I have a friend with a 1997 estoril M3, M50 manifold, A/A exhuast and intake and also an A/A tune. He had everything professionally installed, intake as well as a 3.5" MAF and MAF connecting pipe. After his software was installed his car had severe idling problems, it'd stall before he could put it in reverse, I had driven it before and after his mods and noticed that he was experiencing a similar power loss that I had in my 95 M3 when I had a MAF without tune. (I'd floor it and at about 4k RPM a severe powerloss ensued and CEL would come on. Was fixed with a matched MAF and software.) Anyways, he called A/A per my advice and told them that they didn't tune his car, they of course denied this and said that he purchased a bad MAF housing, I don't understand how a pipe can malfunction if there's no leak, but this is not the only problem. He also has a stock redline, and infact it's a different redline rpm in every gear, which wasn't how it was when I drove it stock. He put his stock 3" MAF back on and the car's idle returned, it doesn't stall and his check engine light went away. A/A refuses to rectify the situation and on top of that his car is in the shop now for a ticking noise that was produced from bouncing off his limiter, expecting it to be at 7k. His car has been at Crevier BMW for a full month, they are saying he needs new cams, lifters and some other shit that totals close to $4,000. This possibly could've been avoided if A/A had some customer service or actually tuned their ECU's instead of conning people. I have an A/A intake on my M5 and I know first hand that for nearly $1,000, I got robbed. I could've made the same thing by going to home depot with 10 bux in my pocket. That's a nice profit margin if you ask me, so why wouldn't they actually tune their effing customers ecu's? My friend is in law school and spent all of his money on tuition, this just set him in the hole like crazy and he is an Iraq veteran to boot.

BOO A/A!

Just remembered the other great named tuner that screwed this poor guy over, the all powerful Dinan people didn't refund him his core charge, and when he looked back at his bill, these wonderful, honest people charged him 3x tax. Great world we live in, especially when you have the mod bug. Is there an honest tuner out there???

Tell your friend to hire a lawyer and send an angry letter to AA. I've had good service from them, but I've heard horror stories as well. Make sure he sends the letter before any work is carried out.

I hate to sound like a dick, but you modify a car, you do so at your own risk. They weren't meant to be tampered with from the factory, and when you do so, you're asking for trouble. Could AA be at fault here? Yeah, maybe. Could all of this have been avoided if your friend had left his car alone? It's a very great possibility.

Best of luck in getting the situation all sorted up. I hate to hear about bad customer service...they could at least offer to take a look free of charge. Denying it over the phone is so unprofessional.

tuners = gypsys

tuners = gypsys

i have gypsys tears in my bottles.

I hate to sound like a dick, but you modify a car, you do so at your own risk.

True to an extent, but when you pay top dollar for a so-called tuner shop to do it for you, you expect something good in return.

Now whether you get 25 rwhp or 30 rwhp is debatable, and you sure wouldn't be entitled to a refund for the former, even if some tuners actually do guarantee your satisfaction.

But a rough idle? Different redline in every gear? Refusing to look into it over the phone and blaming the customer for buying a wrong part? That just ain't right.

and people wonder why i have my MAF unplugged...it's because of AA. they ran the same story on me and after i told them what i had done to 'fix' their tune one of them told me "these cars sometimes run better without the MAF plugged in" :rolleyes

if you have an obd2 car and want software for the 3.5" MAF AA is not where i would suggest going.

I find this very hard to believe ... seeing as how AA has been in bussiness since the 1970 with very favorable results, whenever I see posts like this, I really believe there is part of the story that is missing.

Considering the tens of thousands of customers they have ... I don't see what they would have to gain by "screwing" your friend.

I find this very hard to believe ... seeing as how AA has been in bussiness since the 1970 with very favorable results, whenever I see posts like this, I really believe there is part of the story that is missing.

Considering the tens of thousands of customers they have ... I don't see what they would have to gain by "screwing" your friend.

Don't you - or didn't you do work (web based) for AA?

