RaceChip v. VR Tuned ECU Tuning Box
07-11-2017, 12:22 AM
#51
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Join Date: May 2010
Location: Chicago
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E63 SL55 996TT C5Z06
I've had a race chip on my previous car which was a cls550 M278 Biturbo and the results were night and day. Never dyno'd the car but did go to the track a lot. I put the racechip unit on my current car 14' CLS63 S. All I can say is wow. I have played with the S2 knob quite a bit and you really can tell the differences on how it brings in the power. Install is very easy and straight forward. Packaging, instructions and support was there just as it was the last time. For those who havent done any research on the differences between all these boxes the Racechip Unit has two switches on the inside that can be adjusted. Here is a brief over view.
https://youtu.be/UHXMyO7npmQ
My first hand experience is that the more you turn it up the "Hotter" it runs. To much and you can tell its not making anymore power so theres kind of a sweet spot. I'm heading to the track (1st day open) tomorrow to do some testing. I know I need an engine mount but hopefully wont effect anything to bad. So far its worth every penny. I'll post a thread on it when I have the results. I will end up dynoing eventually as well for all you dyno queen bench racers! lol
https://youtu.be/UHXMyO7npmQ
My first hand experience is that the more you turn it up the "Hotter" it runs. To much and you can tell its not making anymore power so theres kind of a sweet spot. I'm heading to the track (1st day open) tomorrow to do some testing. I know I need an engine mount but hopefully wont effect anything to bad. So far its worth every penny. I'll post a thread on it when I have the results. I will end up dynoing eventually as well for all you dyno queen bench racers! lol
11-17-2017, 11:27 AM
#52
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14 e63
TT Merc - i did go ahead and buy a RaceChip ultimate for $600 bucks to see how it works on my 15 E63 S. Clearly this is no comparison to a full ECU remap tune but as you also commented, the fact that its cheap, plus you can install/remove it myself and that RaceChip seems reputable having been around 10+ years was enough to give it a shot even if the HP gains fall way short of their claims (which i assume it will)...... but I will report back on my experience with this thing once I get it installed... thx for your feedback too on this which i appreciate
11-18-2017, 05:13 PM
#53
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Join Date: May 2010
Location: Chicago
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E63 SL55 996TT C5Z06
I installed racechip on my 15 e63s about 6 months ago (paid US $600 for it) and it does give you a slight HP bump and slightly better performance. It does NOT provide the HP or power gains race chip advertises (700hp) from what I experienced.
While I never did a dyno test, I do use the Dashcommand iPhone app which I realize is not 100% accurate but is the only tool I had to quantify the before and after gains. Dashcommand would show anywhere from a 50-70 HP gain with Racechip installed and I logged several 0-60 runs at 3.4 seconds which is a slight improvement from the stock 0-60. With that said, while stock I never did get a 0-60 run better than 3.6 so it improved that by .2 in my situation (for the record - I never tested this on a nicely prepped track it was on the horrible downtown chicago streets where traction sucks due to cracks and **** on the roads).
Its 3 connections to install it and pretty easy to do yourself, although be warned you can very easily damage your camshaft connector which is tricky to get to (this happens to me infortunalty).
I removed mine as while it was cheap and easy power boost, you do have to remove every time you go to the dealer for any warranty work (or flat tire in my situation, forgot to remove it as I didn’t think they would look under the hood on a flat tire replace but they did and warned about flagging it as status 8 / modded with the racechip visible).
If you or anyone in chicago cares to try my racechip devic feel free to contact me and I’d be happy to let you try it. I had it on for 3 months before removing due to some warranty work on my steering I had to take the car in for and didn’t want to keep going back and forth especially with winter coming in chicago and I won’t drive the car as much.
While I never did a dyno test, I do use the Dashcommand iPhone app which I realize is not 100% accurate but is the only tool I had to quantify the before and after gains. Dashcommand would show anywhere from a 50-70 HP gain with Racechip installed and I logged several 0-60 runs at 3.4 seconds which is a slight improvement from the stock 0-60. With that said, while stock I never did get a 0-60 run better than 3.6 so it improved that by .2 in my situation (for the record - I never tested this on a nicely prepped track it was on the horrible downtown chicago streets where traction sucks due to cracks and **** on the roads).
