i have my stock mini S R56 and making research on the tunes i can get for my mini.... i ythough u guys could help me with this... results/ tips/comparism anything

thankyou in advance

 

I would love info on this as well. Somebody please chime in.

 

Since the Accesport just came out, not that many people have it yet. You may have to wait a few months to find out from buyers...

However I have found my experience with RMW to be a good one. He always e-mails me back promptly. There are not as many features with the RMW product, since I do not own both I can not give a fair comparison.

 

try and keep the thread opened for the buyers to post

 

Keep in mind, this is a classic Ferrari vs. Porsche thread *or insert your opposing teams here.

You will always find disagreement with this type of topic. It is very likely that both will have good results, both will have followers and no one will ever agree.

Canned tunes, generally speaking, no matter where they are from, can not possibly bring out all that a personal tune will. With that said, there is certainly a lot to learn about people's experiences with the new product. Without before and after numbers on a dyno, they are not so easy to compare.

It will be interesting when someone with both can dyno them the same day and post results. Whatever they are though, YMMV based on location, age of vehicle and equipment installed, not to mention the weather.

I will stayed tuned for opinions.

 

RMW certainly has more experience tuning Minis and the Cobb accessport is too new to really know.

 

I used to get a quick response from RMW, not so much anymore. I've been waiting 6 days nows for a reply from my request to receive an updated map file since Jan has unlocked the 1st and 2nd gear limiters.

My comparison dyno chart has already been posted in the AccessPORT thread as people were wanting to compare apples to apples so I finally gave in and posted the chart. I have a custom RMW tune and a custom ALTA AP tune. It is post 95 on page 4.

 

Here's the bottom line.

RMW offers a tune (in a can meaning it has already been pretty well setup for a similiar vehicle with your mods) or you can go to one of RMW's tuning partys and have Jan tune the car on a dyno so the tune is specifically for your car.

Once on your car, it's there to stay unless it gets rewritten by the dealer. Jan will modify your tune as necc for your needs. (add'l mods later, etc)

You can also buy a OBDII tool called a genius that allows you to install and remove Jan's tune should you want to put the car back to stock.

The tool does not monitor anything, it is used merely for installing and uninstalling tunes.


Alta is selling Cobb's unit called an Access Port. You cannot buy their tune separately, in order to get their tune, you need to buy their tool and the tune comes with it. (which is approx the same price if you compare apples to apples with RMW's genius and tune)

The unit itself clears codes, reads codes and monitors just about anything that the ECM puts out. It's small (about half the size of an iphone) and like Jan's tool, holds more than one tune.

Some will correct me if I'm wrong but with Alta's tune, you can uninstall it and use the tool on a car with the same setup. It is not vin dependent. On Jan's tune, it is linked to vin number and can only be used on that particular car. (like I said, someone can step in and verify that... I don't remember)

Both tunes make about the same amount of power. I know of several individuals that have Jan's tune tweaked for approx. the same amount of HP/TQ that Alta's tune is producing.


As far as personal opinions, I had Jan's tune. It made power, never gave me a CEL and has worked well. It does however have a few hiccups that should have been fixed. This does not mean that EVERYONE had a problem, there are a few people that have the same problem. Point is, the tune is still a GREAT tune.

If you've ever met Jan, you'll realize that he's pulled in 10 directions at one time. He travels all over the country tuning porsches, bmws and minis for race teams and street cars. Unfortunately, his time is limited and for some of us, that creates a problem.

Alta had the unfortunate business opportunity of selling what was called the Unichip. The unichip unit made GREAT power and torque but had SEVERE issues with the harness being too short and it left a bad taste in everyone's mouth that bought it, for customers and Alta.

Unfortunately, Alta took a lot of heat for it and made a lot of people skeptical about buying anything from them again.

Now, years later, they are selling the Cobb Access Port. Cobb has always been known in the tuning world and knows their stuff.

The people at Alta are selling this unit and are going out of their way to a) redeem themselves no doubt in my mind from the clusterfudge of the unichip and b) taking care of their customers to show that they do stand behind their product when they have control over it. (nothing they could really do to affect the unichip, they were just resellers I think)

I recently installed the AP unit and though it cleared up the problems I had with the RMW tune, it opened up a door for other issues.

Having said that, I will say that Jeff at Alta has gone out of his way to fix them. I've had 4 different tunes emailed to me within days (which incidently, cured the issues I was having)

Anyway, hope that clears up a little about both tuners. You won't go wrong either way because I assure you both give results far more than you'll get going in any other direction.


Mark

 

Nice write up Mark!

 

I have the alta ap tune. My dyno numbers are in my sig.

It has been running flawlessly.

VERY easy to install and the accessport is a very cool little piece of equipment too. I have always had easy access to Jeff or another Alta tech whenever I needed it.

I know several people with dimsport tunes (I had one too) but none of them have as much power as the Alta tune.

 

which dyno did you dyno on?

 

The dynapack at monkey works.

 

I'm baffled by your post................. You have a JCW car with a bigger turbo and yet you made only 3 more hp than an S with just an intercooler and RMW tune?

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...58-post10.html

 

Jan,

I don't think he has a JCW. I may be mistaken but I thought it was an S.


Mark

 

his sig says............JCW 09.............

billz cat is just an S

 

I stand corrected...


Mark

 

Nice, honest write-up Mark.

 

My thoughts are that no tool no matter how good it is, is any better than whose hands it's in. The accessport from what I've read so far looks like a pretty good device.

 

I think we can all agree the accessport has more bells and whistles than the dimsport. But that's just it, bells and whisltes. If you need those things, then get the accessport or scanguage, etc. The real test is which tuner is better and has dug deeper into the mini ecu and provides the safest, most reliable, and best tune. So far, the jury is still out...

 

You sound offended.

I never compared a "jan's tune" to the alta tune. I believe you have great tunes and I was spreading the word big time for you on your last trip out here. Half the cars you tuned on your last trip out here wouldn't have been at the tuning event if "I" had not told them about it. I'm actually a pretty big advocate for you.

I spoke about dimsport tunes I have seen - you aren't the only dimsport tuner. We have one here in hawaii (albeit he does not have your experience with minis). In the past I've usually tried to make it a point that I was not necessarily talking about you when I spoke about dimsport.

While I'm sure you have probably gotten some 260+ torque numbers I haven't seen the dynos posted on NAM.

Sure it's only 3 HP more.. but I also have 30lbs more torque. Was that dyno you posted canned or did you tweak it on the dyno? Mine is a canned tune without any tweaking.

Alta promised some numbers that were substantially higher than what I already had so I bit - and I'm very happy with the results.

 

I'm merely pointing out it's not my tune. Alta is showing JCWs making 250whp , wondered why yours was so low?

Glad you are happy!

 

I would like my JCW to make 250whp.

 

patience..........we don't need cars running around in limp mode

 

oh ok, I'm sorry, I must have misunderstood your post:

 

I would be happier with a smoother throttle. Sport mode was much too jumpy to use on the track and regular mode was still difficult for me to control.