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Old 11-10-2011, 12:39 PM   #1
Inferno LSX
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Sprint Booster who has it, who's tried it?

So I was at SEMA and talked with the Sprint Booster reps. Who here has it, and who has personally driven a car that had it installed? I'm NOT asking for any opinions. Just want personal experience. I know it's pricey and the offer a 30 day money back guaranty. I told the rep that if I did try one that I would do a full write up on Camaro5 about it. Even if I don't like it. So before I try it I'd like to know what others thought from their personal experience.
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Old 11-10-2011, 02:18 PM   #2
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Don't waste your money. All it does is make the throttle blade move faster in relation to how fast you move the pedal. What's the point in that? Get a ported throttle body and your throttle response will be really improved, it's cheaper and you might pick up a few hp.
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Old 11-11-2011, 08:54 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Camarowguy View Post
Don't waste your money. All it does is make the throttle blade move faster in relation to how fast you move the pedal. What's the point in that? Get a ported throttle body and your throttle response will be really improved, it's cheaper and you might pick up a few hp.
Have you driven a car that had it installed? I know it doesn't add any horsepower. I already have a ported throttle body. Im asking for real experience. I've heard opinions, but never from someone who actually drove a car with one installed. I think a lot of people think it's not worth it for $300 and I'm one of them.
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Old 11-11-2011, 10:22 AM   #4
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what is it even supposed to do?
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Old 11-11-2011, 10:34 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Inferno LS3 View Post
Have you driven a car that had it installed? I know it doesn't add any horsepower. I already have a ported throttle body. Im asking for real experience. I've heard opinions, but never from someone who actually drove a car with one installed. I think a lot of people think it's not worth it for $300 and I'm one of them.
Your right. I haven't driven a car with one. But when I had my ridge line I belonged to a ridgeline forum and there was quite a few people that had them and warned everyone else not to buy it. So I guess I was smart not to waste $300. $50.....maybe. But $300.....your getting bent over for a gimmick. My .02
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Old 11-11-2011, 10:58 AM   #6
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i had one on my bmw 530i for about 5 days, took it off and sent it back. here's why:

they are actually completely worthless, for all intents and purposes. if you think about your pedal's angle of use from 0% depressed to 100% depressed, we can compare it relatively closely to a right angle. imagine that if every half inch of pushing down the throttle resulted in an equal throttle increase of 10%, then to get 50% throttle you would need to push down the pedal halfway. makes sense.

with the sprint booster, it simply increases the percentage of throttle at lower pedal depressions. i.e. instead of normally having 10% throttle after depressing the pedal 10% of the way down, now you may see a throttle increase of 25% with the pedal 10% down. once you get up to the pedal being 75% of the way down, your throttle is maxed out and the rest of the accelerator pedal's travel is useless.

that is what the sprint booster does. it sounds simple, but if you press more of the accelerator down without the sprint booster installed, you will get the exact same effect. people feel like with the sprint booster the car is faster because they barely move their foot at all on the pedal and the car will shoot off the line. it's just that less effort by your foot is deceiving you into thinking the car is moving faster, when in reality it's moving quicker with less physical effort by your foot. $300+ for an electronic lead foot is a waste of money.
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Old 11-11-2011, 11:10 AM   #7
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Is this the same thing as the CoW booster that is on some threads here?
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Old 11-11-2011, 11:28 AM   #8
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yeah that sounds stupid, just move your foot farther/faster and save the $$
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Old 11-11-2011, 11:32 AM   #9
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I can think of a ton of other bolt-on's to spend dough on ($) which actually make HP/TQ.
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Old 11-11-2011, 11:47 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kiteman View Post
i had one on my bmw 530i for about 5 days, took it off and sent it back. here's why:

they are actually completely worthless, for all intents and purposes. if you think about your pedal's angle of use from 0% depressed to 100% depressed, we can compare it relatively closely to a right angle. imagine that if every half inch of pushing down the throttle resulted in an equal throttle increase of 10%, then to get 50% throttle you would need to push down the pedal halfway. makes sense.

with the sprint booster, it simply increases the percentage of throttle at lower pedal depressions. i.e. instead of normally having 10% throttle after depressing the pedal 10% of the way down, now you may see a throttle increase of 25% with the pedal 10% down. once you get up to the pedal being 75% of the way down, your throttle is maxed out and the rest of the accelerator pedal's travel is useless.

