www.powerchipgroup.com
from the data sheets it looks like its a pretty good deal
but just dont know if its really that good or not, anyone got it installed on their car?? please share

Hi jack,

"Unfortunately we do not currently have a Powerchip available for your Mercedes-Benz C32 AMG 3.2.

Please complete the registration process though and we will contact you as soon as a chip becomes available."

I think that chiptunig is not good for the engine and will cancel the guarantee.

Regards,

it can't cancel warranty it's law

Powerchip does offer an ECU tuning for the C32.
They charge 1990 Australian $ for their Gold98 upgrade. They do not have a dealer in Europe and they instructed me to send the ECU to Australia.
At least this is what I got from their reply to my question.

I wrote them an email offering to buy the Gold98 chip on condition that it would show at least 25 HP or more on a before and after Dyno. This would be a fair deal because the claim is 'power between 372 and 380 HP'.
If this gain could not be achieved they would just refund me and reset my ECU to stock. Fair deal or what !!

So far I have yet to receive an answer from them although I have forwarded my message several times already and urging them to answer. I also pointed to this board saying that they could count on several sales if they could live up to their promises.

Having said that I want to point out that I have no positive or negative experiences with the powerchip since nobody ever dealth with them before it seems.

I would welcome active participation from the company Powerchip on this board.

Every modification on the car which is done by another company than mercedes benz or AMG will cancel your warranty.
Believe it or not.

www.amg-owners-club.com

Don´t tell the people here that it´s law or somethin like this. Thats not true.

Actually you are right and you are wrong.

In Germany, you are 100% correct.

However, in the US, we have a federally mandated law - Moss-Magnusson - that specifically prohibits the warranty being impacted in any way unless the modification can be reasonably proven to have caused the failure to the stock part in question. For example, if you have software, and your transmission goes out, they cannot say that the warranty will not cover it. In reality many dealers will try to void the warranty, but once you get a manager and say "moss-magnusson" you will be covered.

Further, specifically on the powerchips update. We are working with Powerchips. As soon as they clear the US CARB process we will begin working with them to test and tune the software for the US cars - stay tuned! BTW, these guys seem very eager to produce results in the US like they have ROW. They are very professional and easy to talk to. We have high expectations!

Thanks

Brad

Ianpooly.

In Germany you can have certain modifications done and get TUV aproval. Of course this has nothing to do with the MB warranty and you are correct in your statement. But hey, if your electric seats malfunction, your dealer could say NO WARRANTY but he would look really stupid and you would surely never buy a car from him again.

But law's are very different, even in Europe.
As example I mentioned TUV before. I live in Belgium and we have laws stating that ABSOLUTELY NOTHING can be changed from the original manufacturer setup.
For example > if I wish to have 18" wheels on my C32 this would be against the law !! We don't even have TUV or something similar ! Luckely the yearly inspection and police will close their eyes for must violations.

I agree with you 100% Ian. It's a no win situation because in the example that Otoupalik used where the car has Renntech software and the tranny goes out, Mercedes Benz has an easy out on this... Because all they'll say is "The increase in horsepower created by your software caused excessive stress on the tranny which led to failure". At that point, you're screwed.

No you are not, as I described the Moss-Magnusson FEDERAL legislation makes it illegal for MB to screw you!

Thanks

Brad

The C32 drivetrain is not built to full tolerance. There is a lot of room for power increases (provided they are done correctly) that will not cause problems to the drivetrain.

Hi bverotti,

you know we talked about the MKB thing and I told you that "chipping" is not the right way to tune up your car
But I´ll answer some of your statements.



BTW: if there would be any *big* performance difference by chipping your car, why isn´t AMG offering that? Maybe b/c of the lifetime of your engine? If you really want to increase the power for really more performance you´ll got to send your car to MKB (I dunno if other compearable tuners in the US are offering that too. Maybe?). MKB can give your C 32 ~ 480 PS (I hope that PS is the same as HP). But thats arround 50K¤ and too much for a C class car in my eyes.

Regards,

----> If that is so then it´s ok. But what happens if the engine or the transmission or whatever is broken down b/c of the modified chip? Who will pay the damage? If mercedes does it in the US you are very very lucky. They have enough money to do that. But what about evosport? Would you pay the repair if you have done the chip tuning?

Yes, if it was our fault, 100% we would.

BTW, you may not know this, but we are the importer for MKB in the US as well.

Also, you may not know this, but the German AMG software and US AMG software IS different. Using German AMG software is a "chip" upgrade here.

Thanks

Brad

Hi Brad,

me knows that there are some differences between the US AMG cars and the EU ones. But what is different with the chip of the US and the EU?

Thats fine if you sell the MKB parts too! But if you wanna really have mo power you need to do speacial mods (like MKB does). Only a chip-tuning will not help much...

Thanx for the answer

Regards,

I got a reply from powerchip :

1. They have a company policy that does not allow them to participate on web boards. I do not see what is the point of having such a policy but hey it is THEIR policy.
2. They confirmed that they are working on a stage 2 chip for the C32 that is designed specifically to work with overdrive pulley upgrade like ODPS.

That all.
BV out

Ps : I really wonder what are the differences between european and USA software ! This is new to me ... I thought the engines where the same config for both.

The differences are basically emissions related, but are sufficient enough to make HP a difference.

I totally agree on ECU being last. Show me where anyone from my orgnanization would state otherwise!

Thanks

Brad

Otoupalik > I am sure you know what you are talking about when it comes to USA regulation. Unfortunately we live in different country with other laws, so in that sense Ianpooley and myself are giving correct information .

My ODPS kit will in fact be installed by my MB dealer. Their head mech is a former racer and when I asked him about installing the pulley kit he was very happy to do an "out of the standard" job. He also warned me about the warrenty. Non engine problems would be still covered. Engine problems would be another thing and would most probably not be covered anymore after the mod. He also said that technical problems due to pulley kits where unknown to him and that this is one of the safest tuning measures you can do if done well !

About the software > based on my dynorun (i posted it some time ago) I can not follow your argumentation on the software. I drive a European C32 and always use 98 octane fuel. Looking at my dyno number and the numbers that where recorded by Vadim on other cars I would say my car is average.