Choy

As the title stated, I am asking if MB USA has a similar one like Dinan for BMW USA. Actually, Dinan is more of the BMW USA dealer approved tuner. Dinan will actually pay for the repair cost if their tune caused the warranty problem.

CELLryuu

no......lol

amg is it.....as far as i know

PartyVan

THe closest you can get to BMW's Dinan is Brabus. I believe some dealerships does sell and warranty Brabus cars. Don't know where you are located but my local Pensky Benz sell Brabus modded cars. (body kit, wheels, exhaust, not sure about engine tho)

bhamg

The lesson to be learned (maybe) in light of recent threads here is perhaps to be cautious of the horsepower race certain tuners are engaging in if you so choose to go that route.

Choy

+1
That is why the Dinan tune M3 is more expensive that those un-warranted other tuners. Definitely, I will not be tuning my car. I did it once with my TT S4 but after the warranty was over. My M3 is stock and I don't see any reason why I want to tune it. The same with my new C63 AMG.

I am just wondering why there is no similar Dinan tuner for MB. IS MB's ECU a tightly guarded secret or just harder to decipher?

Sincity

Agreed.

bhamg

In SoCal I have had candid and honest discussions within three different MBZ service departments. I can tell you that they uniformly favor the "old guard" tuners because they have seen good results (read - no problems) over the years. They feel these tuners have reputations to protect and are sensible, even a little conservative in their approach. Still, your best first line of defense is a great relationship with your SA. IMHO, be honest and up front with him/her...that person will separate fact from fiction and be your best ally when or if a problem arises. I can speak firsthand to the value of a great dealer relationship when my M5 needed an engine replacement and my dealer stepped in as my advocate.

ZephyrAMG

Some dealerships offer Renntech in house I believe which makes me think that it is one of the "accepted" tuners...

JeffDL

keep in mind most of the tunes just return the 6.2 to the same levels of hp of other 63 series cars.

AMG Dictator

lol

Any of you that think MB USA supports any tuners are only kidding yourself they don't.

MB Dealers that install tunes and tell you that it doesn't potentially cause you a warranty issue down the road are full of crap.

That doesn't mean that some dealers won't take care of you but if you do have a big engine problem watch how quickly MB USA will deny your warranty claim no matter how mod friendly your dealer is.

ZephyrAMG

+1 Ultimately I do agree with this and THIS is the final word on the matter.

Choy

+1
The same thing with BMW but Dinan will pay the cost if it comes to that point. So is RennTech and the like will not stand-up and support you?

JeffDL

the bmw / dinan relationship is sketchy at best. lots of finger pointing when something does go wrong.

c32AMG-DTM

A big "plus one" to this.

And, while it might be unpopular on an enthusiast forum... MB corporate is in the right to do so, when appropriate.

Let's assume a hypothetical owner pays to have a non-sanctioned, third-party modified ECU tune loaded into his car - which is designed to run more aggressive timing and fuel parameters than stock, in order to achieve a greater-than-stock level of HP/TQ output.

In the event that there's any sort of subsequent engine or powertrain failure, why should MB be on the hook financially to fix it? The easy answer is, they shouldn't. They warranty the car to last 4 years or 50k miles, whichever's first (in the U.S.) in the configuration it was in when it left the factory. Magg/Moss protects claim denials on unrelated systems, but ECU tuning directly affects the engine and powertrain.

Some will say "just swap the ECU back to stock" which may be feasible... but it's also tantamount to fraud. Insurance fraud is serious business, and this is essentially the same concept. Those with legal expertise and/or background would have to determine if one might be criminally liable if such an event were to occur.

The easy solution is to leave the car stock during the warranty period, and then any failures during that period should absolutely be covered. Any failures after that period aren't covered anyway, so might as well go wild once that age/mileage anniversary is hit.

bigben320e

+..priceless.

DuaneC63

+1 The dealer may be able to blow by smaller repairs under warranty, but if something big fails (engine, tranny, rear end) the MBUSA regional service manager will investigate and you can kiss your warranty coverage goodbye.