Has anyone done an ECU upgrade only and what were the results? What was the procedure? Are you happy about it? I feel like there a lot of lag when trying to pass even when in Sport mode.

W212 4.7 biturbo
Thanks.

Bump

Two years gone by and no tune? There are several tuners now who can offer handheld OBD tunes that will modify your ECU. They weren’t around two years ago. Renntech, Eurocharged, etc offer tunes that boost the HP above 530-40 HP. The only reason I have decided not to tune is the Transmission limits the torque available in 1,2, and 3 gears. The car from 30-130 becomes a monster, but not much gain from a dig. You could tune the tcu to change the torque available, but then you are playing beyond what MB designed as safe.
these cars are stupid fast as it is and mine is running like a beast already with the normal 430HP. There has to be something wrong with your car and you should start by figuring out the problem before spending $2500+ on a tune.

Wow, first answer in two years. No I have not did any modifications to the car,I have only driven maybe like 10,000 miles. I’ve always wanted a faster car but now I am considering of whether to do an ecu/tcu upgrade or just upgrade the car to newer model that has the new technology and design. I’m am definitely a MB fan and I know they are reliable if treated right. As I am getting older and larger I am thinking of swapping it to a S class 2017 and up. But now I’m intrigued, what kind of hand held tuners are available, I always thought I should remove the ECU or TCU and send it to Weistec, rentech or eurocharged.
please enlighten me.

Lag? Hah! what are you coming from, a Ferrari or something? The E550 already has more power than can be used in reality, so I never thought the risk of a tune was worth it just to say you have XXX HP to your buddies.

Worth tuning it, for passing plebs in the highway. 2014, and up have the AMG upgrades over the 2012-2013. If you take off the middle engine cover, and see a mini coolant reservoir, you have the turbo coolant upgrade, You probably have the same trans as the AMG's which lack a torque converter can easily find out with Lastvin.com

One thing to do though. Upgrade your brakes with Brembo rotors and pads. Your stock ones may be ok, but my Zimmermans were junk. 2012-2014 have the same Brembo calipers, but the rotors and pads are a different part number.

Also even if you don't tune change your Camshaft magnets, and sensors.

I’ll check the reservoir behind the engine cover.
I did notice on the brakes that have the Brembo logo. Car stops like it hits a wall. I was always amazed by the stopping power on the car. As far as camshaft sensors and magnets don’t know to much about them.

No Ferrari here but I had a Porsche a few years back. The E550 is faster by any means. The lag is in the transmission on kick down when changing to lower gears, does not engage instantly.

Have you done a transmission reset?

In this instance I shift down1-2 gears with the paddle and hammer it. There is no lag then. It goes like hell.
go to Renntech’s site to see the OBD tunes available.

Turbo coolant upgrade. Check


So, @S. Madman, what are we looking for to confirm the AMG transmission? My VIN Datacard is attached.
Thx!

The reason you don't get the instant downshift is because your trans has the old people tune on it. If you get the TCU tune the downshifts are race quick. The only people in the states (publicly) that are known to do it is a contact from Eurocharged.

I am not advertising them, because they did not wanted my money when I was throwing it at them. But that is another subject. I may get it done soon, but before that I am upgrading the trans clutches, and drain pan with Weistec's stuff.

2 things:

1) reset shift adaptations, then drive like hell.

2) when you're cruising on the highway and want to pass, hold the down shift Paddle for a few seconds and it will automatically select the best gear to accelerate.

Also use sport mode of course, I find it pretty aggressive, I just use normal "eco" around town 90%

granted im going next month ill make a pot or reply. having mine done in house

Hey! I have a 2014 E550 4 Matic, 160, xxx miles.

I was looking to do some upgrades to give it some more power. Does anyone have recommended parts that should be upgraded prior to jumping into a Tune? The car has been maintained really well. It is the first owner and is mostly freeway-driven.

We currently have a valved muffler installed, along with a resonator deleted. It sounds incredible, but I wanted to do more upgrades to ensure I am not overly jeopardizing the car's life due to the mileage.



Would anyone happen to have any recommendations? Thank you!

The 2014 E550 is an amazing car. With 160,xxx miles on it, you are probably starting to find yourself replacing all sorts of sensors and plastic bits. Some of which take an enormous amount of labor to replace and which involve replacing many ancillary parts while you're in there. I have ~140k miles on mine and a TCU tune may be in the works, but not until I get through most of the backlog of deferred maintenance. I have thousands of dollars of parts to replace before I will consider asking more of this beautiful beast.

Thank you guys for the quick replies! I have taken care of the car really well, and no minor parts are broken except the plastic piece that covers the clock on the interior lol.

I am looking for tunes and came across DudMD (mostly because of the price)

Would it be worth it to go with a more expensive/popular tuner if I am trying to get the most value for the tune? Or should the DudMD do the trick?

Thank you guys again!

This concerns me. It doesn't matter how well you have taken care of the car. A ton of the car is made from crappy plastic that will all start to fail at the same time around the 10 year old mark just from existing in the world. The fact that you haven't started doing this yet means that it will start as soon as you tune the car. Then you will think the tune broke everything from your windshield washer reservoir heating circuit to your entire electrical system to your subframe mounts.

I should have been clearer. I have around 9 inches worth of receipts from the MB dealership for repairs. A lot of work was done on the car the second it needed it. I was phrasing that previous message as the car stands now. I understand things will break, but that's inevitable.

Then I won't dissuade you any more. Since I'm on the fence, I could use the additional data if you go for it.

I have never heard of DudMD though...

I googled DudMD from the couch, thanks. That doesn't negate the fact that before this thread, I had never heard of them.

I'm not giving advice to benkaplan29 based on a google search, regardless of where I performed said search...

I might as well chime in here, because I have some data on my CLS550 with the 4.7...I know it's not an E-Class but same stuff. I had an S55 I'd always regretted not tuning, so I decided I was going to go with a tune on my '13 right away. I went with a 91 octane tune from OE Tuning because they were cheap, and I liked the idea of a handheld to put it back to stock for selling it or for smog. My car has 155k so it's no spring chicken. So stock, at 4400lb (verified) the car went 2.0 60ft, 12.82 at 108mph and got about 27mpg highway. Tuned, so far the best it's been is 2.0 60ft, 12.50 at 112.3mph and about 30mpg highway. I can dead hook with no spin if the conditions are right, so I think I would need a TCU tune to get out of the hole quicker. Stock the car was 380rwhp, which is about 435hp at the crank, not 402hp as claimed. Modded it's around 430rwhp or about 500hp crank, which is almost spot-on to OE Tunings claims. So far it's been tuned for 6 months with no issues. So is it worth it? Well, considering I've beat new Coyotes, C6 Vettes, and other musclecars in very close races by only a couple carlengths, to me it is. Stock I would have lost those races. Also the mileage bump is nice and noticeable. Keep the tune on for a number of years and you'll make your money back. Boost is up around 3-4psi over stock so still not pushing the turbos that hard. And again this is tune only, no intakes, downpipes, cats, or any other mods. Anyways there's my .02.

It has been so much fun on the tune, I plan on doing Intakes next.

The video shows my boy's 5.0: Hi-flow cats, long tube headers, cams, and exhaust.

He gave me a car, but either way, I have not held the lead long enough for him to need to get down the stretch to take the lead back prior to me having the tune. It usually was an instant loss, haha.