BMW G87 M2 Performance Upgrades.

Back in 2023, we purchased our brand-new BMW G87 M2 development car to begin designing and engineering performance upgrades for this platform.

The visual appearance of the new M2 seemed to divide opinion worldwide. But regardless of whether you’re a fan of that (or not), there’s no doubt of a significant amount of tuning potential underneath the bonnet, if the previous N55/S55 platform is anything to go by.

The second-gen M2 houses the famous 3.0L 6cyl twin-turbo S58 engine, producing 453 BHP & 500 NM through the rear wheels. That's right, none of that xDrive here. It's also worth noting that you can spec a manual, but we chose the 8-speed auto - sorry!

That being said, we all know the 6cyl RWD formula that BMW does so well. Not to mention the shear tuning potential from the S58. It's going to be interesting to see our results compared to the first-gen M2.

Let's start at the begining.

As always we focus on hardware development first - afterall, that's our bread and butter. But at the moment the software tuning side of things is impenetrable (ish). No one yet has full access to the latest ECU through the OBD or an OTS solution. However, understanding how the stock car performs and feels is essential, providing our calibration engineers data for future areas of improvement.

No doubt there will be some significant headroom for impressive gains over the stock M2's 453 BHP output. We are excited to see what we can achieve… and will keep you updated!

After some road driving in stock form, we got straight to work, and no sooner was the car on our ramp, than the front end was off! This allowed us to take a first look at this latest version and compare it to what we know already. Development starts here.

As with all development projects, we start with a scan of the engine bay and specific OE parts that we'll reengineer. This means there’s no trial and error fitment like in the past. The scan builds an incredibly accurate replica, which allows our engineering team to use all of the available space for uprated parts. Not to mention saving time, energy, and resources.

Panel filters

Thanks to our exising hardware range for other BMW M-Car models, we know that a simple panel filter upgrade is often enough for most road-going enthusiasts; even when power is pushed futher than stock.

We've developed our own range of performance cotton gauze filters that easily drop into the OE airbox and provide excellent filtration properties. Combined with instant performance increases and induction noise enhancements from the get go.

Meanwhile, OEM-standards of design, quality, materials and construction means it fits and lasts like a factory part. They're even sold as a pair.

Put simply, we believe these are the best panel air filters you can buy.

Lifetime oil filter and billet housing.

Following on from our previous experience with the B58's collapsing filter issue, we designed a lifetime reusable oil filter for the S58 too, replacing the OE paper versions for a high-flow stainless steel alternative.

At service time, when removal of the filter is attempted, the bottom section frequently breaks away from the disintegrated filtration material. This leaves the broken base stuck in the oil filter housing and an expensive removal or replacement job to extract the remains and fit a new housing.

Our uprated oil filter is crafted from a pleated high-flow stainless steel micronic filter cloth – a medical grade material guaranteed to filter out oil contamination right down to 20 Microns, ensuring far better protection than paper-based filters can achieve.

It's also reusable, neat!

To accompany our uprated oil filter, we installed our billet oil filter housing to increase visual appearance and prevent any unwanted cracking of the OE unit in the future. Each filter housing starts life as a solid billet of 6061 aerospace-grade aluminium. It's meticulously machined from billet with latest CNC 5-axis technology, before being polished, then gloss-anodised MMR black to stay beautiful year after year. The finished product is not only light but also extremely durable. Winner winner!

These are a development items but will be available to purchase through our global dealers soon.

Billet dress up goodies.

Following on from our trend of billet goodies, we took the time to install our full dress up kit replacing the OE oil cap, and the two coolant caps.

Not only do these look the part, but they're functional too. Our billet caps fully replace the OE units including an internally sprung mechanism - no sticky tape here.

They also ensure that you'll never face weeping oil leaks from the standard cap again! A known issue with many of these engines as age and mileage causes them to deteriorate.

Again, these are development items and we'll be releasing them in due course.

Shifting better.

In true MMR fashion, we had to install a set of our billet paddle shifters. And boy do they feel good.

We developed these paddles with track in mind, making it easy to select gears no matter the steering angle. Because, unlike some stick-on alternatives, we've engineered these as a complete replacement blade, along with maintaining the OE control unit. Once again, no double-side tape needed.

Each paddle starts life as a solid billet of aluminium, giving total rigidity for each gear change and avoiding the horrible bendy feel that less rigid paddles offer.

They're also available in two colours, Titanium Silver or Dark Anthracite Grey - your choice!

It's all in the details. And stickers!

In true transparency, we've played with a few of our existing side stripes. But due to the questionable curves on the M2, we didn't have much luck with our F87 graphics. That being said, our Mini F56 stripe did work... Sort of.

We're in the middle of designing a new stripe specifically for the G87 M2 which we'll update you with in due course.

Braking performance.

G-Series M-Cars have fairly substantial OE brakes which can easily handle daily driving with the occasional track day. However, from an upgrade and maintenance POV, our disc and pad replacements are an essential improvement for all fast road and track day enthusiasts.

Our standard G87 was specced with 6-pot calipers mated with 380mm x 36mm discs, which are generously drilled for heat dispersion. Not bad right? We opted for our uprated disc and pad combo to improve overall stopping performance without breaking the bank.

