supacrazykev

I'm starting to get a little power hungry, and I've been researching up forums and websites about ECU upgrades.

So far, I looked into Speedtuningusa's website and Renntech's website. I can't find much about the Speedtuningusa's ECU upgrades for 350 engines, but I think they quoted 300$ for ECU upgrades. I looked into Renntech's website. They claim 22 hp increase and 20 torque increase (290 hp @6k rpm, 278 ftlb @ 2.5k-5k RPM), but they quote for 1295$. (22 hp increase sounds pretty advertising, but is that even possible with ECU upgrades?)

I guess for the 500 and 550 engines out there. Renntech's ECU goes for:
500: 320 HP @ 5600 RPM; 355 LB-FT @ 3000-4600 RPM $1495
550: 402 HP @ 6000 RPM; 405 LB-FT @ 2800 RPM $1795

Does anyone know any brand of ECU upgrades gives out the best performance for the price? or any information about ECU upgrades (reliability/performance).

bheng

does spending 1.3k on something justify 22hp to you?

i know M-Benz and a couple other ppl used speedtuning. from what i read, they noticed power. i believe i was quoted a 15 hp increase. i dont remember, maybe it was 10 hp. but 10 hp for 300 is more worth it than 22hp for 1.3k.

and i realized, at least for my 320 engine, theres not much that i can do to make it faster even though i was power hungry before. cuz i mean i was told the money that i can spend on mods will probably equal the price of trading in and getting a bigger car.

i also remember when i was looking into power mods for my 320 and it would cost me liek 15k just to get me from 215 to 300. lol that was from renntech's site. so thats when i gave up -_-

but thats my long rant (sorry) and 2 cents

Brian

supacrazykev

Yeah, haha modding is so costly. But I just feel the CLK 3.5L are too underpowered compared to the other 3.5L engines in the market (on paper).

bheng

lol i feel you on that one. but i have a 320 -_-. your car > my car in power. haha

i gave up power modding cuz it was just too costly for me. i think ima just stick with audio and lights. haha i'll save up the rest of the money for the next car with a bigger engine =D plus i feel like those cars have bigger gains. like the 550 engines and the AMGs gain a ridiculously amount of hp with tuning.

M-bENZ

My ECU (CLK320) was chipped by speedtuningUSA. It is worth it for $300 and NO you not gona feel like you have a turbo or something but you definitely will feel the difference after a few hundred miles...especially when you accelerate. In case you ask didnt have a chance to put on dyno so I dont know about the hp gaining.

EDIT: it looks like I need to send my 500 ECU to do that again lol because I ran with the IS 350 last nite and we were dead even (dont know what the guy did to his IS) but I did smoked the GS 400(V8)

Andy

bheng

i think i might do it down the road for my 320 but only cuz i think the sub weighs down my car a bit and i might need to feel a lil more juiced. but as for now, i'll shake some windows lol

not too power hungry for now. i have a friend selling his eisenmann exhaust. i dont think i'll be buying that either even though its selling for cheap.

M-bENZ

do it you wont regret .

Andy

2MCHCAR

Hey Andy, let us know if you take the "ECU" plunge with your CLK500! If your review is positive (get that IS350) and if I can go without a car for a few days, I'll take the plunge too!

M-bENZ

Will do after my vacation . It didnt take that long for them to chip because we will send them overnite and they will do the samething so its only take 2 days.

Andy

AMS Performance

the most you will really making on a dyno is about 8-12HP total on a v6 NA engine. Most ECU claims are inflated so buyer beware.

With that said $1200+ for software upgrade is extremely high, there are better ways to make HP.

BLKCLK550

Pulley, High flow cats then do ECU =D

M-bENZ

I probably do the high flow cat , Xpipe then ECU but if I still have some money left will have the header too ...that was the plan but we'll see after my vacation.

Andy

supacrazykev

I kind of don't want to touch pulleys because of reliability. I want my car to last forever . I think the most I'll do is ECU tune.

M-benz how does Speedtuneausa work? Do I have to call them? Is there a better way than shipping my ECU? I drive everyday so that's going to be a problem.

M-bENZ

I have talked and emailed to Oliver at SpeedtuningUSA back then so I know both will work for sure . What you need to do is get on their website try to take their number and their email address so you can call them or email its all up to you. I think I heard someone here say that they now have the tool which you can program by yourself and once you done you can just ship back to them but dont know is it from SpeedtuningUSA or other tuner that I cant tell you for sure. My advice for you is try to get somone here that have CLK and want to do their ECU too so that you can get some discount ...ya know what I mean lol and good luck.

Andy

bheng

well i was actually thinking that. you can get their machine that remaps it yourself. i was looking into it cuz i told oliver that i drive everyday. he said it was 600. i was thinking about getting it and letter ppl "borrow" it for their CLK for a price. lol not looking to make any profit but minimize that 300 dollar difference.

M-bENZ

so they (speedtuningusa) do have that tool now which you can remapped by yourself ? if so, that would be nice man. Did he explains how you going to do it ?

Andy

AMS Performance

Hello Andy,

You cannot really run X-pipe on the CLKs, but you can do the high flow 2nd cats of course. The header is the only real way to unlock most of the untapped power so you are much better off getting that over ECU upgrade or anything else. The headers & high flow 2nd cats really go well together, so installing them at roughly the same time is definitely recommended for maximum gains. Other than those two mods you do not need to touch anything else in the exhaust system.

hope that helps

BLKCLK550

+550 what he said =D
AMS will tell you how it is with out a lie, I m getting my stage 2 package next month from them.

M-bENZ

I havent really look at my exhaust yet and why do you (AMS) think I cant do the xpipe ? One thing I know for sure is that I will cut the resonator out and if my car have the second cats will take that out too before I do anything else....will consider your header thou. Any good deal on this if we get the group buy ?

Andy

slowsky

count me in for a group buy...deleting secondary cats and adding the header should make a nice throaty exhaust...

BLKCLK550

im in for the group buy

malahhaor

i think i would be in for an AMS shorty as well. But looks like some have a 320, some 500 and some a 55, will AMS work with that?
What's the price on a set these days for 500s?

M-bENZ

M113 V8 Performance Headers = $1199 including FREE INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING!!** (NEW Spring 2010 LOW PRICE!!)

http://www.abedinmotorsports.com/headerappguide.htm

Andy

AMS Performance

Hello Andy,

The reason is because the CLK55s run a Y-pipe setup, so to put an X-pipe before a Y-pipe is redundant and will not really do anything. X-pipe is meant for true dual exhaust setups (such as the W210 E55 AMG & etc).

If you do headers & 2nd cats, you may not want to delete the resonator. The headers & 2nd cats really open up the sound quite a bit and without the resonator in place you may get some unwanted resonance & droning. There is no power to be had by removing it so its highly recommended to keep it in place (especially on the CLKs/SLKs due to their specific exhaust design).

Certainly, AMS will consider a potential group buy. Minimum of 3+ would be enough to get discount pricing.

Thx,
~AMS~

AMS Performance

Hello,

That's fine if its mixed models. Currently AMS only does the CLK V8 headers (both 500 & 55) but not the V6s. The CLK550s are not released yet so those do not apply. AMS has dropped most of its V6 header line simply due to lack of demand from the V6 market in general. All of the emphasis is now being placed on developing new products for the V8s.

Hope that helps,
~AMS~