I highly doubt that you can be unbiased on this matter.

FWIW I was one of the first E36 M3's that had their first supercharger kit installed.

In the beginning it was a little rough. I had some problems and only after I got some other people involved did their story change.

What I learned from the situation is: unless you're shelling out big bucks - their customer service stops once your check clears...

I have a friend with a 1997 estoril M3, M50 manifold, A/A exhuast and intake and also an A/A tune. He had everything professionally installed, intake as well as a 3.5" MAF and MAF connecting pipe. After his software was installed his car had severe idling problems, it'd stall before he could put it in reverse, I had driven it before and after his mods and noticed that he was experiencing a similar power loss that I had in my 95 M3 when I had a MAF without tune. (I'd floor it and at about 4k RPM a severe powerloss ensued and CEL would come on. Was fixed with a matched MAF and software.) Anyways, he called A/A per my advice and told them that they didn't tune his car, they of course denied this and said that he purchased a bad MAF housing, I don't understand how a pipe can malfunction if there's no leak, but this is not the only problem. He also has a stock redline, and infact it's a different redline rpm in every gear, which wasn't how it was when I drove it stock. He put his stock 3" MAF back on and the car's idle returned, it doesn't stall and his check engine light went away. A/A refuses to rectify the situation and on top of that his car is in the shop now for a ticking noise that was produced from bouncing off his limiter, expecting it to be at 7k. His car has been at Crevier BMW for a full month, they are saying he needs new cams, lifters and some other shit that totals close to $4,000. This possibly could've been avoided if A/A had some customer service or actually tuned their ECU's instead of conning people. I have an A/A intake on my M5 and I know first hand that for nearly $1,000, I got robbed. I could've made the same thing by going to home depot with 10 bux in my pocket. That's a nice profit margin if you ask me, so why wouldn't they actually tune their effing customers ecu's? My friend is in law school and spent all of his money on tuition, this just set him in the hole like crazy and he is an Iraq veteran to boot.

BOO A/A!

Hello OP,

I replied to you in length on M5Board, please call me personally at 305.233.9300. I highly doubt that your software is the issue but I will have an engineer troubleshoot with you to help you figure it out.

I highlighted a couple comments that seem to be of concern (above). I have spoken with the entire staff and no one here is familiar with the situation. Please give us a call so we can take care of this situation immediately.

Thanks

In all fairness - I should add - that once things were sorted out - the car ran flawlessly.

I did receive help from Karl himself.

These cases may be out of the ordinary, but it only takes one bad apple to spoil the bunch.

M5board post replied to, my friend will give you a call when his car is back in his hands, whenever that may be.

The sad thing is that hes a loyal AA customer. every mod hes got is AA.
exhaust, intake, tune, and he was planning on getting c38 stg2 cf charger kit very soon...
but with all these new expenses It aint gona happen nemore:(

i just want to add.....long long time ago..i purchased a AA intake and software...turned out that the software (chip) did not work..my car wouldn't start up...

had to call Karl..great help...turned out the chip they sent me was wrong..sent me the right chip..car started up right away...

they can make mistake too.

I have a friend with a 1997 estoril M3, M50 manifold, A/A exhuast and intake and also an A/A tune. He had everything professionally installed, intake as well as a 3.5" MAF and MAF connecting pipe. After his software was installed his car had severe idling problems, it'd stall before he could put it in reverse, I had driven it before and after his mods and noticed that he was experiencing a similar power loss that I had in my 95 M3 when I had a MAF without tune. (I'd floor it and at about 4k RPM a severe powerloss ensued and CEL would come on. Was fixed with a matched MAF and software.) Anyways, he called A/A per my advice and told them that they didn't tune his car, they of course denied this and said that he purchased a bad MAF housing, I don't understand how a pipe can malfunction if there's no leak, but this is not the only problem. He also has a stock redline, and infact it's a different redline rpm in every gear, which wasn't how it was when I drove it stock. He put his stock 3" MAF back on and the car's idle returned, it doesn't stall and his check engine light went away. A/A refuses to rectify the situation and on top of that his car is in the shop now for a ticking noise that was produced from bouncing off his limiter, expecting it to be at 7k. His car has been at Crevier BMW for a full month, they are saying he needs new cams, lifters and some other shit that totals close to $4,000. This possibly could've been avoided if A/A had some customer service or actually tuned their ECU's instead of conning people. I have an A/A intake on my M5 and I know first hand that for nearly $1,000, I got robbed. I could've made the same thing by going to home depot with 10 bux in my pocket. That's a nice profit margin if you ask me, so why wouldn't they actually tune their effing customers ecu's? My friend is in law school and spent all of his money on tuition, this just set him in the hole like crazy and he is an Iraq veteran to boot.

