top of page
Search

BMW Nannies, Be Gone: Coding My 128i for Track Life with ProTool

  • Writer: Brandon Meadows
    Brandon Meadows
  • Apr 4
  • 7 min read

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m not a big fan of being told how to run my life. The occasional well-meaning nudge? Sure. But full-on intervention that kills the fun? Hard pass.

Unfortunately, BMW has baked in a fair number of electronic nannies—probably with good intentions—but they have a knack for getting in the way when you’re trying to have a good time on track.

Thankfully, the fine folks at Bimmergeeks have created a user-friendly tool called ProTool. It’s perfect for those of us who are, let’s say... a bit more inclined to push back against authority—especially the digital kind. Getting Started

If you're anything like me, when you hear phrases like "coding the DME," your heart skips a beat—and not in a good way. You scratch your head and think, "Coding? Am I really about to learn programming just to squeeze a bit more performance out of this silly car?"

The good news: Bimmergeeks ProTool handles all the heavy lifting for you. No need to learn how to code—just tell it what features you want on or off, and it does the rest.

To get started, you’ll need a few things:



You can download the app directly from the Google Play Store—just search ProTool and it should come right up. Setup is straightforward: sign in with your Google ID, and the app walks you through the rest.


Coding Out the Brake Nannies


With the app open, plug the K+DCAN cable into your device and the vehicle’s OBDII port. Again, the app guides you step-by-step—it only takes a minute or two to get up and running.

Once connected, you’ll be prompted to connect to the vehicle. If you have auto-detect enabled, the app will pull up your car’s info automatically and connect without issue.


Now, a quick heads-up: the first time I connected the app to my 128i, the Chassis Stability Control menu (where you’ll find DSC, ABS, traction control settings, etc.) didn’t show up at all. I searched through every module and couldn’t find the brake-related options I was looking for.

I stepped away, hit the forums, and came up empty.

But the second time I fired everything up and connected, the menu appeared without any issues. No idea what changed—maybe it had to do with the ignition state, maybe the car needed a moment to think, maybe the moon was in the right phase. Who knows? All I can say is that the second attempt worked perfectly, and I was ready to start coding.


All of the braking-related features we’ll be disabling live under the Stability Control section in ProTool.

The first two we’re targeting are:

- Brake Fade Compensation

This one’s… well, interesting. When your brakes start to fade, this feature increases pedal pressure to mask the fade. In other words, instead of feeling a soft, mushy pedal (like you should when your brakes are cooking), the car pretends everything is fine by artificially stiffening it up.

Personally? I’d rather know when my brakes are fading—especially on track—so I can adapt accordingly. This one gets turned off immediately.

- FLR (Brake Overheat Power Reduction)

At first glance, this might sound like a smart safety feature: when your brakes overheat, the system reduces engine power to help you cool things off. The problem? The car doesn’t have actual brake temperature sensors.

Instead, it “calculates” brake temps using other data (speed, usage patterns, etc.), which means it’s guessing. And if you’re running high-temp track pads—like the ones we just installed on my 128i—it’ll likely think your brakes are cooked when they’re doing just fine.

Translation: this can kill your fun for no good reason, so it’s another one for the disable list. EDIT: After publishing this post, someone pointed out that I should also consider disabling a feature called Ready Alert Braking (RAB). When you quickly lift off the throttle, the DSC module assumes you're about to brake hard and lightly preloads the brakes. While this sounds helpful, if you don’t press the brake pedal soon after, the system releases that pressure—which can lead to inconsistent pedal feel. As a result, you might consider toggling RAB to Disabled.

Turning these off is dead simple. Once you’re in the Stability Control section, you'll automatically be taken to the DSC Coding options. Both of these settings should be listed right there.


Just tap on each feature and change the setting from Enabled to Disabled. Once you're done, hit Finalize at the bottom of the screen.

You’ll see a bunch of lights flicker and cycle across your dashboard—don’t panic, that’s totally normal. And just like that: voilà, the features are turned off. It’s literally that easy.


Another feature that was recommended to me by some of the E82 track crowd is something with a name straight out of a German engineering fever dream: COC_DBC_MIN_AUSLOESEDRUCK.

Yeah. Say that five times fast.

