So I see I am supposed to be kind for 1,000 miles (its BRAND NEW), and have been, but if the throttle and suspension is being adapted to this sissy stuff, it concerns me somewhat. I have read about the sneaky reset, but read it wont work on my '09 E63 Is this true? What's a fella to do?

I hear this Star software can reset adaptations, but where do you get it and how much is it? Other options? I may have just bought one of the very last 211 E63's sold, but I sure cant be the first to ponder this dilemma. I think i should be kind during break in, but dont want it to shackle me....

 

The easiest way to adapt the software back to aggressive mode is to drive the car aggressively for a few miles.

Regarding the break-in period, many people on the forum are divided on the issue: some believe you should drive it hard at least for the first 100 miles while others believe you should baby it. I would imagine some type of compromise would yield best of both worlds.

Adaptations are a big pain because no matter what you do, if you drive in traffic, the ECU will adapt to slow driving and the TCU will slow and "relax" your shift points quite a bit.

 

ok, thanks, so instead of an external reset, just flog it some and i'll get an internal reset....

on the break-in I am doing some harder acceleration and have used M mode to do some engine decels under load (engine breaking), which i have always heard was good procedure too.

 

Don't forget that the tranny needs a break-in, so don't get too aggressive with it. fwiw, my mechanic claims that's the main reason for staying in C mode for the first 1k or so.

imho, just break-in the 'normal' way and then flog it later on. The car will adapt. But as Mo says, it's a battle between forced to drive like Grampa in heavy traffic and then wanting the quicker shifts when out of traffic. I guess that's why we were given M mode and paddles

 

Beat the **** out of it.

 

When MJ50 and I were hanging with the Black Series engineers at Laguna Seca last Nov, we talk to them about adaptations. They said that a car they had been driving liesurely outside the track was fully adapted within one lap.

 

thanks to all for the follow-up.

 

Yea I do not think it takes long. I drove my car on a Sunday morning on the open freeway and beat it up a bit. After that it was a lot more aggressive and I sit in traffic every day.

 

I could reset the tranny faster than the stupid reset in less than one minute and keeping under 30 mph.

You can reset quickly at any speed because it's possible by repeating stomping on the gas to do aggressive shifts and then lifting off. It would take me about 5 cycles. Its not about how fast you go.

 

Adaptation is not always constant however.... at the 1/4 mile track, I noticed my car sometimes took 3 full 1/4 mile runs to adapt back to maximum aggressive mode while other times it took as much as 7 runs, yet on some other times it was somewhere in between 3 and 7. I used to use the G-Tech as an indicator but now I can easily tell when my car is fully adapted specifically to maximum aggressive mode. The reason I refer to maximum aggressive mode is that there is a feel-able difference between the regular aggressive mode and what I like to call maximum aggressive shifts.... a point where you can feel the car can NOT shift any faster or any harder than what it's doing at the moment.

Adaptations in software are very "iffy". For example, after driving in traffic or being on cruise control for a while, your car may have adapted 20% below maximum aggressive shifts for the 1st to 2nd gear shift and maybe down 50% for the 2nd to 3rd shift but maybe only down 8% for the 3rd to 4th shift. When driving aggressively again, some shifts will adapt quicker while others will adapt slower depending on the data collected by the ECU regarding the current behavior.

Many AMG owners have expressed their frustration with adaptations especially on this site and have tried pushing the tuners to come up with a solution, but with no luck until now. Thankfully, Mercedes/AMG finally responded by providing an AMG button for the SL63 (which will hopefully also be in the W212 E63 and later in all AMG models) that when pressed will provide maximum performance mode. It is very similar to the M button in the M models.

For now, the easiest way to re-set the tranny adaptations is to go to the dealer and have them do it through the STAR diagnostic software. Make sure they only re-set the up-shifts and not the down-shifts. For some reason, down-shifts take much longer to adapt than up-shifts If you want to spend the money, you can always buy a STAR diagnostic system (about $2k to $3k) and re-set adaptations yourself.