BMW Modifications – Do this First

Before you start dumping gobs of horsepower into your BMW or installing the latest and greatest coil-over kit, learn how to drive it first!  It’ll cost you a heck of a lot less money, you’ll have tons of fun, and in the end you’ll actually know a lot more about your car and your limitations as a driver.

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BMW Air Filters – things to know about ‘performance filters’

One thing that I cannot explain enough to people is that there is no way in hell you’ll feel a significant change in horsepower in your BMW by switching to a different kind of air filter.  The most popular of which is K&N filters, which are more of a screen filter with some foam that utilizes a special oil to help it filter.  Your local auto parts store will usually have some sort of demonstration with a ping-pong ball that floats higher over one of these filters when compared to its stock counterpart.  That’s all fine and dandy, but the last time I checked, there weren’t any ping-pong balls in my engine bay.

Oil Saturation Filter

I’ve also seen many graphs when one of these filters are installed, and the car is put on a dynometer with the end result being a gain in horsepower and torque.  Before getting all giddy, these ‘gains’ are usually about 3-5 horsepower on an engine that produces over 250hp, giving an end result of about a 1-2% gain from that $65 filter you just bought.  Remember too that dynometers have a certain margin of error that can produce a different result through many tests. With any modification, I want to feel it in my seat.  The only way you’ll feel one of these filters in your seat is if you were to put it underneath your butt. (more…)

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