This setting controls what's called Dynamic Brake Control (DBC) minimum release pressure. In plain English, it causes a subtle pushback at the end of the brake pedal’s travel—kind of like a built-in "are you sure?" moment during hard braking.

For track use, that’s just unnecessary interference. It was suggested I set this to its lowest value: 00.

A quick note: this one isn’t found under the typical Popular DSC Control options. Instead, you’ll need to swipe over to the Expert tab.


From there, go to:Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) Coding Data:


In my case, for whatever reason, it was already set to 00—so I just left it alone. But it’s worth checking on your car to be sure.


I’m sure there are other features buried in the system that could interfere with track driving—some of which might only be accessible through more advanced tools like INPA or ISTA. But based on everything I’ve read and heard from other track folks, the features listed above seem to be the main offenders when it comes to E8x and E9x cars on track.

As you may have noticed in one of the screenshots, there's also the option to disable the E-Diff.

Now, I’ve got mixed feelings about this one.

Technically, the non-M cars like my 128i have an open mechanical differential, and the E-Diff uses the rear brakes to simulate a limited-slip diff. If I had an actual mechanical LSD installed, I’d turn E-Diff off without a second thought.

But since I’m still running the stock open diff, it’s not so clear-cut.

Sure, the E-Diff adds heat and wear to the rear brakes—which could lead to earlier fade, especially on a tight and technical track. But I’m not convinced disabling it would make the car faster overall. So for now, I’ve left it enabled.

That said, I might experiment with running a session or two both ways and see how it feels—whether the E-Diff helps or hurts performance. From there, I’ll make the call. Coding Out the Fog Lights

If you’ve been following along with previous posts, you might remember when I swapped in a 135i oil cooler for my 128i. To make room for the new cooler, I had to remove the fog lights—meaning, now every time I start the car, I’m greeted by a nice little error on the dashboard, telling me there’s a problem with the fog lights.

Thankfully, ProTool comes to the rescue here as well. It only takes a few seconds to code the fog lights out completely.

To do so, head over to the Footwell Module section (FRM Coding), scroll down to Bulb Check - Fog Lights, and disable the feature.

Once you hit Finalize, you’re all set. No more annoying error on the dash!


Getting Rid of TPMS

When I first bought my 128i, the dashboard looked like a Christmas tree—every light was on, and when I scanned the DME, I found faults everywhere, many of them tied to the RDC (TPMS control) module, which I found was completely submerged in water. After replacing the RDC module and clearing the codes, the TPMS started working, and most of the errors cleared up.

But as time went on, I still occasionally saw a TPMS error pop up on the dash. It usually clears itself after a few minutes of driving, but it’s always a bit alarming to hear that “BMW problem chime” and see the yellow light flashing.

Since I plan on running dedicated track/summer wheels and tires, I wasn’t keen on having to reprogram the TPMS sensors every time I swapped wheels. And then, as luck would have it, right after I coded out the fog lights, the TPMS error reappeared on the dash. That was the final straw for me. I decided it was time to code out this feature for good.

I should also mention that I’ve had the occasional K-Can fault show up when scanning the DME. It’s never caused any real issues, but I’ve always suspected it had something to do with the old RDC/TPMS module.

Removing the RDC Module

Before you start using ProTool, you’ll need to physically remove the RDC module. On my 2008 128i, it’s located on the passenger side of the trunk, underneath the trunk liner. Just pop it out and toss it in the nearest trash can.


Once the RDC module is out, I opened up ProTool and used the search feature at the top right of the screen to look for TPMS. Within seconds, I found three features listed as TPMS Delete.


Simply toggle all three of the TPMS Delete features to Disable, and just like that, you’ll never have to see that annoying yellow TPMS light again. As a bonus, deleting the TPMS feature actually cleared the last of the faults in my entire DME. No more pesky codes lingering around—just pure, error-free driving.



We’re almost ready to start turning laps. The only thing standing between me and some serious track time now is a set of tires that can handle the abuse and keep the car planted in the corners. And of course, if we’re going to run dedicated track tires, we’re going to need a set of wheels to mount them to.

Well, wouldn’t you know it? A set of wheels and tires showed up on my doorstep not too long ago. It's just about time to put this old girl to work on the track.


Let’s do this!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
Investigating The Apex
bottom of page