[Eracer76]

I just wanted to throw up a quick honest review of the Cobb AP vs. JB4... since I have personally owned, and tried out both of them on my car back to back.
And hopefully by reading this, it will help some of the new people on deciding which tune they want without posting up the age old question on which one is best!

So, to start off...
I bought my 2008 E92 335xi bone stock in November 2011 with 54k miles on it. Then in December I starting buying my mods. I only installed the JB4 at first, and almost immediately I starting getting misfires. So I replaced all my plugs and I only got a small taste of what it felt like before it started misfiring again... So I removed the JB4, took the car to the dealer, and they replaced one of the injectors under my used car warranty. 3 Injectors and the HPFP was already replaced under the recall. So when I got the car back, I bought and installed the Cobb AP and I ran Stage 1 aggressive linear and stock throttle maps. I was pretty impressed at this point because I never really felt a tune actually work without misfiring. So to me, the car ran great and the Cobb felt pretty smooth... but after a week it started misfiring again. So after about a months time of trying to fix the problem, I cleaned the intake valves and replaced the last two injectors and coded them... and all was good. I confirmed this by driving Stage 1 for a week and beating the piss out of it! It ran great and I was happy. The car ran smooth for the most part and the stock throttle map was fun, but almost too boost happy IMO and the power seemed to fall off on the top end of the RPM band.
So after being teased with Stage 1, I bolted on the rest of my mods in my signature and I loaded up the Stage 2+ FMIC! The car immediately sounded different, and it ran great for the most part. When going WOT it pulled really hard, but it still seemed to fall short on the top end like Stage 1 did. And like many people have said, it also had its glitches mid RPM and IMO it just wasn't as smooth when going part throttle during the everyday spirited driving. The boost seemed to ramp really fast and had that oscillating feeling. So needless to say, I wasn't that impressed at this point.

So I uninstalled the Cobb AP and I re-installed the JB4. I just wanted to try it out again, because I vaguely remembered how hard it pulled on map 1 and continued to pull that hard all the way to redline... at least before it started misfiring almost right away. So this time I ran the auto tuning map 5 with the latest updated firmware, and after about a day of driving it, I was in love! Once the engine is warmed up, it is very smooth feeling at all throttle positions and pretty aggressive if you want it to be, but not overly boost happy like the Cobb was on a stock throttle map. So I guess you could say its more like the linear throttle from Cobb.. Anyway, at WOT this JB4 pulls hard!! And it just keeps on pulling hard all the way to redline!! So needless to say, I think it has a very slight edge in power on the Cobb only because it just keeps pulling hard all the way to redline... It also seems faster then the Cobb, because I think Cobb's torque management limits the torque around the shift points? Because I know for a fact that the JB4 definitely shifts much harder and puts you back into the seat on each shift.. where as the Cobb seems to just glide into the next gear. All this of course is related to the automatic car and I have no experience with the 6MT car.

So after getting a taste of Map 5 for a couple days... I switched over to the meth enabled map 3 (which I heard is also auto tuning?) and I tried meth for the first time... Needless to say, it is unbelievably powerful and very addicting when that meth kicks in!!! And Map 3 doesn't feel that much different then Map 5 when driving around town and doing the normal part throttle spirited driving. Once the car is warm, it is very smooth and I couldn't be happier at this point... well except for wanting to do the 15ohm upgrade to the board and run even more boost!

And of course the JB4's in dash features, are just icing on the cake! Features like reading and clearing codes, switching maps on the fly in seconds, gauge hijacking (turning the fuel and temp gauges into just about any useful gauge you want them to be), an adjustable built in shift light, and so much more! And for even more, you can plug in your laptop and view live engine data, data log runs and view them right there on the screen, save them or do whatever you want to do... along with making changes to the user adjustable settings and so on...


As for the Cobb AP, it is great if you want something easy to install/uninstall, because it only takes plugging it in to the OBD port and pushing some buttons to load it up. You also get to use the AP as a nice hand held device that has some cool features, like viewing TONS of live engine data/stats (but only one at a time), you can read and clear codes, change maps, data log runs, and the screen will flash for a shift light, but thats about it... You can run the car without the AP plugged in, but if you want to use any of those cool features, you have to have the AP plugged in to do any of that stuff. You also have to pull the car over and shut the engine off in order to change maps (some people claim it only takes a couple minutes) but mine always took at least 5 minutes or more to do the change (kind of annoying IMO sitting along side the road waiting for it to do its thing)... and mine was updated with the latest firmware and maps at the time. And as for the data logging, sure you can record logs on the fly, but in order to view the logs you still have to use your laptop/computer anyway. But for the simplicity of things, it is great for many people, and there are TONS of happy customers with the Cobb AP... but as it turned out, it just wasn't my cup of tea

[merchomini]

nice i want a jb4 realll bad......good review.......i still love my jb3 but

[Eleventeen]

Cobb for sale?

