Your first mistake was listening to the clerk at Autozone. This is nearly as dangerous as taking advise from the clerk at a gun store.

Neither the C300 nor the C450 are E85 capable. Running this fuel in your motor is a bad idea. EtOH based fuels are hygroscopic and also act as strong polar solvents which may adversely affect some engine components. You should not put any ethanol, methanol, or acetone based fuels or additives in any of these C-class engines unless explicitly approved or endorsed by MB.

MB does approve the use of EtOH based fuel (E85 for US) in the CLA, E, and GLE. Those are the only motors they approve for E85 use.
https://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/benz/green#module-5

 

I did not just take the advise from him. That's why i went online to do some research and found what i found. There are many people mixing 30% E85 to their gas and results were good and didn't seem to have any long term issue.
well, i have a GLE. GLE 450 Coupe. Does it mean my car is ok? But it is the same engine as the C450

 

I talked to my contact at Porsche and he confirmed what Mr J said. (Yes, I get the irony of asking someone from VW about what is proper for engine management!). There are many components that simply will fail by increasing ethanol too much.

He also said adding a bit of octane boost isn't a big deal because the engines are the exact same as those in the EU which run 95 octane. He did caution about pushing past that as "too much of a good thing becomes a very bad thing." He said there is a big difference between adding a bit of octane boost vs trying to create one's own blend of gasoline (don't try to turn our 93 into 100 racing fuel).

Just my $.02. Full refunds for anyone not completely satisfied.

 

Thanks GoDawgs. But is GLE 450 FlexFuel capable?
so, no mixing. But how about 100+ octane gas? Is it safe?
Finally. If by using Octane boost can cause some lead built up. That we use the fuel system cleaner to get rid of it?

 

Are you taking your car to the track? Pardon my questions, but I'm just struggling to understand the risk/reward thinking here. Is any increased performance, perceived or real, worth it? Why not just use the highest octane available at the pump in your area and call it a day?

 

Sigh... Why even bother to get a tune? Why get a car that can go 150mph when the speed limit is only 65. Why don't the car companies build cars that just go speed limit?
I may or may not go on the track. But I am asking all the questions, doing the research so I don't take the risk/make a mistake

 

My crack about the clerk's advise was meant to be tongue in cheek, no offense intended and I hope none was taken.



Two like engines can have the same architecture while having different fuel system and exhaust components. If it is not rated as E85 capable by the manufacturer then you shouldn't add E85. That being said, it's your car and you can do whatever the hell you like with it.

Any performance improvement from an E85 blend will be marginal at best and won't be noticeable beyond any placebo effect anyway. If you really want to chase optimization get a custom ECU flash and be done with it.

 

Mr. J

No, none taken. The clerk just brought up an idea that's worth doing some research on. I read on MB website that C, E, and GLE class are available for choosing Flexflue option. I am just wondering if mine is. My guess is it is a special ordering option, then mine definitely isn't since it was bought from the dealer lot.
I already have VR tuning box. But according Vivid Racing, the box was designed in Europe to run with 100+ octane fuel. So I want to see what the box/car is capable of. Not gonna be running racing fuel or adding octane boost on every tank. I just want to test it out.

 

any recommendations on how long to dive the car before installing the device? should i wait 500 miles, 1000 miles?

 

We have had guys install this right off the lot! Really is a personal preference. Now a days, most engines are ran and tested on the engine dyno before they are even placed into factory cars

Did you want me to send you over pricing?


Adam

 

So my car needs to go into the shop for some warranty work, and I removed the VR kit. I have several thousand miles on the car with the tuning kit installed so I have a very good feel for it. What did I find?

Well the immediate thing is how much fun having an exhaust that backfires can be. It is almost completely gone with the tuning kit installed, and it was a blast to just hear it ripping up and down.

Next was that for about one day the power was noticeably down. However by the next day almost all of it had come back. What I find is that in second gear, there is a bit more pull with it installed. However in first gear it feels almost the same. Mid throttle everything feels about the same.

I know this will be unpopular but for the money spent, there really isn't that big of a seat of the pants difference. I think I can guess why Cajun wrote about the dyno numbers rather than how it feels (sorry if I shouldn't read into his rationale).

With that, I probably won't be putting it back on because the backfires are more fun to me than any modest performance gains. If I could find a place locally to do a re-flash of the CPU, I would probably be interested in that as Cajun wrote about how the car just came alive with one of them. To me, I was just surprised at how little was lost when I took it off. That's probably a more meaningful gauge than when first putting it on.

Please don't anyone take this as me badmouthing or throwing flames. I'm just trying to be helpful by posting what I have found after several thousand miles and then removing the kit. In all, I am a bit sad to have spent so much and not to have that "holy cow this is fun" feeling. Perhaps that should be more of a credit to MB for getting so much out of their engine rather than a poor reflection of tuning companies.

 

Thank you so much for the review!

