poker_emperor

Disclaimer - I'm not bashing Dino, I'm sure he is a great guy. I just need more info. My apologies to Dino if I offend you buddy

I was about to pull the trigger on Dino's Veloce ECU upgrade, but did a quick search on his past posts prior to going into the "ECU Tuning" business and decided to hold for now. Is he the real deal, or should I just invest in Kleeman or something else?

france2112

Tough call. Dino has been a sponsor for a while and appears to be a good guy from reading his posts. Problem is your car is an expensive investment and it may be worth going with a company that will has a proven track record and will back you up in case of problems. You have so many choices now: VRP, RennTech, and Kleemann seem to be the most popular. VRP is kind of new to the ECU tuning business but enough reputable members have used them for all sorts of upgrades with only stellar reviews. RennTech has been and probably still is the Gold standard (most used with excellent reputation and most likely truly the BEST!!!) but they are sooooo expensive. I say if you use Dino, first get it writing that if the HP and torque is not what is advertised then you get a full refund and if a problem happens to your motor directly related to the ECU upgrade that he is fully responsible. If you can't get that then I would pass. Just my advice. Good luck. Dino appears to be a gentleman from reading his previous posts so I hope his tune is what it should be. He may get more business if your tune comes out right with a guarantee. Maybe use this for some leverage when negotiating price? Good luck.

poker_emperor

Thanks you so very much for responding bro. You're right, it is an expensive car, thus my hesitation.

TMC M5

I am not sure what you are looking for in a tune. I personally always look at what proof is out there for each tune's performance. I look at dyno's and 1/4 mile times (particularly the trap speeds). I know that dyno results are not perfect. That is why I put more credence on the 1/4 mile trap speeds (but also factor the weather that day as well). I am somewhat skeptical of "tuners" who only use seat of the pants testing...yet claim 50hp gains from the products they sell. That is cool if they are talking about their own personal car...but they kind of have a fiduciary responsibility to back up their claims when they sell it to customers.

Tom

poker_emperor

I concur with you Tom. A breach of fiduciary duty can only lead to a lawsuit for deceptive trade practices and breach of contract. However, not looking for trouble only the facts. Again, thank you for your response.

Timeless

+1 to this. I don't know Dino, but I do not believe he has provided any real world proof to his claims. You can't go wrong with Kleeman, Renntech, Powerchips (VRP and Evosport use them), or LET (LOTs of good accounts and real world numbers from these guys).

poker_emperor

Thanks for responding bro. I'm leaning towards VRP or LET right now

JackStraw

go home

IngenereAMG

Hi guys:

I see that my name is coming up along with Renntech and Kleeman, which is pretty good company.

First off, I take no offense to anyone checking out our work. Probably the best place to look is our testimonials area. http://www.veloceperformance.com/testimonial.htm

As for numbers, there have been a number of our clients who have posted their own personal dyno results over the years. We just did an E55 for a board member from NY, and here is what he said:

I put in the upgraded ECU and new K&N filters into my 2006 E55 AMG yesterday and today took my car out for a long ride. Wow! What a difference. From the get go the car feels much quicker, far more responsive and with much more punch. This car feels like a different, more powerful animal! The acceleration is instantaneous. Much more so than before. The car is quicker to downshift and holds onto higher RPMs for greater performance. The torque feels stronger and comes on sooner and stays on longer. Driving in 5th gear now feels like the 4th gear used to before the ECU upgrade.

I had considered other providers of ECU upgrades but decided on Veloce Performance because of what I read about the products and about Dino - the owner. Dino personally walked me through the entire process and helped me with the ECU extraction from my car. He has been phenomenally helpful, always available and extremely responsive to my many queries. He has demonstrated the highest level of professionalism and customer service that I have ever received in matters to do with my car. And I am very picky when it comes to whom I trust my car to. I would wholeheartedly recommend Dino to anyone and would be happy to even speak to anyone considering an ECU upgrade. You can get my contact information from Dino if you would like to speak with me.

Rajan

I know these cars are big investments..... remember, I own also them, and we do allot of the development work on my own cars. We aren't just experimenting with client cars. I come from the customer side, and I know what I want when I have things done with my cars, and my attempt with Veloce Performance is to exceed my expectations in performance, reliability and customer service. I want my cars to perform well and be reliable, and our work does exactly that. Always feel free to call me directly with any questions.

Here's a shot of Rajan and his E55. Thanks for the testimonial!

santomen

Hi! I'm one of the guys who had Dino tune my 04 sl600! He did a very professional job and the car run great, it was like night and day!! Real nice guy.

AhMyGawd

I am also the proud owner of Dino’s ECU tune on my SL55… He did a great job and is a true professional. His work was done using ultimate care to ensure a proper installation.

Once completed - the car pulled liked a freight train. It felt like the *** end wanted to pass up the front… I’m not sure what it actually did on the numbers but, it sure woke that motor up.

As for Dino’s character, he’s a great Dude. He is a great source of info and has always been there for me whenever I had a question or an issue, even though they were non-ECU related. I plan on using him for other upgrades in the future. I would highly recommend him to anyone, including my friends…

Good luck

TMC M5

I took a look at the testimonials on the Veloce website. There is an SL55 (Mike in LA, CA) who claims that with 469rwhp and 491rwtq that he has run 11.3 1/4 mile. That would make him as fast or faster than HEAVILY modded SL55's... can someone confirm this?

