I know, I know, I know.... some of you are not going to like this recent mod but it was necessary. I'm going to do a full personal review and video on this mod when I get home but for now lets talk about it. The all mighty Pedal Box which I received in the mail yesterday under the radar (don't tell my wife) sHHhhh. If you own the CLS63 even a AWD then you know the TCU programming and engineering is on par with the video game Pac Man. What a terrible job Mercedes did on this and I dont think the USA has a company who has remedied the problem. So I came up with the bright idea that if I could not regulate my shifting through the TCU I would simply need to get my throttle response faster which ultimately makes the car respond immediately. Please understand that I DID NOT just say this will give your car more horsepower because it will do nothing of the sort but it will change the response of your pedal /throttle. Now, for the guys that think they are about to smash the gas pedal and do the same thing as the pedal box you're mistaken. At what point in history has man ever been able to beat electronics in any aspect.... NEVER.
Essentially what happens is this... when you purchase a car it comes with a OEM initial cap on the throttle response which allows the car to accelerate at a certain percentage (%) no matter how quick or fast or how many squats you've been doing in the gym. Typically its set at about a 30% give or take for initial response and gradually increases with pressure you apply to the acceleration pedal from that point. But Pedal Box allows you to modify this percentage all the way up to 100% if you should choose which is like a hair pin trigger. You can make the pedal as sensative as you like which is awesome for cars that take an act of congress to initiate launch control, hense the CLS63.
Even with the Renntech ECU upgrade which I adore there were no changes to how the car respnded to the pedal. A ECU upgrade usally consist of changes to the air fuel ratio in addition to alloted pounds of boost delivered to the turbos and advancing the timing. Nothing about any of that stuff makes your car respond faster to the pedal pressure which controls the throttle. This is why I purchased the Pedal Box which I believe will help solve my sluggish off the line CLS63 AWD.
As of now the mod is not installed but I will execute affirmative action soon as I'm back home from this deployment. Thank you for listening and let the roasting begin LOL!

 

A tuner should be able to make many changes to the ecu aside from power increase especially renntech. There is a value in the ecu that will change your pedal sensitivity, but you need renntech or a star diag with someone (dealership) that can generate a seed key and give you access to the ecu parameters. Other examples include cold start delete, disabling oxygen sensors, top speed limit removal. I had a renntech tune from the previous owner of my car and the gas pedal was super sensitive so I decided to purchase my own tune and have my own tweaks with my accompanying mods, pedal is much more linear now.

When I had the aggressive pedal curve set in the ecu, sometimes I would feel like I used way more power then I intended and it sucked especially during stop and go traffic. At least the pedal box is adjustable on the fly so you may like it, please share your experience when you get it installed.

 

Hey Mike,

Im assuming that Renntech stage 1,2 or 3 has its on presetting for changing the value of pedal sensitivity. I’m not sure what they have it set at but for me I was getting that same OEM sluggish initial jump before the car turns into a torque monster. I recognized the response of the car immediately because i was in hopes my R1 package would square this away. Contrarially I left behind at the start line multiple times before my car decided it actually wanted to move.

Thats awesome if Renntech will tune your car to your own specifications but the bottoms line is this. Tuners want top dollar for their services and Pedal Box delivers a refined product for a respectable price. The fact that you can change the sensitivity of how aggressive the response is really wows me. But as of now it’s all speculation because I haven’t installed the mod yet. I’ll be sure to let you know if it’s trash upon installation in a few weeks.

 

Hey Mike,

Im assuming that Renntech stage 1,2 or 3 has its on presetting for changing the value of pedal sensitivity. I’m not sure what they have it set at but for me I was getting that same OEM sluggish initial jump before the car turns into a torque monster. I recognized the response of the car immediately because i was in hopes my R1 package would square this away. Contrarially I left behind at the start line multiple times before my car decided it actually wanted to move.

Thats awesome if Renntech will tune your car to your own specifications but the bottoms line is this. Tuners want top dollar for their services and Pedal Box delivers a refined product for a respectable price. The fact that you can change the sensitivity of how aggressive the response is really wows me. But as of now it’s all speculation because I haven’t installed the mod yet. I’ll be sure to let you know if it’s trash upon installation in a few weeks.

