[YouAreMyWorld]

Hello everyone, for the past week I've been working with Ken dialing in my vehicle and I'd like to share the process, literal first impressions, ease of communication and overall elation at the end results. My car is completely stock with the exception of an ER Charge Pipe. Current plugs have about 17,000 miles on them.

First and foremost, I love MHD and Co., so I'm in no way bashing the OTS maps; I'm merely going to provide my unbiased opinion, why I went the custom route and why I still would buy the OTS maps again just to support the platform and community--even if I knew what I could get if I were to put my money towards a custom tune from the get go.

As some of you may know, my first 335i was an N54 and I became a part of the community at just about the perfect time for when the flash-tuning scene was really making strides in development. Literally a month, if not less, after I purchased my first 335i, MHD was released and I jumped (Mid to late May) at the opportunity to get some more power out of my then N54. I already knew about the JB4, but with MHD's price point, it was pretty obvious to me which one I would rather go with. Long story short however, I only really got a taste of what MHD/a modded 335i was like as my enjoyment was short lived due having been involved in a not-at-fault accident. My first "baby" was totaled and a month post accident I was fortunate enough to jump right back into a 335i--just that this time it was a '12 model and obviously equipped with an N55 (my first one being a '10 model year).

Fast forward two years later and here we are. I yearned and dreamed about MHD coming to the N55 (no joke ) scene. I have an email from Mid 2015 just about begging and urging Martial to please look into developing MHD for the N55. At the time, we as a community, were all left in the dark as although Martial expressed interest, his hands were tied with fully developing MHD (it was still in Beta at that time) for the N54. Fortunately our patience was met with reward and I was practically salivating at the announcement of MHD for the N55.

Now enough back story, let's jump into it! I hopped on the Beta wagon with everyone else just after the patch release to fix the 36C9A error. Purchased both the Stage 1 and Stage 2 maps. Right off the bat my mind hearkened to when I first purchased MHD for my N54 (which was also in Beta at the time) and I proceeded to install the N55 Stage 1+ 91 ACN tune. Almost immediately, my smile was met with stark disappointment. My expectations from my previous experience was just too high for what's, at the time of writing this, offered in the OTS map(s). Very laggy throttle input, jumpy boost input, non-linear power delivery, didn't feel much different than PPK, and overall my car just did not feel right. Fast forward a couple days, as I thought maybe my car needed a little adjustment period and I just couldn't take it anymore. I know how my car should feel and it surely wasn't that. So then I loaded up the Stage 2 91 map, thinking maybe the ACN map just doesn't have enough testing. Admittedly, it felt a lot better than the Stage 1+ 91 ACN map, but overall my experience still wasn't comparable to my MHD N54 experience. I knew things could be better, a lot better--and things will get better on the OTS side. I'm just an impatient and meticulous person, so I couldn't wait any longer to have my car running in a manner that I personally was just not satisfied with.

Now's here's the good stuff. Being both dissatisfied and impatient, I hit up Ken (WedgePerformance) inquiring about his services. Truthfully I wanted to rip my hair out once I learned of the price, but I respect his hustle and knowledge. Plus, you have to pay to play right? I told Ken give me some time to get the funds together and you'll hear from me soon. Fast forward to a week ago and Ken emailed me my first map : WELLLLLL, let me tell you how that went.

Super excited, I went out immediately upon receipt of the map and took "Aura" (my car's name, don't laugh ) for a spin. I immediately felt a difference in throttle input and my car was simply running smoother. Obviously my car was still warming up, so no WOT or anything more than maybe 25% pedal at most as I was cruising around to get to where I could safely log. Now it's time, I mash my foot down in 3rd gear at 2,200rpms and by the time I could finish saying "Holy shit ", my holy shit went to "OH SHIT".... 36C9A. Now I don't know how many of you have been unfortunate enough to experience 36C9A, but let me tell you this... My butthole puckered up so tight to my chair that I'm pretty sure turning me upside down and shaking me wouldn't have released me from it. I honestly thought my transmission broke as that was the fault that popped up immediately and I was stuck in 3rd/limp mode. I meandered to the side of the road like a dog with his tail between his legs that just got an ass whoopin'. I turned off my car and emotions aside I started to think logically, looked under my hood, no damage of course, so I went back inside and flashed back to stock/PPK. Did a pull and no error, so I knew it wasn't my car--emailed Ken and got a response with a revised map soon there after.

