Steve Dinan leaving Dinan for Ganassi!

[X2Board]

I wonder how this is going to affect the Dinan/BMW relationship?

BMW CCA Article

[ASAP]

Leaving your own company that is profitable and you built and moving to another one is really weird.

[AlterZgo]

No impact at all because Dinan never had any relationship with BMW. BMW (car mfg) does not honor any Dinan warranties or collaborate w/ Dinan in any way on the development of parts. As far as BMW is concerned, Dinan is just an aftermarket parts manufacturer.

BMW does have a relationship with companies like Alpina.

[3er]

Originally Posted by AlterZgo

No impact at all because Dinan never had any relationship with BMW. BMW (car mfg) does not honor any Dinan warranties or collaborate w/ Dinan in any way on the development of parts. As far as BMW is concerned, Dinan is just an aftermarket parts manufacturer.

BMW does have a relationship with companies like Alpina.

+1

Interesting news - good find and thanks for sharing. Good for him.

[mshab356]

Originally Posted by AlterZgo

No impact at all because Dinan never had any relationship with BMW. BMW (car mfg) does not honor any Dinan warranties or collaborate w/ Dinan in any way on the development of parts. As far as BMW is concerned, Dinan is just an aftermarket parts manufacturer.

BMW does have a relationship with companies like Alpina.

Strange. I always thought Dinan parts were covered by BMW. That's what I had heard many times before.

[Cloud9blue]

Originally Posted by mshab356

Strange. I always thought Dinan parts were covered by BMW. That's what I had heard many times before.

Well, guess it is really true that when you keep on repeating a lie enough times, people will believe it as the truth. But really, don't believe their marketing...

Dinan has no formal associations with BMW NA or BMW AG. Their parts will void your BMW factory warranty (making the car ineligible for factory extended warranty plan and CPO down the line). The warranty that Dinan offers has a lot of grey areas, that "might or might not" bite you in the end.

I heard that Dinan (the company) was bought by new owner a few years back, perhaps Steve jumped ship because of that? Could anyone confirm.

It is interesting news nonetheless, wonder how the company will proceed with their business from this point forward. It seems like the past few years they are more focused on marketing (or perhaps false marketing), rather than solid R&D that they are used to do.

[DBV]

Originally Posted by mshab356

Strange. I always thought Dinan parts were covered by BMW. That's what I had heard many times before.

I think you're misinterpreting the marketing language. Dinan will cover or honor the equivalent to BMW's warranty, should their product be the root/cause of the issue.

[Revcrazy]

Dinan will essentially mimic BMW's warranty when it comes their parts. They do not fall under BMW's warranty, but a warranty through Dinan that matches it in parallel.

[AlterZgo]

Originally Posted by mshab356

Strange. I always thought Dinan parts were covered by BMW. That's what I had heard many times before.

Dinan's Warranty Page

It includes this specific passage:

The installation of Dinan® Performance Products and systems may affect the vehicle manufacturer’s new car limited warranty. The vehicle manufacturer’s new car limited warranty may not apply to modifications to a vehicle or the installation of any performance accessories or components attached to the vehicle which substantially alter the original engineering and/or operating specifications or which result in damage to other original vehicle manufacturer’s components.

[3er]

Originally Posted by DBV

I think you're misinterpreting the marketing language. Dinan will cover or honor the equivalent to BMW's warranty, should their product be the root/cause of the issue.

Originally Posted by Revcrazy

Dinan will essentially mimic BMW's warranty when it comes their parts. They do not fall under BMW's warranty, but a warranty through Dinan that matches it in parallel.

+1. They're the safest route to go if you want to tune, but it's true that BMW won't CPO your car after Dinan tuning it (doesn't apply to ///M cars anyways). However, it's clear that the gains offered by Dinan don't compete with the likes of JB4 and others. For me, it's worth the extra cash for reassurance. For many others, it's not.

[JoeFromPA]

If you don't know how badass Chip Ganassi racing is, read this article: http://www.roadandtrack.com/motorspo...anassi-tunnel/

While I don't understand this in particular in terms of the way this move was structured, I certainly understand some aspects of it...

I'm surprised Dinan isn't setting up a corporate governance structure where he can be Chairman or Vice Chairman of Dinan while still serving this role at Ganassi.

[myzmak]

Originally Posted by ASAP

Leaving your own company that is profitable and you built and moving to another one is really weird.

Not necessarily.

