[Zentan]

How important is upgrading your charge pipe? I heard a few folks who disregarded and still has their stock ones on and others who upgraded their charge pipe fairly quickly.

Thoughts?

[mannymazz]

Originally Posted by Zentan

How important is upgrading your charge pipe? I heard a few folks who disregarded and still has their stock ones on and others who upgraded their charge pipe fairly quickly.

Thoughts?

Is your car stock? When I had my 435 I was running jb stage 1 and intake for 2.5 years and had 0 issues with my CP. If you plan to run higher boost I would change the CP.

[spuntyb]

Stock, no. Stage 1, highly recommended. Stage 2 and above, absolutely.

[fhlh]

Originally Posted by Zentan

How important is upgrading your charge pipe? I heard a few folks who disregarded and still has their stock ones on and others who upgraded their charge pipe fairly quickly.

Thoughts?

Mine cracked near the TB around 48K, replaced under warranty.... If I plan on keeping this car past the CPO, I'd replace it with an aftermarket pipe.
I I don't think additional boost has anything to do with the breakage as stock cars are breaking them. My theory is it's a hard piece of plastic that heat cycles allot in it's lifetime and becomes brittle.
I also think the constant shake of the motor turning on/off when the car is in ASS mode adds to it. I base this theory on where mine broke, at the top.

[Zentan]

Appreciate everyone's response! Yes, my car is stock except for an intake which shouldn't have an impact. Car has 30k miles and is still under warranty. Just trying to assess if an aftermarket charge pipe is still needed even if the car is stock with no additional boost.

[BEAR-AvHistory]

If it does not blow off or break stay stock. If you have issues with it get an alloy one. Mine was stock on the 335is till 18.5PSI & it blew off twice. Got a BMS piece as a replacement.

135IS & 435 have stock pipes.

[Zentan]

Originally Posted by BEAR-AvHistory

If it does not blow off or break stay stock. If you have issues with it get an alloy one. Mine was stock on the 335is till 18.5PSI & it blew off twice. Got a BMS piece as a replacement.

135IS & 435 have stock pipes.

Originally Posted by BEAR-AvHistory

If it does not blow off or break stay stock. If you have issues with it get an alloy one. Mine was stock on the 335is till 18.5PSI & it blew off twice. Got a BMS piece as a replacement.

135IS & 435 have stock pipes.

I have the 335i and it's stock boost. So what Im hearing is that if I dont plan on increasing my boost then I should be good with the stock pipe? How did it feel when yours broke? Did the car still move?

[BEAR-AvHistory]

Car runs but no boost feels like ECO mode. Will not leave you stranded. If it pops off & you don't lose the clip you can put it back on yourself.

Stock 335 most likely under 10PSI max.

[Zentan]

Originally Posted by BEAR-AvHistory

Car runs but no boost feels like ECO mode. Will not leave you stranded. If it pops off & you don't lose the clip you can put it back on yourself.

Stock 335 most likely under 10PSI max.

Originally Posted by BEAR-AvHistory

Car runs but no boost feels like ECO mode. Will not leave you stranded. If it pops off & you don't lose the clip you can put it back on yourself.

Stock 335 most likely under 10PSI max.

How would I know it broke? Will a check engine light come up?

[jgoens]

Originally Posted by Zentan

How would I know it broke? Will a check engine light come up?

You may get a CEL and limp but might not. You will hear a loud pop and then the RPM's will climb but the power will be really low. If you are not going to raise boost and still under warranty I would not get one.

[ETexas335]

Mine broke around the lip at 50K miles... totally stock. It's a crappy plastic part. I had to pull over and duct tape it to hold it in place. Driving in limp mode now until I get the aftermarket part ordered. I would replace the dang thing no later than 50k mi on stock cars.

[bimmer456]

I have the stock charge pipe no issues so far. I drive pretty spirited and so far no issues, will see in 50K, I do have 100k warranty so it would be covered.

[mbanks21]

Originally Posted by bimmer456

I have the stock charge pipe no issues so far. I drive pretty spirited and so far no issues, will see in 50K, I do have 100k warranty so it would be covered.

It's not about being covered, it's about breaking down on the side of the highway as you're on your way to work or picking your kid up from school. I know you can still drive if it blows but I wouldn't risk shards of plastic being sucked into my engine.

[anom3]

+1.

Its not really about being stuck as with no boost you will still be able to drive the car...

But my main concern would be if / when it blows pieces of plastic being sucked into the motor.

I upgraded mine as im JB4 Stage 2.

My understanding is that as soon as you throw any tune on the car you get a CP right away. Usually the same day as the tune as all the plug and play tunes really do is alter the boost. I ran my JB4 for 2 weeks on Map 1 as I had a bit of a wait for the CP to come in.

If you are stock treat it as any other part of the motor. It will eventually fail, could be 100k miles though. That being said, its one of the weaker parts of the motor.

BTW: I am surprised that the MPPSK OEM tune BMW sells does not include an upgraded CP. Seeing as its rewriting the DME and all, its probably alot closer to Bestmod / the real tunes (eg: remove DME and ship it over to the tuning company) as in, does more then just raise the boost so maybe BMW decided the stock CP was sufficient. Anyone know what kind of max boost a stock f30 n55 + mppsk pushes? Probably quite a bit lower then the JB4 maps?

Originally Posted by mbanks21

It's not about being covered, it's about breaking down on the side of the highway as you're on your way to work or picking your kid up from school. I know you can still drive if it blows but I wouldn't risk shards of plastic being sucked into my engine.

[mike@x-ph.com]

If your car is tuned, i strongly recommend upgrading the charge pipe.

Some dont and have not had any issues, that being said its not worth the risk and hassle.

[Antec800]

Is this a problem on the b58 motors as well? Or just older n54 and n55

[mike@x-ph.com]

Originally Posted by Antec800

Is this a problem on the b58 motors as well? Or just older n54 and n55

So far no issues with the B58

[DrifterX]

Originally Posted by bimmer456

I have the stock charge pipe no issues so far. I drive pretty spirited and so far no issues, will see in 50K, I do have 100k warranty so it would be covered.

Originally Posted by Antec800

Is this a problem on the b58 motors as well? Or just older n54 and n55

Originally Posted by mike@x-ph.com

So far no issues with the B58

The B58 engine doesn't have an air-to-air intercooler that's connected to the front chassis. I believe having the charge pipe connected from a moving/vibrating motor to a stationary intercooler on the chassis is what likely promotes failure of the charge pipe on the older engines (<N55).

I don't think it should be as bad of a problem on a B58 engine as the air-to-water intercooler is also mounted on the engine itself (intake). Theoretically this would mean less movement or dislodging of the pipe over time to expose a weak point.

Only time will tell if the material they used is strong enough to handle the boost over many kms - doubt anyone would know that except for the engineers at BMW. But I suspect they would have made is stronger vs. older engines with the additional boost, though (I read 20% more somewhere IIRC).

[haagm58]

Are the diesels susceptible to the failing charge pipe? 328d here with 48k miles and just a Dinantronics Sport Tuner for the last 1k miles. Probably won't do too many additional performance mods, possibly a KermaTDI tune in the future.