F39 BMW X2 Tuning

"Thank you for reading our BMW X2 tuning tips."

The X2 is a awesome tuning project to play with. Think carefully and research X2 tuning to avoid making the usual costly mistakes we typically see.

The Compact SUV came in M Sport and M Sport X versions, with additional features including larger 19 inch wheels.

The BMW X2 are fantastic to work on and with the ultimate motorsport tuning mods like ECU maps, turbo upgrades and camshafts you will certainly improve your driving experience.

In this article we look into X2 tuning and point out the ultimate modifications.

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Tuning tips and articles

Engine tuning mods.

These are the modified parts and tuning modifications that are usually installed by our members, decide how far you want to go before you start.

  • 1.5 L B38 I3 turbo (petrol)
  • 2.0 L B48 I4 turbo (petrol)
  • 2.0 L B47 I4 turbo (diesel)

Getting the right motorsport upgrades for your planned usage of the car is a time and money saver. Stage 3 (competition) mods just don't work well on the road difficult in stop start traffic.

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Best mods for your X2

  1. Lighter flywheels - a lower weight flywheel will improve the engines rev changes. But not always suitable for all X2 engines.
  2. Tunes - A Remapped X2 ECU provides the most advantage compared to your outlay, aftermarket ECU upgrades, and Tuning boxes are all alternatives.
  3. Intake and Sports Exhausts - NB: on their own these mods will NOT ADD POWER , but they can help lift power after other mods by lessening the restriction.
  4. X2 Handling Mods (suspension) - Fitting a more sporty Suspension kit radically improves your X2 handling Coilovers and Bushings are the usual go to mods
  5. Fast road Camshafts are are often the best upgrade for an engine, but they must be installed by someone who knows what they are doing and you might struggle to find one but you might have a local firm to regrind a stock cam for you.
  6. Head work - The goals of porting and flowing the head are to get air flowing into the engine while removing flow restrictions and turbulence.
  7. Brake Mods - Enhancing your stopping power should be somewhere in your mods list.
  8. Upgrades to turbochargers and superchargers - Adding a turbocharger is the most dramatic method to increase air supply, ensuring you are able to combust more fuel and make power gains. Although one of the most costly mods you'll see massive gains.

X2 Tuning Stages

Typical stage 1 mods often include: Panel air filter, Alloy wheels, Engine Tunes/Remapping, Suspension upgrade (drop 24mm - 35 mm.), Sports exhaust, Lighter flywheel.

Typical stage 2 mods often include: Power/Sport clutch, Fast road cam, fuel pump upgrades, Ported and polished head, high flow fuel injector.

Typical stage 3 mods often include: Engine balancing, Sports gearbox, Internal engine upgrades (pistons/head/valves), Competition cam, Adding or upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger).

Peak power is good on competition cars but for a daily driven car you need a long power band and perhaps extending the rev range.

In this article we shall give a brief overview to the best modifications for your car, but we'd encourage you to spend some time on the site looking into the details of each type of performance upgrade.A fast road camshaft usually proves to be one of the best NASP power mods you can do with a single part fitted to your engine.

It improves the intake and exhaust flow and increases the power if done right. Ideally you'd add other mods and finish up with a reflashed ECU. TorqueCars would caution you not to go with a motor sports profile cam as this affects the engines idling and general town driving characteristics.

You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so will need to uprate the fuelling.

Using higher octane fuel is another option if you find you are suffering from pinking or premature ignition on your BMW project after fitting other sports parts. Uprated injectors will enable you to supply sufficient fuel to the engine.

A fuel pump will only deliver a finite amount of fuel, so you may need to uprate this if your injectors are demanding more fuel.

X2 Handling/Suspension upgrades

Many X2 owners uprate the handling of their cars with uprated suspension upgrades as a priority, this will certainly increase your enjoyment of the car.

If you set the toe out to around 1.5 degrees on the front, and add some negative camber then cornering will radically improve.

We would go to a maximum drop of 24mm - 35 mm. on most models. You risk rubbing on the arches if you go lower than this.

Improvements to the X2 suspension bushings

Bushing improvements are needed so what's involved?

Bushes, which are rubber mounts, allow the X2's suspension components to be affixed to the car's chassis. The rubber ones will lose their shape with time.

Installing new OEM rubber bushes may dramatically improve the performance of your car.

Because polyurethane bushes are stiffer, the ride may be less forgiving, but the bushes will last longer and maintain the car's handling for longer.

They may also speed up the decay of other suspension parts due to the increased vibration and play.

A new set of polyeyurothane bushes should assist in minimize the excessive play associated with rubber bushes.

Some poly bushings are hard to locate, but most will find the primary mounts readily available in their local stores Often, custom X2 polyeyurothane bushings may be manufactured to your requirements.

Don't just look at the peak power figures, you need to see the whole torque curve when determining if a mod is right for you X2.

Spending a little bit of money on the top engine and handling upgrades could transform your car into a credible track car.

To be completely frank and honest, on the more modest engine sizes you are wasting your time spending money on modifications, so if this applies to you get yourself an engine swap then apply the following mods.

Intake and Exhaust Tuning.

Breathing mods are usually next up.  Contrary to popular belief there is often a small if any power gain reached by fitting an induction kit, they only become beneficial and are recommended after you increase the engines power to the point where the standard air intake box cannot cope!

Induction kits can work well on turbo engines and larger engines (if supplied with a suitable cold air feed or air box), generally though we'd just recommend for X2 engines you should just fit a sports panel air filter preferably made from cotton.

Do not go with the widest exhaust you can get this will slow the exhaust rate - the best exhausts for power gains are usually between 1.5 to 2.5 inches. It is the shape and material more than the bore size.

Getting the head ported and polished will allow you to get more air into each cylinder. This is definitely a job for a pro with a flow bench. When you heavily modify your X2 you will discover that the standard clutch starts to suffer so get an uprated clutch. The best mods in our opinion for your X2 are Remapping or piggy back ecu, fast road cam and air intake and exhaust.

Turbo engines are just crying out to be Upgraded. You will see big power gains on most modern turbo engined cars including diesels making a tune/remap one of the most cost effective and big modifications for your money.Adding forced induction will see phenomenal power gains but this is usually too expensive to be cost effective. Superchargers are usually easier to add than a turbo. Turbos provide boost in exponential proportion to increasing engine speed and this can make mapping difficult.

It is simpler to map a supercharger because the boost is proportional to engine speed on a linear curve. Decreasing the engines compression ratio will allow you to add forced induction, water injection may also help prevent detonation.

Alloy wheel upgrades.

The benefits of alloy wheels include a lower unsprung weight and better brake cooling. If you are serious about performance then you will need to carefully choose your tires - ideally with a soft compound tire. Large X2 alloys can decrease performance. If you get big alloys you will be changing your final drive ratio.

Due to this fact we would advise sticking to a maximum wheel size of 18 inches, although we know some of our members have with bigger wheels with no problems.

If you would like to know more, or just get some friendly advice on Tuning your car please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss X2 options in more detail with our X2 owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased BMW tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

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