Coming from a GTI, I'm not used to it being THIS difficult to find answers about a tune and who can do it for me.

I live in San Jose, CA and I have a 2012 Mini Countryman All 4 S.

I already have a Magnaflow exhaust and am looking to get a downpipe and a tune.

My first question is this:

1. Can I just do the downpipe and no tune for now? I understand that this may throw a CEL (although I will try to trick the system by installing a spark plug non fouler in place of the 2nd O2 sensor) which I hear can affect Mini's adversely? I've had many friends who have VWs that they run with a downpipe and no tune and have a CEL and all it is is the CEL and doesn't affect the car itself. I've heard CEL on Mini's can mean boost being out of whack and even the all wheel drive not working properly, any of this true?

2. I only know of a couple companies/shops that can do the tune for my car and even then, I've read success AND horror stories. Here's what I know:

- RENNtech offers a tune but it's $945 and I'd have to ship my ECU to them
- ETG (ECU Tuning Group) offers a tune that is more reasonably priced but the majority of the horror stories have come from their customers
- Everyone raves about this shop called Precision Motorsport in Florida and people who get a tune from them refer to it as PAW?

What I really want to do is just run the downpipe for now with no tune but not if the CEL is gonna screw the car up.

Any info/advice is greatly appreciated.

 

Do the downpipe and then wait for the piggyback that Berger Tuning is working on. They will have a plug & play version in the near future for around 20 horses, with Stage 1 and Stage 2 upgrades not far behind.

 

Cool. That is perfect and the only question I have is if I get a CEL, will that mess with the car at all or will it just be a light that I have to look at?

Also, any particular downpipe you recommend specifically? I've heard a lot of people talk about akrapovic.

 

Akrapovic is the one everyone seems to use, though half complain of the light coming on because of it...and you can delete it with a tune. If you haven't, poke around in the Mods section some more to see what others think.

 

I have to Akrapovic DP and the Delete R. The Delete R cancels out the CEL the few times it comes on. I have NM's stage 2 tune but being a Cali company they couldn't tune out the CEL.

 

Sorry if this is a stupid question but what is a "Delete R"?

Also, when your CEL comes on, does it affect performance at all?

 

THIS is a Delete R.

No, the CEL that you get from a high flow (or lack) of the catalytic converter does not decrease performance at all.

 

Wow, I didn't realize until I started clicking these links that the DP along with the Delete R costs $1k. That's a lot of scratch.

 

That's awesome. Good to know and FINALLY I get some answers about this.

Thanks, man!

 

Gotta pay the cost to be the boss... lol.

 

This is NOT a cheap hobby!

 

By chance, have you removed and either vinyl wrapped or plasti-dipped your headlight and tail light and grill trims?

 

Neither are hookers and cocaine. I just like this hobby more.

There is a cheat to keep from tripping the sensor in the cat on the dp to save the cost of the delete-r. If I wasn't on my phone I would find it for you. I am clueless when using the app.

 

I'm not a big fan of plasti-dip. I'm all vinyl from Vinyl Styles except the grill trim which I ordered when I ordered the car. After 2 1/2 years, the vinyl are the headlight trim is getting pretty bad so I ordered OEM trim from Way. Just got them in today! The factory stripes pretty much suck too so I'll replace them with something like this:



except in black. I already have a black painted hood scoop to go with them.

 

NICE! I'm on Way's site right now. Lots of cool stuff.

 

Aww c'mon now. Catted downpipes for MKVI GTIs are in the $700-800 range.

 

Horror stories? Where can I find this?

 

I would also like to know of the horror stories from etg tuning since m about to ship my ecu to them to get mine tuned. I've only heard good things from them so far, talked to Jags on the phone and he was very helpful! Said each car's gain will be different but for a stock car out of factory his tune gives about 35hp and 25lb ft torque which isn't bad at all for a $650 mod.

 

Wouldn't you rather slightly less horsepower but more torque AND half the price with Berger Tuning's JB+? With the added bonus of plug and play rather than risking yanking your ECU and hoping for the best?

 

Don't do it. Gabe's car blew up(engine). His car spiked over 20psi and kaboom! He won't tell you the truth but there's been scams with him. I was close going with his tune but dug a little deeper and found out this guy changed his companies name and everything. He talks big and says "the MINIs engine is bulletproof". When in actuality these engines are not bulletproof and they're a pain in the *** to tune. Go with BMS, PAW, Group4auto, or NM(if they can do later models now).

Good luck.

 

Thanks for the heads up, the BMS looks very simple and at a very good price, any issues with the piggyback setup?

 

So far they are still in beta testing but I don't think anyone has reported any major faults. Burger is big in the BMW community and seems to have a very solid reputation. The fact that they are doing beta testing on a fairly large group says a lot about their commitment to a safe and quality product.

 

Sounds good, I just read several pages of the bms thread and can't wait to get my hands on one. The plug and play and the price really can't be beat.