Modalworks C63 M177 radiator upgrade review

After years of trying to figure out why my car always felt underwhelming after a good run, I started looking into ways to mitigate the high temperatures and heatsoak that our cars are known to generate, in hopes it would help my car perform better at all times.

My car is a 6 year old prefacelift coupe with a mild Stage 1 tune running 600hp (505rwhp) and I'm from Australia. Over the years I've spent tens of thousands of dollars on preventative maintenance, upgrades, downgrades, tuning, and so forth. I've encountered all the bullsh*t artists you could think of & a couple of honest people along the way, so I'm pretty sceptical on products, mechanics and tuners now.

Apart from the money I've spent to make my C63 perform at it's best, this particular car, tuned or stock always felt like it would lose it's character and feel "flat" after a good drive.

MODALWORKS 3-PIECE RADIATORS FITTED

After reading the information and data presented by Modalworks on how they couldn't actually finish their testing using the stock AMG radiators due to the excessive heatsoak and timing being pulled, it suddenly made me realize that this must be the issue I was experiencing during my drives.

After more reading, I set about getting my car fitted with the Modalworks 3 x piece coolers and testing them out for myself.

What attracted me to the Modalworks package was the price ($2600 AUD) and how their coolers were made by PWR.

Ordering online was easy and after 8 days the radiators arrived in Sydney. They were packed well the box weighed around 15kg.

After fitting the new radiators, I took the car for a good drive on then onto a set of private roads.

When I came to test drive the car with the coolers installed, the car was normal on cold startup. Temperatures began to rise as they always did and I waited for the temperature digits to go "white" for optimal temperature.

After the warm up I gave the car a good hit. It pulled well and hard, all the way up to 100mph and I eased off. I did this a few times and after the fourth and fifth pull I realized the car still felt ferocious and hadn't lost any of it's character at all.

In the end I'd given the car a total of fifteen hard WOT pulls which were either from launch or rolling and I was blown away by the car's ability to keep on performing at it's best without feeling like it was ever sluggish or down on power - unlike before.

Through every single hard pull test, the car performed like a monster AT ALL TIMES. I wasn't used to this. Even after reaching the fifteenth WOT pull to 100mph the car continued to feel exactly as it did on the VERY first pull of the day. This is the part that really tripped me out.
I also didn't feel that "wave" of heat from the front end of the car (while I was parked) which would enter the cabin if my front window was open.

During my testing, what I found interesting was the maximum oil temps for engine and transmission were at an all time low after I installed these coolers. I could not manage to make them budge any higher at the time.

Without Modalworks coolers installed:

Max Normal Driving Oil Temp ~ 90C (194F)
Max Normal Driving Trans Temp ~ 82C (178F)

Max Hard Driving Oil Temp ~ 112C (234F)
Max Hard Driving Trans Temp ~ 95C (203F)

With Modalworks coolers installed:

Max Normal Driving Oil Temp ~ 87C (188F)
Max Normal Driving Trans Temp ~ 78C (172F)

Max Hard Driving Oil Temp ~ 105C (221F)
Max Hard Driving Trans Temp ~ 89C (192F)

It seemed that the more I pushed the car, the better it cooled. Who knows.

Another interesting thing with the new coolers installed, even after hitting the highest temperature readings I could manage, once I began to drive normally the temps would shed so fast that 2C and 3C lots would drop at a time on the digital gauges. For me, I never saw my temp gauges do that before.

MODALWORKS DATA WAS TRUE

Modalworks thoroughly explained everything in their testing and what struck me was how these cars would pull timing within just a few runs with the skinny, standard coolers.

With the stock coolers you do feel the car is down on power once you do a few good pulls and it sucks because it makes you want to tune the car or re-tune it to get more power out of it just so it feels a bit fast again.

LOOKS & FITMENT

I'll be honest, I was unsure how these radiators would look behind the grilles. I was trying to keep the whole OEM look thing going, but after getting them installed, I was very happy I kept them as is - logos and all.

With the Modalworks coolers there's a certain thing about them that makes the front of our cars look subtlety more aggressive without being too overkill.

QUALITY

As soon as I had found out PWR were partnered with Modalworks's radiators, I knew these coolers would be the best option, as PWR make coolers for the Red Bull F1 team and supply DTM cars with their radiators.