We appreciate your kind words as well as honest about how your enjoyed our product.

We surely can get you set up with a full software flash if you are thinking about going this route?

 

Hi GoDawgs

I also have the VR tuning box on my car for a few thousand miles. At first, I also noticed the same thing about the "backfire" sound disappeared. Surprisingly, it came back 2 months ago. The only thing I did was swapping the VR box with the bypass box 4 months ago. Drove it for a day, then put the VR box back on. I took that advise from a C450 owner who did that. He also told me that I can try resetting the throttle pattern (which I did not do). The exhaust backfire did not come back right after I did the swap though.
I am not sure exactly what happened, but the popping sound is definitely back. I thought maybe it had something to do with the box swapping.
Hope this helps.

 

What does this mean?

" The only thing I did was swapping the VR box with the bypass box 4 months ago."

What is a bypass box?

 

it is the little dummy box that you use to put the car back to normal. should come with your VR box kit.

 

I for one thank you for your honest review of this VR product.

I was on the fence when it came to either getting an aftermarket "plug n' play" tune or going with an ECU reflash. My original thinking was to get the plug & play tune for obvious reasons, but to pay $1,000 for only a 40 HP increase (using only 93 octane) AND to lose the cool Mercedes backfire...looks like I'll be going with an ECU reflash when I do decide to pull the trigger.

 

Once again, I Post, the "backfire", "popping" AMG exhaust sound does come back!

The same thing happened to me. I was extremely disappointed as well. After talking to a C450 owner, who also had the box and not lose the "sound", I swapped out the box for a day. Weeks later, the backfire returned. I am not 100% sure if it is the car, the box, or the swap that brought back the sound.

For me, VR box is a better option then ECU flash.
1. I get to install, uninstall whenever I want. Less problem with the dealer and tuning company
2. If I decide to get rid of the car early, I can recoupe some of the money by selling it.
3. It cost less than a ECU flash.

Of couse, ECU flash may get you higher performance improvement. I think for a SUV, GLE coupe with VR box is fast enough for me.

 

Not advocating blending E85 .. its their call..


But the coment re it having no noticable improvement isn't correct in all circumstances IME....


In summer here (Queensland OZ) the timing and ignition can be noticably held back under large throttle low engine speed (and hence high boost) conditions.. Running 98 vs 95 recommend min certainly improves this...


This is relevent to those running modificed ECU's and hence increased boost.. ie more likely to have timing held back if knock is detected..


Many do indeed add E85 (25%) to further increase the octane to allow their tunes to continue to function and hence prevent it being pulled back.... the wisdom of this is of course debateble and ultimatley the individuals call..

 

I am not a VW fan in any way, but their tuning has an option that is far beyond what is offered to MB fans. My local APR shop tuned the chip by plugging into the port in the dash. Any time my car was going to go in for service and they would be turning on diagnostics, the APR shop would uninstall the program and then reinstall it when the service was done. Talk about the best of both worlds. Also, the change to the 2.0L in the A4 was really noticeable.

The biggest thing is that APR is literally everywhere so you don't have to remove a CPU and ship it out. I am surprised that a number of the tuning companies for the C450 have supporting shops in the Atlanta area but NONE of them that I have found have been able to do the tuning on site. What happens if on the rare occasion FedEx loses the package? Seriously tuning guys, why can't we have your franchise dealers do a CPU tune locally at shops that sell your other products? I'm sure there is a reason. Perhaps I am the only one that would do a CPU tune but only if it is local...

Hey YXC145, thanks for the advice. I'll put the kit back on, let the car catch up for a few days, then do the bypass for a day. If it works, it really would be great. I'll post my findings in a week or so.

 

GoDawg

Whatever happened? Did you try what I told you and get the backfire sound back?

I took my tune off 2 months ago because I had to take the car in for the eco on/off software updated. Did not put the tune back on because I would have to take it off again for my one year service A in Jan 17.
While it improved the performance and was fun to drive with the tune on, I actually can do with or without it now. I get tired of a car very quickly. I have put a listing for sale to see if there is any taker. If not, I may just put it back on after service A.

 

I did try what you said, and it did bring back a little bit of the burble. I can't get it close to stock though, which I quite enjoy.

A lot of my driving is in traffic, stop and go, etc. Having taken it off and on a couple of times, I have noticed the biggest change, well I should say the best thing for me. That is when i drive in comfort mode. Sometimes I can't believe how lethargic the car is when running stock in this mode. Even with my foot mostly to the floor, it just doesn't go. With the tune, it does much better for the way I drive. Because of that, I leave it on. Yes, there is a bit more punch when running in sport+ but I more enjoy how the car doesn't feel so slow in comfort.

 

So i new to this aftermarket tuning and im trying to give my c450 a little extra power im interested in adding things but im worried about warranty issues do you think you can give me more info on the product or can someone guide me on less expensive ways to add power to my car