Tuning risks?
 

I will be picking-up my 2012 CLS 63 soon, and am considering ECU tuning, but want to understand the risks, if any.

Would a tune void any of the engine or powertrain warranty? Any way to avoid that if a tune is done?

Also, are there any risks with what I assume would be increased stress on the engine and/or overall powertrain?

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks...

I had all of the same concerns as you after dropping 125k on a car.
I researched it thoroughly and have learned that with the vtech tuning the dealer has no clue that the vehicle was even tuned. I verified this as my car had been to the dealer since the tuning and was hooked up to their diagnostic equipment and no questions were asked :)

Despite the huge gains from my vtech stage 1 tune the tune is relatively mild and retains reliability. These biturbo engines are extremely detuned from the factory ;)

Any insight about the Renntech tune and warranty/detection?

From what I'm told none of these tunes are detectable by the dealer.
I have a good friend that's a Mercedes tech at a dealer in Missouri and he called me up last week to tell me they had a RENNtech S65 in the shop and they were unable to detect it had a tune with their diagnostic equipment :y

I'm pretty sure that most tunes are easily detectable, but the vast majority of service appointments just don't look for tunes. If something comes in for an oil change, the mechanic gets his marching orders & changes the oil. Even if the OBDII is hooked up to diagnose an issue, a good tune probably won't result in any messages that would appear as faults.

Im sure there are boost measurements that the dealer, if they chose to scrutinize, would show increased pressure.

My Porsche dealer and GTR dealer can easily tell that Im on heavier boost but they are my friends so they dont care :)

+1, all tunes are detectable to some degree. Depends on the warranty claim and how far they want to dig to deny it.

It will be detectible by the dealer and any tune could potentially be a problem with warranty and like emoving said if there is any problems it depends what they want to 'blame' it on. But in terms of worrying about your turbo's popping or anything you don't have to worry. Its not like chipping k03s on a B5 S4. :)

I stand corrected then. I guess if they really wanted to dig they would determine the car was tuned, but nothing blatantly pops up on the diagnostic equipment stating the car's been tuned when they hook it up to the diagnostic equipment.

Haha the way you worded that made me laugh. Imagine the screen was all of a sudden like TUNE! TUNE! TUNE ALERT! O0o0o0oh your in trouble! TUNE! TUNE!

:rolf:

The tune itself is not detectible by your dealer. Other data is logged ie Top Speed, Boost, High rpm, etc. Standard diagnostic equipment does not read this and it is not protocol for a dealer to pull up this information on normal service visits.

Thanks very much for your input on this. It makes me feel better about having a tune :)
This is the same thing my tuner has told me and my friend who is a tech at a Merc dealership said they were unable to detect that there was a RENNtech tune on a car with their diagnostic equipment :y

NP, enjoy the car in good health

Thanks all - appreciate the input. I will probably end-up driving it for a while "as is", and then consider a tune later, though that would seem to be inevitable. At least driving it stock for a while will give me more appreciation for the incremental power when I do get it.

does anyone else wonder why the engines come to 'detuned'?:crazy:
does anyone else wonder if MB secretly owns every single little tuning company(maybe without said comapines knowledge) so they can bank even more!?:nix:
it's not that far fetched is it??:naughty:

They (the car companies) are calculating they are giving us just enough power/performance to buy the car, no more and definitely not less. Why have a huge incremental increase in power (and potentially lose some reliability) by turning up the boost if it's not necessary to sell the car? :) Only a few of us "nuts" actually tune these cars and can't stand have anything less than the optimal performance out of them. :D Not saying there's collusion between the competitors...but I'd find that conspiracy theory more likely than them owning the aftermarket tuners. :)

The boost on the performance pack (18.8 psi) and the boost on the Renntech tune are the same. The majority of the power increase over the PP car comes from tweaking the torque mgt settings and other stuff like that. No additional boost to the motor.

This is no different than what they did with the previous 6.2 (6.3) motors. Same ECU, Same engine, but AMG had cars rated differently depending on the chassis.... Look at the ratings for all the new biturbo motors, only a few are the same...

There is more to it that adjusting "limiters" you look at the different dyno charts to see who really accomplishes this and which "tunes" hit a "ceiling"..