The Modalworks radiators are robust, lighter than stock, and can take flying rocks and debris like a champ.

Being aluminium, they glimmer slightly behind the front grilles and the MW PWR logo looks the business (I really like the small PWR signage in red) - It's very neat that they included this.

COMPETITORS

Out of all the radiators I was looking at for my C63, I believe these are the best looking upgrade radiators available for our cars - with the data to match.

• Yes, the Wagner Tuning ones are plain black, but they are way overpriced at almost $5000 AUD for only two coolers (NO DATA OR LOGS) 👎
• The CSF ones look cheap and nasty with their swirly logo and those cost $4000 AUD (NO DATA OR LOGS) 👎
• The VR (Victory Road) ones are black but other members have repeated that they are cheap imitations of the Wagner Tuning coolers. And being cheap imitations, it shouldn't surprise anyone that these are the CHEAPEST. But VR failed to provide any testing DATA or LOGS whatsoever, even after members repeatedly requested for some testing data to be shown, they would always avoid the subject. You can see this for yourself in their Sponsor topic 👎

What really sucks about all three of the competitors mentioned, none of them could or would provide data or testing results. And to me, that's a huge red flag (NO DATA OR LOGS) 🚩

WHY I POSTED THIS REVIEW

Over the past 6 years I've seen so many C63 owners come and go. What bothered me is seeing owners love their cars for a few months, then they tune their cars and end up advertising them for sale not long after, whether it's on social media or the classifieds. I don't know what the deal is with this, but if it's because of the performance not being "there" after a while, I would urge owners to invest in these Modalworks radiators. They will absolutely solve the performance-robbing heatsoak issue with these cars and will keep your temperatures capped and make your C63 a much better car to drive each time you take it out.

Please check out Modalworks's thread and read their testing over here: Modalworks C63 coolers information

 

Thank you for the review. I have been looking at Modal vs VRP for better cooling for track use and your experience reassures me.

Can you provide some more pics from the front? I am not sold on the look. Yet.

 

I just had these modal works radiators installed last month and so far its safe to say they made a big difference in keeping heat soak down also cooler transmission temps. Im also running ptg1000 turbos and with big power keeping things cooler is definitely a must. Ive done back to back 60-130 runs and they have been pretty consistent so i would recommend these to anyone looking to keep their car temps cooler at a affordable price. Im also running the modal works intake and 3 inch Cat less downpipes. For the past two years with no issues and great performance and sound gains. I also plan to get their new transmission cooler
that just released.

 

Sure, will do this weekend. I'll get a photo in the sun so it shows then properly.

To be honest, I was really unsure about the whole logo thing myself and was going to either paint them silver or remove the logos with acetone and a paintbrush but I'm now glad I didn't. They look staunch especially with the PWR signage and they aren't very "in your face" visible unless you're an oncoming car at the bottom of a hill.

This is good to hear man and that's quite a setup you've got there. Hoping to hear from more owners who are using them whether it be stock or heavily modded.

When you had the stock AMG radiators fitted did you ever feel your car would lose it's performance after a few pulls or a decent 30 min drive? Like, you'd give it a hit and the car felt like it was lacking?

 

Good on ya Jimmy we need more reviews/posts like this. Thanks for getting into the details for us cuz

 

Thank you for providing your experience. This seems reassuring knowing that upgrading a stock system will be carried over with other upgrades - basically you don't waste any money. Please let us know about the trans cooler if you get it.

 

Nice review! I was debating on going with Modalworks after a recent puncture to my passenger side OEM radiator from a rock on the highway but ended up with CSF's 3 piece kit. I'm now interested in adding MW's new divorced transmission cooler!

I did CSF via FCPEuro for 3 main reasons:
1. They have removable rock guards for all 3 coolers (I have a ton of construction around me, so a puncture could happen at any second)
2. FCP euro has liftetime warranty, so if I have another puncture scenario, I can get a free replacement.
3. CSF has been around for a long time and while they don't have great data backing the w205 C63 specific application, they've had great reviews & results on many other platforms for years.

Looking at the stock radiators compared to CSF (and I'm sure Modalworks too), they are TINY and extremely thin. I would think any upgrade (maybe other than Chinese garbage) would be beneficial.

