[ptwob311]

I know... I know... it has been beaten to death, which is better, CAI or DCI?, BMS? Injen? Afe? Hear me out!
I have a question concerning, well, potentially all of them. Reading around for a while i have found they without a doubt help the car performance wise. (Just a side note... I have over ten years experience tuning mustangs, camaros, vettes, and sportbikes, I'm not a noob when it comes to performance tuning...just Beamers... especially with warranty )

I have had the car for 3 months now but bought it with 12k on the odometer.

So i have decided that the car is going to get an AA FMIC and an Intake pretty soon. In fact i want to order stuff ASAP. However I have stumbled on post that claim any intake you buy will do no good unless the car has a tune (ie SSTT, JB+, Procede, etc...) I have found claims that you will actually lose power on a stock tune and the stock intake is best.
Can anyone verify this or clarify if any of the intakes are worth the money. I plan on getting an ECU flash when i get closer to the warranty expiring; but don't want to lose power now while the engine/turbos are running at stock levels. The FMIC upgrade is happening ASAP regardless of intake dilemma.

I wanted to reference the post i have been reading on beamerforums and here but hell.....a topic like this one, you have all undoubtedly seen all the drama associated with whole DCI CAI/ Afe-Injen war.

I just wanna know gains/losses on stock engine setup..... THANKS and I got my flame suit ready if needed.

[lpphreakx06]

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=255216

[Sniz]

if your not going to tune, your stock box is just fine.

dont waste your money.

however....tune it!

[Bubbles]

Originally Posted by Sniz

if your not going to tune, your stock box is just fine.

dont waste your money.

however....tune it!

There are lots of glory dynos. On the track, I've seen mixed results.

[Yinger]

you'll be able to hear your stock blow off and the air sucking sound... I think that's worth it alone haha.

[ptwob311]

Originally Posted by lpphreakx06

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=255216

That is one of the post i was referring to. I voted for Injen as i think it looks the best. However, I am curios as to if i will lose power (on stock setup). If that is the case i will buy the intake when i get the ECU flashed, DPs, DVs, etc....

Originally Posted by Sniz

if your not going to tune, your stock box is just fine.

dont waste your money.

however....tune it!

I am going to tune it, just gonna wait a little longer under warranty.

[Delta0311]

The AFE intake helped to eliminate the sticking point at 2,000 RPM. Besides that the engine sounds better but did not really see that much increase in performance.

[cincy335i]

This may be a dumb question, but wont adding an inatke and FMIC give the stealership cause to attempt to void your warranty? I would say do the tune, probably a piggy (JB3) and buy the Bavarian Techic tool or get the PROcede CANbus so you can delete codes etc. and remove the tune before you take it in for dealer work.

It brings me back to my original point, has anyone had their dealers give them warranty void BS for having an intake or FMIC? That is one reason I have been leary about getting either, but soon I am just going to say f*** it and go for broke!

[Sniz]

Originally Posted by cincy335i

This may be a dumb question, but wont adding an inatke and FMIC give the stealership cause to attempt to void your warranty? I would say do the tune, probably a piggy (JB3) and buy the Bavarian Techic tool or get the PROcede CANbus so you can delete codes etc. and remove the tune before you take it in for dealer work.

It brings me back to my original point, has anyone had their dealers give them warranty void BS for having an intake or FMIC? That is one reason I have been leary about getting either, but soon I am just going to say f*** it and go for broke!

the intake is so easy to install/uninstall I dont know why anyone would leave it on for service. Not worth the risk.

[ptwob311]

Originally Posted by cincy335i

This may be a dumb question, but wont adding an inatke and FMIC give the stealership cause to attempt to void your warranty? I would say do the tune, probably a piggy (JB3) and buy the Bavarian Techic tool or get the PROcede CANbus so you can delete codes etc. and remove the tune before you take it in for dealer work.

It brings me back to my original point, has anyone had their dealers give them warranty void BS for having an intake or FMIC? That is one reason I have been leary about getting either, but soon I am just going to say f*** it and go for broke!

I asked last week(annual maint thing BMW does) at the local dealership about a FMIC and Intake, as all they will do is make the car more effecient at getting air and cooling it. The SA told me that while it may cause the techs to look a little harder for signs of more serious mods, BMW would have to prove that the FMIC/intake caused whatever problem occured. Personally i don't see either of those causing any problems but potetially gaining a few hp. This is why i was goinig to order them today, but over the last few weeks have read differing information about the actuall gain/loss of adding an intake on a stock setup. I don't care how hard the techs look at my car for codes/mods if all i got is an intake and FMIC. That's just me.....
I was always under the impression that a FI engine would almost always gain from an intake. Maybe this car is differant

[Delta0311]

It won't void your warranty not unless the intake causes damage to the car. Of course that won't happen, unless you do a really shitty install job.

[cincy335i]

Originally Posted by Sniz

the intake is so easy to install/uninstall I dont know why anyone would leave it on for service. Not worth the risk.

Thank you for that, but are they all that simple? Some have mentioned that the Injen intake is pretty difficult to install, so I could only imagine it would be equally as difficult to uninstall, but maybe not?? Or how about the Stett CAI? So if the inatke can easliy be removed then how about the IC? WOuld you remove that too, or leave it on? Would they try the void warranty with the FMIC? Thanks for your help and insight.

[thegeneral101]

Originally Posted by Yinger

you'll be able to hear your stock blow off and the air sucking sound... I think that's worth it alone haha.

yep if you dont want to tune its still nice to hear the turbos more if ur into that

[ptwob311]

thanks for all the insight guys but to help us from getting too far off topic I'll post again.

Has anyone actually seen a loss in power by installing an intake on a stock tuned car?

[cincy335i]

Originally Posted by ptwob311

I asked last week(annual maint thing BMW does) at the local dealership about a FMIC and Intake, as all they will do is make the car more effecient at getting air and cooling it. The SA told me that while it may cause the techs to look a little harder for signs of more serious mods, BMW would have to prove that the FMIC/intake caused whatever problem occured. Personally i don't see either of those causing any problems but potetially gaining a few hp. This is why i was goinig to order them today, but over the last few weeks have read differing information about the actuall gain/loss of adding an intake on a stock setup. I don't care how hard the techs look at my car for codes/mods if all i got is an intake and FMIC. That's just me.....
I was always under the impression that a FI engine would almost always gain from an intake. Maybe this car is differant

Thanks, but I wonder if all the stealerships feel the same way...I wish BMWNA would come out and just say what your dealer told you so that we all can put this uncertainty to rest. But they will never do that, they don't really want any of us modding our cars, go figure!?!

[TheLegacy]

like everyone else said if you are tuned an intake is worth it. Also like someone said you can hear your turbos and it sounds like sex! ROFL love the way my car sounds.

[SV Concepts]

AA Tune + aFe intake, loving it