Happy owner of a new (to me) 2016 Cooper S F55. It’s still stock. I’m planning on doing some other performance upgrades in the future, but the Dinan Elite setup looks so promising! But coming from the simple world of R53s, I have some questions about these tuning installs.

If I install the Elite now, does it need an update if I upgrade the exhaust, etc, later on?

Is it worth doing to a stock S? Or should I wait until I have a few more “hard” upgrades in place?

Thanks!

 

Elite works independent of any other mods. Nothing to update when you make changes. It's more than enough zip and power for me, some however prefer the ECU tunes.

 

Its the quickest way to get a little more power and its a piggyback so its plug and play. Lots of people like it as when and if you sell the car down the road(which we hope you keep it) you can unplug it and use it on the next MINI or sell it.
It can work on stock car or with upgrades.

 

I hated my Elite. It worked well for ~3k miles but then started throwing up codes on every start. Dinan was a hassle to deal with and after months of troubleshooting finally agreed to take the unit back for a refund. They received the Elite according to UPS tracking but they never issued a refund. Just up and ghosted me. I got an RPM tune from Mario Palza ~8k miles ago and the car hasn't had any issues.

 

Thanks guys!

Glad to hear it can be the first step in my upgrade path while I figure out exactly what other parts to order.

That sounds horrible! Sorry that happened to you. That doesn't sound like a "normal" experience judging by all the other reviews of the Elite or Dinan.

 

Yeah, definitely not normal from what I had heard too. It's why I went with Dinan originally. But that was my experience with them and I'd be lying if I said I'm not still bitter over it.

 

If they ghost you, contact us and I can reach out to them Pacman style.

 

Guys with BMW M240i's have issues with the Stage 1 Dinans also. I have the Stage 1 v.1 on mine and it is a beast, however, it throws CEL's about every third start-up and clears 3 start-ups later. If I run w/ shifter set to M/S, I get no codes at all. Plenty of unhappy owners. Dinan pulled the .v1 and replaced with a tamer .v2 which has pretty much eliminated the CEL issues. Guys doing the swap comment that there is a felt performance hit between the two tunes. Many have likened it to the Dinan Sport tune which was priced approx $900 cheaper than the original Satge 1 Elite .v1 @$1399

Since I purchased the Dinan though my BMW dealership, they contacted Dinan and I was offered a .v2 replacement. I have not acted upon it as I do enjoy the power of the .v1. If I decided to trade my car before warranty's end, I will swap for the .v2 to eliminate any CEL's from popping at trade-in time. As is, I plan to go to the Stage 2 Flash when offered by Dinan and keep my low mileage M240i for a long time. .

FWIW, Dinan had a stellar reputation for tunes which where trouble free and piggy-backed Mfgr's warranty. I just bought a 2109 F56 and originally planned on a Dinan Elite on mine instead of a JCW tune. After my experience w/ my BMW, I instead opted for a factory sanctioned JCW tune from Mini (which I ordered w/ the car and was port installed).

The JCW tune is a very nice upgrade and noticeably increases the cars performance. I test drove a real JCW w/ a Salesman present and then drove my old 2015 w/ the JCW tune w/ him inside and even he agreed, that covering the same driving route w/ the same "spirited" approach, my F56 w/ the JCW tune felt faster than the actual JCW. Likely because the JCW tune generates more torque overall and delivers it earlier in the RPM range than the JCW.

Your call. If you want to maintain your factory warranty, you only have Dinan or the factory JCW tune as options. If that is not a concern, I think there are better options available for a tune on your car. Most seem to opt for a flash of the ECU from various other companies yielding better performance and few issues. Again, you have to to do your homework before selecting..

Some reading:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...cel-p12a9.html

 

Just to get on the record. Self-Installed the Elite on wife's 2018 F56 at 1K miles. Now at 10K miles. Car has thrown the P12A9 and related codes sporadically during this period. Usually this only caused momentary misfiring and the codes could be cleared. About a month ago, the car stalled in heavy traffic and would not restart. Using the bypass plug brought no joy. Disconnected all of the harness connectors, cleaned them and reconnected...Car started and ran fine. Now today...Mini can't be driven and has thrown P12A9. I'm headed out to play with the harness. I'm fairly convinced that MY problem is with the harness. I'm going to contact Dinan and see if they will send me a new harness.

 

New harness seems to work for some on the BMW forum, but others not. The .v2 seems to be issue free, but with reduced performance. It's kind of tough to trade for something with less power after having tasted the sweeter fruit. Would not be bad if the .v2 was the first and only one (so no comparisons could be drawn). Some mentioned that the .v2 is nothing more than the Dinan Sport with a warranty. Those trading for the .v2 are taking a $200 hit in price also as the .v1 was more expensive.

 

I don’t see any mention of a .v1 or .v2 anywhere. Any links?

 

This is all stuff having to do with the BMW's, not the Mini. Only mentioning because Mini is BMW for all intents. Motor platforms used in both are the similar if not identical. The .v1 and the .v2 are for the B58 (6 cyl) BMW motor.

The B48 (BMW motor used in various BMW models and the MIni JCW) seem to work okay with the Dinan tune. The B46 a variant of that motor used in the Mini S is not as trouble free.

I mention this as cautionary only. Dinan had a reputation as a bullet proof, trouble free tune that costs a bit more, but provided piggyback warranty coverage for new car owners. That reputation has taken a hit as of late. Dinan still provides decent support for their products, but some tunes are not as trouble free as before. The B58 issues seem to have been remedied w/ a less powerful .v2 elite. The B46 (Mini S), still (as best I can tell) still has gremlins.

I am not anti-Dinan. I do hope they iron out any issues remaining. But as a new car owner, I would do my homework before putting a tune on my mew car. There are less expensive power modules that can be added to your car and most seems to be trouble free and provide excellent results (but offer no piggyback warranty coverage). But, adding anything to your new car can risk your warranty should a problem arise that can be traced to the tune. CEL's are the biggie. Certainly the codes can be cleared and normal operation resumed. It depends on your tolerance for coping w/ any of these issues and the risk of loss of factory warranty coverage.. That is a personal choice.

Hope this clears things up

 

Im picking up a 2019 f56 s and i told the dealer to put in the elite tune. I didnt know about the version they are having problems with but the service manager said he gets codes occasionally on his car, while the parts manager said he doesnt get any. I wanted the warranty from mini on both, and they said they do back the dinan products so.... has anyone used a jcw kit on a dinan s?

 

Several threads discuss the Elite, including JCW.

Somewhat laughable about a service manager getting codes and being ok with that. That's like a restaurant manager occasionally throwing up after eating a meal at the restaurant.

 

Agree 100%. Power modules and tunes should throw "NO" codes if properly engineered and tested. Nice that Dinan covers car w/ their elite, but once your car is out of warranty, how do you explain the CEL's when you trade or try to sell? If I plan to keep my BMW beyond the warranty, I will have the ..v1 pulled and the .v2 installed. Hoping Dinan offers a Flash tune w/ the Stage 2 before I trade (which I hope will be trouble free)..

 

Yeah, if I'm tuning outside of the warranty I'm going for power numbers that are much higher than what these tuning boxes offer. These should be pretty trouble free with how de-tuned the B48/46 are in Minis.