1536Z4 said:Hi Flyingfifer .
I am only going by my experience with the remaps that I have had done in the past 16 years . Even if on paper they may not look much but the driving experience is definitely better .
You're certainly entitled to your opinion however I suspect there was an element of placebo power going on there, if you're mapping something with a turbo or at the very least some power to speak of then yes I can absolutely understand a marked and worthwhile difference but when you're talking about jiggling around 2 or 3 bhp/ftlb on the curve or gaining a maximum of 10bhp at the top its not going to turn the car into a whole different machine to drive. :idunno:
In terms of the graph you linked in the link that you linked, I have some issues with it. Firstly the stock torque figure is way off, the N52 in the E86 peaks torque around 3k RPM not 5.5(ish)k as your print out shows. Secondly the torque figures are weird, the value at the bottom reads 299.5 (assuming NM) which would be roughly correct in terms of the stock ftlb but the graph shows something totally different at around 250NM or 184ftlb, I assume the figure at the bottom is assumed @ fly and the graph is measured @ wheels but that being the case thats almost around a 16% transmission loss. Thirdly the "stage1" line is more akin to the expected standard curve and lastly while not impossible the gain of circa 19bhp from stock seems optimistic.
Below is a BMW power graph of the 330i with the N52, although slightly different from the E86 N52 you will notice that the torque curve peaks before 3k and is largely flat from that point for several krpm.

Regardless all that said, OP, if you fancy it, go for it. But real world brass tacks is that its not going to make a real difference and you would be better spending the money elsewhere or saving for the 3.0