Supercharger ESS vs AA

Fellow fanatics,

The modification bug has hit again (after swearing that this M3 was going to remain stock!)

I have been down the route of FI before with an M3 but that was a turbo set up but this time I want to charge it. I have read through countless pages of information and narrowed it down to two systems

1. ESS VT2 - 550 or 2. AA Stage 2 kit

On paper and dyno charts there seems to be very little difference between them. Price wise they are very similar also.

What I would like to know is feedback from those who have used either of these kits and the success you've had with them. How has the reliability been? How tunable have you found the software?

I'm almost at the point of flipping a coin so if anyone can shed some light as to which system they went for and why I would really appreciate it.

The car is an SMG and the exhaust I have chosen to run and ordered from TMS is the Supersprint V2 stepped headers, high flow cats and race rear section. I ordered a TMS subframe reinforcement kit and a complete set of new bushes at the same time.

I will do all of the work in one hit so stay tuned for a work in progress thread......

Cheers, Nicco

Ess

With no personal experience, ess seems to be getting the best reviews.
I love watching other people get the mod bug.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Bimmer App

Ess

Ess :d

Turbo

I currently have the ESS VT 550 installed. Im very happy with it! I havent had any problems with the kit at all. Only issue I has was that i had the underdrive pullys installed which caused me to go thru belts almost every week till it was changed back to the stock pullys...whops!

At the end of the day, I chose the ESS kit simply because I didn't like the idea of having the air intake in the bonnet (I "think" in some states its illegal to have one there too)... Hot air - there would have to be heat soak - maybe someone with more experience with the AA kit would be able to chime in with that. So having the intake in the brake duct I thought is a better idea. Just don't drive through any deep puddles!

Other things to think about is really - what will be your plans for the car? Its a good idea to get it engineered, although its not needed, if a cop pulls you over and ur unlucky enough to get defected, its gonna hurt! Saying that, if you are planning on getting it engineered, then I would say, don't install the free flow cats till afterwards. They would 100% kill your emissions test (if you need one for WA).

Tuning wise, they both come with a generic map from the USA. If your tuner can, they might tweak it to AUS conditions. But u will be happy with the tune. IMHO the ESS tune better then the stock one! Idle is ALOT better, same with hot & cold starts. Your SMG also gets a tune also - but not sure what they do to it.

The support from the ESS guys is awesome. If you have a question, they usually reply in 24hrs. They are good.

Both the ESS & AA are awesome kits - you will be happy with either. Another thing to think about, is with the ESS Kit, you will have more support as more people have them.

Biggest tip though, be prepared to have & spend money. Although the chances of something going wrong is slim, but if it does, be prepared to pay for it. Also, if you check out the vid in my sig you can see how good the install looks

Good Luck.

The ESS Aus distributor is a nice bloke

Thanks for your input everyone and for the detailed PM's, it's really appreciated! Next question which Aus distributor should I be using??? We don't have one here in Perth and they are both in Melbourne. Who is going to offer me the best service and after sales support??? Worx or Southern BM????

Originally Posted by M3_Maniac

Thanks for your input everyone and for the detailed PM's, it's really appreciated! Next question which Aus distributor should I be using??? We don't have one here in Perth and they are both in Melbourne. Who is going to offer me the best service and after sales support??? Worx or Southern BM????

Both offer the same. I can tell you that now.

Very diplomatic of you Stephen, lol. I have dug around and found nothing but great reports about your business but I can't say the same for Southern BM so looks like you're going to get the gig if ur interested in working with me on this. Can we do custom tune with the ESS software or am I better going an aftermarket ECU?

Originally Posted by M3_Maniac

Very diplomatic of you Stephen, lol. I have dug around and found nothing but great reports about your business but I can't say the same for Southern BM so looks like you're going to get the gig if ur interested in working with me on this. Can we do custom tune with the ESS software or am I better going an aftermarket ECU?

SBM are a very good workshop, One of the best in Melbourne. They turn out some pretty good stuff!

The ESS kit comes with good software, did you want a custom tune?

Originally Posted by Honro

I currently have the ESS VT 550 installed. Im very happy with it! I havent had any problems with the kit at all. Only issue I has was that i had the underdrive pullys installed which caused me to go thru belts almost every week till it was changed back to the stock pullys...whops!

At the end of the day, I chose the ESS kit simply because I didn't like the idea of having the air intake in the bonnet (I "think" in some states its illegal to have one there too)... Hot air - there would have to be heat soak - maybe someone with more experience with the AA kit would be able to chime in with that. So having the intake in the brake duct I thought is a better idea. Just don't drive through any deep puddles!

Other things to think about is really - what will be your plans for the car? Its a good idea to get it engineered, although its not needed, if a cop pulls you over and ur unlucky enough to get defected, its gonna hurt! Saying that, if you are planning on getting it engineered, then I would say, don't install the free flow cats till afterwards. They would 100% kill your emissions test (if you need one for WA).

Tuning wise, they both come with a generic map from the USA. If your tuner can, they might tweak it to AUS conditions. But u will be happy with the tune. IMHO the ESS tune better then the stock one! Idle is ALOT better, same with hot & cold starts. Your SMG also gets a tune also - but not sure what they do to it.

The support from the ESS guys is awesome. If you have a question, they usually reply in 24hrs. They are good.

Both the ESS & AA are awesome kits - you will be happy with either. Another thing to think about, is with the ESS Kit, you will have more support as more people have them.

Biggest tip though, be prepared to have & spend money. Although the chances of something going wrong is slim, but if it does, be prepared to pay for it. Also, if you check out the vid in my sig you can see how good the install looks

Good Luck.

How much did it cost completed?

Supplied, Installed + Custom Tune, cost me 12k.

+1 on the ESS. I've got the VT2-500 kit and 15 months on it's been all good.

Another one for ESS.

Driven Will's car and it's impressive. He's absolutely loving it! Same kit has netguns...

Having said that, if I was doing it, I'd go Turbo

Been down the turbo route before so thought I would try a different approach this time around. I've currently got 2 turbo cars and I do miss the instant torque my charged GTS had straight off idle. Whilst turbo charging would ultimately reap higher power gains I like the drivability you get with charging. Also I am only looking to achieve 300 - 350rwkw and that can be achieved comfortably with a supercharger without the extra work reqired going to turbo charging.