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  #1  
Old 02-21-2008, 05:05 AM
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Sprintbooster

I bought a Sprintbooster to go on my ML63AMG last year & it is fantastic.
I am now offloading my ML tomorrow for a X5 4.8i SE, does anyone know if the Sprintbooster will fit the X5?

For anyone who is not familiar with the product, here's a link.
http://www.sprintbooster.gr/en/
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  #2  
Old 02-26-2008, 06:52 PM
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I got a Sprint Booster for my E60 545i last year and I just love it. So when we got our E70 X5 3.0i almost two months ago for my wife we were both disappointed that the 3.0 seemed to accelerate slower than her old E53 X5 3.0. So last week I took the Sprint Booster out of my 545 and installed it in her E70 and it made a very noticeable difference in acceleration. So I'm going to leave than one in her E70 and buy another one for my 545.
I am almost certain that the Sprint Booster from your MB will not fit the E70 as the connector would almost certainly be different (even if the actual circuitry was the same). The part numbers for the BMW and MB versions are different too.
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Old 02-26-2008, 07:09 PM
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`Sorry, but I can't believe this will make your car faster.

If its doing anything, its changing the throttle response based on pedal position. Same effect as your foot mashed to the floor.

I wouldnt waste my money on it.
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Old 02-26-2008, 07:47 PM
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SprintBooster
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  #5  
Old 02-26-2008, 08:18 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 08WhtX5
`Sorry, but I can't believe this will make your car faster.

If its doing anything, its changing the throttle response based on pedal position. Same effect as your foot mashed to the floor.

I wouldnt waste my money on it.
Those are the exact words I and many other members on the E60 boards said when we first heard about Sprint Booster from another member who had tried it......however, as more and more people tried it they became believers. I took a chance and bought one for $250 for my 545 and couldn't believe the results that I noticed the very first time I drove it afterwards. It is even more noticeable when you remove it after getting used to it for a while as the car becomes noticeably more "lazy".

When I installed it on my wife's E70 last week I did not tell her about it just to see if she would notice that something was different. Sure enough she called me on her way to work and asked if I had done anything to the car and that it felt like it was accelerating faster.

I know that by logic the car "should" react the same as having a Sprint Booster if you just mash your foot in faster on the accelerator, but it doesn't, believe me I have tried. I have not purchased a replacement Sprint Booster for my 545 yet after installing mine on my wife's E70 and have since tried to simulate the effect of the Sprint Booster every time I drive the car by just mashing the pedal down to the floor, but it does not have the same effect.

Now I am not saying that it will improve your 0-60 acceleration by 1 second, or even half a second, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did improve by a couple of tenths of a second. The bottom line, however, isn't the actual number of how much faster the acceleration would be, but how much faster if responds and feels. The car gets a completely different character with the Sprint Booster vs. without, which makes it a lot more fun to drive. This is true with our E70 X5 3.0i and in an even bigger way it's true with my 545.

I don't know if the Sprint Booster does anything other than changing the throttle position (it may also manipulate the signal in other ways), but it is the best money I have ever "wasted" and I'm about to "waste" it again by buying another one to replace the one on my 545.
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Old 02-26-2008, 08:23 PM
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rodybmw,

What's involved in installing this into an E70? I know they have general instructions on their website but I wondered how applicable they are.

And where did you purchase it from? I didn't see any U.S. distributors.

Thanks
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Old 02-26-2008, 08:24 PM
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Where do you get one in Canada or the USA?
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Old 02-26-2008, 08:37 PM
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Well, I see them on eBay for BMW

$299 + $20 shipping...

Here's an informed write-up http://frontiernet.net/~dbipes//sprintbooster/SprintBooster.pdf for those that want to see tech results...

