Turner vs Dinan

[fourdoorfosho]

Looking at getting a Performance Chip both Turner and Dinan are about the same price just curious on if anyone has either of them and what you think. Also curious on how realiable they are..

[curry]

I had the same question several years ago. Having a 95 with EWS2 complicated matters. It appears that the performance increase for both are similar. I called Dinan for almost two weeks and got no help whatsoever. I was put in hold and hung up on and never had anyone responding to phone messages I left. No customer service at all.

Turner, on the other hand was helpful and I had the correct chip in about three days [to my best recollection]. It worked perfectly from the start. The performance improvement was noticeable, but not overly dramatic. It was worth it, but it's still a 325.

I'd go with Turner again if it was for me. They wanted my business and delivered a quality product.

[wolfgang e36328]

Hello friend of the Bimmers.. I have worked in the dealership end of the industry as a serv consultant for a long time and while i worked for my local BMW dealer they sent me to become their certified Dinan rep.
Don't call Dinan themselves,find which dealer in your general location is a certified dealer...not all are.
Find which parts and serv reps are in charge ,they will be happy to give you everything you need.
And also with all due respect, you get the biggest bang for the buck when you do the chip and cold air kit or even possibly cat-back exhaust. it's not as much as you think. The end results are phenominal. The straight six is bullet proof and capable of so much,the suspension translates that to a thrill of a ride:buttrock

[ChuckDizzle]

I'd go Turner. I don't like Dinan after working at a dealership. They're other products are overpriced as well given the aftermarket competition. The only thing they price competitively is their software.

Software alone won't do all that much, but with complimenting mods (free flow exhaust, intake etc) it will be more effective.

Turner Motorsports are more dedicated to the cause, Dinan is more of a for profit business.

edit: I'm using the Turner chip currently.

[fourdoorfosho]

I noticed when you order the Turner chip they wanna know if you have exhaust or not does that really matter? I just made a custom exhaust buy removing my stock muffler b/c it got a hole in it.

[ChuckDizzle]

I noticed when you order the Turner chip they wanna know if you have exhaust or not does that really matter? I just made a custom exhaust buy removing my stock muffler b/c it got a hole in it.

Turner chips are programmed based on the mods you have so it can be as effective as possible. Intakes, exhausts, injector size, MAF size are all taken into account when they sell you a chip.
When you said you removed the stock muffler, does that mean straight pipes? If your exhaust flows a little bit more than stock, then just say yes.

[fourdoorfosho]

yeah just the muffler part though, not the cat or anything like that. idk if i would say its a performance modification...

[Seeker]

A year ago I called Dinan tech support and talked to a very friendly fella named Brian.

He returned my call after I left a message that day if I recall... very prompt/courteous and informative when I was trying to troubleshoot a possible DME issue with their Dinan Chip in it.
He was even offering information on other things to check out besides the chip.

Told me if I found out my stock chip let the car run, they would replace the bad Dinan chip for free.. basically stating to me that its a Lifetime warranty on the chip.. and it can be used.. as in I just send in the chip w/out proving I was the original purchaser.. if they find it to be GENUINE and not a fleabay copy, they would simply send me a fresh one.. since the chip itself is like a $3 item.. its the software/coding on it that your really paying for.
Sorry for the prev. poster that had a bad experience from Dinan.. it does not sound like normal service from them.

Turner is great too from what I heard.. and like said above, they can offer more customizations.

[BMWBEAST6]

i just bought a 1997 328i, the person i bought it from put on an $800 midpipe apparently, still has stock headers and muffler. The new midpipe has short race cats, tiny resonators and crush bent piping i think for better flow through bends. Would that be considered a better flowing exhaust? It may sound like a lot but I really dont know if it did much


and tuner uses shark injector right?

