Two questions:
First, tonight I spoke to the son of an AMG tuner from Germany who can re-tune my ECU for about $1900. He'll run my car on the dyno in front of me and guarantees the horsepower gain. Mind you, this will bring my performance up to about 510hp @ like 570ft/lbs or something in that realm. If I do not like the changes, it will be reversed back to stock and I will be completely refunded. Is this legitimate? The guy is a great tuner and definitely knows his stuff. He has access to dealership owned ECU programming computers and a dyno. The company who will retune the ECU is certified as well.

Second, the same guy was pressuring me NOT to get a European headunit, and rather, to buy a separate DVD drive. He claims that 1.Since the ID # of the Euro headunit won't match up with that of my car, I will face problems in warranty situations. 2. The AM/FM and TV tuner will not work at all because of the difference in European and American radio transmitting systems. He says all in all, I'm loosing if I go with the Euro headunit but it will be a gain for me to get the external DVD drive.

So, do I pay $1900 for an ECU tuning which I know for sure is completely legitimate or not? Also, do I go with an ECU which I would really rather have but sacrifice AM/FM/TV (is this even true? I've heard testimonials from people with Euro headunits who say everything works fine) or get an external DVD player which will inconveniently be located somewhere other than my dash which to me is unacceptable. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

I say, from reactions on this board and such

go for an ECU from a company here, so you can make an big stint online if they dont deliver as promised, because that'll actually make more damage then you saying "Yeah that dude didn't do his job."

Also, I think the Euro / American transmitting system thing is wrong, however, I'd wait for someone more knowledgable to pipe in.

 

1) honestly...how many of those hp's are you planning to use on an average base? 100...maybe 125?

2) I presume that the guy you spoke to knows more about boosting engines then that he knows about MB audio systems, because:
A) the actual radio receiver sits in the trunk and is called audio gateway...the actual headunit just displays what the AGW in the trunk receives meaning that if you swap the headunit...it will still have the same US spec AGW in the trunk and thus the exact same radio tuner as ever before.
B) the US spec comand does NOT have any video in connection for an aftermarket DVD player...so whatever DVD player you get, you cannot connect it to a US spec comand...and not even to a euro comand (unless you have a TV tuner that will be the interface between the DVD player and headunit.
C) the TV tuners that mercedes sells are PAL/NTSC compatible and with stardiagnose the TV tuner can be set to NORTHAMERICA...so not only is the reception pretty good, the TV tuner can actually set to NA.


greetingz,

 

you car already makes around 490 hp and 560 tq at the engine, so the gains are not very great. These cars are under rated from the factory.

 

Thanks for the help guys, especially you, Steve! I'll talk to the guy about the HP upgrades tomorrow but hopefully I'll be contacting you soon about a European headunit, seems like its exactly what I want. If I do go with the Euro headunit, I can only play MP3's in the in-dash cd changer correct? Or can I play them in my 6-disk as well?

 

You can do a search here on this forum and see how others value the eurospec 211 comand...it definitely is a LOT better deal then what you have been told by the person who knows a lot more about hp's then I do (I truely beleive that anything beyond 125hp is overkill...especially in the US where you are not allowed to drive fast at all and cops keep pulling you over eventhough you don't drive that fast (had that happening 3 times by now)...

MP3s through the CD changer are CD changer related...swapping the comand headunit does not change the CD changer capabilities...

greetingz,