Our 380mm grooved discs are a 2-piece design, allowing for far greater heat and gas dispersion to prevent warping vs the OE units. Subsequently paired with our RP650 fast road pads. Through extensive testing on the road and track, the result is an advanced ECE-R90-approved high friction material that delivers near-zero brake fade under high-temperature use, yet doesn’t require a warmup period.

To help improve the overall braking performance and appearance, we've replaced the rear 370mm x 24mm discs with our 2-piece floating grooved discs. Once again, accompanied by our tried and tested RP650 pads.

We'll be continuing to test these on the road and track in preparation for imminent release.

Studs, nuts and spacers.

With the brakes taken care of, it made sense to install our 80mm stud and nut kit prior to setting the car back on the ground. If you've ever taken a wheel off even once, then you'll appreciate a stud and nut kit - we're saying goodbye to lining up the bolt holes, bashing the calipers with the wheel, and trying to avoid cross-threading the bolts!

We offer the studs in two lengths: 70mm or 80mm, supplied in a full set of x20.

We also wanted to achieve the widest possible setup on the OE wheels without modifying the arches in any way and with no rubbing. And that's exactly what we did using our 12mm hubcentric spacers at the rear and 15mm up front.

By physically moving the wheel further away from the hub, we're able to achieve a flush fit to the wheel arches, whilst also providing additional clearance necessary to fit bigger brakes or coilovers.

Handling and suspension.

To improve the ride quality, handling and ride height we’ve opted for a set of our MMR height adjustable springs. These allow a ride height drop of 20-45mm on the front and 10-35mm at the rear (versus the factory ride height).

Unlike conventional lowering springs, our adjustable springs offer a fully customisable ride height adjustment. So however, you want your car to sit, our kit allows you to infinitely fine tune heights front and rear until you reach your ideal stance. Cool right?

Handling. LIVE update 20/02/2024.

In pursuit for perfection and in the name of development, we're removed our height adjustable springs to test fit some static lowering springs; specifically designed for the G87 M2. These are fresh off the press and straight onto our development car - save this page for updates in the future.

Development turbo inlets. LIVE update 26/02/2024

As with all MMR products, we design, engineer and prototype products in-house using our 3D scanner and various 3D printers.

One of the first sample parts we designed for the S58 was our turbo inlets. Produced in-house so we can crack straight on with trial fitment, too. Not only that, but these parts are also capable of withstanding heat. Meaning the M2 can be test-driven on the road and dyno for development before we put the final pieces into production.

We are prototyping both two turbo inlets which feature a much smoother design to optimise airflow compared to the OE parts.

Well, the good news is that both inlets fit straight into the S58 powerhouse. But that's about it from a direct fit hardware POV. We'll keep you posted with any changes and/or product testing on the dyno and road.

Development PCM unit. LIVE update 09/03/2024

It's time to talk about tuning for our G87 M2 development car. Traditionally, we are faced with two options; tune the M4 via conventional methods using ECU software or install our PCM which increases power and torque figures without leaving a trace. However, these newer G-Series vehicles are still locked for the most part.

You can remove your ECU, send it away for an unlock, and then have it tuned prior to reinstalling the ECU. But for most people, that's a warranty-breaking option they'd rather avoid.

That's where our PCM steps in. Our Power Control Unit works on a standalone PCB, which communicates with the factory ECU. Developed by our own in-house calibration team over the past 12 months, it allows the vehicle to safely increase power and torque levels throughout the entire rev range.

The best part is it's easily installed, and easily removed at any time without a trace. Cool, right?

We could talk about PCM all day, but for more detailed info click here.

Stock power runs.

Prior to installing our PCM, we wanted to run the M2 on our in-house 4WD SuperFlow dyno to verify and confirm stock figures. The S58 rolled a peak of 453BHP & 523NM of torque.

Installing PCM and power runs.

Our PCM sits in the engine bay using the provided carbon fibre mount and hardware, while the wiring loom is plugged into existing sensors in the engine. That's a simple installation, providing you have a basic level of mechanical knowledge.

To keep the car smooth, safe and reliable, PCM's power levels have to be kept lower than traditional ECU calibrations. But of course, you'll love the power boost you get from PCM, combined with the driveability and efficiency gains.

With the PCM installed, we reran the M2 on the same day, 10 minutes apart from our stock run.

The outcome? 553BH & 655NM of torque! That's a +100BHP & +130NM increase without opening the hatch on the ECU. Again, this is a development product and by no means is it finished.

Intake system. LIVE update 27/03/2024

There's no rest for our 3D printers! With turbo inlets well underway, it would be rude not to develop re-engineered intake hardware to replace the restrictive OE parts. So that's what we've done.

First set of turbo elbows. LIVE update 17/04/24

If you recall further up our blog post, the first development part we 3D scanned and printed for the S58 was a set of turbo inlets. Why inlets you wonder? Well we wanted to optimise the flow path of air, completely to the turbos. Replacing the restrictive OE components with precisely engineered inlet pipes allow your turbos to breathe freely whilst reducing turbulence and heat transfer.

Now, for our first batch of inlets to test fit and refine, we wanted to push the boat out. We're not 100% sold on the gold colour! Once we've completed further testing, we'll update you here.

And that's where it sits for now.

That's about all for our G87 M2 at this stage, tune in next time for more updates!