Purchasing car parts for your pride and joy is an extremely exciting and satisfying process for any car enthusiast. But what's even better? Getting these car parts at reduced prices! Not only you get to purchase more parts but you can also sleep well knowing you spent less. Win - win really, ey?! (Gosh, we really wish petrol stations participated in BFCM...)
We anticipate very high demand this weekend but we are making sure we are fair towards everyone. We believe some of our most popular products will sell out soon after going on sale. BUT not to worry! Our sale is not subject to availability at this time and you can simply pre-order your car part using the same code at checkout. You will need to wait a little bit longer than if we had the part in stock but nothing else changes. You will still the get great value and amazing customer service from our sales team. Some of the products are in transit or production now, which means they will be with you in a week time, ones that are still in line to be produced may take a little bit longer.
But this isn't everything! If you would like to save even more money with us, you can! We offer further discounts on sets i.e. if you are planning on buying three or more items with us drop us a message and we will give you the very best price! And the offer is not restricted for products just for your car. Feel free to partner up with your buddy to make the most out of the offer!
Some of the groups and forums we are part of have got their discount codes earlier. If you would like to access these to get your parts secured first here are the links:
Once you get your parts make sure you post some photos up and tag us in them! We love seeing the builds and ideas, especially with our parts on!
If you have any questions drop us a message on Facebook, our team will be active late this weekend. Alternatively feel free to fill the contact form but we may take a bit longer to respond to these.
]]>
Cars such as the BMW M135i and M235i (and their less popular relatives 335i and 435i) are great sports cars offering great performance without breaking the bank. Equipped with the N55 engine they offer around 320 BHP and 450 Nm of torque out of the factory, making them one of the greatest value performance cars on the market.
But what if this doesn't cut it any more? How tunable are these engines? How do I tune my BMW? Well, you are lucky enough as there are many different options available for the N55 engines nowadays. We will cover each of them in this article including expected gains, benefits and drawbacks and compare them so you can find the right solution that will suit you best.
Custom remaps are the most classic way of increasing your car's power. As long as the remap is carried out by a reputable garage this method will most likely make the biggest impact on car's performance. Custom remap means that all changes are tailored to your car exactly. At the end you should get a dyno printout showing the gains and healthy curves.
On the other hand though, custom remaps offer very little if any user control. Once the map is uploaded user is unable to tweak anything and there is no ability to switch the map off unlike with other methods listed later in this article. This will put off customers who care about their warranty as the BMW dealerships will be able to see that there were changes made to the ECU which may result in rejected claim even if the remap was removed prior to the dealership visit.
With custom remap, depending on the car and tuner you can expect the results of 410-435 bhp with decat downpipe and 370-390 bhp with standard down pipe.
When it comes to the tuning boxes, the clear winner on N55 platform is the JB4. Over the years it was proven to be reliable and trusted among thousands of users. Its greatest benefit is the fact it is almost untraceable in case of any warranty work - you simply remove the JB4 hardware and you're ready to go. It is essential if you are planning to run meth for the extra performance. Also, since it is a physical product you can sell it on once you change your car and get some money back.
It comes standard with a few maps where each is designed for a different, typical hardware setups. On top of this it allows tuners to add maps of their own which are a bit closer to custom remaps tailored to your needs. For an additional fee you can purchase a Bluetooth controller for your JB4 which allows you to switch between the maps, read and clear the codes and to data log.
But even the JB4 has its drawbacks. Many consider it quite dated with the standard maps not offering enough gains over the alternative tuning methods. The auto code clearing feature is great for getting rid of the Engine Management Light for drivers with a decat downpipe however if you have other issues, you may not always be aware of them due to the EML being forced off.
Some people even claim that BMW dealerships will be able to see that the engine was running higher boost if they decide to dig deep enough into the car's logs. This information has not been officially confirmed though.
The official UK website for JB4 claims that users can expect gains of up to 50 horsepower and 65 torque.
In recent years flash tuning has become increasingly popular. Two major players on N55 platform - bootmod3 and MHD made it very easy for customers to upload the maps to the car's ECU by them selves, right on their driveway with no need to book in and travel to a tuner garage.
What are the advantages of flash tuning? Like mentioned earlier, you do it when you want and where you want, you pay for the (digital) product and you carry out the service yourself, obtaining the complete freedom. Additionally, both MHD and bootmod3 offer extra settings such as cold start delete, burble control and much more. If you decide at any point you don't like your current settings you can easily change them on your flashing device (laptop / iPhone / iPad / Android device for bootmod3 and Android device for MHD) and reupload the map. These devices can also be used for data logging.
