Anyone had Dinan tune and switch to Alpine or something else?

I currently have a Dinan Tune and wanted to know if anyone has switched from it to the Alpine or something else? Is there a noticeable difference? I don't want to spend money on a new tune if there's not going to be any real differences.

Tune was done in 2010, at the time, had Dinan race pipe and rear section, under drive pulley, intake, 4.10 differential. Currently it has iND RKP Sport xpipe with 2 high flow cats and the rest is the same. I may change the rear section. Just curious if there's a better tune out there or if what I have is fine.

Thanks

I had a Dinan stage 1 tune and switched to an Epic Race tune. I like the Epic much more, but the Dinan was for a catted exhaust and the Epic for a track pipe, so the comparison is not fair.

That's kind of what I'm wondering, since the Dinan tune was done with the full Dinan exhaust, catless, and now it's catted would I benefit from a new tune?
?

Scharbag may be able to provide that guidance

I had Dinan stage 1 when I bought me car used. Worked fine.

Wanted to go to stage 2 so I changed to Alpine tune. Unfair to compare stage 1 and stage 2 tunes but I have moved away from Alpine due to serious pre-detonation issues at low RPM that could not be resolved. I even did some dyno work and the shop would not go WOT due to the terrible Pre-det. Once I added a bunch of E85 to the tank, all Pre-det went away. I am not the only Alpine customer that suffered from this.

I would personally steer clear of the Alpine tune based on my experience. I have heard the ESS does a pretty good job of making good power while properly protecting the engine.

Hope this helps.

I'm currently running an Alpine stage 2 (previously on stage 1), and have actually been thinking of switching out to a different tune. There are some nice things about the tune, particularly the features. It does feel more torquey down low, the cold start delete is a life-save (shaking the house on start-up does wear a bit) and the servotronic tune does feel nice.

That said, my main problem is that the performance seems inconsistent. Some days, it hits hard and will happily light up the rear tires. Other days, barely a chirp out of them. Also, I have the 8600 RPM tune, and have never seen the rev needle go above 8400 when I've hit redline. I'm eyeing the Epic tune, and may make the switch this year.

Scharbag wrote

I had Dinan stage 1 when I bought me car used. Worked fine.

Wanted to go to stage 2 so I changed to Alpine tune. Unfair to compare stage 1 and stage 2 tunes but I have moved away from Alpine due to serious pre-detonation issues at low RPM that could not be resolved. I even did some dyno work and the shop would not go WOT due to the terrible Pre-det. Once I added a bunch of E85 to the tank, all Pre-det went away. I am not the only Alpine customer that suffered from this.

I would personally steer clear of the Alpine tune based on my experience. I have heard the ESS does a pretty good job of making good power while properly protecting the engine.

Hope this helps.

I've been running the ESS tune for about 70k miles without any issues. Their customer service has been okay at best but the tune has been great.

CPWINCH wrote

Shrike360 wrote

I'm currently running an Alpine stage 2 (previously on stage 1), and have actually been thinking of switching out to a different tune. There are some nice things about the tune, particularly the features. It does feel more torquey down low, the cold start delete is a life-save (shaking the house on start-up does wear a bit) and the servotronic tune does feel nice.

That said, my main problem is that the performance seems inconsistent. Some days, it hits hard and will happily light up the rear tires. Other days, barely a chirp out of them. Also, I have the 8600 RPM tune, and have never seen the rev needle go above 8400 when I've hit redline. I'm eyeing the Epic tune, and may make the switch this year.

I too run Alpine stage II as my car came with it. Feels proper fast. I don't have any complaints yet but I am seriously considering switching to Epic tune since I do track.

Not to mention Alex can be such a dick to his customers. Been getting my cars coded from him for like 10 years and he has no problem being an asshole to paying customers.

proof: he will "ignore" your emails for days even though my original email had all the info
Screen Shot 2021-03-23 at 11.55.03 AM by Connor winchell, on Flickr

I thought I was the only one. Man he gave me so much attitude when I asked him to code out EDC and TPMS back in 2018. Customer service is garbage.