Tom

dbesins

dyno numbers vary a lot, if those numbers were achieved on a mustang or even a dyno dynamics, it sounds reasonable

m52e55

all good tuners. have had RENNtech stage 4 since ~20k miles. have ~50k miles now (3 yrs later) and no issues whatsoever. good luck.

soulsearcher

I did the deed with the renntech ecu/tcu flash with no problems so far. Have had for 1 year. I picked renntech because of the oem/AMG connection (Hartmut Feyhl).

docjenser

Had Kleemann done 3 weeks ago. Very noticeable improvement with ECU and TCU tune. The car got almost intimidating. $3000 vs $6400 for the Renntech. For me it was a no brainer...

IngenereAMG

Thanks guys! I appreciate it. Glad to hear to hear the cars are running well.

Totalman

Hello,
I'm also considering ECU tuning for my CL65, however, the questions still remain:
1. Wouldn't it void (in some way) the warranty?
2. Under what circumstances the MB dealer may flush your ECU (and make you back to square one)? Is it even worth considering?
3. Any way to make some of the changes permanent (like delimiting speed limit, for ex.) ?

Above all, I've read that the torque is already electronically limited to 738, if delimited, it should be around 880, is it a hoax or really true? If this is true, than what exactly the tuning does, other than removing the factory limitation, and unleashing the real full torque?

Sorry about all these questions, but this car is so complex...

cal1

My 03 SL55 may not be considered heavily modded, but I have some significant performance upgrades. The last dyno showed 540 RWTQ. I don't recall the RWHP off hand but serious drag guys will tell you torque is what gets you down the track. My best run to date in the quater is 12.14. I should be able to get into high 11s (11.99) on a properly prepared track. JMF003 has a heavily modded 03 SL55. I think his best time is just north of 11.3 and that is with street legal drag radials. I hope (Mike in LA, CA) has more mods than just an ECU upgrade or maybe he has knocked a ton of weight from a normally heavy SL. If not, I would question his claim.

FLSL55

My 100% stock SL55 ran a 12.5 at 113mph. My car has 400rwhp.

My 60 foot was a 1.8 on stock tires.

Your car should be mid 11's at those HP levels. What were your 60 foots cal1? MPH at the trap?

cal1

60'=1.93, 1/8=7.922 @ 90.23 1/4=12.147 @ 116.5
Weather conditions: Typical hot and humid central Indiana summer day
Track conditions: Sucked. No prep done by ORP, previously Indianapolis Raceway Park which is supposed to be a big time track. The all wheel drive rice burners struggled to get below a 2 sec 60'. I was running on nearly worn out Toyo T1Rs so good 60' times were impossible. Wheel spin could not be controlled.

I believe my car is capable of possibly an 11.8 or maybe 11.7 under optimum conditions.

FLSL55

Maybe you should get your IC pump looked at. Take a look at your intake temps. With those mod's you should be running around 120mph even in that heat.

cal1

Thanks for the suggestions, I will check it out. Mid 11s is what I really want to achieve. I do think I need a few runs on a well prepared track and with decent tires which I now have. The track conditions where so bad, I was breaking loose at the shift to 2nd.

I pulled some track slips from last summer which is before headers, 80mm TB, phenolic spacers and secondary cat delete. A well prepped track allowed me to run a 12.2 ET @ 116.12 with a 1.827 60 foot time. I'm thinking the additional mods should shave off more than just .05 or so.

One more thing, I checked the dyno sheet and must confess to a max RWTQ of 529.8 not 540. I recall telling Simon @ EvoSport that the guy running the dyno used a small *** personal style fan to imitate the wind produced by the SL running down the track and that it was as hot and humid as hell in his shop. I think Simon said that the heat and conditions robbed my SL of 10 RWTQ. At the least I think that is how I got the 540 number stuck in my thick skull.

erdocslx2

I had my car tuned by Dino. His numbers are real. With ecu tune alone I gained 46rwhp. I have also had a top end of 206mph. When summer came i had some het soak issues. Upgraded my IC pump and did the -10 fan program and have never had a problem. I have referred 2 friends to Veloce for upgrades and they love their tunes. Hope this helps. Dino is very trustworthy. I recommend him without hesitation.

jmf003

+1 on the suggestion to check your intercooler pump, Cal. Warm, humid air and poor track prep are holding you back right now but fall weather is just around the corner and you don't want your pump holding you back when it gets here!

I actually ran my 11.4s on street tires with a trunk full of luggage but it was on a well prepped track (MIR) on a cool fall day (-1,500 DA). This spring I put on some drag radials and removed the passenger seat in hopes of giving Sal (forum name = Urnext) and his 11.27 a run for the money. Track prep was a little off and I couldn't break 11.5 let alone 11.3 but I did manage to trap 126 MPH, which felt pretty good. I haven't had my car to the dyno since the last set of mods but running various horsepower calculators on my different 1/4 mile results produces estimates of 625 to 650 crank horsepower, which I suspect is about the right range.

An earlier poster asked about Mike in LA running 11.3s on an SL55 that's making 585 crank HP. My guess is there's probably more to that story. It'd be pretty tough to line up at a drag tree and rip off an 11.3 on a full-weight SL55 with 585 HP under the hood. The only other SL55 claiming times in the 11.3 range (Sal's car) makes quite a bit more power than that and had weight reduction modifications. On the other hand, maybe Mike in LA somehow managed to stick a 1.5x 60' time and really did run 11.3. It'd be great to see a time slip!

Back to the OP's question, I'm running a VRP crank pulley and ECU tune but I'd have no qualms about running Veloce's pulley and ECU tune. Dino has been a stand-up guy in this forum since before I started hanging out here four years ago. He'll take care of his customers.