Your Top 7 Mercedes Tuning Questions Answered 

You know you want your Mercedes Benz to perform at its best, but as you’re doing your research, you might not know exactly where to start. Never fear, here are some of the top questions we encounter when working with our clients on Mercedes Tuning.

1. What exactly do you so with Mercedes tuning?

No matter what model your Mercedes, there’s this device called the ECU or ECM under the hood of your car that we’ll carefully remove and run through special diagnostics to determine what we can do to improve engine performance. By remapping your ECU ECM, we can increase things such as boost pressure, change your spark advance timing and calibrate a new torque curve.

 What the heck is an ECU?

It’s your electronic control unit, also known as an engine control module (ECM), an embedded system that controls your car’s engine. This is the technology that helps your engine run. And by making strategic tweaks to your Mercedes Tuning file, we can make your engine run to its fullest potential.

3. What do you mean when you say that my Mercedes is depowered?

Car manufacturers are able to tweak engine power more easily through the ECU ECM. Especially when a new series comes out, the manufacturer is thinking long term, and wants to be able to increase performance specs each year without drastically changing the engine. This means, especially if have an older model, your engine has likely been depowered. The exciting thing about this is that we can make your car run better, without expensive upgrades. The power is there, it just needs to be set free with Mercedes Tuning.

4. What are the benefits of an ECU tune?

Upfront, you’re going to see improvements in your horsepower and torque. Just check out our Select Tune page to see what is possible for different Mercedes models. Our clients typically report smoother acceleration and improved throttle response and of course, more power.

I’m not headed to the Monaco Grand Prix, so why would I need  Mercedes Tuning?

Our Mercedes tunes are tested in real world scenarios not just at the Monaco Grand Prix. So whether you’re going to the grocery store, the coffee shop or even a track day, we’ve got you covered. Really what we’re doing is making your engine run better. Better fuel efficiency is an additional benefit of Mercedes tuning.

6. Is an ECU tune safe?

At PRESSERtech, we have over 30 years of experience working with Mercedes Benz vehicles, from complete rebuilds to ECU tunes. ECU tuning is safe when performed by expert technicians. Know that we will always tune your vehicle within the safe limits of its capabilities.

 What if I need a new ECU?

No worries! No longer have to pay premiums on new ECUs ECMs from local dealerships. We can get them at a fraction of the cost. We offer a variety of Virgin Engine Control Modules that are unlocked, renewed and ready to be activated using Xentry, DAS or Star Computer and 99% of the time and we can even make it plug-and-play with no activation necessary.

If your question wasn’t answered here, please feel free to give us a call. We’re happy to talk shop with you, anytime. Rest assured, we love Mercedes just as much as you.

Mercedes ECU Tuning of the S550 – Making the “Best Car in the World” Even Better  

The S-Class is the flagship of Mercedes Benz sedans, also known as the “best car in the world.” Today we’re taking a look under the hood of a 2012 S550 V8 bi-turbo. This is a refined luxury car that still can let its hair down every once in a while. And it’s absolutely a modern classic. At stock, this car runs at 429 horsepower and 516 LBS-FT torque. The S550 has a seven-speed transmission and a top speed of 130 mph. It can go zero to 60 in 4.9 seconds.

The S-Class designation for top-of-the-line Mercedes models was officially introduced in 1972 with the W116. S-Class. Originally stood for sonderklasse, which means “special class” in German. Following this tradition. The S550, like the S600 of before, is truly a special car, but we can give it a boost, and make it run even better.

Performing the Mercedes ECU Tuning, a stage 1 tune would bring this S550’s performance to 500 horsepower and 590 LBS-FT torque. That”s a 16% increase in horsepower and a 14% increase in torque. Our goal was to optimize this vehicle’s engine for improved performance and fuel efficiency.

Our Mercedes ECU tunes are tested and developed on a MAHA dynamometer. A dynamometer is a device that measures force, torque and power. When we tune, we’re looking for the best possible performance and results, within the original safety margins of the specific model. Each tune is optimized for your car and guaranteed for life.

How we perform Mercedes ECU Tuning

So what magic is happening in the shop to make this all possible? The Mercedes ECU Tuning process is complex. It all comes down to your ECU, or electronic control unit. When tuning the S550, we carefully removed the ECU, ran diagnostics and then modified the tuning file to provide more power and torque. In the last decade or so, cars have gotten more complicated and so much is controlled by the ECU. These days, you can really make a difference in your Mercedes performance with a tune, rather than expensive upgrades.

Your engine is already capable of better performance, we just need to set it free. