I finally decided to take a chance with MKB. My ECU is on its way to Vancouver right now. I'll be getting the "supposed" 306hp upgrade for my C350. I should get the unit back on thursday, but I'm going away for the weekend, so I will have to wait till next Sunday to install it.

 

let us know how it goes

 

Keep us posted. Do you have any plans to dyno it or test the 0-60, 1/4 mi times?

 

That's at the crank correct?

 

Question of the day: How much did it set you back?

Advertised HP increase sounds pretty impressive for just an ECU tune. Curious to find out the results...

Any info given about potential change in fuel economy as well?

 

I didn't do a dyno before, but I could see if I can get one done after. I don't know if the gain is on the crank or the wheel; i'm not really that technical. All I know is that where ever I currently have the 268hp is where I will have 306hp, or so they say.

They also said 0-60 in 5.4s.... I'm not really expecting this kind of performance, but anything around 5.8s will make me happy. MKB is suppose
to be a reliable and reputable company, so who knows. All I know is that I'm in and there is no turning back now.

 

It would be nice to get your car dyno (before/after) if possible... Not really concerned about peak numbers, you should focus more one the area under the curve (that's your drivable available hp/torque)

Any tuning shop in your area should have a dyno...

Keep us posted...

 

The 268hp is at the crank and the 306 he is hoping to achieve is also at the crank. Drivetrain loss is around 17-18% from what I've read with our A7 transmission. I would guess stock is around 221whp and hopefully he'll get to 252whp.

 

I'd definitely be interested in your results. I'm getting my ECU tuned by Kleeman at the end of the month with follow-on headers sometime down the road. I won't be getting my car dyno'd but my I'll have a report with my butt dyno when I get the car back.

 

how did it go? very exciting!

 

Not yet, I will get the ECU back on thursday and wont be able to try it untill Sunday. I can't wait!!!!

 

Congratulations on the soon to be tune! I hope to get a tune eventually and MKB is on top of my list so I am curious how it all works out for you.

As for a question about price, when I checked last it was around $2300 with the exchange rate. I'm not sure what it is currently?

Looks like Renntech increased their power from 12hp to 20hp for a tune now also so looks like our 3.5 motors are getting some attention.

 

So, how did it go? It's Monday, any update?

 

Wow, $2,300 for 38 hp.

I would think that you might want to get her on a dyno before and after just to find out if you really get that.
Plus I'm sure the rest of us would love to know.
Obviously it's too late for a "before" dyno pull but maybe we could assume that the 268 at the crank number is real and go from there. It's just nice to see someone willing to try to squeeze some more out of their car.

 

Holy crap, $2300? Definately overpriced. Still curious how it turns out

 

MKB screwd up with the shipping . Instead of shipping next day (which I paid for) they shipped 3 days, so I will be getting my ECU tomorrow (Tuesday) by 4:30. They have agreed to cover up to $100 for a rental, which is kind of nice, but I was still pissed.

As for the price, it is expensive, although their official price has gone down to $2095 + shipping. I ended up paying $1900 + shipping after a small discount. Is it worth it? There is a big change it is not, but I will tell for sure tomorrow.

There were other options for ECU tunes for under $1k, but I decided that if I was going to do it I wanted to go for the best, and MKB seems to be a very reputable company and they only do Benz, and I value that.

For me, if I can get a 0-60 in the high 5s it would be worth it. If it delivers the 5.4s they claim I would be very happy. But at the end of the day it is all going to be based on my perception, as there is no reliable way to measure this. Others may have different oppinions about what this mod should cost and if it worth it or not and I respect that.

If anyone knows a reputable dyno in the Boston area I could check it out and consider a dyno (but it would be kind of pointless if we dont have anything to compare to).

 

Bummer to hear it got delayed. I was hoping to hear that you're loving it! While it's true you won't have a good baseline for your car, I think you could be fairly confident that your engine was making its 268hp/258tq? So if you see an improvement over about 221hp/213tq (deducted about 17.5% for our drivetrain loss) then you can attribute it to the tune.