[dicostal]

Originally Posted by Eracer76

I cleaned the intake valves

sorry did not see if anyone asked.
did you get that done under warranty?

[E90SoFlo]

OP can you try the new Beta maps and re-test.

[mecanoman6]

Great input, really the first realistic review I have seen

[Rob@Cobb]

Out torque numbers tend to be higher giving the feeling that the power falls off. Our competitors tend to ramp power as the RPMs climb giving the feeling of pulling to red line.

I think you might be pleased with running the v400 mapping located here:
http://www.cobbtuning.com/BMW-Access...s/bmw/bmw-grid
Simply click on the BETA button.

Cheers,
Rob

[bigdaddycane]

Originally Posted by merchomini

nice i want a jb4 realll bad......good review.......i still love my jb3 but

u gotta upgrade to the JB4....night and day!

[Eracer76]

Originally Posted by dicostal

sorry did not see if anyone asked.
did you get that done under warranty?

Nope... I ended up doing it myself because my car did not have any warranty left over after the 60 day used car warranty was up.
Here is the thread I started on the valve cleaning
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=645616

[Eracer76]

And sorry guys... I was too impatient to wait for Cobb's updated maps... and I already sold the Cobb AP a couple weeks ago...

[Slow_335i]

Damn I hate reading great reviews on JB4! Only because it encourages me to want to get it!

[Mike@N54Tuning.com]

Thanks for the review OP! I've heard great things about Cobb but many on this forum forget the JB4 is also a great tune with tons of features. Send BMS a CSV of map 3 and they can help you get even more out of that meth performance too if you want.

Mike

[335iJWC]

Great!! review OP now i cant wait for my JB4 to get rid of my enoying TPMS light.

i should ask terry if i could be one of the testers.

[idrift4wd]

Originally Posted by merchomini

nice i want a jb4 realll bad......good review.......i still love my jb3 but

JB3 FTW!

[5soko]

Thanks for the honest review, basically my same feelings...
JB4 felt more agressive and powerful, and along with the in dash features/commands, it obv. overwhelmes the easy install that the advantage COBB has over the JB4.

[Chalo1]

Just To Add To Your Experience...........i Share The Same Experience. I To Tested Both And Jb4 And Cobb......the Winner Was Clearly The Jb4 On My 335i 2008 E90

[Dark9T]

Originally Posted by Eracer76

I just wanted to throw up a quick honest review of the Cobb AP vs. JB4... since I have personally owned, and tried out both of them on my car back to back.
And hopefully by reading this, it will help some of the new people on deciding which tune they want without posting up the age old question on which one is best!

So, to start off...
I bought my 2008 E92 335xi bone stock in November 2011 with 54k miles on it. Then in December I starting buying my mods. I only installed the JB4 at first, and almost immediately I starting getting misfires. So I replaced all my plugs and I only got a small taste of what it felt like before it started misfiring again... So I removed the JB4, took the car to the dealer, and they replaced one of the injectors under my used car warranty. 3 Injectors and the HPFP was already replaced under the recall. So when I got the car back, I bought and installed the Cobb AP and I ran Stage 1 aggressive linear and stock throttle maps. I was pretty impressed at this point because I never really felt a tune actually work without misfiring. So to me, the car ran great and the Cobb felt pretty smooth... but after a week it started misfiring again. So after about a months time of trying to fix the problem, I cleaned the intake valves and replaced the last two injectors and coded them... and all was good. I confirmed this by driving Stage 1 for a week and beating the piss out of it! It ran great and I was happy. The car ran smooth for the most part and the stock throttle map was fun, but almost too boost happy IMO and the power seemed to fall off on the top end of the RPM band.
So after being teased with Stage 1, I bolted on the rest of my mods in my signature and I loaded up the Stage 2+ FMIC! The car immediately sounded different, and it ran great for the most part. When going WOT it pulled really hard, but it still seemed to fall short on the top end like Stage 1 did. And like many people have said, it also had its glitches mid RPM and IMO it just wasn't as smooth when going part throttle during the everyday spirited driving. The boost seemed to ramp really fast and had that oscillating feeling. So needless to say, I wasn't that impressed at this point.