@Jimmy_c63s - what are the ambient air temps during the time you captured your oil & trans temps? Was it warm outside?

@Bosnianc63 - how are you enjoying the Modalworks intakes on the PTG1000s? I am running a very similar set-up to you but on stock intakes. Do they MW intakes providing any additional cooling benefits?

 

I would definitely upgrade intakes ive done 60-130 runs and with the modal works my times have been 0.3 0.4 sec faster compared with the oem air boxes

 

That is good to hear - their advertising on the intake was based on faster trap and 60-130 mph times on tuned vehicles. A little more HP or TQ is nice, but the real proof is faster times.

I dyno'ed after intake and catted DP and netted about 20 HP and TQ without a tune. I just wanted cooler air temps at the track and the sound to make me not regret selling the W204 C63.

 

do you mind giving a review on the csf 3 piece? Since it’s now summer. How is your oil & trans temp with multiple pulls on 90f plus days?

 

I haven't been able to whale on it too much, but it definitely cools down faster. I'm in NC, so it's definitely warm down here now and I've seen highs for engine temp @ ~220F and trans temp @ ~203F. But it will cool down in literally 60 seconds or less.

If you solely look at the size and depth of the CSF radiators compared to stock, there is a massive amount more cooling capacity. The rock guards are a big plus too.

Remember, I have PTG1000's and catless downpipes, running close to 30psi of boost, so results will vary from stock or stage 1 (even stage 2) cars.

 

Getting the thread back on topic...... saw this photo on social media which shows them fitted to a pfl wow

 

Great info Jimmy. Thanks

 

BLAH BLAH WHERE'S YOUR DATA / LOGS???

MODS DELETE THIS SPAM.....

 

Thanks for the detailed write-up. We love to see customers back up our testing!

The released design was actually version 5. We tested different core thicknesses, fin density’s, tube channel geometry and flow paths to ultimately settled on this configuration. Those saying all of the cooling options are the same are flat out wrong.

We purchased the china kits to evaluate and quickly moved away from them. Bigger is not always better… fluid flow is tricky and not as straight forward as some may think.

 

Here's some pics I took this afternoon for you towards the sunlight.

 

*****Unless someone is getting run over by your car, or is looking very carefully, the modification looks pretty discrete. Some of the intercooler/radiator upgrade options on other platforms are *very* noticeable even from far away. Car looks really nice!

 

You're not wrong there bud they don't stick out in those pics...... so especially for facelifts with all the extra grille bits the radiator logos are discreet

 

Saw this post on account IG..... looks boss

 

That looks great!

 

Thank you my man Sno you should get them on your car too 🙂

 

Hows the modalworks radiators holding up in this 35°c weather

Temp hit 116°c on mine today sitting in traffic fmd

 

Thanks for the comprehensive review! On the strength of your detailed commentary and data, I've jumped in to the current group order to replace all 3 radiators.

I'm UK based so wouldn't have had this high up my list a few years ago but we had 40C+ temps last Summer so should be worth it.

 

Far out I haven't seen temps like that ever since I got these coolers. Recently topped up the coolant and now I can't break 99 degrees C and this is after I give it hell on a hot day. You can't fail with these radiators man they are staunch.

Congratulations on getting them mate seriously your car will be so much better off you can't go wrong with all 3 radiators upgraded. These are the best radiators for our cars and I stand by that not just because they are made by PWR but the pricing from ModalWorks, their data and the real world performance. I just wish I did this as my first upgrade instead of going for a tune and all that sh*t.

It's been over 6 months since I got the ModalWorks PWR coolers installed and I'm now running upgraded turbos on mine, 700hp and even with the additional power these coolers aren't phased. You'll be amazed at your temperatures with these installed and the most impressive thing is how fast they reduce temperatures when you give the car a hard time.

The last three pics were in 40°C heat here (after back to back pulls) I couldn't break 99°C. I was curious so I used an infrared camera to see how hot things really were and even though my turbos were over 300°C sizzling under the bonnet I had no heatsoak or performance drop at all.

 

Went to the Modalworks website to place an order and almost fell off my chair how come they're almost $5000 Aus now before shipping? Errrr.....

What happened? 🤔🤔🤔