Had BPM Sport Stage 2 and switched to Alpine, I was willing to pay Mike for a re-tune which he listed on his site since I had installed headers. He asked me to purchase logging software then send him logs, after I did he said he didn't think there would be anything to gain, even though I kept telling him the car bogged at low rpm after installing the long tube headers and going catless.

Went with Alpine because he said he could make changes for the long tube headers, it ran better than the bpm tune but had some slight issues that didn't bother me as much until a group of us with more forward placed xpipes all had the same issue. At first we were told it could be a coil/spark plug/maintenance/etc problem, but Alex was able to make some tweaks to the tune and we all got updates for no charge to resolve our issues even though we offered to pay since it was more of a compatibility problem than an OTS tune problem since it ran on other cars with other xpipes without these issues.

Just this week, I also requested a new file to try out some changes. Alex sent back a file with updated changes for headers since he had tuned another car on a dyno with headers and made changes.

Haven't tried it out yet, but just wanted to highlight an example of tune improvement without having to repay for a full custom tune. From that front I would say the customer service has been great and he was willing to make improvements, unlike my last tuner who said just said no or was unwilling.

That said, I have no experience getting any coding done, I've always done that myself.

So I guess.. is there really a benefit to switching from my Dinan tune to one of the others, or nothing I'm really going to notice?

Teerump wrote

So I guess.. is there really a benefit to switching from my Dinan tune to one of the others, or nothing I'm really going to notice?

Based on your mod list, I'd save your money and stay the course. They won't be substantial change once you're stage 2 (primary cat delete).

CPWINCH wrote

I too run Alpine stage II as my car came with it. Feels proper fast. I don't have any complaints yet but I am seriously considering switching to Epic tune since I do track.

Not to mention Alex can be such a dick to his customers. Been getting my cars coded from him for like 10 years and he has no problem being an asshole to paying customers.

proof: he will "ignore" your emails for days even though my original email had all the info
Screen Shot 2021-03-23 at 11.55.03 AM by Connor winchell, on Flickr

I apologize, I am sorry for the attittude. I will try to fix my responses.

LatifE90 wrote

I thought I was the only one. Man he gave me so much attitude when I asked him to code out EDC and TPMS back in 2018. Customer service is garbage.

I apologize, I will work on my responses.

Scharbag wrote

I had Dinan stage 1 when I bought me car used. Worked fine.

Wanted to go to stage 2 so I changed to Alpine tune. Unfair to compare stage 1 and stage 2 tunes but I have moved away from Alpine due to serious pre-detonation issues at low RPM that could not be resolved. I even did some dyno work and the shop would not go WOT due to the terrible Pre-det. Once I added a bunch of E85 to the tank, all Pre-det went away. I am not the only Alpine customer that suffered from this.

I would personally steer clear of the Alpine tune based on my experience. I have heard the ESS does a pretty good job of making good power while properly protecting the engine.

Hope this helps.

Combined with a specific set of x pipes sputtering on the bottom would happen. You are the first person to bring this problem to light. I tried everything from reducing ignition timing, returning vanos to stock and various other changes. In the end it took a handful of other people to pop up and point out the X pipe caused the issue.

In your case, I blamed everything else including your upgraded throttles. This was my mistake.

But I can assure you, the problem is resolved and running better because of the community pointing out the issue was the X pipes.

If I was aware from day one the problem was the x pipe I would approach it in a totally different manner. You got the short end of the stick and I probably had a bad attitude about it while you kept it professional. My apologies once again.

Alex@Alpine wrote

CPWINCH wrote

I too run Alpine stage II as my car came with it. Feels proper fast. I don't have any complaints yet but I am seriously considering switching to Epic tune since I do track.

Not to mention Alex can be such a dick to his customers. Been getting my cars coded from him for like 10 years and he has no problem being an asshole to paying customers.

proof: he will "ignore" your emails for days even though my original email had all the info
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51066795641_a93e50a5aa_n.jpgScreen Shot 2021-03-23 at 11.55.03 AM by Connor winchell, on Flickr

I apologize, I am sorry for the attittude. I will try to fix my responses.

LatifE90 wrote

I thought I was the only one. Man he gave me so much attitude when I asked him to code out EDC and TPMS back in 2018. Customer service is garbage.

