Customization Module 7-Speed DCT

xHP has a "Customisation Module" which allows the user to change certain settings before flashing an OTS or Custom Map. The module injects these user-defined values into each map before it is flashed.

Use is simple:

• adjust the desired settings

• save them

• flash any map to apply the settings.

The 7-speed is a very different gearbox to the 6 and 8-speed units. Manufactured by Getrag, it basically consists of two parallel manual gearboxes, each with a clutch. A gear change is made by pre-selecting the target gear in the adjacent transmission and then opening/closing both clutches at the same time. As one clutch opens, the other closes at the same time, allowing the transmission to make "seamless" shifts. BMW has been using it for about 10 years, mostly in M cars and some of the sportier AG cars, such as the 335is E92 and Z4 sDrive 35i. While its raw upshift performance is unparalleled, it has its drawbacks in everyday driving compared to the 6 and 8-speed torque converter transmissions.

For example, spontaneous multi-speed downshifts at cruising speeds are much quicker with the 6 and 8HP, and manoeuvring in tight spaces is also much easier with the ZF units. Last but not least, the DCT is much harder to adapt to different power levels and requires more set-up work when mated to different engines.

Launch Control Setup

xHP allows you to fully configure the launch control function of your DCT. xHP allows you to change the launch speed, as well as advanced settings to control engine torque and allow slip during acceleration. The standard values are set for a stock car. Especially for heavily modified cars with sticky tyres, big turbos etc. these values need to be adjusted up/down for optimal acceleration.

• Min: The minimum engine speed (RPM)can be adjusted in the car using the cruise control up/down buttons.

• Base: The initial RPM that Launch Control targets when activated.

• Max: The maximum RPM can be adjusted in the car using the cruise control up/down buttons.

• Desired Slip at Rear-Wheels (DS): In a nutshell, this slider makes the wheels spin more or less during the launch. Move it to the right for more wheel spin, and move it to the left for less wheel spin. The desired slip is the main variable used by the Launch Control to regulate engine and clutch torque during launch.
  The DCT calculates the actual slip during launch by reading the front/rear wheel speed sensors around 30 times per second and adjusts the engine torque and clutch slip to achieve the pre-programmed values. The optimum slip depends on many factors such as climate, tyres, road surface, suspension setup, etc.
  BMW has set this for a standard car on an "average" road surface. As a rule of thumb, on wet roads or in cold climates (winter), lowering the slip values will probably give you better times.
  On the other hand, on grippy surfaces (e.g. drag strip or new country road) and tyres, higher slip values can generate more traction.

• Torque Initial Slip-Phase (TI): This slider adjusts the initial torque when the LC releases the clutch. It affects how aggressively the clutch is released and how much boost your engine will target in the first few moments. This phase is crucial for a good start as it loads the drivetrain, sets the car's springs and gets the tyres spinning. Immediately afterwards, the LC will start to regulate based on the "desired slip". Too much torque will just burn rubber and the LC will have to adjust downwards a lot in the first ~1.5 seconds. Too little will result in a weak launch.

• Torque after Slip-Phase (TAS): This setting adjusts the second part of the launch, approximately 1.5 - 2.5 seconds after starting, when second gear is engaged. Shifting from 1st to 2nd can make the car unstable. Too much torque will cause the wheels to spin immediately on a 1-2 shift (which the LC will then have to counteract based on the "Desired Slip"), too little will waste time on pulling into 2nd gear as the engine may not be targeting full boost instantaneously, even if the traction is there to put all the power to the ground.

Torque Punch

This option allows the user to configure the amount of torque that is added on each shift in Sport/Sport+ and DSC OFF modes (AG cars) and S2/S3/M2/M3/DSC OFF (M cars).

During an upshift, the transmission sends a request to the engine to reduce power briefly to ease the shift. The time frame for this is about 100 - 200 msec. Depending on the amount of torque drawn during this short period, the transmission calculates the pressure required by the clutches to complete the shift. The Torque Punch setting allows you to add a factor to this calculated pressure to create a more aggressive (or tame) shift.
The punch can be felt in the car as a slight forward pull during the shift.