Now let me just tell you how meticulous and how much I bothered Ken, hahaha. My entire tuning process took 7 Revisions; yes I know Ken was working with his hands tied dealing with my trash octane rating and me essentially chasing "perfection" (lmaoo). Overall though, it was very exciting to see how each iteration of my tune improved after the other, how Ken listened diligently to my feedback and tweaked everything to exactly my liking and how I envisioned my car to perform with a lot more power. Admittedly, I conveyed a ton of feedback for Ken and how he was able to translate that to how my car feels now is remarkable in and of itself. If you haven't already, do yourself a favor. Message Ken, get your car setup right. My only thing is, please.. purchase the OTS maps, support the platform. The pursuit of perfection takes time, I just wanted it a lot quicker than the current pace of the OTS offerings.

Here's the MEAT: 91 ACN & 91 ACN + 3.5 Gallons of E85

Log 1: http://datazap.me/u/youaremyworld/lo...33-38-41-42-43

Log 2: http://datazap.me/u/youaremyworld/lo...33-38-41-42-43

Log 3 (Multi-Gear): http://datazap.me/u/youaremyworld/lo...33-38-41-42-43


3.5 Gallons of E85 to full tank of 91 ACN:

Log 1: http://datazap.me/u/youaremyworld/lo...42-43-44-45-46

Log 2: http://datazap.me/u/youaremyworld/lo...42-43-44-45-46

Log 3: http://datazap.me/u/youaremyworld/lo...42-43-44-45-46

[YouAreMyWorld]

I was rolling around tonight on the prowl, eager to get some real world comparisons to my new found power. Sure enough, a contender appeared and it was exactly what I was looking for. In my area, there are a lot of G37's and I come into them frequently; I usually "edge" or stay even with them (with PPK), as a lot of them have a few bolt on's--you never really know what someone is running under the hood. There's a pretty nice "racing scene" around where I stay for school and there are a few appropriate areas where one can engage in a friendly race with about as much safety as one can get on the streets (no cross traffic, straight street, decent *******.

We lined up at the red, looked at each other and knew what was about to go down. Condescendingly, as the light turned green, I purposefully gave the G37S the jump. I launched in first and I had the first level of traction off. Traction kicked in as I shifted into second and I lost even more ground, but I stayed at it--the G37 was about a car length and a half ahead of me at this point. I got my bearings together modulated my throttle and I started to reel him in. He put up a good fight, but just after the top of 3rd into 4th I passed him by about half a car by the time we had to shut down.

Round two, same street, opposite direction. This time, I wasn't so cocky and gave my opponent respect. I had a better idea how to launch my car in first from my first mistake and used that to my advantage. 3 horns later and we were off. With no wheelspin or traction handicapping me I was ahead by a car door throughout the entire time initially--the G37S stuck with me until just before reaching 5,700rpms in 3rd where I then started to pull extremely hard and put about 3-4 car lengths on him before shutting down. I'm not sure about his mods, but he must have been putting down at least 310whp-320whp. Not bad at all.. not bad at all for a N/A with limited gains from Bolt on's. I would've more than likely slightly lost to that G37 with PPK. And I definitely wouldn't have caught back up if I was on the PPK map--I would've got walked. Hard.

It was extremely fun and friendly; we both pulled up to the light to where I said: "You're definitely not stock", to which he responded "Neither are you!" We both laughed, said "good shit" and parted ways. Kudos and respect to that dude, you're my kind of people!

I'm generally not a "cocky" person by any means, but I definitely learned my lesson. You never know what someone is running under the hood

[ANMVQ]

Nice man, just be careful with the G37 I'm coming for the G37 world I had a 09x sedan fully bolted tuned with launch and I surprised more than a handful of 335's ( us now lol) and camaros, chargers and mustangs, it was a sub 13 car .

But good kill man BTW I love my 20 PSI wedge tune! Ken has been great

[MsportN55]

Your support for the n55 community is duly noted. I am also bone stock and have been contemplating this same thing. Ots or custom. Thanks for the honest feed back and real world comparison with the g37s. That vq engine n/a is pretty stout. I too struggle with them. Best thing all motor out of Japan in a long time and I've only scratched wins away from stockies or g35s. Might got down pipe am exhaust first before tune tho.

[AD18]

Thanks for the review and the pros and cons. Will look to give this a go myself in the near future.

(from youtube)