So I uninstalled the Cobb AP and I re-installed the JB4. I just wanted to try it out again, because I vaguely remembered how hard it pulled on map 1 and continued to pull that hard all the way to redline... at least before it started misfiring almost right away. So this time I ran the auto tuning map 5 with the latest updated firmware, and after about a day of driving it, I was in love! Once the engine is warmed up, it is very smooth feeling at all throttle positions and pretty aggressive if you want it to be, but not overly boost happy like the Cobb was on a stock throttle map. So I guess you could say its more like the linear throttle from Cobb.. Anyway, at WOT this JB4 pulls hard!! And it just keeps on pulling hard all the way to redline!! So needless to say, I think it has a very slight edge in power on the Cobb only because it just keeps pulling hard all the way to redline... It also seems faster then the Cobb, because I think Cobb's torque management limits the torque around the shift points? Because I know for a fact that the JB4 definitely shifts much harder and puts you back into the seat on each shift.. where as the Cobb seems to just glide into the next gear. All this of course is related to the automatic car and I have no experience with the 6MT car.

So after getting a taste of Map 5 for a couple days... I switched over to the meth enabled map 3 (which I heard is also auto tuning?) and I tried meth for the first time... Needless to say, it is unbelievably powerful and very addicting when that meth kicks in!!! And Map 3 doesn't feel that much different then Map 5 when driving around town and doing the normal part throttle spirited driving. Once the car is warm, it is very smooth and I couldn't be happier at this point... well except for wanting to do the 15ohm upgrade to the board and run even more boost!

And of course the JB4's in dash features, are just icing on the cake! Features like reading and clearing codes, switching maps on the fly in seconds, gauge hijacking (turning the fuel and temp gauges into just about any useful gauge you want them to be), an adjustable built in shift light, and so much more! And for even more, you can plug in your laptop and view live engine data, data log runs and view them right there on the screen, save them or do whatever you want to do... along with making changes to the user adjustable settings and so on...


As for the Cobb AP, it is great if you want something easy to install/uninstall, because it only takes plugging it in to the OBD port and pushing some buttons to load it up. You also get to use the AP as a nice hand held device that has some cool features, like viewing TONS of live engine data/stats (but only one at a time), you can read and clear codes, change maps, data log runs, and the screen will flash for a shift light, but thats about it... You can run the car without the AP plugged in, but if you want to use any of those cool features, you have to have the AP plugged in to do any of that stuff. You also have to pull the car over and shut the engine off in order to change maps (some people claim it only takes a couple minutes) but mine always took at least 5 minutes or more to do the change (kind of annoying IMO sitting along side the road waiting for it to do its thing)... and mine was updated with the latest firmware and maps at the time. And as for the data logging, sure you can record logs on the fly, but in order to view the logs you still have to use your laptop/computer anyway. But for the simplicity of things, it is great for many people, and there are TONS of happy customers with the Cobb AP... but as it turned out, it just wasn't my cup of tea

Nice review +1
Will be nice if you try out the procede and wait till the cobb alpha OTS race map..
JB4,Procede and cobb is the way to go for N54!!

[Mike@N54Tuning.com]

Originally Posted by 335iJWC

Great!! review OP now i cant wait for my JB4 to get rid of my enoying TPMS light.

i should ask terry if i could be one of the testers.

Email him! He needs a few more guys to test it before posting it.

Mike

[Slimer777]

Originally Posted by Eracer76

And sorry guys... I was too impatient to wait for Cobb's updated maps... and I already sold the Cobb AP a couple weeks ago...

The Cobb V4.0 FMIC map is very strong. Wish you can give us a comparison with this new map!

[merchomini]

Originally Posted by idrift4wd

JB3 FTW!

hahaha, yeah def, it gets the job done thats for sure.......I want a jb4 for the other features more so than the smoothness and power increase....obviously i would like those as well. My jb3 is awesome and it only coast me 100$ so i reallly can complain. I only have dcis and catless mufflerless exhaust so i feel i dont need the jb4 until i get some more mods and am going all out performance.

[merchomini]

Originally Posted by bigdaddycane

u gotta upgrade to the JB4....night and day!

damn........i didnt want to hear this hahaha.....yeah its on my list. Suspension is coming first and then when i get downpipes im gonna grab a jb4 while im at it......itll be a whole new car. What i really need is rwd.....

[unoriginal]

great review.. thanks