I have an 08 E550 and want to get some more gains from it. I want to find an affordable tune that will get me 20hp or so with the speed limiters removed and more aggressive throttle response. $700 for a piece of software at eurocharged is ridiculous, is there anywhere else more affordable? Also can I just use my laptop to flash the ECU instead of using the mygenius device?

 

$700 sounds more like a distributor price. I contacted them directly and they offered to do it for like $399 if I shipped my ECU to them directly. But even then, a +20-25hp gain isn't very noticeable our big v8's. Throttle response is more TCU then ECU. You won't get much out of a ecu tune, it's more "crisp" but the "lag" will always be there.

 

I'm not so concerned about the hp increase but the throttle response is lacking and I want to remove the 130mph limiter. Can the dealer remove the limiter and what can be done about the throttle response? Also I really like those LED's you replaced your fog lights with and the dual exhaust tips, where did you find those?

 

If someone you know has access to Star Diagnostics, you can turn off the limiter through there. The dealer probably under no circumstances will ever help you with that.

There is really no true way to overcome the terrible throttle response in our cars. You can try out the "sneaky ECU reset" which will help. You can also reset the shift adaptations through Star which will really make the "feel" and shift faster. You can consider installing SprintBooster which really only shortens the threshold on the gas pedal, so pressing down 60% is like pressing 100% without it. It gives the illusion the car shifts better. TCU tunes aren't really an option for us. They're offered mostly for the AMG models.

My LED's are called WALD LED DRL's. My quad pipes and muffers are from a w204 c63 amg. In order to fit both these items I have, you need to convert to the amg style front and rear bumper. We have a sponsor here on the forum that sell the bumpers. There are a set of LED's available for non-amg's if, and only if, you have an 07-09 e class with the luxury package, no sports package.

Everything I have just said have been pretty heavily discussed on the forums in the past. If you search them up you will find answers.

 

Agreed with the tune and SprintBooster, one you will only see marginal gains with, and the other just changes mapping so as soon as you get used to the new mapping you'll realize that you're right back at square one.

 

pedal box....

 

You want better throttle response, start looking for performance parts for the motor. A throttle body would help with what you want. There must be something bolt on from another vehicle. I have an ML320 and E320, both are now outfitted with a Crossfire TB since it was made for the same motor and is plug and play. It took some looking and researching motors but I found it. There is a company who knows nothing about Mercedes, but does performance tuning on our transmissions (same in the Challengers). Find another vehicle that has that motor, and compare parts. There must be something else using that motor. A larger throttle body will push more air and require less throttle to move the vehicle. It may not add power, but will improve throttle response.

 

I think the throttle body on the E550 is actually larger than the E55s, not sure but think they're already like 82mm TBs

 

OETuning has a tune that lists for $395 w/ 30+HP Gains and Removes Speed Limiter:

http://www.oetuning.com/products/mer...z-e550500-2352

 

Go for it

 

Get a 50-100 shot nitrous kit, wet that is. Get it setup properly and it shouldn't cost more than $1500 and it will last a while to be honest. How many MINUTES are you gonna be at WOT and on the bottle? Not often. When you need it, you can use it though. If setup properly a 50 shot should be nothing for this engine and is better than a turbo/SC because nitrous cools intake temps. Does the same thing but chemically rather than mechanically.

A 100 shot would put you at stock E55 level, you're lighter though and no heat soak so even better

 

What is the going rate for bottle refills?

 

So are you saying the tune is or isn't worth it? I am reading the oetuning page and it says that it increases throttle response so I'm not sure. It just sucks to be driving and put your foot on the gas and it takes a good 1 second to downshift. Did you end up getting a tune for your car?

I looked online and I'm not really sure what this does? Is it like a sprintbooster that just decreases the threshold of the pedal?

Sounds fun but I have no idea where to start. Also I don't really go out to the track so I don't know how useful this would be for me.

 

The tune would definitely be worth it, I mean it's marginal because we have naturally aspirated engines, but I think it would definitely lead to a bit more responsiveness. While Kleemann would be my go to choice for any tuning solution on a turbocharged or kompressor Mercedes since they are in my backyard, I've talked to the guys at OE Tuning and they really know their stuff. If I do end up getting a tune for this car it will be through OE. I'm also intrigued by the idea of having a little bit of fuel overrun programmed in to give me some pops and crackles if I got a tune. Not sure if that would be characteristic of a bad map though and I'd have to ensure it wouldn't foul any catalytic converters. I've read that an ECU tune leads to a meatier mid range and more responsiveness, as Lemon mentioned I don't really know of any TCU tunes for the 722.6 or earlier 722.9s that aren't tied to an AMG powertrain.

What I was referring to as being "not worth it" was the SprintBooster, or any similar device which remaps the throttle, because when you get used to the new mapping, it leads to the same feeling of lag. Some people debate me on this and say it "tightens up" throttle response electronically, but I've never seen evidence that proves it does that. Also, just a note, they don't make any turbo or supercharger setups for this engine. There were prototype designs out there you can find from Kleemann I believe, but they never put it into production so no luck there. A custom turbo setup would be astronomically expensive and not worth it considering the newer engines from Mercedes are all glorious biturbo setups.

