to the dealer for the software updates, they had the same issues and needed the original controller. The errors were multiple and random so it didn’t point directly to the touch controller. So, if you did the retrofit, put your stock idrive controller back in before putting the ECU’s back, let everything initialize, then you can reinstall the controller.

Even though the modification I did caused them to take a lot more hours than anticipated, they were kind enough to not charge me and wrote it off as a good learning experience for them to know for future customers. Great Customer service in my book!


The Tuner
The tuner pulled the ECU multiple times to dyno, tweak and adjust settings, and dyno again to perfect the tune specifically for my vehicle. He talked to me about my needs – if I wanted useable linear power or if I just wanted my dyno chart to look the best. I wanted useable power and not a ton of low end torque making it impossible for traction. He adjusted to my liking.
He also looked into and made all the specific tweaks I wanted that I didn’t see offered by other places. He had extensive background and knowledge of the BMW platform along with tuning and European tuning in general. He was extremely knowledgeable.
Speaking with him, they are constantly doing their research on any competing products and developing their products to outperform them if they don’t already. He has a passion for his job, spends many late hours developing and refining things as a perfectionist, and it translates into the quality product that you receive in the end.


Shop Staff
The entire staff was super friendly, helpful, and accommodating. You can tell that they worked at a place they enjoyed being at, and not at a place that is a money making corporation that squeeze the life out of their employees in the name of profit.


Results
The car obviously has more power (as seen below). My baseline was about 20HP lower than their 2014, but they said it seemed to be the norm that the LCI’s had more power than some of the 2013’s they tested.
-The car overall just feels smoother. Smoother power delivery, smoother idle, etc.
-MDM mode is useable! Before with the BMS it would just cut power. The ECU now actually realizes the additional torque and handles it correctly. Before I would need DSC off because MDM killed the power. Now I feel MDM works as intended or even better than before.
-NO ISSUES! – It’s early and I’ll update if it changes, but no DT mal, No check lights, no weird issues. The car drives like stock when not into it and feels great.

[MCarsFan]

Nice one. I hope you have no issues with the tune and really enjoy it!!

[M5Rlz]

phew thank god they have a restroom


But seriously I've always been impressed with what I've seen online sounds like its all true

[A Frankfurt]

Great write up.
Roman and the ESS team are good people to work with

[JtheW]

I'm watching this closely. ESS is very close to my house and I know they make good stuff.

[GOLFFRR]

I have dealt with Roman and AJ for years, ESS will always have my business and my recommendation, they are great!

[JtheW]

How's the tune so far?

[ImpetuousRacer]

Fantastic so far. Great power delivery that I've enjoyed every day. It's 115 out here in AZ and it's still super strong and no issues.

[Boostedm514]

Great write up for a awesome company, I've had many blower kits installed from ess never had any issues dating back to 2006

[FenixMike]

I believe I was there the day your car was on the dyno... I was quite jealous that my little 550 cant hit numbers like that I am thinking about turbos and downpipes with ESS but may just make the jump to an M5 next year instead (or an M4, cant decide now!). Its amazing the tuning knowledge and mechanical knowlege AJ has on these vehicles... and the shop is gorgeous as well! After yours (or one like it) I saw a ESS Supercharged Audi R8 V10 go on the dyno which was also amazing!

[lsturbointeg]

Originally Posted by ImpetuousRacer

Fantastic so far. Great power delivery that I've enjoyed every day. It's 115 out here in AZ and it's still super strong and no issues.

That's good to hear! Always positive info hearing it directly from the people here So they know if they have needs this shop can be an option!

[tom @ eas]

Great review! Glad you are happy with the tune, they've been very popular in SoCal.