Modding the BMW M2
My BMW M2 is around 18 months old now and I continue to enjoy it. That high RPM off-gas throttle bark is still a thrill. Over the ownership period i have been making a number of tweaks and changes that I thought I would share. Firstly I think it is important to establish that I consider myself a conservative incremental tuner with small ambitions, so this is not a guide to get to 600hp. Don’t this this put your off, my tweaking/modding is based on a collection of experiences from the cars that I have owned in the last 20 years as well as optimising the package that I have in front of me. The current car is a BMW M2, DCT, with all the options. The good news is that even if you don’t have an M2 many of these mods will work with other cars, so I encourage you to read on.
Engine:
Mapping
There is no doubt one of the most remarkable aspects of the M2 is the engine and its power. Launching to 100km in 4.3 seconds is quite a thrill. But you never get the sense that the engine is stressed or working too hard. Engine power is 272kw and Torque is 500nm (with over boost for 7 seconds). But when you have a look at the torque chart from BMW something is wrong. Can you pick it?
Both the power and torque curves look like they have been cut with a cheese cutter. Where is the missing cheese? My guess is that the marketing department could not have the little brother to the M3/M4 producing more power and going faster. I took the car to a local tuner and installed a new map. They had to keep the car for 3 days as the computer needs to be removed from the car and upgraded on the bench. When you take the car for service a normal BMW service won’t overwrite the map, plus the tuner provides a guarantee. The results are incredible and easily returns the power that the marketing department took away. The engine does not feel stressed and no special fuels are required, just business as usual. Engine power is now 309kw (414hp), torque is 580nm and the car is now high 3 seconds 0–100km/h. This is a massive improvement, I have been running for around a year now and I would totally recommend it for any M2 owner.
If you decide to get the tune, you need to consider what engine modes you want upgraded. I added 25% to comfort mode, 50% to Sports and 100% to Sports+. I would likely have done it a little different next time with 100% applied to Sports and Sports+ being the difference. I don’t prefer the prolonged DCT shift selection in Sports+ and would be happier with 100% of the power in Sport mode.
Intake Panel Filter & Scoop
I have installed a K&N filer to improve airflow/performance I cannot say that there is any noticeable improvement in performance, but there is a noticeable improvement in the induction noise which for “stage 1” is well worth it.
As part of this I installed the aFe air scope to provide more direct cold air.
I expect this will provide an improvement on hot days and from a standstill as this will minimise inducting the warm air wafting over the radiators.
Electronics/coding
Perhaps one of the most rewarding modification is the “coding” of the BMW electronics to setup the vehicle in the way you want it. You may be surprised to know that the BMW engineers have designed the car in such a way that makes this really easy to do. There are over 1000 options to modify from setting the temperature in the seats, exhaust flap, active sound, to seat belt notifications based on distance or not at all. The BMW M2 has over 11 computes in the car, for different functions, iDrive, safety, security, dashboard etc.
There are several ways to code the vehicle, I have seen a few websites that allow you to pick options on a website, they send you a file and you put it on a USB key. You then load up the options from the USB slot in the center console. I did not prefer the one-time selection criteria and I thought it was a bit expensive, so I went down the ODB2 path + a mobile application (android). I ordered the Bluetooth ODB2 Carly adapter and the Carley App — each costed about $100 ($200 in total).
The adapter plugs into your ODB2 port and the app is easy to get connected. 1000+ options where to start ?
When you get in the car, you just want to drive, but it can feel like going through a pre-flight checklist on a A380 to get going. Making these coding changes can have a significant improvement to the livability for the car, here are what I think the top 5 coding changes are and why.
1. Default Off-Stop Start.
I don’t believe in stop start technology for these reasons:
· 80% of engine ware occurs when you start & stop the engine
· robs you of responsiveness when taking off from a standstill (~1 second delay)
· Adds more wear and tear to starter motor
· Add more wear and tear to the battery
· The .0001% of fuel that it saves is not worth it.
With this option you can change it from Default on to Default off, simple. So the option now works in reverse of default.
2. Disable iDrive legal disclaimer.
Can iDrive just work please? each time you start the car, there is a legal disclaimer on the iDrive that needs to be acknowledged before the last feature is available.
With this option the legal disclaimer is removed the iDrive just works without any acknowledgement, start the car and get on with driving.
3. Reversing Camera legal disclaimer.
The last thing you need when you are trying to use the tiny screen for the reversing camera is a legal disclaimer blocking the actual vision. With this removed you vision is not impaired by the warning about vision impairment, ironic don’t you think?
4. Seat belt chime.
Now I have no arguments with using seat belts, they save lives, but when I pull into the driveway it is more convenient to take the seat belt off to access the door opener and navigate a tight turn. The moment the belt comes out your get an annoying and persistent alarm. You have many options from fully off to alarm after a few distance options up to 1km. This is really handy to manage/minimise the disturbance.
5. Message length and in Motion
Being about to read more than a few words from your email or SMS and when the vehicle is not in park, like in traffic is handy to make full use of the iDrive system.
The app supports full backup of each computer and configuration as well as return to defaults which is helpful if you forget what they were.