I think a TCU reset will help, I also find that shifting manually in tiptronic eliminates any kickdown lag. I never ended up getting a tune for my E550 - the reliability factor kind of scares me even though I really do want to get one. The car has been great *knock on wood* for the last year or so, and I think the engine could easily handle it, but why risk it when I plan to sell the car within the next year anyway. The other reason I never modded this car was because the performance per dollar is especially diminished by living at elevation where I lose so much power already it would be more advantageous to just get an E55, but I think my next car will have an M278 engine hopefully the CLS550 4-Matic.

As far as nitrous, that's an interesting idea, although I'm not sure if you have to have a tune that allows you to do such safely. That's the big thing for me: I'm a university student and need reliable transportation, so I'd have to have a daily driver before I did something crazy like that to an E550 with over 100k on it. However, these engines are incredibly stout and do have forged rods and crankshaft I believe, so a reasonable wet shot of N2O would probably be doable and make this car into one hell of a sleeper.

 

I probably won't do the nitrous because I don't want to spend that much and don't really need the power. But I am highly considering the OEtuning option. I also am going to try to use the triptronic shifter to manually change gears, we'll see how well that works on the highway. Thanks for the info man.
Also I was looking at exhaust modifications a bit ago and saw that you had done a muffler delete and J-pipe. Are you still liking it?

 

To be honest most if not all the tunes out there for our m273 engines has been pretty well proven, you can't really go wrong with any of the big names out there. I have a eurocharged tune and I've been fine for over a year and half now.

I also almost never drive in full auto now, at least when I'm by myself. I've gotten so used to the "lag" that I'm automatically accustomed to shifting manually beforehand to get into the powerband that I like.

As far as the best bang for the buck exhaust, do the muffler delete with the j-pipe. It's pretty good stuff. That way you can keep the dual exhaust and not have to convert to a quad like mine.

 

Sneerz, I agree with pretty much everything Lemon said above - the difference is I'm just too cheap when it comes to the tune and he's more of a badass than I am. I say go for the tune! As far as the J pipe and muffler delete, it's my single favorite thing I've ever done to the car - get compliments on it all the time and it sounds so good and raw without being droney or annoying, highly recommended and still awesome a couple years later. Thanks for asking the questions too, I enjoy answering them with others' input of course and appreciate someone who researches before they do anything to their car.

Lemon, that's funny lol I basically never leave it in drive anymore either, been shifting manually and gotten pretty good at rev matching on downshift if I time the lag between shifts just right. I wish I had the 7G-Tronic though, this 722.6 5G-Tronic is great in 1st and 2nd for a rush of torque, kind of falls on its face in third lol.

 

Thanks for the information. I am thinking of just doing a straight pipe muffler first and see how I like it, and if the drone is real bad I'll get the j pipes installed. Do most shops know what a j pipe is or do I need to show them because to be honest I don't know anything about cars really, trying to learn though.

 

Yeah that's not a bad way to play it. None of the shops I went to to get pricing knew what I meant, you probably need to show them or explain it to them.

 

I found a shop that says $250 for both muffler delete and 2 hours of work. Another said $180 and 40 mins but it seems like a lower quality shop. What do you think?

 

That's without j-pipes right? $250 seems really high. I paid $110 with j-pipe fabrication, I mean I'm guessing both shops will be doing crush (pressure) bent piping instead of mandrel for all of it anyway, that's what they did for mine, and I don't really mind since it's just a muffler delete. Because of the simplicity of just the muffler delete I don't know how to justify the extra $70. If they have any reviews online too might be a good place to look.

 

Man I feel like I'm getting ripped off if you paid 110 with a j pipe. I knew 250 sounded ridiculous. I guess Austin is just more expensive, but I'm going to check out a few more places.

 

Got the muffler delete done. $175, which I attribute to the higher living expenses down here in Austin. Here are the preliminary results https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN85...ature=youtu.be

I will post a better video later but I was in a parking garage so the sound should be pretty good. The drone isn't a problem unless you go past 80 ish and it vibrates a little at the 2000 rpm mark it seems but I'm not quite sure if that's even drone.

 

Hell yeah! I get that too at 2k even with the J-pipes under partial load. The only before and after I had on the j-pipe was on a friend's E500. Sounds great, thanks for posting the video, sounds pretty much like mine. I've also found that on colder days letting off at certain RPMs will cause a nice pop, crackle, and burble, wonder if you'll experience the same. I hated my muffler delete the first day I got it, as I said, but I've loved it ever since, hope you do too.

Denver living costs are outrageous lol, 3% higher right now on average than Austin I read since we have so many people moving here. I just lucked out by finding a cash only muffler shop in a kind of sketchy area lol. No housing available, 300k people moved here in one year. I'm fearing the day it becomes like California (no offense LemonSqueezy) where you sit on the highway at midnight on a Wednesday.

 

Yeah even in that video I noticed the crackle. It has been raining a bit in Austin and the temps have dropped so that's prob why there is a little crackle. I don't think I'll be doing the J-pipe because I'm pretty satisfied with the result. I'll post a vid soon of someone recording under acceleration. It was pretty funny though because the shop I went to insisted on doing a resonator delete but I told them a muffler delete would be better and they were astonished by the results lmao. This car really has some power and is way too quiet stock for it's own good. Oh and yeah I never knew that Denver has so many people moving there, maybe it is because of the legalized weed