I spent a bunch of time reading about Tunes for cars. There was some info about tunes for the 4.3 Twin Turbo - But there was no real world people that said - Hey I did it and it was...blah blah blah.

I reached out twice to Weistec because they are just an hour from me. And it seemed like their turbo upgrade for under $3k would be an great investment for 150+ hp.But didn't get a response to emails or phone calls (over period of 4months)

It turns out that most buyers of the SL's are not aftermarket consumers (anyone shocked?)

But the CLS amg 4.3 is the same drive train and those guys tweak and tune. I sent an email to DMETuning and got a phone call back within the hour.

Lalit was very straight forward and honest with me. If you hit the major tuner sites for the SL450 they claim a Stage 1 tune is up to 80hp and 60-100 lbs of torque.

Stage 2 for a few hundred dollars more almost doubles those values - But I could never figure out what was a Stage 2 - And if I wanted to do the Turbo upgrade which tune would I need.

A stage 1 tune is just sending a file to the ECU. A stage 2 tune is basically the same file - But it's for people that change the downpipes which don't have the Catalytic Convertor.

The Stage 2 downpipes are supposedly not very enjoyable for top down cruising - or for when coming home late at night ( LOUD LOUD LOUD)

And the Stage 1 touted numbers of 60, 80, 100+ hp gain. That is gain at the engine, not at the wheels and running on 93+ Octane.

The question was - for $1100 was it worth it to add 40-50hp to the car....

The DME Tune Kit comes with a handheld device. You plug the unit into your cars OBD port. It takes a few minutes and it reads your cars ECU. You then plug the handheld into your computer. Upload the file from your car and email it to DME. You email them and let them know how aggressive you want the tune, if you want to adjust the shift points and also increase the exhaust gurgle-pop-splat noise.

The next morning you have an email from DME. You load the attached email file into the handheldl. Back out to your car. Plug it in and in about 7 minutes you upload the 'Tune' into your car. At any time you can plug the Handheld back in and send your original stock file back to the ECU. Or perhaps we may one day have several different tunes to run and in a matter of minutes you can upload the one you want.

I haven't had a change to fully explore the tune yet. But I will say I am 100% happy with my purchase. Since adding the tune the wife keeps hopping in the car when I want to get out of the house, and she doesn't like the noise from the sport mode and she doesn't like the car going fast.

I still have my 4 different driving modes (C,S,S+, and I).

My first go around I asked for the enhanced exhaust and I lost the normal gurgle-belch when in the sport modes - and instead got a loud crackle-pop but only several seconds after coming on the gas - it seemed fake. The over nighted a new file and I got my stock exhaust notes back with the normal gurgle belch when coming off the gas. And when coming off the gas hard - you get an occasional Splat- crackle exhaust.

But is it faster??? The car definitely has more get up and go.. The car will easily light the tires from any stop with moderate acceleration. And today while going UP the freeway on-ramp even with traction control on it kept repeatedly chirping the tires all way to the shift to 3rd. I haven't had a safe space to turn off the traction control and see what happens when the foot his the floor...yet

I think for the price this is an easy decision to make. The difference in the 0-60 times between the 17 SL450 and the 17 SL AMG was less than a second. I would imagine this $1100 upgrade cuts that difference in at least half and saves you $80K Haha

Dave B

 

Sounds like a limited-slip unit from an AMG may now be in order! Please continue to post impressions, progress, any drawbacks, etc. As you've pointed out, tuned 450s are rare indeed...maybe even rarer than 450s with ABC.

 

Is it possible that the car has a limited slip? It leaves 2 rubber trails from a light and when its wet once the tires spin the back end goes sideways quick as can be --- Which is something my old (80's) camaros did that had limited slip.

Dave B

 

I have the Renntech plug in ecu unit on my ‘19 SL550 and like the fact you can change the program back to the Mercedes set up in less than a minute. That way it is really easy to test the upgrade out right after install to feel the difference.

 

No limited slip differential on the SL450 or SL550...

 

Interesting post - thanks.

The exhaust sound is fake anyway. Remove the bottom of your trunk until you see metal and the exhaust sound module will be revealed!

I've now had my car 3 years and keep getting the urge for more power but then I get out and drive it and wonder what I'd do with the extra power.

 

nice upgrade congrats man.

you have 4 driving modes? s+ my 14 doesnt have that. interesting. what I for?

thanks

 

I* enables you to set up a bunch of parameters to your own preferences. e.g. I have mine set for sportier shifting but witha soft ride!

 

yeah i domt think 2014s had that options. If they did i havent discovered them yet .

we definately dont have an s+ mode either. Thought that was for amg models only.

thank you

 

Toi,

The 2017 has
C - Comfort

S - Sport or 'Wife says, "Are you in Sport Mode?"

S+ - Sport+ or "Wife says " WHY ARE YOU IN SPORT MODE!" -- In fairness in Sport+ Mode driving to the market every time you slow down the car down shifts so early it slams you into the seat belts - Awesome for tight windy roads (without the wife in the car)

I+ - Individual Configuration - But set with the Extra Performance - Still get louder exhaust and still gets the wifes attention.

E - Eco -- Haven't quite figured this one out - The car is super quiet - but the mileage on several 15-20 mile identical drives is less than the mileage when driving in "C" mode.


Dave B

 

From my owners manual
I have CV in mine.