BTW, there are lots of posts on various forums by Mercedes Benz and BMW drivers about how they really like this product.
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Last edited by brian5; 02-26-2008 at 08:50 PM.
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Old 02-26-2008, 09:06 PM
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I purchased mine through a Group Buy that was arranged on E60.net from a seller in Hong Kong. The group buy has been over for several months now, however, the seller that I bought from still sells Sprint Boosters on eBay. The link below will take you to a current listing for a BMW Sprint Booster that he has listed for $299. The amazing thing is that I ordered mine on a Sunday and he sent it VIA Hong Kong Express mail and I had it in Los Angeles on Tuesday (2 days later)! As far as dealers in the US............I know Eurorev in Inglewood, California (http://www.eurorev.com/) had some which they also put up for a group buy on E60.net a couple of weeks ago. I just talked to them yesterday and they had one left which they are now holding for me. I will pick it up in person today or tomorrow. I'm sure they can get more and send it to those of you in the US or Canada who don't feel comfortable ordering it from the guy in Hong Kong. To be honest with you the main reason I am not buying my second one from the same guy is that Eurorev is local to me and I can pick it up in person today. However, if I had to order it and have it shipped I would go with the eBay guy in Hong Kong again instead of trying to order it from a US seller. I would probably get it faster from him then someone shipping from the US .

As far as installation..........the Sprint Booster is basically a short extension cord with a small box/connecor at one end and another connector at the other end that you plug in-line with the wiring harness that is attached to the accelerator pedal. All you need to do is unscrew one screw at the base of the pedal and lift the pedal upwards (the screw has a black plastic cap on top of it that you need to pry out with a small screwdriver). You also need an allen key to unscrew the screw (can't remember the size). Then you unplug the harness from the accelerator pedal and plug in the Sprint Booster inline (one end to the accelerator pedal and the other end to the car's wiring harness). All you need to do at this point is install the pedal back in it's place. On my 545 I had just tucked the SB behind the pedal, but on the E70 that didn't seem to work so I slit the carpeting that is hidden behind the pedal and slipped the SB under the carpeting....this allowed for a better fit and the pedal slipped into position much easier. I will use this method when I install a new SB on the 545.

The only things to watch for during installation are the following:

1. Make sure the car's ignition is completely OFF when you do the install.

2. Make sure all the pins are straight and that the connectors line up correctly before inserting them into each other as the pins can be bent if the connectors are inserted at an angle.

Some people that installed the SB on the E60 didn't line up the connectors correctly or had the ignition on and ended up with error messages (which went away after they straightened the pins and re-installed the SB).

By the way, there are two different SB models for BMW's....one for automatic transmissions and one for manuals. There are no manual E70's, so make sure the model number ends with an "A" for "Automatic".

Here's the link to the eBay seller in Hong Kong that I bought my first SB from:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Sprin...mZ300199162721
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Last edited by rodybmw; 02-26-2008 at 09:16 PM.
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Old 02-26-2008, 10:09 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by brian5
Well, I see them on eBay for BMW

$299 + $20 shipping...

Here's an informed write-up http://frontiernet.net/~dbipes//sprintbooster/SprintBooster.pdf for those that want to see tech results...

BTW, there are lots of posts on various forums by Mercedes Benz and BMW drivers about how they really like this product.
That was an interesting read Brian. He is basically saying that all the SB does is amplify the throttle voltage which can be replicated by mashing the pedal down faster/further without the need for an SB. He says that the SB does not improve throttle response or speed but that if just "feels" faster.

My response to this (after having tried the SB on both my 545 and my wife's X5) would be that even if it only makes it "feel" faster than it's completely worth it to me. After all, I am not racing my car against others where the "true" speed or acceleration may be important.....I am just driving it everyday and like a more peppy car and SB does that for me....it makes it a more enjoyable drive and if that is just a "feeling" and not actual fact then so be it.

Having said that, I still insist that I am not getting the same results from mashing the accelerator down all the way without the SB installed as I do with normal accelerator travel with the SB installed. Even sitting at idle with the car stopped the RPM's just rise effortlessly and quickly when reving the engine with the SB vs. pushing the accelerator pedal all the way down quickly without the SB.

So the bottom line for me is that even though I believe the writers claims that SB just emulates the pedal being pushed faster/further (I believed the same thing before getting the SB), there must be something else involved that he may have overlooked. But even if I am wrong about that, I still insist that pushing the pedal down faster/further does not have the same effect on both the 545 and the X5 as using an SB......even if it's just the "feeling", it's enough to make me buy another one to replace the one on my 545 which I installed on my wife's X5. After all "feel" is not a small thing......that's why many of us buy BMW's instead of some other marks because of the "feeling" of confidence and the feedback from the car when driving aggressively....say on a windy road. There may be some other cars that are faster and/or handle better, but the feeling of confidence that you get from a BMW is missing in them. In the same way an SB may make little difference according to that paper, but if I enjoy the "feel" of faster acceleration and throttle response then it is worth it to me.
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