choitwao

Hey guys,

So it is been three years since I got my MY2014 E350. I started modding my car since then. Many people believe that V6 is not worthy to spend the money on it, but I do it just because I can.

I saw many people were asking if there is a decent sized aftermarket for this vehicle. I did a lot of research and actually did a lot of experiment on my car. Here is the list of all the mods:

0) Original state

Grey-ish Blue/Beige



1) Wald Blackbison Bodykit (Front/Rear bumpers + Side Skirt) ~$7000
besides brabus and AMG this is probably the best bodykit for w212. It is rare and change the look completely. I spent a lot of effort to get this kit imported to Canada, the whole process took me around 3 months. It is worthy after all.
2) Legal Window Tint ~ $200
3) TSW Chicane 19' x 8.5 + Michelin Pilot Sport a/s 3 ~$2500
for E350 you definitely dont wanna go too far (BBS, HRE... too much), but a good looking/quality wheel is indeed important. I choose TSW because it is well made wheel with decent price. I may get a set of vorsteiner in the future for summer if the price is good, but for now I am happy about the TSW.
4) Caliper paint (not in good quality, but since break upgrade is very costly and not improving too much with current performance, I just keep it this way for now) ~$100
5) China made doesn't exist AMG star front grill ~$230
6) Mirror face grill star ~$100
final exterior look:








7) Kleemann K1 M276 ECU tune ~$2000, they claim it will increase performance to 330hp/400nm, but I dont have dyno for this. There is a huge long post related to this tune in w207 forum. For me, what actually feels like is more important than the data. This tune changes the driving COMPLETELY. The throttling feels just like BMW 4, and shifting logic is so different and responsive. This is a must have mod IMO. I also heard that Eurocharged makes good tune, but I can't compare them without trying.
8) 2nd cat delete, resonator delete, all replaced by straight pipe. I did this mod in person in Eurocharged Toronto. The mechanist told me that X-pipe will make the car even quieter, so straight pipe is the easy way to increase the noise. Branded exhaust system could be a good option too, but based on my research and price quote from tuners, they will cost you more than $4000 (supersprint, gthaus etc.). for the same reason as in 4), I will leave this alone.
The final result is here
- cold start
- reving

* price is in CAD

So after all these mods/experiment, my conclusion is
- people are right. Exterior/Performance mods are expensive in terms of the price of a E350.
- Performance mods on V6 is very limited (almost no selection on intake filter, header etc.). Exhaust system is way too over priced for this model.
- Exterior mods on E350 can change the personality of the car easily.
- Don't waste your time on engine mods

ironyforever

Very Nice

KEY08

Congrats on a very unique looking and personalized E350. I don't think that body kit is over the top and it looks nicely aggressive at the same time. I know you will never see a return on these types of mods so kudos to you for spending a good chunk of change to do something different. Enjoy it!

tresean1

Wow...I tip my hat for you taking the chance and doing what you wanted. I am not a big fan of loud pipes/muffler deletes and not a big fan of the repeated vertical LED lights in your front fascia, but the rest of the mods look great and at least they are tasteful (I have seen some very tacky and distasteful Mercedes mods).

A very noticeable transformation from your stock E to what you currently have. Thanks for sharing.

Can you give a little more detail on the Kleemann K1 M276 ECU tune: what the process was like, their contact info, the results you experienced, etc?

YoungPong

Nice looking E fellow Montrealer !

choitwao

Thanks for the comment Tresean!
So for the Kleemann K1 ECU tune, firstly you need to know which engine your car has. 2010~2013 should be M272, and post 2014 facelifted is M276. These two engines have different tunes.

For M272, you request a toolkit from Kleemann and they will give you instruction how to upgrade it by yourself without get your hands dirty. For M276, you need to open your engine hook and unplug the ECU by yourself. I had zero mechanic work experience and I was able to do it by myself in 10 mins without having issues.

The process is,
1) Remove the ECU. Open the engine hook and remove the plastic cover on the top of your engine. You should see the ECU on the right.



There are two cables connecting to the ECU. You need to 1) slide the cap to left and right to release the connectors 2) cut all the plastic cable ties around the ECU so you don't stuck in the cables (otherwise you won't be able to pull it out) 3) pull the ECU out with some strength. It is stalled by some plastic grommets on the bottom, so you need to pull it really hard.

Once your ECU is ready, contact KleemanUSA by email or phone (find them on their website). They are very responsive. I know few of their staffs were reputable in this forum (like Cory) somehow they got banned by mbworld for some reasons so they kind of rage quit... anyways, let them know, they will be noticed and give you the contact and shipping info. I shipped the ECU to US from Canada with Fedex Priority on Monday, I got the ECU back on Wednesday.

After you get the ECU, just plug it back and connect the cables back to ECU. Should take you 1 minute. Start your car and check if any error code (which shouldn't). You don't need to reset/config anything.

Then... step and find out the difference.
- accelaration is way different than before. The shifting logic is faster and RPM is higher than before in gear 1~4 --> you can hear your engine moaning like crazy.
- steping on the paddle doesnt feel dull anymore. You know the non-AMG merc always get tuned to `old man` style. Even you floor the paddle it still take a sec or so to speed up. After the tune, it takes none.
- I cant tell power difference since I don't really had the chance to test it out, but 0-100 has significant improvement. I drove the stock one for 2+ years and I can tell this difference imeediately when I am on the high way and trying to merge in or exit.

MBSebas87

That's awesome what you did there! Great job!!