July 23, 2023
What's being installed: BMS Valve Controller
Well, I think we can all agree here that the stock S55 isn't the best sounding M car to ever come off the BMW production line. Although, there are definitely ways to improve it and I wanted to start simple. One thing that bothered me to no end was the start up valve closing sound. It not only ruined a great cold start sound, but sounded like the exhaust was broken. Sounded like a vacuum cleaner and just wasn't my favorite part about the car. Since I am a bit of an exhaust nut, I decided to start tackling the sound as soon as I could.
Now, I did learn a small trick to have the car start keeping the valves open (accessory mode, m1, tap throttle pedal, push to start). This did help rectify the valves closing on start up. However, the valve programming is all over the place when driving (even in different m modes). I found the valves to be articulating under certain loads, rpm, modes, gears, speed, etc. An annoyance that got the best of me and knew I had to get some type of valve controller to have more freedom of the exhaust.
Found a few solutions, but it seems like the Burger Motorsport Tuning (BMS) Valve Controller was the popular choice. Decided to pick it up and see what it was all about.
Nothing fancy about the module at all as it just plugs directly into your OBD2 port with a module at the other end. Tucked everything away for a nice clean install.
This little gizmo is very, very cool. Not only does it allow you to open/close the valves at your leisure, but it allows you to customize a few other things. Turn off active sound, Full brightness LED headlights, Fuel gauge boost gauge (very cool!), and lastly, this acts as a code remover as well. Lots of cool features in this little thing.
Simple press of a button on the blinker stalk and you have complete control of the valves! Exactly what I was after. Car sounds so much better and glad I decided to pick this up. A must mod if you want a little extra sound without having to change out any hard parts.