Its 3 connections to install it and pretty easy to do yourself, although be warned you can very easily damage your camshaft connector which is tricky to get to (this happens to me infortunalty).
I removed mine as while it was cheap and easy power boost, you do have to remove every time you go to the dealer for any warranty work (or flat tire in my situation, forgot to remove it as I didn’t think they would look under the hood on a flat tire replace but they did and warned about flagging it as status 8 / modded with the racechip visible).
If you or anyone in chicago cares to try my racechip devic feel free to contact me and I’d be happy to let you try it. I had it on for 3 months before removing due to some warranty work on my steering I had to take the car in for and didn’t want to keep going back and forth especially with winter coming in chicago and I won’t drive the car as much.
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ecmexchange (11-21-2017)
11-30-2017, 11:12 PM
#54
OE Tuning Comment
Hi there,
I have been considering tuning my car and I have been talking to the team at OE Tuning in California. My car is only 6 moths old and I have the same concerns about my warranty, especially with an ECU bench tune. I asked them about that and this is what they said:
Quote:
"Software version does not change by tuning the ECU, we apply the tune to your read and your software version. Not sure what exactly you are asking?
We have full Xentry with C4 and C5 and MB online subscription with developer mode enabled. We test all platforms with dealer level tools before we release a product to market, to make sure there are no markers or any issues that would cause the dealership to think a tune has been installed.
For dealer to 100% know you have a tune, you either tell them or they send ECU to Germany for confirmation. This cannot be done at local MB dealership."
I am not quite convinced about that statement. In computing you can easily detect a change in a file just by comparing hashes. Any change in any one bit of data would generate a different hash that would not match the original or OEM. I am thinking about asking someone that I know at my local MB dealership. I'll keep you posted...
I have been considering tuning my car and I have been talking to the team at OE Tuning in California. My car is only 6 moths old and I have the same concerns about my warranty, especially with an ECU bench tune. I asked them about that and this is what they said:
Quote:
"Software version does not change by tuning the ECU, we apply the tune to your read and your software version. Not sure what exactly you are asking?
We have full Xentry with C4 and C5 and MB online subscription with developer mode enabled. We test all platforms with dealer level tools before we release a product to market, to make sure there are no markers or any issues that would cause the dealership to think a tune has been installed.
For dealer to 100% know you have a tune, you either tell them or they send ECU to Germany for confirmation. This cannot be done at local MB dealership."
I am not quite convinced about that statement. In computing you can easily detect a change in a file just by comparing hashes. Any change in any one bit of data would generate a different hash that would not match the original or OEM. I am thinking about asking someone that I know at my local MB dealership. I'll keep you posted...
12-01-2017, 12:31 AM
#55
Member
Hi there,
I have been considering tuning my car and I have been talking to the team at OE Tuning in California. My car is only 6 moths old and I have the same concerns about my warranty, especially with an ECU bench tune. I asked them about that and this is what they said:
Quote:
"Software version does not change by tuning the ECU, we apply the tune to your read and your software version. Not sure what exactly you are asking?
We have full Xentry with C4 and C5 and MB online subscription with developer mode enabled. We test all platforms with dealer level tools before we release a product to market, to make sure there are no markers or any issues that would cause the dealership to think a tune has been installed.
For dealer to 100% know you have a tune, you either tell them or they send ECU to Germany for confirmation. This cannot be done at local MB dealership."
I am not quite convinced about that statement. In computing you can easily detect a change in a file just by comparing hashes. Any change in any one bit of data would generate a different hash that would not match the original or OEM. I am thinking about asking someone that I know at my local MB dealership. I'll keep you posted...
I have been considering tuning my car and I have been talking to the team at OE Tuning in California. My car is only 6 moths old and I have the same concerns about my warranty, especially with an ECU bench tune. I asked them about that and this is what they said:
Quote:
"Software version does not change by tuning the ECU, we apply the tune to your read and your software version. Not sure what exactly you are asking?