I apologize, I will work on my responses.

Scharbag wrote

I had Dinan stage 1 when I bought me car used. Worked fine.

Wanted to go to stage 2 so I changed to Alpine tune. Unfair to compare stage 1 and stage 2 tunes but I have moved away from Alpine due to serious pre-detonation issues at low RPM that could not be resolved. I even did some dyno work and the shop would not go WOT due to the terrible Pre-det. Once I added a bunch of E85 to the tank, all Pre-det went away. I am not the only Alpine customer that suffered from this.

I would personally steer clear of the Alpine tune based on my experience. I have heard the ESS does a pretty good job of making good power while properly protecting the engine.

Hope this helps.

Combined with a specific set of x pipes sputtering on the bottom would happen. You are the first person to bring this problem to light. I tried everything from reducing ignition timing, returning vanos to stock and various other changes. In the end it took a handful of other people to pop up and point out the X pipe caused the issue.

In your case, I blamed everything else including your upgraded throttles. This was my mistake.

But I can assure you, the problem is resolved and running better because of the community pointing out the issue was the X pipes.

If I was aware from day one the problem was the x pipe I would approach it in a totally different manner. You got the short end of the stick and I probably had a bad attitude about it while you kept it professional. My apologies once again.

As a previous Alpine customer, I think its fair to acknowledge the volume these folks get in the way of emails and DM's (across social). I'm sure its insane and layered with varying expectations of response (nights, weekends, holidays).

I've been on the other end of Alex being terse with me. Text messages are especially hard to remain clear without becoming super blunt and direct. I'm not saying it's excusable, but understandable.

Appreciate the humble response Alex.

+1 for Alex customer service. I had an issue with some options on my car and he was online helping me diagnose it late hours during the weekend, answering my emails almost real time - under no obligation at all to do that. Like every business, it's hard to keep 100% customer satisfaction. Anyways, just sharing my recent experience.

CPWINCH wrote

I too run Alpine stage II as my car came with it. Feels proper fast. I don't have any complaints yet but I am seriously considering switching to Epic tune since I do track.

Not to mention Alex can be such a dick to his customers. Been getting my cars coded from him for like 10 years and he has no problem being an asshole to paying customers.

proof: he will "ignore" your emails for days even though my original email had all the info

From what I hear the guy that runs Epic Tunes is pretty rude.

We have had probably about 200 people switch from DINAN to our software over the years with nothing but smiles.

Here are a few posts on it:

https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=825012

https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=780338

https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1429930

https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1579174

https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1323513

Feel free to contact us for a forum discount. We are the most proven tuner for the E9x M3 and you will love the software!

BPMSport wrote

We have had probably about 200 people switch from DINAN to our software over the years with nothing but smiles.

Here are a few posts on it:

https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=825012

https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=780338

https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1429930

https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1579174

https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1323513

Feel free to contact us for a forum discount. We are the most proven tuner for the E9x M3 and you will love the software!

PM Sent

I have Dinan stage 1 and I love, love, love it. Super smooth power band, torque in all the right places, no pre-det issues or other issues, ever. Dinan reliability.

I'm sure perhaps some of the other tunes are cool too, but I really like my Dinan tune a lot.

b4hand wrote

From what I hear the guy that runs Epic Tunes is pretty rude.

My interactions with Randy, on the phone and email, were great.

I have MPE, no other aftermarket parts aside from BE rod bearings and some rotors and pads. Was trying to keep my car very close to stock, because of values and potential as a collectible. However, now that my mileage is climbing (150k KM) and I recently had a collision- I'm down to mod. Looking at dampers and a tune to start. I was going to go with the Dinan tune, but a friend of mine with the Alpine tune swears by it, he loves it and has had no issues. In fact a few guys I know are very happy with the alpine tune, one with a fully decked out dinan E92 prefers the alpine tune, as well....

Thoughts? Advice?

I am also curious for the individuals with the Dinan stage 1 tune, do you guys also have their DCT software installed as well also. Was there a big notice with the additional of the DCT software or was the stage 1 tune sufficient in a sense. Again this is mainly for just exhaust and intake (performance mods).