brent eb02

Im Interested In Tuning For An Sl600
I Know There Are Several Options

Some Prices Are Outrageous

Has Anyone Had Any Experience With Upsolute???

Any Advice Would Be Great I Have Modded Alot Of Cars And Chipped Alot Of Cars And Just Cant See Spending $6000 For A Chip When There Are A Couple Around $500

Thanks In Advance

Brent

Juice it

I haven't used them but a few here have with good results. http://www.speedtuningusa.com/

They are cheap and I have heard they give good service.

craiglieberman

I defy you to find a $500 chip for an SL600 by a reputable company.

There are all sorts of chips out there for a variety of cars and yes, some are $500. With the exception of GIAC software for Porsche Turbos, I have yet to see one (at least for Mercedes) that performs at all.

Renntech, Kleeman and Brabus seem to be the only game(s) in town, and I suspect that one company does all three, if I recall correctly and I believe it's Renntech.

There's a guy on here with an SL600 running deep in the 11's...using Renntech software.

I had a Powerchip on my E46 M3. I noticed zero difference, not even on the dyno. Cost $500.

I had their chip on my Porsche Turbo. Big difference. More boost, more power...but turbo cars will gain more.

The trick is discerning which companies are just turning up the boost vs. which companies turn up boost, adjust the fuel, spark and timing curves to match.

Some chip companies might only be able to break certain bits of MB ECU code while others have full access to all parameters. That is why a tuner that works closely with MB Germany will be far more desirable (even considering the costs) vs. some smaller company working independently.

You must choose wisely, Grasshopper.

vraa

The most popular from what I've seen is the RENNtech chip.
You can get the RENNtech ECU chip for the R230 by emailing info@euroteckmotorsports.com

brent eb02

i have been modding cars for yrs and will continue

my slowest car runs 10.6@132
and my fastest runs 7.7@182

and if i remember correct a guy on the 6 speed forum with a renntech sl600 raced a guy with a upsolute chiped sl600
and they were neck and neck thats right for $500 too

should i add up the savings for you grasshopper!!!

craiglieberman

All hearsay, as far as I' concerned...

Show me the car...
Show me the chip...
Show me the timeslips...
And have the owner post a thread about his opinions, history and reliability.

With respect to the race above.."neck and neck" in a street race means NOTHING. Did one car lose traction? I too have raced vastly superior cars and through throttle modulation have made my 13 second car run equal with an 11 second car. Street races are the farthest thing from scientific.

TIMESLIPS tell no lies.

Otherwise, I too can make claims all day long about whose running what and how well the car performs.

KillerZJ

So your escalade runs a 10.6??

otoupalik

Craig,

While we often see eye to eye, I think that you are off on Powerchip. Not sure when or who you got the e46 from, but I can show you over a 100 dyno's of gains. Some more then others. But we have special tunes for race, SS headers, our header, AFE intake, K&N intake, etc. IN fact, I have multiple cars running 305-310 RWHP in CA on 91 with our header, AFE intake and Powerchip/evosport ECU's. The highest one actually has a Magnaflow exhaust with evosport 100cpi metallic cats (BIG plug for Magnaflow!).

Here is a CL600 we did with Powerchip. This was the first car in the US with 91 octane and all the PC tunes you cna buy now are based on this.



Pretty impressive results if you ask me - and totally verifiable and repeatable.

Thanks
Brad

Sl600996TT

I strongly urge you to stay away from upsolute! Upsolute is cheap because they are crap. They do a horrible solder(sp?) job and the piggy back unit is just crap. I looked into their stuff for my Turbo and every tuner urged me to stay away. If you do that you are just asking for trouble. All they do is change the boost and on a bi-turbo car you may get results but know that your warrenty is gone and you are over working the engine. Mercedes will detect the ECU piggyback unit, all they have to do is look at it. Go with Renntech if you want a chip for the 600. They will adjust the engine maps in many ways to suit the increase in boost and you are left with more power and more reliablility.

craiglieberman

Hi Brad;
Thanks for the info...good stuff. It'd be great to hear or see some good results from the Powerchip on the M3 (for my future reference) but I honestly didn't notice any difference, seat-of-the pants, either. I suspect the dyno gains were modest (which iI suppose is probably still pretty impressive, given the sophistication of the M3's tuning.)

In any case, the CL numbers are much more impressive. 50 hp to the wheels is nice. Out of curiosity, what do you know about the Renntech tuning that claims 625hp and 738 lbs ft? Even accounting for drivetrain loss, it would appear that they claim more power can be had.

One last consideration:
What's the "over the counter" price of a Powerchip vs. the Renntech?

That'd probably help a lot of people decide.

HLG600

PowerChip
Maximum Gain (93 Octane)
591 hp
696 tq
Cost: $2,980.00

RennTech
Maximum Gain
625 hp
745 tq
Cost: $6,400.00

Cops_h8_me!

Why dont you go to www.m3forum.net

vraa

Because M3's are gay?

HLG600

Wait...so Ricky, you drive a BMW yet think M3's are gay?

vraa

Not all BMW's are M3's.

Juice it

I have been revisiting this issue now that it is getting warmer as well and the 6500.00 that Renntech charges sounds like a lot of money for an ECU flash. Oliver at speedtuning says that they all have access to the same parameters on the ECU and can change the exact same things. I don't know enough about it one way or another to confirm this but there are a few on this board that have done the 500.00 speedtuning deal and say it worked great. We know for a fact that the Renntech works well but it seems way overpriced if it is all the same thing. Anyone know the real deal about this stuff?

Cops_h8_me!

You are right... what am I even saying??

*"take him away"*

RennTechV12

SL600 RENNTech...910lb/ft, 11.25 @ 125, enough said!


http://www.scottsdaleexoticcarclub.com/2004sl600rt.html

Juice it

What exactly did you get done from Renntech to get your torque figures? On their site they claim 840lb/ft with the chip and another 30 if you also add the airbox. I wish the 65 ecu mod had the same gains as the 600. The 65 only gains 66hp vs the 600 that gains 132 and the 65's ecu mod costs $400.00 more if that makes sense.

RennTechV12

They are notoriously conservative with their figures. I have ECU, trans module, Eisenmann exhaust. I am also running a 98 octane fuel map. on the 91 octane map the car made 875lb/ft.

RennTechV12

My S600 makes 938lb/ft with the same programming and no exhaust upgrades.

http://www.scottsdaleexoticcarclub.com/2003s600rt.html

MJ1133

So are X5's

RennTechV12

Here's the same motor with RENNTech upgrades. The extra HP and torque is worth the extra $, to me at least...I guess you get what you pay for.

RENNtech-er

RennTechV12: What's the "98 octane fuel map" about, and what to you put in the gas tank? Do you juice pump gas with an octane booster? Your list of mods does not show the RENNtech airbox. At $6K for ~14 HP it would seem to be the lowest bang-for-the-buck RENNTech mod. Does look nice, though. How does the car sound with the Eisenmann exhaust? Does that come in after the stock cats, or are there other mods to the exhaust system on your car? I just got an '04 SL600 (haven't seen or driven it yet; I take delivery Monday). Given my past experience with RENNtech magic I am looking forward to having them mod this car so I will have an "All RENNtech" garage. Thanx for any comments.

otoupalik

LOL. It is not the same mods - you have more mods and different octane. Powerchip would give you the same on a 98 octane map.

Apples to Oranges.

Also a different type of dyno - which is totally not accurate to compare.

I am all for good data, but let's be fair and even handed!

Thanks
Brad