RedBull

I picked up a CLK550 a few weeks back, and finally got around to contacting Oliver over at Speedtuning to get a tune done. I couldn't part with the vehicle, so he was able to send me the remote tuning kit, and with a little bit of patience over some crazy setbacks, we finally got the car tuned. First impressions so far, the car definitely felt like it had more pep, although it's hard to say how much improvement without a before and after dyno.

The increased fuel ecomony test was this morning on my morning work commute up to Tampa. The drive is 63 miles each way, and I made sure to set the cruise control at the same speed as I do each morning. I do 80mph for the first half, then down to 70mph for the second half. The last two days, I averaged 25.1 mpg under identical weather conditions. Today's weather was the same, and I averaged 25.7 mpg. Not a huge difference, but a difference nonetheless.

On the drive home, I had a chance to open it up a little bit on a few occasions, and the difference is much more noticeable, and feels stronger than the initial drive last night after the tune.

For the price, I really cannot see beating this tune. I have read where most others who have it are happy with the results. Count me in with that group. Yes I did read about some people who had bad experiences, and I am sorry that. For me, this has been a very positive experience, and I cannot emphasize enough how helpful Oliver was through the whole process. First-class guy, and I wouldn't hesitate to send anyone his way for one of these tunes.

Yidney

Ok, so that review does not exactly make me want to go out and do this to my car. What was "the price", and what were the "crazy setbacks"? But mostly,"the car definitely felt like it had more pep, although it's hard to say how much" really makes it sound like you could be imagining any actual performance gains.

tw2

What wideband did you use?

There are a few warning threads about them.

RedBull

The setbacks had nothing to do with Speedtuning. It just had to do with my constantly changing work schedule, and then my laptop crapped out on me. Oliver was very patient through all of that.

Price for the tune was $399.

RedBull

Yes there are a few of those threads. There are also lots of threads from people who have used their tunes for years, and never had a problem. Off the shelf tunes are relatively safe, as long as you exercise common sense. I've used those kinds of tunes, as well as custom dyno tunes in the past. When an off the shelf tune has specific octane requirements, it's a good idea to follow those requirements. More times than not, someone who develops problems after an off the shelf tune, was running the wrong octane, or had other car issues before the tune. Yes you can get bigger gains through a custom dyno tune, but then you get into those kinds of tunes, I would never run one without a wideband.

As for proven results I have experienced with this tune, I will try to update with info the the "kill list" section when I have more time.

RedBull

Quick test on the acceleration at speed. It's an 08 CLK550 cabriolet, top was up, and on a very slight uphill....about 1% gradient. This is after the tune.


Will work on getting some more tests recorded.

megacrazy

I am glad you're documenting your experiences because I was wondering about their quality. However, I really don't get the point of most of these threads. Without a before/after dyno it's just speculation. Why not spend the money and do 2 dyno pulls so we know for sure what we're talking about.

That being said, speedtuning is interesting to me because their price is a little more realistic. Tuners that charge 700$ for a basic remap with no dyno tuning should be publicly shamed haha. 700$ gets you a full dyno tune of a supercharged/turbo car, including any software licenses...for most other makes out there. I guess Mercedes gets the special of double the price. Nice.