[alphanume12ix]

I would go with turner since they come with tunes for optional mods (i.e. cams and sport exhaust) even if you jsut get the basic performance tune, you can always ask turner to tune it different. of course it costs a fee to retune, it is still a fraction of the cost of a different chip.

something you might also want to look into is the Miller Performance WAR Chip. YOU can tune the chip in live time by yourself. Its $100 more but if you ever get things like cams, beefier injectors, etc. there are a lot of pre tunes settings you can implement. It's also a goot tuning chip if you ever decide to go the FI route

[BMWBEAST6]

haha i got a lot of time till then, but how does the whole thing work with the retuning and stuff of the shark injector. and ive seen that WAR chip once. never heard anything about it though

do they make WAR chips for obdII

[alphanume12ix]

now that you mention it... i dont think so. in that case go with turner =]

[BMWBEAST6]

yeah cuz i was looking them up and noticed they dont. what about active autowerkes though. i read that you call them and you tell them what you have and they'll tune it to your specifications. of course it wont be exactly perfect, but for the extra 30 bucks over shark injector, it seems worth it

[alphanume12ix]

the shark injector for your car is 299 and you can update the maps as often as you like via USB cable download into the injector

[BMWBEAST6]

so would it be better to go the shark injector route?

[alphanume12ix]

i havent used it personally but you could always restore it back to OEM specs and then back to PERFORMANCE as needed. a lot of people use it and i never see anyhting bad written about it.

[BMWBEAST6]

true... thanks

[subspd]

Dinan. Deal with a real dealer they will take care of you. Plus Dinan really does stand behind their products.

[silverm3bmw]

Correct me if I am wrong, but, I thought with the shark injector, you order a premade set of settings and you got that and only that? You can add and change things like mapping at will? What other things can you add/change? I was on thier site and didnt see anything that mentioned you could change things at will!?

Any laptop software that can do that? I am real geeky like that, lol.

[Henryville]

...
something you might also want to look into is the Miller Performance WAR Chip. YOU can tune the chip in live time by yourself. Its $100 more but if you ever get things like cams, beefier injectors, etc. there are a lot of pre tunes settings you can implement. It's also a goot tuning chip if you ever decide to go the FI route

This. Definitely what I'm doing.

[alphanume12ix]

Correct me if I am wrong, but, I thought with the shark injector, you order a premade set of settings and you got that and only that? You can add and change things like mapping at will? What other things can you add/change? I was on thier site and didnt see anything that mentioned you could change things at will!?

Any laptop software that can do that? I am real geeky like that, lol.

Miller you can change at will... but the shark injector is different. theres a mini USB on the device and from what i have learned, you can get updates via that cable i dunno if you have to pay for updates. BUT you can go from performance flash to stock flash IN A FLASH if you need to smog it or return it to OEM for any reason


This. Definitely what I'm doing.
i think the OP would definitely go with the WAR chip if he were OBDI


Dinan. Deal with a real dealer they will take care of you. Plus Dinan really does stand behind their products.

i believe dinan is a flash via the circle service port in the engine. although dinan worked with BMW to develop the software, and there has never been a problem passing smog with the software, id still opt for the shark injector. reason being is that say you fail smog. flashing back to stock maps is eaisier and faster than changing out your other mods.

i wanted to get the dinan chip...but i got a turner one from a fanatic foran AMAZING price

[BMWBEAST6]

... lucky... i think they should lower the price :D

[alphanume12ix]

hasha i think so too cause the HARDWARE itself cost like less than a dollar to make but the time and research it took to engineer the chips takes mad $$$. dynos....electricity....gas...and im pretty sure they detonated or at least came close to breaking an engine or two along the way

[BMWBEAST6]

most likely.... maybe lost a few engineers in the process :( im just kidding, but hell im sure they put their lives into this because we just love our E36's :D

[Found94]

I have the Dinan chip. It was installed before I got the car so I cannot comment on performance increases. I can say that the car runs smooth, passes smog, and I get more MPG than what the car lists on the window sticker. The chip has been in the car for ~10 years and there have been zero problems with it.