9krpm

I was trying to sell my 2004 C32 because I rarely use it these day. The current global crisis is terrible. I did not get good offer even when the asking price was ridiculously low for a 2004 model. Some people are obviously taking the gamble and get the cheaper 2002 model still.

So I decided to throw a few mods in it to see why you guys are all raving about these ECU retune and supercharger pulley upgrade kit.

I installed the ASP pulley kit and just got my C32 retune by DW Tuning . Martin has been extremely helpful. I would of drop the car off to their workshop but I am from another State in Austrlalia. I flew down with the ECU and picked it up the following day.

I was warned that the ECU will go into limb mode after reinstallation. It pulls all timing and then will gradually add timing to the car. This process will be completed after around 200km.

The verdict;

The car felt really sluggish when the ECU was reinstalled as warned. I was wondering why did I wasted all of my time and money for this.

It got better yesterday. The SC clutch engaged quicker and is held during decceleration. The clutch usually disegages during this process and may not engage on reaccelerartion with the stock ecu. Each gear is held to redline in auto mode (durign hard driving) and gear change is quicker and crispier.

Today I was late for work and gave the car a good workout on the highway. It felt like a modifed V8, is very responsive and strong compare to the stock setup. Midrange and top end rpm are phenomenal.

On top of this fuel consumption on highway during light load is even better than before..I am getting around 8.45 L/100km

It's oly 100km since installation. I wonder what it will be like to drive home tonight. Has anyone had this done before? What should I expect tomorrow morning?

I will give more feedback after the 200km...but I wish I had this done earlier....hmm not sure to sell the car or not at this stage.

9krpm

I've done around 300km of and noticed few things:

1. The car is much more fuel efficient with light throttle. After the ASP pulley installation, I noticed that the fuel consumption was somewhere in high 9L/100km on the highway.
   
   With the DW retune, I've seen as low as 7.6L/100km for 105-110kph highway cruise and and high 7.8-8.1L/100km for 120kph cruise. This is possibly from using less throttle for a certain speed because of the extra timing that the tune can be safely used thanks to our 98RON fuel off the pump.
   
   
2. The car is much more powerful and responsive across the whole rev range. Throttle response is way more responsive. The stock c32 occasionally feels sluggish off stationary and around corners. This retune completely eliminated that.
   
   The retune makes the car much more fun to drive. Take off at the light with full throttle will leave a trail of dark lines and often followed by modified Jap cars to sus out what is in my debadged C class So I have to partial throttle off the line now. Now I also know why some of your guys want LSD for the car
   
   Overtaking is fun. Floor the throttle at cruising speed, engine growls, sc kicks in, the car would then squats and shoots off like a bat out of hell.
   
   Taking corners with this new tune is also fun. If I step on the throttle at just before an apex of the corner, with ESP off, the tail will kicks out to the point where I counter steer .....then the ESP will kicks back in and keeps the car in line. Now I also know why some of you got coil over upgrade for the C32
   
   

I will put the car on the dyno just to check that everything is safe. Unfortunately I wont be able to find the real dyno gain of the DW tune because the dyno I last ran the car on has been upgraded to a 4WD version I will have to see what the operator will speculate of the gain

I gained about 10% across the whole rev range on this dyno with the ASP pulley. The car certainly feels like it has gained another 20% but the throttle response is what I've really enjoyed most

I should have got this tune earlier. It really transformed the car into something along the line of a V8 with turbo

To keep things in perspective. I own 2 heavily modified Japanese cars with around 2x and 3x the power of the C32. I only use the C32 for when I don't feel the need for speed . So this review might be a bit under rated for the DW retune.

Now I do understand why some of the c32 owners on here are "out of control" with the drivetrain and suspension mods. This car has so much potential compare to the NA Mercs!

AMGV6K

g'day from Victoria here, mind asking what you did? you took flight from your home to SA and stayed overnight...next day you flewback and re installed your ECU?

i was amazed at your fuel consumption, when stock mine never did better than 11l/100km, now with pulley upgrade i get around 13-14l/100 on highway..so it drinks quite heavily

can you PM me on how much they quote you?

Thanks mate

9krpm

Sorry for the confusion. I used to live in SA but not for many years now. I am currently in the Gold Coast. I will change my profile now.

I installed the K&N air filters at the same time as the ASP pulley so it might has helped the fuel efficiency. However, I still noticed around 16-20L/100km around the city before the tune.

You must have a very heavy right foot or your air filters are clogged AMGV6K.

AMGV6K, give them a call if you are interested mate. They are very professional with their work. I too was sceptical of the gains/benefits and talked to them many times before I took the bite. I am glad that I did though

I obtained these figures by resetting the computer during each driving modes and then take the reading after some more driving in the same mode. I was quiet amaze with the 7.xL/100km too because I've never ever seen it before ever in this car.