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Just got back my ECU's (2) this morning and tested the tuned one a bit ago. I will state more in a more full review soon after driving it a bit more. Initial impressions?
WOW! Holy Cr*p!
This car is crazy fast and I'm not impressed easily. I might finally have enough power. Hmmm, never thought I would say that. Who knew you can get an AWD car sideways? Literally. It rocks. After things I had been reading I wasn't expecting a lot of improvement in the 0-60 from torque limiters and such. But it is certainly faster there too. Look below at VBOX. This 3.4 run was no brake stand, traction still on, and kindy of a lousy launch. Pretty sure I can hit a 3.2. You can just feel the G's too. This tune IS VERY REAL and NO JOKE. The giggle factor is very high.
Just got back my ECU's (2) this morning and tested the tuned one a bit ago. I will state more in a more full review soon after driving it a bit more. Initial impressions?
WOW! Holy Cr*p!
This car is crazy fast and I'm not impressed easily. I might finally have enough power. Hmmm, never thought I would say that. Who knew you can get an AWD car sideways? Literally. It rocks. After things I had been reading I wasn't expecting a lot of improvement in the 0-60 from torque limiters and such. But it is certainly faster there too. Look below at VBOX. This 3.4 run was no brake stand, traction still on, and kindy of a lousy launch. Pretty sure I can hit a 3.2. You can just feel the G's too. This tune IS VERY REAL and NO JOKE. The giggle factor is very high.
More to come. Stay tuned.
Vrodman - great feedback thanks for sharing...
Question - did the tune improve the launch or throttle lag from the launch?????
Vrodman - great feedback thanks for sharing...been so wanting to get an AMS tune especially since they're close to me in Chicago. I think your feedback just pushed me to pull the trigger
Question - did the tune improve the launch or throttle lag from the launch?????
Throttle lag from dig is still there. Ugh. But throttle response after dig is very improved. I actually am considering removing the gd SprintBooster I just installed a week ago. I will at least need to turn it down to like sport mode level 2 or 3. At sport level 5 with the tune the car is almost too jumpy and unstable.
Even without the dig lag improvement my 0-60 still improved. I expect I should be able to hit 3.2 or 3.1 on a great launch and road conditions. Also VBOX says I'm hitting up to 1.05 G's in the 0-60 run above that was 3.4. On my previous best before the tune I hit 3.5 and 0.99G. You can just feel the torque throughout the rpm range as advertised by AMS.
Is this a “thing” or something I missed with his car?
I was told by AMS that there is always some risk of small issues to iron out with a remote tune versus an in person dyno tune. He used 1 example of how one customer had his car go into limp mode hitting 4th gear right after the tune. I mentioned this to Peter in a PM. I probably wouldn't have mentioned it on the forum in fairness to AMS. I clearly have had no such issue or any other issue so far.
The only mild hiccup was when I went to start it the first time it just clicked with no fire. I then pulled out the start button and used the key and boom, it started just fine. I then put the button back in and it now works too. There seems to have just been some learning protocol that had to happen.
Is this a “thing” or something I missed with his car?
In their earlier revisions, I was told by AMS in a higher gear (4th) in say comfort mode (high load and high gear) it was possible boost would over shoot what was requested by the ECU. Causing a possible cel and or limp mode. I took.my car to them, and the did a 20 minute road test to ensure everything was all good. Never had the issue. I did get a bad batch of gas once and the car did not like it at all. Many misfires and limp mode. Chris at AMS was fast to respond, and recommended a fill from a different station. After that all was well. They said the ECU is sensitive to fuel quality.
'03 E55, Range Rover Sport Supercharged, Ducati 748R
Originally Posted by Savage212
In there earlier revisions, I was told by AMS in a higher gear (4th) in say comfort mode (high load and high gear) it was possible boost would over shoot what was requested by the ECU. Causing a possible cel and or limp mode. I took.my car to them, and the did a 20 minute road test to ensure everything was all good. Never had the issue. I did get a bad batch of gas once and the car did not like it at all. Many misfires and limp mode. Chris at AMS was fast to respond, and recommended a fill from a different station. After that all was well. They said the ECU is sensitive to fuel quality.
I’d argue that those issues are shared across most tuners.
'03 E55, Range Rover Sport Supercharged, Ducati 748R
Originally Posted by Vrodman
I was told by AMS that there is always some risk of small issues to iron out with a remote tune versus an in person dyno tune. He used 1 example of how one customer had his car go into limp mode hitting 4th gear right after the tune. I mentioned this to Peter in a PM. I probably wouldn't have mentioned it on the forum in fairness to AMS. I clearly have had no such issue or any other issue so far.
The only mild hiccup was when I went to start it the first time it just clicked with no fire. I then pulled out the start button and used the key and boom, it started just fine. I then put the button back in and it now works too. There seems to have just been some learning protocol that had to happen.
Just got my ECU back from them too, did you send them your TCU also?
2016 E63s AMG
First of all, it looks like you stole my car!!
our cars appear to be identical on the outside. Night trim, wheels, color, etc. mine is a 2015 though.
