Any good ideas for mild power upgrades? I would expect the boost could be increased with some form of chipping but I don't have a desire to *******ize a solid engine set up. Any good performance exhaust recommendations would also be appreciated. If there's any advise where I could also keep a warranty that would be a bonus. Love the car but a little more juice is never a bad thing. Thanks

 

I was eyeballing the the ECU upgrade from Renntech.

It appears that these engines are highly tunable

Here is some info from them.
SL 550 (R231) Stock Performance:
429 HP @ 5,250 RPM; 516 LB-FT @ 1,800-3,500 rpm
Note: Mercedes M278 engine performance when measured obtains higher numbers that rated from factory.

Modified Performance:
530 HP @ 4900 RPM; 606 LB-FT @ 4100 RPM

Price: $2,740

 

Thanks for the info. I'll check it out. I have to assume that the warranty will disappear.

 

Call them, I believe that they have a comparable warranty.

 

Please report back on renntech. I also have been eyeballing their upgrade.. Is it reversible? I have a leased car and I wonder if it take it in for service with a renntech upgrade will they freak out.

 

Visited my MB dealer today. Asked for some feed back from their service manager. He's looking into it regarding installation and warranty etc. No renntech dealer within 1000 miles so I need MB dealer onside.

 

Thanks, please keep us informed. Good that he's looking into it. do you know if it involves swapping out one of the factory CPUs - or is it reprogramming a CPU? or what?

 

I'll post as soon as I get something definitive from the service manager.

 

any news, did someone get the renntech tune already?

 

I've been waiting myself to find out from someone who actually had it done...

 

I would like to know as well. I am planning to add this in late October when I have a wedding to go to near two (2) of their dealers. It would be good to have some information from an actual user prior to having it changed.

 

I've looked into this for my CLS63. In short, don't count on your MB warranty if you have a problem after a ECU tune.

Yes, it's true that some MB dealers "support" Renntech ECU upgrades but in the event there is a problem, if its interpreted by MB to be related to the ECU upgrade your warranty will not cover it. That interpretation is up to MB and not the dealer, so even though your dealer may be supportive, the final decision is up to MB. These engines are not cheap, about 40k.

That's not a risk I am willing to take. Renntech told me they are working on getting MB to stand behind their tunes, but until then I'll stay stock.

 

I contacted a "dealer" near me to inquire about the time to make the upgrade. They said 3-4 days, so they are obviously sending it off to have it flashed. I can do that so I am not really sure what the "dealer" designation does except to say they can sell it.

 

The dealer would send the ECU to Renntech to have it flashed, the same as anyone outside of Renntech. However there may be some benefit when dealing with a warranty issue if a MB dealer installed the tune.