On April, I've encountered some mishap while on my way back from work. While driving suddenly i heard a very loud bang!! I can't see anything on the road and once the bang happened, I quickly glanced from the rear view mirror and try to see what I've hit.. Nothing.. I see nothing on the road.. After that, the car drive a bit funny.. Not very stable but still drivable..

Cut the story short, I quickly find a tyre shop that is still open because is almost 730pm.. Luckily found one but they don't have the identical tyre so I have no choice but to get a different one instead.. I don't really like to mix and match tyre as I have OCD on non matching things.. Haha.. But no choice.. Is either I change or can't drive at all.. 

That's the hole and I'm not sure caused by what.. But you can see the whole chunk of tyre was ripped open.. The original tyre on my car was Hankook Ventus S1 Evo 3 225/45 18".. Is a nice tyre with aggressive thread pattern.. But the tyre shop only have Michelin.. I'm more than happy to have a set of Pilot Sport 4 ZP but too bad they don't have ready stock for it.. So I got no choice but to settle for Michelin Primacy 3 ZP instead.. Definitely not the kind of tyre that I will go for usually.. But looking at the current situation, I have no other choice..

 

I'm those that will always go for the sportiest tyre that I can afford.. Previously, I even used semi slick on my daily driven.. Performance is my number one priority.. When they told me they only have Michelin Primacy around, my heart sunk!! Because Primacy is designed for comfort rather than performance.. Still gave them the green light because I have no other choice as this was the only shop open..

Once done fixing, they came and told me the rim got some crack in it and is leaking air fast!! Haiz..What a day indeed.. No choice but to wait until the next day to get the rim fix.. 

Fast forward 2 months later..

I would like to share some quick update on the Michelin Primacy 3 ZP.. So far the tyre felt softer and definitely quieter than the original Hankook Ventus S1 Evo 3.. Not surprising as the Primacy are suppose to be more comfort oriented.. So far with hard driving, the grip is actually very good. No complaint so far.. So now need to see how long can the tyre last..

Another Burger Motorsport product this time.. I have really good experience with Burger Motorsport product namely the awesome JB4.. That thing transform my car.. The drivability is so much better as the whole car felt light on the move.. 

This time round I'm going to talk about BMS Pedal Tuner.. I have never try a pedal tuner before so I don't really have much expectation.. I always categorise them as a gimmick to be honest because when you think of it, it doesn't provide any power or torque.. What can you get by just altering the throttle response where the power and torque figure remain the same.. THIS IS THE BIGGEST MISTAKE THAT I'VE MADE!! The difference is significant!! I don't really know what sorcery is this.. But the whole car felt so much lighter and the response is really awesome..

In my opinion, this setup will give you the affect that the whole car is on another level.. Felt like driving a 330i instead of 320i.. Horsepower and torque increase by ten fold!! I might exaggerate a bit here but you need to try it to believe it.. Felt like it generated more power than the JB4.. Combine both together and it totally transform my 320i into 330i!! 

There are a few settings that you can tinker with.. The off mode, Stage 1, Stage 2 and Stage 3.. In between the stages, you can fine tune it even more by decreasing or increasing the severity of the throttle response.. I put mine on Stage 3 with maximum setting.. MY GOD!! The throttle response is instantaneous but you need to get use to it as sometimes it might jerk a bit.. And on extreme downshift, there is a slight lag to it.. Nothing major as once the car gets going, you can really feel the pulling power.. It just keeps pulling until the very top end.. I can only imagine the power the engine will generate with the addition of a full exhaust system and intake. These mods will be in a few years time when the warranty period is over.. So for the time being, I will have to be content with what I have now.. 

Got myself a JB4 piggyback from Burger Motorsports.. Burger Motorsports is a tuning company from the United States that is famous for their no nonsense JB4 tuner.. The first time i saw the product, I'm not impressed.. Box design so so only.. Very minimalist approach with nothing but a BIG JB4 in the front accompanied by MADE IN USA.. But the review for it is nothing short of ordinary.. A lot of good reviews and testimony from customers all over the world.. 

One of the reason I got the JB4 instead of an ECU remap is because of warranty issue.. If I do a remap, very high chances I will void the warranty as BMW technician can detect the ECU been remap before even when I revert back to stock factory setting..

Most people claim service center can't detect when using JB4.. But there are some who claim they can as well because a stock standard engine will not boost over the original value unless being program to do so.. But I choose to believe the former 😊.. Keeping my finger cross and hope everything will be fine..

Very normal looking box.. Doesn't show that it packs a punch.. I got the JB4 together with the Connect Kit so that I can control it on the fly.. What I need to do is buy the program (can be downloaded from Apple App Store and Google Play Store.. A lot of things can be customize ranging from what MAP to run and also what kind of information to show on your phone.. This is really very convenient as I don't need to send my car to tuner in order to change to run a different MAP.