Interior:
Dash-cam
Dash-cams are becoming more and more popular and I think they serve a number of purposes very well. Firstly, they provide an excellent road companion to capture what’s happening on the road and it can get a little hairy from time to time. It can be helpful to capture this for insurance purposes as needed. Secondly if mounted well they can provide an excellent driving or track camera to capture that amazing driving or impressive vistas to share with your friend’s family or the world. Seamless installation is the key to get it out of the way whilst at the same time provide value. In the front passengers foot-well there is a hidden 12v power port. If you carefully remove the black plastic cover on top of the foot-well you can assess the back of the power and solider/attach on some power. This power is a good option as it is fuse protected and linked to the accessory power, so it turns off when the ignition is off and won’t drain your battery. Follow the door seal up and then tuck the remainder power into the head liner and you have a profession job. Note: when removing the foot-well cover, try not to put your screw driver into the 12v accessory plug as you will find out where the 12v fuse is much sooner than you need to.
Given the M2 can be a mobile hot spot you can upload all your footage to the Cloud for almost real-time access which can be a real bonus. To make this relevant you will need to install a back-up power/battery for your dash-cam which most of the decent units in the market support.
Creak treatment
My good friend purchased a new M3 and I noticed how creaky the interior was, 6 months later I got my M2 it was little different. I managed to isolate 80% of the sounds to two places on both the M3 and M2. In both the drivers and passengers top foot-well there is a black plastic cover/shield. On the end close to the seats there are 2 screws and on the other end towards the firewall the cover slides into 2 plastic slots.
Both the cover and the slots are plastic and there is enough clearance where they chatter over the bumps in the road. If you remove the covers and wrap the slots in some cloth dash tape you have a real improvement to reducing the creek noises in the M2 interior.
From what I can tell this is a common BMW “feature”, I have managed to help a few friends with this.
Smartphone Mount
We all have smart phones and a good number of us use this for navigation as well as a host of other driving apps. For example, Zello is a great Walki Talki for car to car to group communication without tying up the mobile network. These apps require clear and easy access to your phone. Magnetic vent mounts are a good solution but if you don’t want to block a vent what do you do? Windscreen mounts are even worse and are reserved for couriers, Uber drivers or rental cars. You can never get rid of that suction mark on the windscreen, beware…
I have found a real good solution which is a cup holder + stalk magnet.
Simply brilliant, both easy to see and use whilst being out of the way as the same time.
Exterior:
Wrapping
What is wrapping ? well wrapping is to apply a very thin adhesive film to the paintwork on the car to protect the surfaces from the environment, most importantly stone chips and general wear and tare like washing. You can wrap the whole car (which I have never done) all the way down to a small section that you want to protect. The obvious deciding factor is cost. If you can afford to wrap the whole car I would. I have a minimum spec that I would recommend, which comes from experience having wrapped over 5 different cars. My formula is this: 1. full front bumper and headlights. 2. Up to half of the bonnet in line with the full extent of the bumper. 3. painted surfaces behind all the mud guards to the front doors and rear bumper to protect from stone chips. 4. wing mirrors and 5. door sills to protect against foot traffic . This treatment costs around $1350. The film is invisible unless you look very hard, it washes very well, it is UV neutral so if you take off the film you don’t get any discoloration.
I have made a point of getting it done immediately after I purchase a car to trap in the virgin paint for the best results, but I would still apply it for any good used car that I owned.
I would recommend wrapping, it keeps the car cleaner, eliminates stone chips and improves the resale value as future purchasers will value this and so will you during your ownership.
There is a question you might have in mind, should I do this myself and buy a wrapping kit from Ebay or have it done professionally? no question in my mind. It takes about 2 years of full time experience to get it right. There is a lot of stretching and finessing to apply the film and it is very obvious when not done by a professional. You will get water and air spots and it won’t fit the areas currently. Done by a professional you cannot tell there is any film unless you can feel with your fingers at the very edge of the paint work. I recommend that you get ok it done by a professional (no question).
Future Upgrades:
Air Intake
I have ordered the Eventuri carbon intake for the M2, it should be arrive in a couple of weeks. There are around 5 different manufacturers for improved BMW M2 intakes, and after lots of research and from what I can tell the Eventuri is the best with genuine HP improvements (+10hp) plus the additional sounds to accompany the orchestra of the pops and crackles. As part of the in intake I will have the ECU remapped to accommodate the freer flowing air and also redistribute the additional power to 100% available in Sport and 100% Sports+ modes.
Boost Gauge/Telemetry
I have been searching for a year now on install some additional telemetry for the M2. My main interest is the boost gauge for 2 reasons. 1. more gauges tastefully installed is good eye candy 2. I like to understand when and how much boost is coming on based on the different car modes. There are 2 that have taken my fancy. The first is more basic from P3cars good data and conveniently fits into a vent for that factory look and still maintains 50% of the vent function. The downside is that the screen is very basic and with OLED tech available very cheaply in my mind is well short of its full potential. The 2nd option is AWRON which I think is the bee’s knees of gauges. Lots of options, colour screen and rich data set. The downside is that you lose a vent and it is very expensive, but this is likely where I will head.
Intercooler
The intercooler is the next upgrade, there is a lot to be gained here especially for hotter weather and there are some good performance gains here. This is not a huge priority for 3 reasons. 1. The car is still under warranty, and obvious plumbing/mechanical changes will void this, for my other mods the engine map is undetectable and the Eventuri intake can be removed within 1 hour for a service. 2. The performance gains or marginal. 3. I have not upgraded the turbo which would be the biggest driver to deal with the additional heat. There are number of options out there with most of them doubling the capacity and having a decent improvement in the heat reduction. From the research that I have done the Dinan dual core package seems to be the business.
Conclusion:
Modding the BMW M2 has been a lot of fun, whilst making the car more livable and extracting more performance in a reliable way. I hope you get can benefit from this post. Just for clarity, I don’t work in the car industry, and in no way related to any of the recommendations that I have made. Enjoy !