that is what the sprint booster does. it sounds simple, but if you press more of the accelerator down without the sprint booster installed, you will get the exact same effect. people feel like with the sprint booster the car is faster because they barely move their foot at all on the pedal and the car will shoot off the line. it's just that less effort by your foot is deceiving you into thinking the car is moving faster, when in reality it's moving quicker with less physical effort by your foot. $300+ for an electronic lead foot is a waste of money.
And this is exactly what I wanted. Real experience. I'm not planning on paying for one. If they chose to send me one to try out and do a write up on one I'm all for it. Thanks!
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Old 11-11-2011, 01:28 PM   #11
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Originally Posted by Inferno LS3 View Post
And this is exactly what I wanted. Real experience. I'm not planning on paying for one. If they chose to send me one to try out and do a write up on one I'm all for it. Thanks!
the bimmer guys will swear up and down by them, mostly because there are not a lot of mods you can do on BMW engines that don't cost a fortune. so for them it is easy to praise any mod that doesn't break their wallet, and that's the only reason i was initially enticed. as another mentioned, you could spend $300 in exponentially better ways with the C5 however.
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Old 11-11-2011, 09:16 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kiteman View Post
i had one on my bmw 530i for about 5 days, took it off and sent it back. here's why:

they are actually completely worthless, for all intents and purposes. if you think about your pedal's angle of use from 0% depressed to 100% depressed, we can compare it relatively closely to a right angle. imagine that if every half inch of pushing down the throttle resulted in an equal throttle increase of 10%, then to get 50% throttle you would need to push down the pedal halfway. makes sense.

with the sprint booster, it simply increases the percentage of throttle at lower pedal depressions. i.e. instead of normally having 10% throttle after depressing the pedal 10% of the way down, now you may see a throttle increase of 25% with the pedal 10% down. once you get up to the pedal being 75% of the way down, your throttle is maxed out and the rest of the accelerator pedal's travel is useless.

that is what the sprint booster does. it sounds simple, but if you press more of the accelerator down without the sprint booster installed, you will get the exact same effect. people feel like with the sprint booster the car is faster because they barely move their foot at all on the pedal and the car will shoot off the line. it's just that less effort by your foot is deceiving you into thinking the car is moving faster, when in reality it's moving quicker with less physical effort by your foot. $300+ for an electronic lead foot is a waste of money.

Just to play Devil's Advocate (cuz I'd never buy one):
_IF_ this Sprint Booster doesn't void your warranty (I have no clue if it does), then on the autos, this might be a good thing for those who value their warranty. There have been forum members who state it works for them.

Based on what I've read, it has potential because of the severe Torque Management on the L99s (and to a lesser degree on the LS3s). As I understand it, all the Torque Management does is limit your throttle by RPM. So if you floor it from a stop, at 1k RPM you get 30% throttle and it ramps up until it's at 100% at 3k RPM (my numbers might be off slightly, but I know I'm close based on previous threads). This is why the stock L99 guys have problems doing burnouts w/o brake stands.

If the Booster were to open that by 10% at each RPM, you'd get 40% at 1000 RPM, which might be enough to light 'em up!

Once again: I would NOT buy one. And I could be wrong. But based on what I've read, maybe there is something to it.
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Old 11-13-2011, 10:43 AM   #13
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If the Booster were to open that by 10% at each RPM, you'd get 40% at 1000 RPM, which might be enough to light 'em up!
you misunderstand what the sprint booster does. it does not increase your throttle at a certain RPM at all, it ONLY increases the rpm response with less pedal depression. if you read my original post again you will see i explain this very clearly. the SB does not alter anything beyond the accelerator pedal, i.e. it's an electrical mod, not a mechanical mod.
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Old 11-13-2011, 03:01 PM   #14
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Here's copy & paste from my post on the G8 forums:

At the risk of a flame war with those that opinionate on something they have NEVER tried ... ... I've had it on the GXP and my previous Mazda and is to me 1 of the first mods I like to do and the most enjoyable in day-to-day driving.

The new generation won the SEMA award (so it ain't snake oil people ... it actually DOES do something) and has a button that you velcro under the dash where you can see it and allows you to re-map the throttle sensitivity from stock > stage 1 > stage 2.

I generally run it on stage 1 unless I'm on the hiway where I'll put it on stage 2 ... just a small squirt of the gas pedal and you get instant response.

Ya, it adds no HP but I don't mod to get more HP - I mod to make the car more enjoyable to ME and if HP comes along with it all the better.

I like a more responsive car from throttle tip-in to handling than comes from the factory, always have ... the throttle part is now done and the handling is part way there with Lovells springs on currently and sway bars coming in the spring.

You can push the pedal down more but that's not responsiveness to me, that's driving with a large wad of mash potato between your foot and the gas pedal.

The reason people swear by it are because they've actually tried it ... the ones always arguing with us haven't.

If you're close to a dealer ask them to do a test install ... mine did and I'm pretty sure they all will. If you don't like it nothing lost except your time.

If you can get your tuner to re-map the throttle tables, go for it ... my unnamed tuner said there's nothing they can do (which I know is crapola) so I went with the Sprintbooster ... better choice in the end as it gives me the button anyway.

This is akin to Subarus SI-Drive and BMW's M button where you have different choices of throttle sensitivity (albeit BMW's does more than just throttle).

I LOVE mine.
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