R230_Nicke

I'm considering doing a TCU upgrade.

But I have a few questions:

1, Who make these upgrades and who is consider to do the best job?
I know IngenereAMG on this board makes them but I suspect Kleemann, Renntech and more do them.

2, What is the price for such a upgrade?

3, Is there any danger of doing this upgrade?
I have already done the ECU upgrade so I have about 740ft-lb of torque. Is there a risk that the gearbox will fail with that amount of torque and quicker shifting and holding the gears longer?

4, Will the upgrade make faster gearshift and so on even when driving normally? Or is it only when driving aggressively? I don't want it to hold the gears when I commute to work.

5, How much improvement will there be in lets say 0-60 times? Or is it only useful on the track?

6, Last one. Since I live in Sweden it will not be possible for me to swing by a local store in the U.S. to do the upgrade. So I suppose I will have to take the TCU out and ship it to the tuner? Is the TCU a separate box or is the tuning done in the ECU?
Either way, the ting I have to ship, is it hard to remove?

6b, last last one... If the tuning is done in the ECU will there be a risk that my ECU upgrade is over-written or deleted?

Thanks for any input!

IngenereAMG

I can answer some of those questions.

1. We do a TCU upgrade that will help you take advantage of the extra power of your ECU upgrade.

2. We charge $2K for a TCU tune when its done individually, but offer package pricing with the ECU/TCU combo

3. We have done 60 or so TCU's and there have been no gearbox failures. But keep in mind if you are going to abuse it, it is probably not the best for longevity.

4. It quickens the shifts, especially when driving hard. I haven't noticed any real change when driving normally. Keep in mind that these are still adaptive and will adapt to your driving style. In a normal commuting situation, I haven't sen the cars holding gear and not shifting.

5. Since the shifting is quicker, there will be a slight improvement.

6. The TCU is a different brain from the ECU. You can remove it fairly easily. We walk our people through the process all the time.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

sprins

I don't know much about this stuff in detail. I do know, that since I had my TCU upgraded by AMG with their Speedshift Plus (and had an AMG LSD installed) the car is a lot more spory when I want it to.

By tuning the TCU and the throttle response the feel of the car can get much faster than it actually is.

And since "perception is reality", it will be faster.

Zod

Please explain how you got AMG to tune your car (ecu/ tcu)

thanks

sprins

That was actually pretty simple: I called them, made an apointment, and dropped off the car.

I almost have the entire 030 PP installed. When I'll be finished everything but the so called Nürburgring ABC Suspension + the speedshift will be done.

Check the attached PFDs for more info on what can be done by them.

JKK

If AMG offers it I would do it through them. Kleemann doesn't offer it and not sure about RennTech. Good Luck.

sprins

AMG only offers it to the AMG models. The thread starter seems to have an SL600, so he is dependant on after market TCU updates.

Addicted2Speed

I do not recommend doing the TCU upgrade. IMO, your best option is powerchip, which raises your hp to around 600 without the TCU upgrade. There have been numerous transmission failures with the TCU upgrade. This thread is a good read:

https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/229113-tunning-horrific-nightmare.html

IngenereAMG

I have our TCU upgrade in my SL55. I track my car and I have never had any gearbox problems.

Bigbob

TCU problems are out there

https://mbworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=229113

IngenereAMG

I am sure that they are. I wasn't sure about marketing a TCU upgrade until we came up with something that I was happy with and was well tested. I think we have a very good and reliable setup. However, if you abuse any piece of mechanical equipment, there isn't much from the software side that will protect from failures. I drive pretty hard and my car has been bullet proof.

trumpet1

I'm not an expert on this at all, but it looks like if you get an ECU upgrade then a TCU upgrade would be mandatory in order to distribute that additional power in a way not to damage the tranny and engine.

maxabo

[QUOTE=IngenereAMG;2645177I can answer some of those questions.
1. We do a TCU upgrade that will help you take advantage of the extra power of your ECU upgrade.]


Is a quicker, for instance, 60-100 mph to be expected after one of those?
Or perhaps garanteed even..?
Easy to tell the difference?
Have you done any tests on your TCU (SL600)?
Is there the same TCU that applies on both 55 and 600..?