It looks like Dinan was actually acquired in 2013

As of 2013, Dinan is part of the Driven Performance Brand Group which includes B&M Racing and Performance, Flowmaster, and Hurst Driveline Conversions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinan_Cars

....which means he likely sold his shares in that transaction and it hasn't been "his" company since then.

There was almost certainly some sort of retention/non-compete agreement that required him to stick around until end of 2014 but, now, he is just free to do whatever he wants.

[ASAP]

Originally Posted by myzmak

Not necessarily.

It looks like Dinan was actually acquired in 2013



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinan_Cars

....which means he likely sold his shares in that transaction and it hasn't been "his" company since then.

There was almost certainly some sort of retention/non-compete agreement that required him to stick around until end of 2014 but, now, he is just free to do whatever he wants.

OK, that's a different story... if he sold it, then he is free to do whatever...

[Fly4Tarpon]

Its funny how Steve Dinan has managed to create this "aura" of some kind of relationship with BMW. The fact is BMW has never recognized Dinan as approved anything. How do I know this? I know several dealerships that used to sell alot of Dinan products but grew tired of the fights between BMW and Dinan over who was going to warrantee parts. That alone tells me that Dinans warranty is based on two things that minimize ANY true risk. 1. Tunes that are so wimpy that nothing is going to fail because of the mods. 2. Because of this, they fight tooth and nail every claim to get BMW to cover it, even when the warrantee is automatically voided. Ask your BMW service center if Dinan did, had, used to, or was, anything even remotely in cooperation with BMW.
The dealerships used to be happy to install Dinan parts because they knew the mods were very mild, made THEM and Dinan money, and knew the incidents of "looking the other way" on warranty claims should be few and far between. That was BEFORE Steve Dinan argued one too many times with BMW about who should warranty what. Bmw now voids ANY warranty that a dealership installs a dinan tune on. period. It was not always that way. The dealerships dont mess around now as BMW has made it very clear to them what happens if they are caught not reporting Dinan installs. Dont believe me? Talk to any BMW service advisor. They will NOT tell you that they flag or void EVERY tune they come upon. Its case by case. But they DO void every Dinan tune...... talk about being on somebodys CRAP LIST.

[Roadkiller]

Geesh :

He was the foundation of the company. I hope it does not lead to more business issues. You could almost infer from this that BMW's current lockdown on the ECU has changed the landscape of the business. I love Dinan and had two stage 2 installs in the past. I'm on the fence right now and this move certainly affects my decision on which tune to get. I do think it's one of the safest tunes out there but if there is a chance the warranty might now be there, I might save a few dollars and go elsewhere.

[VCP]

Have fun at Ford pinhead.

[VCP]

Snap!

Originally Posted by Fly4Tarpon

Its funny how Steve Dinan has managed to create this "aura" of some kind of relationship with BMW. The fact is BMW has never recognized Dinan as approved anything. How do I know this? I know several dealerships that used to sell alot of Dinan products but grew tired of the fights between BMW and Dinan over who was going to warrantee parts. That alone tells me that Dinans warranty is based on two things that minimize ANY true risk. 1. Tunes that are so wimpy that nothing is going to fail because of the mods. 2. Because of this, they fight tooth and nail every claim to get BMW to cover it, even when the warrantee is automatically voided. Ask your BMW service center if Dinan did, had, used to, or was, anything even remotely in cooperation with BMW.
The dealerships used to be happy to install Dinan parts because they knew the mods were very mild, made THEM and Dinan money, and knew the incidents of "looking the other way" on warranty claims should be few and far between. That was BEFORE Steve Dinan argued one too many times with BMW about who should warranty what. Bmw now voids ANY warranty that a dealership installs a dinan tune on. period. It was not always that way. The dealerships dont mess around now as BMW has made it very clear to them what happens if they are caught not reporting Dinan installs. Dont believe me? Talk to any BMW service advisor. They will NOT tell you that they flag or void EVERY tune they come upon. Its case by case. But they DO void every Dinan tune...... talk about being on somebodys CRAP LIST.

[oldkingdom]

Originally Posted by VCP

Have fun at Ford pinhead.

