davidbijan

Im looking to buy a performance tuner for my 2011 E350, hoping to gain 30hp. Has anyone had a tuner installed like renntech or others? I searched the forums but most ECU upgrades are on different models. If you have upgraded I would like to hear from you.

hyperion667

try a 550 or a 63

davidbijan

When MB comes around with a good trade up deal, I will trade up to 550, or CLS. I asked the dealer he said it would be next year when the incentives begin. Maybe I should just wait, but I just put on those 19's and they look terrific. Just getting into mods a little bit. Anyways I also wonder how much my premiums will jump with a V8 and my recent accident.

justdonating

Call your insurance and tell them you're car shopping. Based on the year, make, model you provide they can give you an estimate..

K-A

Pointless to throw exuberant amounts of cash to upgrade the current V6's power. Gains will be minimal. Then again, I'm pretty content with the current power.

Then again, who knows what the future holds.... If it'll make you happier with your ride then go for it. I didn't wanna spend mod money on my new E after I saw how easy it was to just swap from my last car to this one.... But I can't help it.... Wrapping my roof on Tuesday for the final touches.

BPhillyBenz

K-A I was in LA on a shoot a few days ago and saw a debadged car JUST like yours driving South on Ventura Blvd. Say it aint so....
B.

K-A

LOL. Hmm.... Was it?

I actually haven't been around that area, so most likely it's someone copping my style! That is unacceptable!

ghh429

Generally speaking it's extremely difficult to extract horsepower out of a normally aspirated car. Asking for a 10% gain while not unreasonable is usually achieved not through just ECU tuning but a combination of tuning and bolt-on parts. You'll probably be better served switching cars in terms of cost, reliability, etc. That said if you absolutely most have 30whp on the motor I would probably start by seeing if there's enough room for some 0.5mm overbore pistons. It'll be expensive but it probably the most reliable way to achieve your goals.

Gsc

I think its pointless to upgrade the engine. Just buy a faster, sportier car.

Cifdig

If eveyone thought that way about every car then everyone would be the same. If you have the cash to throw around I say upgrade the ecu why not. 4 cyl 6 cyl 8 cyl doesn't matter if there's an upgrade for it go for it. I have a 4 cyl Vw that was 95 hp stock while everyone was working on the v6 version I stayed with the 4cyl. I'm now blowing past those bigger version with my 4. Indeed I spent slot of cash but it's fun to have a 300hp 2200 pound car. As soon as I get extra cash I'm upgrading the ecu so I'll let you know how it is.

hyperion667

+1

ngerstman

I wouldn't do anything after market that will only hurt the resale value of your vehicle. You might try a Sprint Booster which many on the forum rave about, they say it makes their e350's feel like e550's. From what i've read, they are simple to install and easy to un-install. The Sprint Booster gets rid of some of the throttle lag and give's you the impression of more power. Regards. Ned

shellx

I'm looking to pull the trigger on the tune from OE Tuning. Their price is a lot more reasonable, and the tune is just as good as Renntech for a vehicle like this. The mod is easy; takes about 10 minutes to remove your ECU and send it to them.

If you take your car in for service, make sure they don't overwrite you with a newer flash or you'll lose the tune. OE Tuning allows one free flash (I think most tuners do) after the first one.

You won't hurt your re-sale as it isn't apparent the tune is there. Warranty... that is on you and your dealer to figure out.

CEB

A motivated dealer can easily determine if you had/have a mod, especially if you have to remove the ECU to get it "flashed."

You can hope that you don't have drivability or electrical issues with your car because at that point the repairs are on your dime.

shellx

Actually no. If you don't say anything they will just overwrite it. If he has a good arrangement with his SA, then it shouldn't be an issue and he can ask they dont overwrite it. There are many on this forum, especially on the AMG side running tunes, exhaust, and much more with no issues with their dealer.

The procedure to remove the ecu is very easy. And with the block driver most tuners offer, there should be no compatibility issues if you want to flip to a stock tune. Maybe if you didn't write captain obvious BS and actually help the
guy if you're truly so knowledgable it'd go a long way.

CEB

Fact 1. A tune can cause a dealer to refuse warranty service on a failure if the dealer believes that the mod caused the failure.

Fact 2. Since the only purpose of a "tune" is to increase the performance above and beyond factory specs, the dealer can rightly attribute most powertrain issues to the mod.

Fact 3. A motivated dealer can always find a "tune" and no aftermarket tuner can completely hide it - even if they say they can.

This falls under my category of "an ignorant modder will always be left holding the bag when his mod breaks something. Especially when they think that they are smarter than the dealer."

Cifdig

I'm in the business and most dealers unless it's some sort of regional gathering only have usually 1 class A mechanic and a bunch of training mechanics that really don't know much except procedure, like how many hours this takes labor rate etc.. We run into so many techs that don't know what there talking about they don't problem solve at all they just change parts till the prob is fixed. Unless there really looking for an ecu mod I doubt they will find it or notice it, not saying they can't but it's a 80% chance of them not finding it. Theres also always a tech you can become cool with and he will give you all the inside info

CEB

Correct. The problem arises when there is a failure that is normally not found unless a car has a certain mod. At that point, MB will be motivated to find evidence of that mod.

