MarkD chip

[AdironRider]

So your basically saying your a douche that condones buying stolen work, not to mention from a guy whos done way more for the e30 community than you ever will? Wow, I knew you were wierd, but now you just suck.

[O 16581 72452 5]

BBS Sideskirts are a rare item and i believe no longer in production. Fiberglass copies don't compare to moulded plastic. Besides, i understand sideskirts being expensive, moulding, the cost of materials, expensive freight. I made a fiberglass front bumper, the cost was $75-$100 per copy and was really poor quality i might add. :P

Chips cost $5 and a chip is a chip, if you don't believe me, check out moates.net or any other similar place selling PROM chips. Shipping can be done in a small envelope and not cost much more than $1. All he's doing is the same thing the guy on eBay is doing, writing a program to a chip, he does have the research and design though, but he's still making huge profits selling for that price, the guy on eBay is also making big profits selling for $35-$50 or he wouldn't be doing it. The only reason to buy from him is the moral issue and the trust of buying a legit copy that'll work, the guys on eBay obviously have no moral issue and i'd have trouble trusting they'd sell me what i ask for.

Writing a chip is easier than burning a CD, quicker too, basically in my eyes, this guy's band made a CD and is selling copies for $250, a little far fetched, but it's the closest thing i could think of to compare since i have experience with both.

[fporro]

$ 100- $ 150 is less than $ 250, we hear ya !

but then again, apples and oranges here,
i have a set of real bbs side skirts that won't let go of for less that $ 350,
why ? when there's all sorts of fiberglass copy's on ebay for $ 225 ?
'cus $ 250 won't even paid for freight of comparable quality item.

I don't know, items are worth what the market will bear.
Mark D has put time and effort developing his chips,
hence, he should reap the benefits., not some quack.

Too bad that he can't do what the s50 swap program does. lock-out non payers.,
that's not hurting the community, but actually helping it by enticing others to develop new products.

think SuperSprint is happy about having their long tube headers cloned after they spent time and money on R&D ? sheets mangs ! think not.

you'll be amaze as how easy is to order a 5 lug hub to fit 4 lug e30's, but then again, what for? who would go through the trouble to order the parts combo, fit it, test it, advertise it, create a buzz, for a "oh, so i can do that too" effect ? think not.

no money = no honey

[O 16581 72452 5]

Not true, i've cheaped out on many non crucial parts such as intercooler piping, intercooler, exhaust manifolds, exhaust headers and never had a single problem and saved hundreds over the cheapest name brand competitor.

Hell, i even cheaped out on pistons and ran 30-35psi on them on a boost spike and leaned it the fuck out! I read before i buy however, when i buy a cheap product, i throughly research it before i buy to make sure it won't fail on me, and 9 times out of 10, that cheap product is just fine.

A copied chip is a little iffy because you never really know what you're getting and obviously the people you're buying from are copying someone else's work, so they really have no respect for others. They can claim a Mark D chip and it simply be junk that'll throw a CEL and not run the car right.

But for $50, i'm willing to take the risk, i'm going to read around as much as possible first though, much better than $250 and that's where i'm coming from, if his price were $100-$150, i could see spending it and i'm sure many others would shy away from copies and buy the real thing. Sure he'll have to sell twice as many to make the same profit/income, but once that master copy is made, it's about $5 per copy. I think he could easily sell twice as many with a price drop.

That's where i'm coming from atleast.

[AdironRider]

I think the old saying "you get what you pay for" holds true for just about any purchase you can make for your car.

[E30 Cabrio]

What kind of gains can I expect for my stock 88 325ic 5-Spd. 3.73 with a Mark D chip?

[backtrail69]

Like buying wheels that fit your car properly...Cars aren't cheap, anything worth buying is going to cost something...

[O 16581 72452 5]

Lol, seriously man, if you can't afford it, don't buy it.

That's my whole point, haha.

Most of us are cheap asses that can't afford it.

I could afford it, but that $250 could be better spent elsewhere IMO.

[PeaveyBassist]

Lol, seriously man, if you can't afford it, don't buy it.

x2

Will

[Axxe]

Lol, seriously man, if you can't afford it, don't buy it.

[O 16581 72452 5]

Dude your a fool.

Oh yeah? Have you ever written chips and tuned a car? :P

And it's "you're".

Hell, when i was in the Honda scene people just posted their bin files on the forum after they dyno tuned it for the community to use if they had a burner. I know that's getting a little extreme of an example, but i'm just saying it's not as big of a deal as people are making it out to be to write chips when his master copy is made.

Yeah, i quoted manufacturing costs, what about it? I'm saying from what i know about chipping the cost, i know he's not going to sell shit for the price he pays for it, duh, he needs money for his time and development, i'm simply saying he's getting the money for his time and development after the first few chips were sold, i'm sure what he's selling now is pure profit.

Appologies to him for coming off as bashing his product because it is a good chip, i would love to own one, but i won't pay that pricetag for it and neither will alot of people, that's why clones are selling so well.

[AdironRider]

Dude your a fool.

[O 16581 72452 5]

You're wrong;

Ask Mark how long its taken him to learn the DME or how many thousands he's spent in dyno time and tuning and trial and error in finding power combinations that work and don't.

Also consider what Mark does with any profit after the above costs - how much of it goes into further research and development of the product?

You're just quoting the manufacturing costs of the chip which is extremely infantile. And to reiterate anyone who buys a clone chip is a thief and is hurting the e30 community.

If he wants to share that, by all means do, the chips i've made have been cake work though.

I stated my understanding of it from my experience with it, i didn't say it were fact, i'd love to learn more why he does charge so much for chips (and i don't mean compared to other chips).

[NickP]

I know what goes in to making a chip, i've written them for Hondas and studied them. I don't know what he's using to write the program for the chips, but there's programs like Crome and Uberdata that guys make and give out for free.

Anyway, once the program is written, spend say $300 on dyno time to give a good tune to an M20 engine which maybe he has, or maybe he asked a friend to let him borrow it, $40-$100 on a chip burner depending how well it looks ($40 is for the kind with no casing), $5 a piece or so for an PROM chip and let's just assume he already has a laptop or if he bought one to do chips, let's assume he uses it for more than just making chips, therefore not part of the money in to the chip.

Total invested: $400 and $5 per new chip.

Profit is after two chips were sold.

Correct me if i'm wrong.

When a chip is $250 and a clone is $50, i rather just buy the clone and risk it being a JC or Dinan copy and like i said, for maybe $100-$125 shipped, i'd gladly give the guy money for the thing to know it's legit and will do what those dyno graphs show.

Obviously the people are making profit copying the chips and that's all Mark has to do now that he has the program written, if they're making profit from $50 shipped, Mark would be making more profit than them for $125 shipped.

Hell, maybe just have a month long special for that price to see what happens, i'd certainly buy one insted of a used or cloned one because that's the only way i'd buy one of these chips.

You're wrong;

Ask Mark how long its taken him to learn the DME or how many thousands he's spent in dyno time and tuning and trial and error in finding power combinations that work and don't.

Also consider what Mark does with any profit after the above costs - how much of it goes into further research and development of the product?

You're just quoting the manufacturing costs of the chip which is extremely infantile. And to reiterate anyone who buys a clone chip is a thief and is hurting the e30 community.

[JPL]

its everyone's responsibility to honor the work mark put into the chips. its the only way we can get him and people like him to continue to advance e30 "technology"(if thats the right word).