Classic! LOL

[Tflong24]

I am sure he is going to ginassi because of his relationship with him in the Rolex series. He provided BMW engines for Ganassis DP prototype cars and won several championships. Now Ganassi runs ford ecoboost V6 in the DP, so I think Steve is being brought in for that program. I met Steve at a track event once. Real nice guy. Didn't try and sell me anything but answered a lot of questions. Based on Steves racing engine program, there is no doubt he knows his stuff. Apparently Chip thinks so. You do not provide engines or work with Chip Ganassi unless you are on top of your game. Whoever stated BMW may have ran him out of the tuning business by locking out the ECU is probably correct. I have read ford is releasing power packs for their ecoboost engines, seems they are serious about turbo performance. I just hope for a BMW ppk for our M3/4s.

[FC4]

Originally Posted by Fly4Tarpon

Its funny how Steve Dinan has managed to create this "aura" of some kind of relationship with BMW. The fact is BMW has never recognized Dinan as approved anything. How do I know this? I know several dealerships that used to sell alot of Dinan products but grew tired of the fights between BMW and Dinan over who was going to warrantee parts. That alone tells me that Dinans warranty is based on two things that minimize ANY true risk. 1. Tunes that are so wimpy that nothing is going to fail because of the mods. 2. Because of this, they fight tooth and nail every claim to get BMW to cover it, even when the warrantee is automatically voided. Ask your BMW service center if Dinan did, had, used to, or was, anything even remotely in cooperation with BMW.
The dealerships used to be happy to install Dinan parts because they knew the mods were very mild, made THEM and Dinan money, and knew the incidents of "looking the other way" on warranty claims should be few and far between. That was BEFORE Steve Dinan argued one too many times with BMW about who should warranty what. Bmw now voids ANY warranty that a dealership installs a dinan tune on. period. It was not always that way. The dealerships dont mess around now as BMW has made it very clear to them what happens if they are caught not reporting Dinan installs. Dont believe me? Talk to any BMW service advisor. They will NOT tell you that they flag or void EVERY tune they come upon. Its case by case. But they DO void every Dinan tune...... talk about being on somebodys CRAP LIST.

Absolutely this.

It's very easy to "warranty" something that that provides such minimal gain.

[Tflong24]

Originally Posted by Fly4Tarpon

Its funny how Steve Dinan has managed to create this "aura" of some kind of relationship with BMW. The fact is BMW has never recognized Dinan as approved anything. How do I know this? I know several dealerships that used to sell alot of Dinan products but grew tired of the fights between BMW and Dinan over who was going to warrantee parts. That alone tells me that Dinans warranty is based on two things that minimize ANY true risk. 1. Tunes that are so wimpy that nothing is going to fail because of the mods. 2. Because of this, they fight tooth and nail every claim to get BMW to cover it, even when the warrantee is automatically voided. Ask your BMW service center if Dinan did, had, used to, or was, anything even remotely in cooperation with BMW.
The dealerships used to be happy to install Dinan parts because they knew the mods were very mild, made THEM and Dinan money, and knew the incidents of "looking the other way" on warranty claims should be few and far between. That was BEFORE Steve Dinan argued one too many times with BMW about who should warranty what. Bmw now voids ANY warranty that a dealership installs a dinan tune on. period. It was not always that way. The dealerships dont mess around now as BMW has made it very clear to them what happens if they are caught not reporting Dinan installs. Dont believe me? Talk to any BMW service advisor. They will NOT tell you that they flag or void EVERY tune they come upon. Its case by case. But they DO void every Dinan tune...... talk about being on somebodys CRAP LIST.

Man, what a hater. I don't think Steve created this "aura of a relationship with BMW". Maybe it could be that you walk into a BMW and see Dinan all over the place, the tuning is done by BMW service techs, and I know for a fact several dealers support dinan. I don't see burger motorsports plastered in a BMW dealer. It's funny how angry people get discussing Dinan tunes. It's people's money to spend how they wish. I have had Dinan tunes and liked them. I've also had other tunes with mixed results but I won't bash them unless I had a bad experience. If I want to pay $8000 for 3hp that's my bussiness. There is absolutely no doubt Steve knows his crap, unless you think Chip Gannasi is a dumbass who doesn't know auto racing. I don't see burger winning any championships in a major (especially endurance) racing series. I also like turner Motorsport, they are also race proven. Anyone can make gobs of power, but until it lasts for 6, 12 or even 24 hours of racing...and wins, who cares. Quit being such a hater. There's a simple solution if you don't like Dinan....don't freaking buy it.

[3er]

Customers pay for Dinan to hash out warranty related issues with BMW. I couldn't care less how much back and forth there might be, as long as I'm covered. I don't see any other tuning companies offer a tune that's more aggressive than Dinan with a warranty other than a warranty on the product itself.