Few names in BMW tuning carry the same weight that Dinan’s. While Steve Dinan no longer owns the company, it’s still one of the premiere tuners in BMW tuning. Its latest product is a carbon fiber air intake system for the S58 engine.
If there’s anything to complain about with the S58 engine, it’s the sound. As powerful and capable as the S58 engine is, both its intake and exhaust sounds are pretty bland. For all of its performance, the S58 might be one of the least characterful sounding engines in BMW’s history. It’s not bad, it just sounds like generic engine noise, as if it were tuned for Need for Speed. So adding Dinan’s carbon fiber air intake can wake up its induction sound, to give it more of a classic BMW sound.
More than that, though, it also increases throttle response and power by giving the engine more airflow. We’ve seen in previous videos that swapping the air intake of the S58 engine for a freer flowing one can drastically sharpen its throttle response, something the S58 struggles with at low rpm. So if you want to wake your S58 engine up a bit, this new air intake can do the trick. While it increases power a bit too, you’ll never really notice because it’s already such a monstrously powerful engine. However, if will feel better and more responsive with the Dinan intake and that’s more important than power.
It also adds some eye candy when you pop the hood. The big carbon fiber air boxes flanking the inline-six engine look killer and add some exoticism to an otherwise pretty bland-looking engine bay. Dinan gives you options, too, with matte and gloss finishes for the carbon fiber.
Despite being made for the S58 engine, the Dinan air intake is currently only available for the BMW M3 and M4, not the X3 M or X4 M. The whole kit—which comes with the massive dual carbon airbox, hoses, clamps, and hardware—is $1,778 (at the time of writing this, it’s on sale for $1,599.95).
[Source: Dinan]