Slider to the right means a harder shift!

Slider to the left means a softer shift!

This custom option interacts directly with the “Torque Reduction” option. (see below) ⚙️

Torque Reduction

During each shift the transmissions orders the engine to cut power, while the transmission is pulling down to the Target-RPM for the next gear. The amount of torque reduction has to correlate with the clutch timing and torque at the clutches to create a quick, consistent and reliable shift, within the clutch specifications.

On high power cars, the DCT often suffers from “spongy” and delayed shifts, which are a direct effect of de-calibrated torque models inside the DME and unadjusted transmission mapping. The DCT is very picky and not that flexible in terms of self-adjustment and may need further adjustment through options “Torque Punch” and “Torque Reduction”, depending on your engine mods. If your Tuner asks how to “adjust for xHP”, just tell him to leave the Load-2-Torque Calculation as close to real-world as possible.

Slider to the right means “more reduction” → The transmissions pulls out more power during shift.

Slider to the left means “less reduction” → The transmission pulls less power during a shift.

Use Stock Shiftmaps

Our OTS Maps often sport adjusted Shift-Points in the various modes. If you do like the stock Shift- Points better, just activate this option.

Max. RPM

The AG-Cars (335i, Z4) have different Target-RPMs for D, S and M-Mode when applying full throttle. Instead of shifting at a certain vehicle speed, the transmission shifts at a fixed RPM per gear. With this option you can adjust that RPM target for each mode and each gear. Please note, that the transmission adds some pre-calculation, so it still may shift a bit earlier, then setup in this panel. For instance, when wheel-spin occurs, or you accelerate down a hill. M-Cars only have one automatic mode and therefore only a setting for D-Mode. (Called S in M-cars)

Rear-Axle Ratio

Gear-Change and Throttle-Blip calculation of the DCT needs to precisly know all Ratios in the Driveline. If they are not setup correctly, all target RPM calculations are offsetted, which leads to spongy shifting and incorrect blipping on downshifts. Adjust this option ONLY if you have fitted a different Rear- Differential. NEVER change this on a stock vehicle.

Shiftmap Editor with Presets

The shift map editor enables you to change all shift points in D and S mode to your personal liking. For instance you can make your car shift later from 1st to 2nd Gear when accelerating, or vice versa. Or make it hold 8th Gear for longer on the Highway when accelerating. For an easy start, xHP offers 4 presets: Relaxed, Relaxed+, Sportive and Sportive+.

Those presets make it easy to do a quick test on your car and experience the changes. Just select a preset and flash any map again. xHP will automatically apply the Presets to your Shiftmap during the Flash. Presets work with your Stock Calibration, with all OTS Maps and with Custom Files flashed.

Relaxed and Relaxed+: Your car will shift earlier up and will be less eager to downshift when pressing the throttle.

Sportive and Sportive+: Your car will shift up later and will stay for longer in lower gears. It will also react more quickly to throttle inputs and will be more happy to shift down.

Shiftmap Editor: Editing Presets

For further tailoring, you can also edit any of the Presets, and save your changes in up to three custom slots. Just select a Preset from the Dropdown and click the Toolbox Icon next to it. This will load the Preset into the Editor and expose the stored settings. You can now edit each individual up and downshift and afterwards store your Changes to 1 of 3 custom slots. The Presets itself will stay untouched, so you can always revert to them. Your personal slots also get exported when using the Import/Export feature, so you can easily share them with other users!