We have full Xentry with C4 and C5 and MB online subscription with developer mode enabled. We test all platforms with dealer level tools before we release a product to market, to make sure there are no markers or any issues that would cause the dealership to think a tune has been installed.
For dealer to 100% know you have a tune, you either tell them or they send ECU to Germany for confirmation. This cannot be done at local MB dealership."
I am not quite convinced about that statement. In computing you can easily detect a change in a file just by comparing hashes. Any change in any one bit of data would generate a different hash that would not match the original or OEM. I am thinking about asking someone that I know at my local MB dealership. I'll keep you posted...
01-09-2018, 06:56 PM
#56
Member
I installed racechip on my 15 e63s about 6 months ago (paid US $600 for it) and it does give you a slight HP bump and slightly better performance. It does NOT provide the HP or power gains race chip advertises (700hp) from what I experienced.
While I never did a dyno test, I do use the Dashcommand iPhone app which I realize is not 100% accurate but is the only tool I had to quantify the before and after gains. Dashcommand would show anywhere from a 50-70 HP gain with Racechip installed and I logged several 0-60 runs at 3.4 seconds which is a slight improvement from the stock 0-60. With that said, while stock I never did get a 0-60 run better than 3.6 so it improved that by .2 in my situation (for the record - I never tested this on a nicely prepped track it was on the horrible downtown chicago streets where traction sucks due to cracks and **** on the roads).
Its 3 connections to install it and pretty easy to do yourself, although be warned you can very easily damage your camshaft connector which is tricky to get to (this happens to me infortunalty).
I removed mine as while it was cheap and easy power boost, you do have to remove every time you go to the dealer for any warranty work (or flat tire in my situation, forgot to remove it as I didn’t think they would look under the hood on a flat tire replace but they did and warned about flagging it as status 8 / modded with the racechip visible).
If you or anyone in chicago cares to try my racechip devic feel free to contact me and I’d be happy to let you try it. I had it on for 3 months before removing due to some warranty work on my steering I had to take the car in for and didn’t want to keep going back and forth especially with winter coming in chicago and I won’t drive the car as much.
While I never did a dyno test, I do use the Dashcommand iPhone app which I realize is not 100% accurate but is the only tool I had to quantify the before and after gains. Dashcommand would show anywhere from a 50-70 HP gain with Racechip installed and I logged several 0-60 runs at 3.4 seconds which is a slight improvement from the stock 0-60. With that said, while stock I never did get a 0-60 run better than 3.6 so it improved that by .2 in my situation (for the record - I never tested this on a nicely prepped track it was on the horrible downtown chicago streets where traction sucks due to cracks and **** on the roads).
Its 3 connections to install it and pretty easy to do yourself, although be warned you can very easily damage your camshaft connector which is tricky to get to (this happens to me infortunalty).
I removed mine as while it was cheap and easy power boost, you do have to remove every time you go to the dealer for any warranty work (or flat tire in my situation, forgot to remove it as I didn’t think they would look under the hood on a flat tire replace but they did and warned about flagging it as status 8 / modded with the racechip visible).
If you or anyone in chicago cares to try my racechip devic feel free to contact me and I’d be happy to let you try it. I had it on for 3 months before removing due to some warranty work on my steering I had to take the car in for and didn’t want to keep going back and forth especially with winter coming in chicago and I won’t drive the car as much.
01-15-2018, 10:32 PM
#57
MBWorld Fanatic!
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Chicago
Posts: 1,183
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E63 SL55 996TT C5Z06
Boost - hey bud. Yes still have my racechip, the box, all instructions and stuff that came with it which is like new. Used it 2 months and liked it but have decided to get a tune once my warranty is closer to expiration and don’t need it at this point.
Ill PM you with some pics of it and see if you want it.... or will just sell it here since I don’t need it with a tune
Ill PM you with some pics of it and see if you want it.... or will just sell it here since I don’t need it with a tune