I've been using MAP1 since I got it.. Here is the explanation on what different MAP will do..

JB4 Map Guide:

Map0: Stock tuning, fully disable JB4
Map1: 3psi over stock added (91 octane)
Map2: 4psi over stock added (91-93 octane)
Map3: 6psi over stock added (93+ octane)
Map4: Absolute target map with peak target of 20psi (93+ and/or 30% E85, EWG connector suggested)
Map5: Absolute target map with peak target of 22psi (30% E85+ fuel, EWG connector suggested)
Map6: Custom tuning map -- see details on n54tech JB4 page
Map7: Progressive WMI map with tuning a function of meth flow and user defined boost additive. 
Map8: VALET / Low Boost Map

Been running around in MAP1 for more than 8 months and just a few days ago I decided to change it to MAP2 instead.. Still haven't really test it out but the difference is not that apparent comparing to stock standard and progressing to MAP1.. Let me try it out for a while more and I will update accordingly..

I'm planning to do a dyno run and see what's the gain I get when running on MAP1 and also MAP2.. My hand is itching to press on MAP3 as the boost is double of that comparing to MAP1.. But I'm not sure whether RON97 petrol is sufficient or I need to run RON100 for not getting engine detonation.. Because 93 Octane is around RON98 so running on MAP2 is still consider safe as you can see from the above.. I can't get any information on Octane 93+ hence I dare not venture into MAP3 for this particular reason alone unless I'm running on RON100 which is definitely safe enough to run on MAP3.. 

This is the JB4 apps that I was talking about.. The apps alone cost more than RM100 but this is a one off payment.. I think the apps is worth getting if you have the Bluetooth Connect Kit because it will make your life so much easier.. You can use the apps to do logging and also find out if there is any error code from the car and diagnose the issue..

UPDATE

My finger decided to push on the MAP3 button 🙈.. Whoaaaaaaa.. The difference between MAP2 and 3 is pretty obvious.. Can really feel the car pull strongly.. Before doing that, I drop an email to Burger Motorsports and asked them regarding MAP3.. They said 'SHOULD' (very clever choice of word here) be ok to use MAP3 with RON97 petrol.. So I did it.. Push that damn button and all hell break loose.. The power delivery is pretty addictive.. What I'm afraid now is the boost level.. Sometimes I see the boost spike to 20psi.. Pretty high to me.. I'm not sure on the actual boost for a stock B48 on the 320i but someone wrote on the net saying is around 8psi.. So MAP3 will increase 6psi over the standard 8psi and we are looking at 14psi.. Most of the time the boost will be around 14-15psi.. But sometimes it will spike to 20psi.. Anyway I'm enjoying it way too much.. Can't wait to get it dyno and see the difference between all the different MAP..

I really like the look of the new BMW G20 generation.. To my eyes, it is the most beautiful BMW 3 series ever produce.. I'm not just talking about the exterior.. The interior is mind blowing as well.. Thought not as flashy as the latest generation of Mercedes, but I find it really pleasant to look at.. 

The one thing that bug me whenever I see this car is the big and shiny chrome kidney grill.. It just looks weird to my eyes.. The 320i in Malaysia came in the Sport variant with black out door frame and the big chrome grill just looks awful.. So naturally, this will be the first mod that I did for my car..

I chose the design grill design that is similar to the original instead of the M3 or M340i style grill.. Actually, I regretted getting this as the insert can be taken out.. If I bought the M3 style grill, then I will have 2 different design for the grill.. But can't complaint much as I don't think I will have the time to keep changing the design.. This is basically mod and forget.. 

The size for both grills are actually the same.. Just the angle of the pic making the black one looks a lot smaller.. The black out version looks so much meaner comparing to the chrome version.

This is 100% original before any mod done to it.. 

After changing to the black out version.. Really transform the looks of the car.. In my opinion, it should leave the factory with the black out version as standard! Luckily this is something that is easy to do.. Those interested to change it can search from Youtube on the steps of dismantling it.. Is a very easy job which takes around 15 mins.. But the outcome is priceless.. 

Been driving around in the latest BMW 3 series codenamed G20 for the past 8 months or so.. So far I got nothing but praises for it.. My G20 is the base 320i Sport variant.. Not the 330i or the full blown M340i that was launched recently.. But no complaint so far.. However, those that know me personally will most probably know that I got a disease that is call 'ICLMCS' which translate to 'I can't leave my car standard' disease'!! 

Did some small mod here and there and so far I'm loving it.. Didn't go crazy with the mod yet as the 5 years unlimited mileage warranty is still intact.. Don't wish to void the warranty because of all the mods.. Most of the mods I did so far were mainly cosmetic.. Did something to the engine as well but that is plug and play.. No crazy ECU flashing at this moment..