Shiftmap Editor: Setup hints

The shift map editor enables you to change all shift points in D and S mode to your personal likings. A “shift map” consists of 12 lines, which are spread over throttle input. Six for upshifting (1-2-3-4-5-6-7) and six for downshifting. (7-6-5-4-3-2-1) Up- and downshifts can be independently configured. The setting made in the editor are always relative to the flashed map. You do not set exact shift points, but rather are able to change the shifting of a given OTS or custom map! The spread is from +50% to - 50% for each shift. For example, if your 5-6 shift on low loads normally occurs at 50 mph, but you want it not to happen before 55 mph, pull the 5->6 slider to + 10%. Same goes for the downshifts. If your trans normally downshifts on 40 mph from 6->5 during coasting, but you want that to happen at 50 mph, pull the slider for 6->5 up to +25%.

Be sure to make sensible changes. If you alter the 1-2 shift upwards, you should do the same gradually to the subsequent shifts, to get a “natural” shift-feel during driving. Rule of thumb is to make bigger changes on the lower gears, and smaller changes on the upper gears. However, you are free to experiment with these settings. xHP pre-calculates and validates all changes against every OTS Map stored on the device. A fixed ruleset gets applied to auto-correct "wrong" settings and prevent dead-locks. Such a dead-lock could happen if your 2-3 upshift-point would be set below the 3-2 downshift-point, or if an upshift would lead to a target RPM below idle- speed of the engine.

Below is an example how to turn the standard Stage-3 Map of a 335i in D-Mode into a very comfortably and low shifting Map:

This is just an example, but users are encouraged to experiment and find their own personal best shift map. The Shift point Editor lets you change the character of a given map very much, by just pulling a few sliders.

Enable/Disable Creep

Choose whether your vehicle starts moving/creeping by just releasing the brake, or only when touching the throttle. “Standard” means the flashed file will not get changed. “Enable” let’s the car creep when releasing the brake, “Disable” means the vehicle will only move, when throttle is applied.

Kickdown – Launch

For E-Series - 135i / 335i / Z4

You can select whether to use a performance-oriented take-off behavior when going full-throttle (incl. Kickdown) or if "Burnout-Mode" shall be activated.

In Burnout-Mode the clutch will kick in very aggressively, to immediately spin the rear-wheels.

In Performance-Mode the clutch will be applied gradually to build traction. In both modes you can choose the RPM, where the clutch gets engaged.

For F-Series - M-Cars

The DCT has 2 modes of clutch-engagement when going Full Throttle/Kickdown at standstill, which are based on the current state the DSC (Stability Control) is in. The stock setup is as follows on all F8x M-Cars:

In DSC ON mode the clutch engages gradually at around 1000 RPM.

In DSC OFF it snaps around 2800 RPM. Depending on your personal setup and traction available you may want to change the RPM where the clutch starts to engage in each of the modes. For instance, higher Traction (sticky track, Slicks) means higher RPM possible/necessary before braking traction. Also, cars with upgraded Turbos can profit from raising the engagement-RPM.

Those Launch Modes are NOT related to Launch Control, which can be setup in the "Launch Control" Panel in xHP.

Take Off in 2nd Gear as Standard

This option lets you choose, wether the transmission uses first or second gear for take off from standstill. This function is not active in the following situations:

• Only active in D-DriveLogic 1

• The transmission will revert immediately to 1st gear when activating Kickdown (Emergency Function)

• During cold start on some vehicles

• On inclines

• When transmission is overheated

Valet-Mode

•limits your vehicles power to approx. 100 HP in lower gears, 130 HP in higher gears

•limits max. RPM to 2500-3000 approx.(depending on vehicle)

•disables Kickdown

•inhibits too early downshifting in Manual mode (max. 2500 RPM)

•locks down the transmission in its slowest operating mode

•inhibits Launch Control/Brake-Boosting.

Safely lend your high-power vehicle to your kids or make sure the shop mechanic does not show-off with your car to his buddies. Valet-Mode can be applied to any map and works safely in all driving environments.

Stop-Go

The Stop-Go function makes the transmission stay in 2nd Gear at standstill when a traffic-jam situation is recognized. It's a comfort function to avoid continuous cycling between 1st and 2nd Gear in "Stop-Go" situations. Users can choose to turn this function ON or turn it OFF completely.

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