taylorcoleman

I'm attempting to do a poll here. Not sure if I will be doing this correctly.

I'm in final phases of deciding upon a vendor for an ECU tune for my C63. Future mods for me are unknown at this point. With all the posts regarding this vendor versus that vendor, I'm not sure who to choose yet.

But this poll is merely an attempt to understand from those who have not done an ECU tune, why not?

Please no posts in this thread regarding any specific vendor.

AMGBeleza

None of the above. Just interested in getting settled back in the USA... too much of a pain to do ECU upgrades from Overseas due to car downage time.

taylorcoleman

I hope that everyone intersted in getting an ECU upgrade benefits from this poll.

As the OP, I specifically requested no vendor mentions in this post. Please let's keep it that way.

If you have reasons for not going with an ECU upgrade that are not reflected in the poll, by all means, please post, but please respect the no-vendor-mention request.

AMGBeleza

sorry, vendor name deleted.

soldier2304

Really, im just focusing on appearance first, then, maybe in a couple months ill do it.

paulGT3

Right now with all due respect to the vendors the price is still too high.
compared to tunes for 911 Turbos which are twice as expensive a car
yet the tunes are 1/2 as much.
I just dont get it. Might as well wait and buy a 911TT and pay 2500 for the
tune

dlbello

+1

clktoc63

+2

(Admittedly spoiled by my $300 power programmer on my vette that gave me a tune, set the fan temperatures, adjusted for tire size, rear gear ratios, etc.)

taylorcoleman

Great points about the prices.

I've seen ranges from $1,500 to $4,500 for an ECU tune for the C63. The rwhp varies and the cost rises as rwhp rises. However, the incremental rwhp gains as a function of price don't make any sense to me--meaning to squeeze and extra 7 or 8 rwhp in some ECU tunes will cost you thousands. That incremental gain can be had for an ~800 pully.

But this post is to clarify something for the poll. If you want to vote, and think that the main reason why you have not done a tune yet is because the price is too high, I recommend voting, "Confused as to which vendor to select", as I think this captures that fairly well. Again, this is because you can have a quality tune done by a reputable tuner for as low as $1,500. Howeve if you think $1,500 is too high, than I'd either vote budget does not allow, or post to this thread and indicate price/value is not high enough for you.

Interesting votes so far. I would have thought Concerned about warranty issues would have a higher proportion. It's still early though.

g.smiley

Yea, the price is far too high. I'll hold off. The car is plenty fast as is.

BerBer63

Price is too high = Budget does not allow

At least thats my take.

dremorg

+1

taylorcoleman

I think the subtly is that the price can be too high given the price/performance ratio. I think the poll would have been improve by:

* price is too high because budget does not allow
* price is too high because performance gain does not merit price

So hoping to clarify for those voting that the poll was designed (poorly I'm sure) to accommodate bullet #1 above.

Also wanted to clarify that the price ranges from $1,500 - $4,500 for the tunes. This may put people into the budget ability, so they may choose another poll answer instead.

nrgy

I have not done an ECU tune yet because I have been waiting for long tubes before doing anything. I want to do it all at once and have the car turn into a completely different animal, even though I've read just doing ECU alone turns the car into a different beast.

I'm sure the jump from 450 hp to 520-530 hp must be crazy, but I want to make the jump from 450 hp to 570 hp or so in one fell swoop

BryanK

At a price point of $800-1500 for 50-80 hp gain is a no brainer, but more than that and it doesn't make any sense for a DD.

pggiotas

The car is fine as it is....

taylorcoleman

Interesting observation in the polls that less than 10% believe the car is fine as it is. This is not to disrespect those who believe that, rather, to indicate (albeit less than 24 hours of polling time) that the majority of folks believe in doing a tune, but have other reasons for not doing it.

Frankly, I would have guessed that both "fine as is" and "warranty issues" would have dominated this poll.

Please vote!

Ape

I think the real reason for this viewpoint is that we all know that MB purposely left HP on the table in the c63 for marketing purposes. If I can unlock it for minimal hassle/price then I will do so. I have never modified any other car that I have owned, but the fact that there is HP being held back here kind of gets to me.

taylorcoleman

Agreed. We're not talking supercharging this thing, just unleashing its natural potential.

Warranty concerns are creeping up the charts...

42 votes already, great progress!

MNL ICE

mine was tuned and now de-tuned again..... not happy with it so they refunded my money!!!

Hans Delbruck

I'll second (or third) that. The car is fine as it is, it's just knowing that the engine and other components are designed to handle more HP so it should be easy to make the jump.

For me, it's kind of "all of the above" EXCEPT "confused about which vendor" -- I definitely know which vendors I feel comfortable giving my money to at this point. So why haven't I tuned yet? 1- I haven't discussed it with my selling dealer to alleviate warranty worries. Why haven't I discussed it yet? - I can't justify adding HP to this car right now -- it's frivolous in an economy like this and my head just won't go there. My next car priority is to buy a new daily driver, not add 50+HP to a car that doesn't really need it.

By the time the economy settles out, the answer will be clear about warranty issues, and the best tuners will still be standing. That's when I will feel comfortable about jumping in.

bustopoo

I agree with Hans, mostly. I have the cash to due a tune now, but I think all the tunes are waaaayyy over priced. I understand the research involved to tune this beast, but not for that much money.

I hate that vendors charge $150 for some painted parts because its for a c63 when the item probably costs $20 to make and ship. Generally people who can afford a c63 are smart with their money and don't get their pockets looted.

I think that the general populace of c63amg owners could have afforded much more car, but chose the c63amg for mulitple price/performance reasons. When buying cars, i've felt that if I can only afford the base model of a car, then I can't afford the car and need to drop down a model.

FWIW, if I buy a $70k car and need to put $10k in performance mods, then I should have bought an $80k car that included those mods as an option.

Paul

PS--this may be a little questionable, if all c63amg are the same performance wise, whats to keep one person getting a tune and 'sharing' the tune with other c63 owners? It's all software right?

taylorcoleman

Great points. No doubt many vendors (not just some tuning vendors) sell high because they think C63 owners will pay high. The market will speak for itself, and as the quantity demanded of tunes (or other C63 aftermarket parts) falls, the price will fall. Simple economics.

I will say that I've seen reputable tuning vendors charge as low as $1,500 for an ECU tune. Again, I won't name names in this thread, and I very much appreciate that this thread has been stripped of vendor names.

AMGTestDriverNJ

What company did that for you? Any before and after dyno?

taylorcoleman

Good question. Please PM that person, however, and not post any findings in this specific thread.