Both brands offer standard OTS maps which are designed for vehicles with assumed hardware modifications. You can however request a custom map tailored to your vehicle for an additional fee. There are third-party tuners offering maps on both of these platforms if you do not wish to choose the developers' service.
However, even though flash tuning is being made simpler for the end user, there is still a chance of making a mistake and bricking your ECU during the upload process. The standard maps are only generic and not optimised for an individual car so it will not be using its full potential and there could more cost involved in order to make the most out of it. Finally, this may be a deal breaker for many as even when the map is removed it can be traced back and void the warranty.
Example of flash tuning gains based on official MHD website:
Each of the tuning methods has its benefits and drawbacks. Luckily there are many options available to suit each group of consumers. In our opinion if you are someone who is concerned about their warranty - JB4 is the right option for you. If you want to get most out of your car and don't care about freedom and being able to tweak certain settings yourself - custom remap is the one. If you want to get both of best worlds, performance and control you should definitely look into flash tuning.
Whichever tuning method you choose, you should never forget about the supporting mods - splitting charge pipe being the most common issue on N55 engines. Therefore upgraded charge pipe is always recommended when tuning these cars. Upgraded intercooler is highly recommended too when expecting high gains. Standard brakes on these cars are okay but not excellent which should also be considered for heavy road and track usage. These cars come equipped with open differentials as standard so LSD should be on your list too in order to be able to put the power down fully and to improve stability.
References:
JB4 Website: https://www.jb4shop.co.uk/
MHD Website: http://mhdtuning.com
PTF - BM3 Website: https://www.protuningfreaks.com
BMW M135i M140i M235i M240i UK Forum on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/497396946956476
]]>
Everyone would like their cars to be as powerful as possible. Especially when you buy a BMW with a massive, three litre engine you expect to get some decent gains. And you are quite right if you do!
However, while chasing numbers many forget about supporting mods. When you remap your engine, it puts a lot of extra stress on the whole vehicle. This is when charge and boost pipes begin to crack, split and blow what as a result leaves you with car off the road.
At Shuttergang we are car enthusiasts our selves and we like our cars powerful too! We wasted no time and looked into sourcing the pipes for you! Over last couple of months we were in talks with FTP Motorsport and now we became their official UK distributor.
Our talks are being finalised right now and this is where you can benefit! We listed a few of the most popular products from FT in our online store where you can purchase them at a discounted, pre-order price until 16/06/2018.
Here are quick links to the products:
B58 (x40i) Charge Pipe
N55 (x35i) Charge + Boost pipes set
N55 (M2) Charge + Boost pipes set
S55 (M3 / M4) Charge + Boost pipes set
But as well as sun is no doubt a great benefit for any car activities it can be quite annoying when driving. Luckily, our sister brand - Shuttergang Media has the solution to this! We introduced the sunglasses range which is design to reflect the sunshine at a better rate than standard sunglasses due to reflective coating.
These have been tested not only by our team but also hundreds of our customers who have confirmed the important properties.
You can find a pair which will suit your individual style out of eleven designs we currently offer on our brand's website. Click the link below to find out more:
]]>Here we go then - bottom-mounted splitter is on and we were off to test how it will do in extreme, not everyday, conditions. We took a three-day-long trip to Wales, where you get the best driving experience! We went through the most beautiful routes of the Brecon Beacons, full of gravel and little stones on the road. We were worried about the body work, let alone the splitter! However in the end the splitter survived with not a single chip!
Round two included steep, tight and remote roads. This one would be extremely stressful to watch for any car enthusiast... We couldn't proceed without scraping in certain parts. Once again the splitter had survived the test and it did not break when we were moving at slow speeds.
Our final test included some private roads. This allowed us to get greater speed where we could see how the splitter behaved under pressure. This was not a challange at all for the splitter, we can confidently say that our improved design which channels air through the splitter rather than any gaps between bumper and the splitter, which helped great amounts and improved the part's stability. It is also worth noting that most of these roads were not kept maintained so dirt and soil were scooped by the splitter which resulted in no damage.
Overall the splitter has done a lot better than we expected before the test. Honestly, we expected that the splitter to be a write off by the end of the test and will need replacing. We were wrong though - this splitter is not going anywhere. Moreover we can now recommend it to all our customers, knowing for sure that it will last, even if you decide to take a fun trip!
Stickers and other merchandise are available on Shuttergang Website.
Here are a few photos of the front end we managed to take in Wales:
]]>