Why? Because all manufacturers may request to have the failed part returned to them. If the manufacturer determines that the failure was caused by outside influences then the warranty repair is charged back to the dealership.

The MB community is still pretty lucky because there aren't a lot of mods out there that cause failures, but other manufacturers (BMW, VW and Mitsu for example) keep an eagle eye out for mods. Mitsu even went to racing events, took down VIN numbers and voided the entire warranties of cars found at those events.

A good relationship with your dealership is vital if you are going to mod and always be upfront about any mods - if only to clarify that you know that your mod did not contribute to the failure.

Saying "I know I have aftermarket tire valve stem caps but that could not have contributed to the failure of my headliner falling down" will alert them that you aren't as clueless as many of their techs.

Cifdig

Very true good points. It can either way

shellx

CEB good points. Apologizes on losing my cool on the previous post. I really wanted to stick to the original poster's question regarding tunes. There are plenty of threads on here if he is so inclined to search that debate the pluses and negatives of modding. Given it is a E350, it really isn't worth it for the power gains.

Cifdig

I can't see the reasOn for not modding a v6 because it's a v6. If there were no 550 or 6.3's everobe and there mother would be modding the v6. If anything I'd leave the 550 or 6.3 alone cause there already up there in power, not that I would leave them alone cause I live modding any car I'm just saying. Like I said as soon as I get extra cash to throw around I will get a sprint booster, ecu upgrade, and even buy the big brake kit even tho it wouldn't need that stopping power. I took the 350 cause it was there and it looked really nice, the choice was a w211 e63 with 42000 miles or a e350 w212 with 12,000 miles so I went for the newer one.

ImInPA

The problem I have with non-turbo software tunes is this: While hp can be boosted a bit (20-30) at best, torque is not moved very much. The net result is usually disappointment. Same with X-pipe mods and anything cat-back in the exhaust. To get any significantly noticable performance boost with a NA car takes some real mods, cranks, pistons, intakes, etc. Just my 2 cents.

Cifdig

Your right with that n/a modding sucks ***** compared to boosted cars. To bad no one sells supercharger kits for the v6

ghh429

Really? I don't see how you plan to make power with the V6 (or the V8 for that matter). I don't believe MB left any power on the table and I don't agree there's a safe way to do it. The big secret of the aftermarket community is 90% of the stuff out there is garbage with little or no engineering behind it there's really only 2 ways you can make power:

1. Sacrifice something (Usually Safety, reliability, comfort)
2. Replace a cheap OEM component with a high cost component

For the V6 you can start with the basic bolt ons - intake, headers, exhaust, etc. but I would be willing to bet you'll gain *maybe* 15whp and substantially sacrifice what a mercedes is which is comfort by creating a whistling, rumbling animal that isn't much faster and probably sacrificing the already poor fuel economy not to mention shifting the torque curve to the right which makes the car feel like crap on daily drives.

As for tunes if you live in a 93octane state you probably have some room for a bit of fuel/ignition map shenanigans but you are more than likely going to seriously hurt your cars reliability and safety if you live in Cali and rely on summer 91 octane. I've seen more than enough tunes from "professional tuners" to want to verify my own tunes - every car is different if you really want to safely and reliably push the envelope of your individual car you need at least 3 hours on a dyno and 3 hours on the road assuming you are a competent tuner with the competent equipment including WB02, real-time re-write, and of course access to all OEM sensors. Even with 6 hours of tune I bet in cali you make 10whp at best.

As for MB dealership being able to detect the tunes - I doubt it. In 2008 I've literally spent hours trying to explain engine-management theory to MB techs because my AMG supercharged car was detonating and throwing codes. Most techs are just flowchart monkeys and typically don't take the time to understand how engine-management works. Granted in 2011 this has improved but it's still not great.

For me I'm waiting to see how MB makes that extra 40hp in the 2012 models. So if anyone can enlighten us as to how MB made that extra 40hp then I believe you may have a viable upgrade path...

ImInPA

Well...not quite...

Fact 1: The dealer has to be able to prove the mod caused the failure. They can't just "believe" it is the cause. Read about the Magnuson–Moss Act.

Fact 2: Mercedes Benze would have to prove the case that the current configuration is "at its limits" and the tune pushed it over the limits, causing the failure. They would have to be quite specific on how the mod caused the failure, per the Magnuson–Moss Act.

Fact 3: Probably.

Other than the most insane mods, the burden of proof, which is clearly on the dealer/manufacturer, is more costly and time consuming than the repair. That said, If you are performing that level of modification, you either bought the wrong car in the first place, or, you just love modding and don't give a crap about warranty repairs.