No. I did not send tcu to them. Not sure they do tcu’s there. Honesltly, aside from the lag from the dig/launch, my tranny seems to perform pretty well even with the ecu tune. I know that RennTech does TCU tunes from a thread here and I believe the car is required. However, they can send equipment to remote authorized tcu tuners.
Did you notice the same huge gains from the tune that I reported?
our cars appear to be identical on the outside. Night trim, wheels, color, etc. mine is a 2015 though.
No. I did not send tcu to them. Not sure they do tcu’s there. Honesltly, aside from the lag from the dig/launch, my tranny seems to perform pretty well even with the ecu tune. I know that RennTech does TCU tunes from a thread here and I believe the car is required. However, they can send equipment to remote authorized tcu tuners.
Did you notice the same huge gains from the tune that I reported?
Yes, it is Crazy fast, still drives normally when taking it easy but you can tell there is more boost, even slowly accelerating with a light throttle it is faster.
Nice 2015 you have! I love the Night package.
Have you tried holding the brake & accelerator to build boost? It seems improved off the line if I do that but still not screaming from a dead stop!
hows the daily driving shifting ... is it harsh? Clunky?
Daily driving is nice, feels like stock in the C mode, I drove my daughter to work this morning in the S mode, she cracked open some kid drink and I told her to be careful, it isn't any more clunky or jerky than stock unless you are pushing it hard.
I was told by AMS that there is always some risk of small issues to iron out with a remote tune versus an in person dyno tune. He used 1 example of how one customer had his car go into limp mode hitting 4th gear right after the tune. I mentioned this to Peter in a PM. I probably wouldn't have mentioned it on the forum in fairness to AMS. I clearly have had no such issue or any other issue so far.
The only mild hiccup was when I went to start it the first time it just clicked with no fire. I then pulled out the start button and used the key and boom, it started just fine. I then put the button back in and it now works too. There seems to have just been some learning protocol that had to happen.
Vrodman - would like to ask them what the performance differences are with the e63/w212 "canned" tune versus the dyno based custom tune? guessing on a stock e63/212 they can push the dyno tune performance slightly higher than the canned tune?
Vrodman - would like to ask them what the performance differences are with the e63/w212 "canned" tune versus the dyno based custom tune? guessing on a stock e63/212 they can push the dyno tune performance slightly higher than the canned tune?
The dyno tune might squeeze out a few more ponies. When I talked to them though they said it's basically the same. The advantage with the in person dyno tune is that they can put it through all scenarios and make sure nothing cr*ps out and they can hand you before and after charts.
Also, Honestly speaking, I feel pretty good about my "canned" tune! The car is unmistakably faster and quicker. I got a bid from fftec in Hayward, Cali (about 40 miles from me) to have a full dyno done for each ECU (virgin and new tuned one). $150 for 5 pulls. I plan on doing that after our Mexico vacation in a few weeks. I will then have unbiased charts I can share with all of you guys.
So yesterday I tried to get a better 0-60 than my previous best before the tune. My previous best was 3.5 (and yes, with a 1 foot roll out, please let's not go into that discussion again. This is for COMPARISON purposes).
So I can easily feel the extra power even at the early gears with the new tune. So I tried to get a good launch off. I brake boosted to about 2k rpm, left it in S+, traction off, and stomped it. It still didn't feel like the best start I have had. I feel there is still 1 or 2 more tenths to be found. But here's what I got!
That's awesome ... at that level .1 more is really tough to gain without more power and it's so hard to launch these cars ... 3.1 is the lowest I think I've seen for a tuned 2014-2016 63
The dyno tune might squeeze out a few more ponies. When I talked to them though they said it's basically the same. The advantage with the in person dyno tune is that they can put it through all scenarios and make sure nothing cr*ps out and they can hand you before and after charts.
Also, Honestly speaking, I feel pretty good about my "canned" tune! The car is unmistakably faster and quicker. I got a bid from fftec in Hayward, Cali (about 40 miles from me) to have a full dyno done for each ECU (virgin and new tuned one). $150 for 5 pulls. I plan on doing that after our Mexico vacation in a few weeks. I will then have unbiased charts I can share with all of you guys.
vrodman - I may have missed but wanted to ask about your plugs..... did AMS also have you upgrade your plugs to new 1step colder ones? Or did they keep your MB original plugs and adjust the gap at all??
Really appreciate your updates here. And love your ride man!
Thanks for the review on Alpha tune. Out of most tunes from other companies such as weistec, renntech, and eurocharge this one puts out the most HP and torque with just a simple tune. I have been looking around comparing each tune and was curious how alpha is able to achieve more vs other tunes. So I am curious to see what kind of 1/4 mile numbers you can put down and dyno run. Thanks again for sharing. Good to see that these tunes do make a difference and worth $2-3k in spending.
vrodman - I may have missed but wanted to ask about your plugs..... did AMS also have you upgrade your plugs to new 1step colder ones? Or did they keep your MB original plugs and adjust the gap at all??
Really appreciate your updates here. And love your ride man!
he did a remote tune ... sent in his ecu to them ... no plugs
05-16-2018, 05:31 PM
That's one of my lines.