I'm debating between yours or Kleemann ($1495) or ?. I'm also interested in headers so I'm trying to get a good plan together before I proceed. Kleemann has a nice of headers for our engine that should be available soon. They currently have them for our engine in different cars (R171 & W203) and they are showing 319hp/301tq! RennTech has a similar setup, I think they advertise it as 40hp for $4K.

I'll be eager to hear what you think when you've had a chance to drive it while.

 

Krytech, I'm getting the ECU tune done by Kleeman next week. I should have my car back next Friday or Saturday; I'll let you know how it is with my butt dyno. Not going to get the car dyno'd before or after. I too am also waiting for the headers, Kleeman said it should be coming out with the headers for the M272 w204 this summer.

 

Did either of you dyno your cars before hand to see what kind of baseline numbers you were putting down? What are your comparative costs? Do you plan to dyno after the install? Are either of you 4Matic or are you both RWD?

 

RENNtech is $1295

 

Ok, I just installed the ECU. I haven’t really had the time to test the car, but I did take it for a ride. Here is my FIRST impression (I will have a more concrete opinion, including MPG, once I drive it around for a week or so)

Was it worth it? Absolutely!!
Was I impressed beyond my expectations? No.
I think I got exactly what I paid for, and exactly the results I was expecting.
Overall I am very happy with my purchase, and believe me, I didn’t have $2k laying around, I have been saving for more than a year to mod my car. It was between the C63 wheels, quad tips/diffusor, or ECU. And so far I’m happy with my decision.

Now to the performance part. I tried to look for familiar driving situations to see if I could tell a real difference, other than the “it feels much faster” one.

Well, the car does feel MUCH faster. I can’t talk about 0 to 60 or HP gains, but here is something so that you have an idea:

I launched from a red light by just flooring the car (not holding the brake) ESP off, and my wheels screamed for about 2 seconds before getting full traction. Before, my car very rarely lost traction without holding the brake, and when it did it was for less than half a second.

Second test. I floored it inside the parking garage on my bulding. Before, the car would lose traction, but it will move forward relatively fast. Today, the car was almost not moving, just the wheels spinning, obviously I didn’t hold it long.

Finally, there is a U turn I have to make to get home every day. Before, the car wheels would lose traction, but I would only get an oversteer when the street was wet. Well, today was really sunny and the street was dry and hot. When I floored it, the car quickly oversteered.

I only had a chance to push the car though the second gear, and I must say that the higher rev limit makes a big difference. I couldn’t tell exactly when it shifted, but it was definitely in the red zone, and the shift felt more aggressive too.

Now there were a couple of thing I noticed that I didn’t really like (or maybe I just need to get used to).

First, there is a hauling wind sound coming from the engine at around 2k rpm. I just hope I didn’t mess something when removing/installing the air box (which is needed to get to the ECU).

Second, it FEELS as if they tweaked the throttle curve. The car is more aggressive with just a slight tap, something like the people with a SprintBooster describe. Some people might even like this, but I don’t.

And finally, the ECU has clear marks that it was opened (I will post pictures later).

Other than that, I am very satisfied.
I will be happy to answer any question, and I will let you guys know how it goes after a couple of days.

 

I went for another ride and just confirmed that the rev line is still the same as stock, it does not go into the red. I thought I saw ig go higher before, but I guess it was just my imagination.

 

Glad to hear that you're first impression is a good one! Sounds like the butt dyno is registering an improvement!

Can you elaborate on the new feel of the gas pedal? Are you saying that you barely have to touch the pedal to make the car go now? I really like the feel of the stock pedal so not sure how I'd feel about it changing much.

 

I thought the better tuners didn't "open" the ECU and instead can plug in and flash it?

You're saying your ECU looks like it was opened up?

 

Right on!

The headers will be nice and should give an increase in tq, a little hp and a nice sound from what I've read on other forums. I got a dyno graph here from Kleemann for just the headers and it showed +9hp and +19tq!