BOO A/A!
Maybe I'm misunderstanding. The car wouldn't idle well with the 3.5" MAF, but did idle with his stock MAF? Sounds to me like the MAF is the issue

And how does bouncing off the ref limiter do damage? Running it at high RPM can do damage if the motor isn't in shape to handle it, but bouncing off of the rev limiter should not. FWIW, I often hit my rev limiter when I miss a shift.

I hate to sound like a dick, but you modify a car, you do so at your own risk. They weren't meant to be tampered with from the factory, and when you do so, you're asking for trouble. Could AA be at fault here? Yeah, maybe. Could all of this have been avoided if your friend had left his car alone? It's a very great possibility.

Best of luck in getting the situation all sorted up. I hate to hear about bad customer service...they could at least offer to take a look free of charge. Denying it over the phone is so unprofessional.
They weren't meant to be tampered with? :confused It's an enthusiast car, I'm certain that BMW fully expected people to modify it.

I think at least they should take the ECU back and check out the tune...if thats ok, then check the MAF. Did AA send you a MAF or was it purchased separatley? If so, then that may be the culprit. If it is not AA's MAF, then you can't hold them accountable for that.

I have a friend with a 1997 estoril M3, M50 manifold, A/A exhuast and intake and also an A/A tune. He had everything professionally installed, intake as well as a 3.5" MAF and MAF connecting pipe. After his software was installed his car had severe idling problems, it'd stall before he could put it in reverse, I had driven it before and after his mods and noticed that he was experiencing a similar power loss that I had in my 95 M3 when I had a MAF without tune. (I'd floor it and at about 4k RPM a severe powerloss ensued and CEL would come on. Was fixed with a matched MAF and software.) Anyways, he called A/A per my advice and told them that they didn't tune his car, they of course denied this and said that he purchased a bad MAF housing, I don't understand how a pipe can malfunction if there's no leak, but this is not the only problem. He also has a stock redline, and infact it's a different redline rpm in every gear, which wasn't how it was when I drove it stock. He put his stock 3" MAF back on and the car's idle returned, it doesn't stall and his check engine light went away. A/A refuses to rectify the situation and on top of that his car is in the shop now for a ticking noise that was produced from bouncing off his limiter, expecting it to be at 7k. His car has been at Crevier BMW for a full month, they are saying he needs new cams, lifters and some other shit that totals close to $4,000. This possibly could've been avoided if A/A had some customer service or actually tuned their ECU's instead of conning people. I have an A/A intake on my M5 and I know first hand that for nearly $1,000, I got robbed. I could've made the same thing by going to home depot with 10 bux in my pocket. That's a nice profit margin if you ask me, so why wouldn't they actually tune their effing customers ecu's? My friend is in law school and spent all of his money on tuition, this just set him in the hole like crazy and he is an Iraq veteran to boot.

BOO A/A!

FYI, you can't really hurt the engine from bouncing off the rev limiter. If he has valve tick, he needs to check his oil level. If he still has his car at Crevier, tell him to F*** themselves because unless he money shifted his car, it wont need cams, lifters and some other shit.

Chances are there was a mis communication at AA about tuning his DME and he needs to rectify that before he sends his friend to a forum.