Hey everyone, after owning my e63 for about 5 months and only putting about 1200 miles on it, the modification bug has hit me! So far I’ve done resonator delete, oil solenoid mod, wheels, lip and heaps of maintenance BUT nothing to add power. I’ve been reading some horror stories and fairytale stories but want recent insight if possible. For those who have tune and downpipes on a 90k mile car, have you encountered any issues? My cylinder walls checked out great during my last spark plug interval ay 92k miles (1k miles ago) and so I’m a bit worried if doing these mods will severely affect reliability and engine longevity. Does running catless or catted make any difference? How about downpipes no tune etc

thanks for any info!!

 

Not to be an ***, but this question always has the same answer, for the last 20 years:
When you ask the engine / gearbox / drivetrain / suspension to do more work, it WILL wear faster and the safety margin built in from the factory WILL be decreased.
The more power / torque - the greater the chance of catastrophic failure. If you are unable to be comfortable with the idea that your car will wear faster and have the chance of breaking - don't tune / track your car.
Are many comfortable making the tradeoff? Of course.

You seems like an experienced owner & mechanic - go for t!

 

My person who identifies as a Mercedes Master Mechanic says go full gusto....after I get good connecting rods.....

 

Nothing is free, everything is stressed even stock, and AMG's are stressed much much more and have understandably much shorter lifespans on their components. I wouldn't add 100hp to any car no matter how cheap. It sounds boring but you can't have it both ways. As for reliability, you will cook plugs sooner, there will be more fuel in your oil, and there will be more crankcase venting the more power you make before we even consider the strain on the chassis, brakes, and engine.

 

maybe a better question might be;

How did that scary fast 2006 E55 work out for you?

 

Thank you all for the great information, what about adding downpipes strictly for noise purposes. Would it help with keeping everything a bit cooler?

 

If you're prepared (financially and with your time) to garage the car to have an engine replacement or rebuild, then tune, tune, away. Life is short, but it can be inconvenient at times.

 

Less exhaust side restriction is the M157's best friend. Downpipe is always a good idea on the M157, even in stock trim.
Even if its POST turbine, as much help as possible bringing the pre turbine backpressure down a bit has numerous positive benefits, esp when tuned. The stock turbos are already struggling pre turbine with backpressure.
Its one of the M157's biggest downfall.

But as mentioned otherwise, simple equation, more power, more wear. Only unknown is time.

 

this is true lol! Maybe ur right just stick to stock tune. Any advice on stock tune with downpipes for sound

 

No personal experience but several links and sound clips in the sticky including kennys muffler trick

 

would our stock ecu adapt to downpipes? I assume it would need to be catted and not catless to avoid a CEL?

 

looked into that as well, then watch Kenny’s video on catted downpipes with no tune 😂😂

 

I’ve been considering the RedStar exhaust kit

https://redstarexhaust.com/product/m...tted-downpipes

and wondering the same thing

 

let me know if you find anything, as great as power is I don’t want to sacrifice a 30k+ rebuild/motor for hp I can’t really use in socal lol! But if we can do catted downpipes pick up something little and it helps our vehicles breathe, theoretically sounds like a win win situation. Have considered cut outs to but our cars sound like a truck

 

catted downpipes useless. It won’t be much of a difference at all.

either you go all the way or don’t bother. Meaning fully tuned and catless will get your the extreme roaring sound.
you will most definitely have much more issues compared to a stock, never tuned motor. Especially with the scoring factor.
otherwise, cut some pipes out of the exhaust system and call it a day.
Just my two cents.

 

The sweet spot for a tuned m157 amg is the owner that only plans to keep it a short time and was somewhat earlier in the life cycle if the car ... like while it was a few or less years old (from brand new) or still under b2b warranty ... many owners of this car brand new tuned it, enjoyed it tuned, and then flipped it and never needed or greatly risked incurring catastrophic issues.

Also when it was newer (2012-2015) people thought this thing was as indestructible as they now believe the m177/8 to be.

We are starting to learn the m177's weaknesses now (oil separators, RMS) etc. nevertheless the m177 as tasos discussed has less chance of bent rods thanks to better construction and interfacing with the rod and crankshaft etc etc, perhaps better cylinder walls...

 

1. Yeah I’m starting to think cut outs may just the my only option for the sound aspect and the fact it doesn’t risk reliability is a bonus. I do have fidelity platinum warranty which is a bonus on a stock car but from what I know a modded car will not be covered at all.

 

sadly, I’m the owner at 90k miles even though it has had a impeccable maintenance life and the walls via the last plug change where great, your right just never know

 

Personally, I wouldn't tune it after reading all the horror stories here. BUT, I went with catless downpipes at 116,000 miles (for sound purposes only) and love them. I went with the German Car Accessories (GCA) catless pipes w/ heat shielding and am very impressed with their build quality. If you go to their site, they used my W212 in their ad (white E63S from the rear). I attached the link and a couple links to my YouTube shorts. I am catless, X-pipe, and muffler delete at 118,000 miles.

2012-2016 Mercedes E63 AMG Downpipes | W212 – German Car Accessories (german-car-accessories.com)

 

this is awesome! Sounds amazing, have u noticed any drawbacks with catless downpipes and no tune? I assume CEL is on all the time? Has power increased or decreased and any issues

 

wow! I salute you my bro!
how many mileage have you put on before all the mods?

 

For anyone who has cut outs, where did you place them before the mufflers or at the downpipe?