ldye

I've read some posts that US cars are set for 91 rating and that using anything above does not provide any additonal power. There are also posts that say you can change the Octane settings. Is this possible and does anyone know how to instruct the tech to do this?

dinko

I've been quite interested in this as well. However, I haven't had the chance to look into this at the dealer. It would be nice to raise the figures to flat 500hp and maybe 525tq.

If anyone has any information, please let us know

OzSL55

I'm pretty sure MBs like several other brands are built from the factory to electronically sense the the octane level in the fuel being used and set the engines timing, etc. accordingly.

If you had the car chip tuned you could have the car's octane requirement raised. A lot of tuning programs insist on that to get a decent HP increase anyway.

dinko

Oz, what kind of Pulley & Chip do you have? How much??

OzSL55

Pulley and Chip were supplied by QSZ out of Melbourne (http://www.qsz.com.au). They do the chip programming themselves and outsource the pullies, which as built up from the stock units. The whole thing cost me $5500 installed by my Tuner.

dinko

Thanks, but am not interested since they are located in AU

OzSL55

Nor did I think you would somehow...

Likewise, I wouldn't have gone to RennTech, even though their prices are good, since they are based in Florida

dinko

Even renntech to me seems a bit pricey compared to Powerchipgroup.com - Powerchip has great reviews, but I've never done any kind of chip upgrade to any car, so am a bit skeptical.

OzSL55

Powerchip are Aussies also and I used to deal with them.

I don't like them at all. I switched over from them back when I first did a chip for my 850Csi to QSZ. In our terms over here we consider that they overcharge for their chips, especially considering the chips underperform compared to others. Frankly, I'm not sure how you get RennTech being more pricey than Powerchip? By my calcs the Powerchip at $A2990.40 ($US1,777.89) is all of $18 more expensive than RennTech's chip @ $US1795. Having changed the software in every car I've owned since the first, I'd rather look at the extended capabilities and results achieved by the tuner than the specific cost of their software alone. To me it makes more sense to go to a specialist Benz tuner like RennTech,etc. for their chip tune than a broad spectrum 'software only' tuner like Powerchip. These days I don't believe in off the shelf chips for anything but the most basic applications as the minute you change other variables on a vehicle, you need to cater for it in the tune, especially in the case of modifications like pullies and exhausts. Off the shelf is fine for the generic owner who draws the line at the possibility of a chip tune. Ideally, I look to find a tuner who can actually tune on dyno, that's the best way to get a car correctly dialled in for optimum performance.

Really for the money if I look at my own setup, the RennTech chip and pulley package is every part the equivelant to the package I got here in Oz.

OzSL55

Just a post script on chip tuning.

Powerchip wanted to take me to task on what I said about why I don't use their chips. They obviously took my comments too generally. When I was referring to my specific tuning needs, all of my current cars are modified factory supercharged models. There is no way for example I'd be doing a pulley change and wacking in an off the shelf chip written using a stock vehicle that doesn't not take into account the pulley change. My other 2 cars are are far more modified particularly my Cobra with it's blower swapped to a KB unit and several other mods. There is zero way I'd take the off the shelf approach there, not if I wanted to drive more than a few miles before it went...:kaboom:. It's pretty simple, if you want your basic slap it in chip to squeeze out a bit more performance, sure go out and buy an off the shelf Powerchip,Superchip,etc. But if you are going to make changes to your car's power adder and or other signicant mods beyond a drop in filter, go to a tuner that can give you a program to suit your specific setup or get your car custom chipped with a dyno to really tailor the results to your specific needs (ie. dual programs for fuel, street use/track,etc).