Just wondering if any of you have had noticeable gains from chipping your cars. I just got word that CarLab in Santa Clara, CA will be hosting another chipping event (done by Eurorev from L.A.) as soon as they get enough cars pre-registered. I heard from a few folks that say they FELT a significant difference after getting their cars chipped during the last event, but nobody has provided dynos to justify the actual gains. I keep waiting on the Evosport pulley for the M271 engine that may or may not surface, but if the chip will provide more "bang for the buck" I might as well just go for it. Unless, of course, chipping on top of the pulley might show even more significant gains!!!

 

I went to EuroRev and had Jessie chip my C320 with their speedinnovation software a couple months ago. Right after they chipped it, the car felt a lot more responsive and there was almost no throttle lag. As for hp gains, I can't really say, maybe 5-10hp, but the car is definitely more fun to drive.

 

That seems to be the consensus based on people I've talked to locally as well. It sounds like these guys are providing a great service, and the group buy pricing is supposed to be very low. I might just have to go for it!

 

Pulley + chip would be the win :v

 

I heard a rumor that Eurorev might be developing a pulley kit for the M271 engine, but I won't hold my breath. A reasonably priced pulley for our cars is yet to be seen!

 

how much are they charging for chipping?

as for the pulleys...

 

Blake, also take into consideration that if you flash/chip the car now, you might have to do that again later down the line if you decide to do more power upgrades (i.e. pulley kit, intake - if it comes out, headers - if they come out, etc...). The flash/chipping of the ECU is more affective when you have more power mods on the car.

 

Yea, that's my delimma, but I've been waiting on the pulleys to come out "next month" for over a year.

 

Yeah, I feel ya on that...very hard decision to make. Believe me, I've thought of it too, but then I realized that there are two things I could get in the meantime (while the pulleys are being developed) - rims and comand. So those have become priority.

My main thing is a little of power to place me close to 320's or a lot of good looking appearance stuff...I settled on appearance stuff, but since you've already got that covered...I definitely can understand your frustrating situation.

 

I think the pricing was around $400 last time. I think alot depends on how many cars sign up...last time I heard there were 20+ cars chipped in one day!

 

dam I wanna chip my car =T

and I hate those ppl with the resistors on ebay saying its a chip, lols when u look up "Mercedes Chips" a whole buch of them pop up, and u get all excited and everything, then its just all BS =T

 

Haha, 15 bucks 15 ponies . I say overnight the ECU .

flip

 

these guys were great when they chiped my car i actually showed up unexpected last time they were up here. i already had an underpully installed and the chip really brought some extera acceleration. but eah i recomend these guys.

 

I have had good experience with RENNtech ECU reprogramming.
Added 15 HP
also, just Saturday night, someone (i think it was Richard) at the Pasadena MB PhotoShoot mentioned that with the RENNtech ECU reprogramming, the MB top-speed limiter is disabled. I believe the C320 is limited at 133 mph (is that correct ?? ),
well, that night going home on a pretty much empty a flat-line Interstate 15, I decided to check it out. Well, I got my Coupé up to 144 mph. It was a blast. And coming down to 90 mph was a real bummer. So if the limit is indeed 133, then I guess the RENNtech ECU reprogramming does disable that limitation. I had heard about it when I first got it done, but didn't think much about asking more details.

If someone knows absolutely for sure, please let me know.
Thanks !

Carlos

Saprissa@aol.com

 

Hello all,

Newbie here..and to Mercedes Benz. Been lurking the past two weeks since I bought an 01' C320. Well, just had Eibach springs installed today by Darwin and his brother. Glad I took my car to them...great guys to work with!!!! And they did an awesome job with the install (nice and fast, since I was on my lunch break). Plus all the advice/recommendations they had to offer.

Anyways, they mentioned the "Chipping Day & BBQ" coming up here in a couple of weeks. The HP gain figure they gave based on my model was 215hp (stock) to 234hp(after chipping). So, given that mine is not a Kompressor, I think those gains are pretty good. What piqued my interest more was the improved throttle response, crisper shifting, and gas mileage(?) I would get.

Anyways, I'm signed up for this event, and hopefully more will join also (in hopes of an even further discount for all - the more, the merrier).

BTW, car has a nice stance, but I'll post pics as soon as I get some tires/wheels.

Hope to meet some fellow MB enthusiasts,

Ral

 

Glad to hear you had a positive experience at Carlab. I was just there yesterday (who else takes Sunday appointments to suit their out of town customers!!!) and cannot say enough about their service. I'm still debating whether to chip now and pulley later, or wait for the pulley then chip.

 

Yeah, why do you have to live in the boonies. Nice house though! We'll miss you here :\. BTW, take some f'ing pics already!

flip

 

I was kinda hoping to get the fog surround piece from Darwin before taking pictures because it looks pretty ghetto without it! Tell Chuck to check his garbage can.

 

Lol send me the pic, i'll photoshop it in. I'm serious. Chuck doesn't go dumpster diving.

flip

Okay no more hijack!

 

I have a dilemma with modding on this car. My 99 kompressor I paid 450 dollars to upsolute chip it. The car revved faster and after a couple weeks was definitely more responsive. I thought that was a great deal. But now with this new one I'm thinking..... I'm gonna pay about 2k for chip and pulley to gain about 30hp and the car will probably feel a little faster, but it still won't be no crazy speedster. So why not put that money into some hot forged rims and some C55 lips and stuff and have people say dammmmmmmnnn that Benzo is hot! LOL! It's more of an impact for me I think. Now if I had a C55 or a c32 then it would be a different story.
What do you guys think? I think a cheap price ECU will be good, but more than that I don't know.... I'd rather go with appearance changes on this particular car.

 

Could always go with the ECU to at least get better mileage out of the car? (Especially now). With the mods I've got (below), doing the chip next was almost essential. Then again I'm not quite done changing the car's appearance as well... . I also didn't get this particular model to have it BE a speedster, but pepping it up with little things here and there? All for it.

flip

 

this is the same dilema im having. i want to chip the car but i know im going to change the pulley on the charger eventually. so.. do i chipped now or wait until i do the rest ? rentech in like 900 for the chip. i was used to pay around $3-500 with the GTI, is $900 really worth it for just a chip ?

 

ouch, 900 dollars? =\.

flip

 

thats what i saw in their website. if u want chip and pulleys it goes to the $1000+++++++

 

Apparently Renntech does not even have a chip for the M271 engine, even though it says they do on their site. I saw it posted on another forum where a member received an email from Renntech saying there is no chip available. Not sure about the other models/engines.