So I am in a bit of a dilemma. My current Cooper S status is pretty straight forward in terms of mods. DDM intake, Venair silicone inlet hose, Beru colder plugs (pullet is next to accommodate each other, and it is not driven ATM), Kingsborne plug wires, Screamin Demon coil, MagnaFlow exhaust... I want to get a 16% charger pulley, and thinking possibly an RMW '246' cam. At what point is a tune required? If I could sucker someone at the BMW dealer to hook me up with a JCW tune; would that be adequate, or is that just going to make it run better stock? What accommodating mods are needed for that set up? When I replace the pulley I will likely do an ATI damper as well. Car only has 65K on it and it is a seasonal toy for me so during the winter I start it up and let it run a bit, but I don't drive it.

Tunes are just STUPID expensive for this thing! My 14' Fiesta ST has got lifetime tunes for only $250 from a reputable tuner. Aside from my Accessport I purchased for $400. I see that the RMW tune and tool is like $675 for a single tune! OUCH!

Any advice, or anyone that just wants to BS about my setup or has good ideas, please chime in. Since its Spring/Summer time, I'd love to get more road time on my Mini and talk with more Miniacs about stuff. My ST is my DD so it is getting modded slowly. Only the AP, tune, and I'm installing a Mountune intake today.

 

Pulley is fine...no tune needed...everything you have is just bling, no extra power.
Ask jan at RMW about the cam...some cams really need tunes, some don't... But a tune on a cam will always get you more power...simply put, you are leaving valves open longer with a cam...so you have more time to inject the fuel....
Adding a bootleg JCW tune would be of dubious value....not really support your mods IMO.

 

+1 As ZippyNH said

The 210 JCW kit came with the JCW SC pulley, slightly opened exhaust ported head, CAI, (380?) injectors, 1 step colder plugs, cat back exhaust and the JCW Tune.

I've know others that were able to buy the JCW tune from the dealer even though they didn't have all the JCW parts (but had comparable aftermarket in place). It's a minimum of 1 hour of time. The dealer tune would be fine if you were to upgrade your parts to similar ones to the JCW, and would be cheaper than the custom tune. Would it be better than a custom tune? I doubt it.

You can also send out your ECU for canned tunes or get a remote custom tune done as well (for less than the custom dyno tune)

As soon as you go with a cam, you may as well go all-out and get the tune to make use of it and some larger injectors.

To answer your question:
"would that be adequate"
I have 2, JCW's on the 210 kit, and it's a nice improvement over the stock S. It's about 184whp (about 20 whp over stock). I have not been needing any more. It's adequate.

Getting ANOTHER 10-30WHP with the right parts and a custom tune really makes a difference and wakes up the car making it more lively. But obviously you're in the $1K range to experience that from the point you are now.

 

I appreciate all the info guys. Obviously, I'm being a little cheapskate about things, but who isn't normally. So I'm guessing from your feedback I should do the pulley and change to the ATI damper. Then save up for cam and then get tuned. I asked WMW about their cams needing tunes and they said their street cam didn't need one. However, I'd like to go with the RMW one, and have them tune it. Still can't get over the $650 for a module and remote tune. I'd much rather just send my DME since I don't drive it everyday. Who tunes just the DME out there in the internet land?

 

I can tune your car by remote.60 minutes work time.

 

Just an FYI since used Dimsport flash modules occasionally pop up for sale.

Unless things have changed, buying a used one is probably not worth it. If you go with the RMW tune or any other tune that requires a Dimsport, the VIN gets locked into it and the only way I’ve seen to unlock it is to send it to Dimsport or one of their dealers and pay around $200-$250 to have it reset, plus the time and cost of shipping.

 

Tuning minis with adriancl is both cost effective and your best move ...
tuning device and tune will cost under 300$ , how could you go wrong ???
And adriancl will CUSTOM tune your car , not some pos 1x tune fits all canned tune ..
though with your upgrades you've listed , a tune is not needed though it will net you better power and possible driviability if the cam casuses idling issues ect , adriancl will straiten it all out and have it running SPOT on..
rmw tune SUUUUUUUCKS , dinan tune SUUUUUUUUUCKS . They had major fueling and timing issues. Adriancl could take a car that had been tuned with one of them crap canned tunes and improved the tune and had the car making more power and driving bettter..another member even posted dyno results of his canned tune and then after Adriancl fixed that canned tune . His increase was like 15hp and tq increase and much better air fuel ratios then too..
AVOID CANNED TUNES
people are giving you bad info..
PM ADRIANCL AND ASK HIM ANYTHING TUNING RELATED , HE WILL HELP AND GUIDE YOU..UNDER 300$ TRUST ME , YOULL THANK ME AFTER JUST LIKE EVRYONE ELSE HAS I REFERRED