 

You will be very pleased with your purchase. I have one and it makes driving the car tremendously more enjoyable. As you said, it's absurd that the power doesn't come on when you hit the gas! An engineering flaw to be sure. I always keep my pedalbox at the first setting as that is touchy enough. There are some hiccups - every now and then, like once every 2 weeks or so, the car can get 'confused' under light throttle, especially in sport mode, and not really want to go. It's like if you were mashing the gas then taking your foot off repeatedly, it stutters and cuts power. The solution is to completely let off the gas, or completely mash it. lol

 

Hey Quan,

Thanks for the enlightenment as I'm really looking forward to installing this beast and recording the footage. Quick questions...... did you have a previous ECU tune like me on your car or was it stock before you added the Pedalbox? Also, which version Pedalbox do you have? From my understanding, there was an older version which the control module looked a bit different and possibly a different software. I'm just trying to see if there's a possibility that those glitches have been addressed since the revision.

 

Actually, it looks like I have a SprintBooster, not a PedalBox. Sorry for the confusion! No tune, completely stock.

 

Depending on how strong of a tune you have, I think you'll enjoy the benefits of the pedalbox. Doesn't get rid of the lag, necessarily, but in my mind, does shrink it a bit, since you don't have to get into the pedal as much to get going...feels better. If your tune is too strong, encroaching on the torque limiters, it will feel very jerky, and tough to modulate throttle responsibly. I tried it....worked great with my EC tune, not so great with my Baldi tune. Curious to know what you think.

 

I have sold a few PB units to W205 C63 and W212 E63 customers and they love it.

 

Not a problem Quan it happens.... thanks for the follow up though... I'm sure there are some people that want to know about your experience with the SprintBooster and how it responded as well. Going from OEM with no tune str8 to SP must have been a hell of a difference, I can only imagine.

 

Hey Ralc,

My tune is pretty basic being that it's only the ECU with limited supporting mods. I believe I have airbox / filters, BOV, ECU remap which basically changes the boost and a few other things. But like I said after I got the Renntech R1 Pkg I noticed a big HP and TQ difference right away. But from the line when I press the gas the car would sit there for a sec or two before it would move. If pedal box remedies even 50% of this max its a win for me because ultimately I'm just trying to run a high 10 with my current mods. I think my time will improve with the season change for some cold air and less heat soak alone. With the PB and new tires I'm looking to break that 10.

 

Cool deal. Well if the lag is that significant, sounds like this is certainly worth a shot, especially on the street. For the track, with this car, brakeboosting gives me best times. It's an inexpensive way to try something, which is always cool. Good luck out there.

 

Dude.... I just got a call from Perfect touch automotive playground (PTAP) whom has my car right now and they said that the difference is absolutely bananas. They went and looked up the part# and all to see how much the ticket was and how it works because the gains are dumb dumb!!!! So I can already tell you guys that the video is going to be lit to the max because I'm thinking we are about to break AWD traction with ease. My cousin ran a 11.4 with his moded C6 Z06 and I ran a 11.7 so I'm hoping this will get me those high 10's I've been asking for to close the deal. I'm really surprised these guys were impressed with the CLS63 seeing how they have Ferreri and Lambo and Porsche 911 GT3's surrounding the building. I was going to install it myself but I want to enjoy the car soon as I get home and go straight to the track.

My KILL to do list:
RS7 Audi
GTR Nissan
Z06 Chevy
Cadillac V

 

Well, what do you think?

 

Hey Ralcbah,

I still have not made it back home.... I'm in Afghan at the moment where I'll remain for another day or so before departing. I should be back on Tuesday of next week and I'll have my dad to pick my car up from PTAP (Perfect touch automotive playground) Monday. I need to figure out how and where to mount the GoPro on the inside of the cabin to record the action. I really need 3 GoPro's.... 1 focused on the dash..... another focused on the cockpit seat and lastly a camera recording my hand movements as I change settings on the control module. I can stitch all the footage together seamlessly with Protools. But as it stands now... I have one GoPro Hero 3 which I believe is only 720 or maybe 1080P.... I cant remember..... and I also have my Mavric pro-drone which is 4k but you cant mount a drone in the car. And the other camera that I have is a Nikon and it's the size of the CLS itself so that won't work LOL. I'll figure it all out when I get home though.

 

Ah; safe travels back home!!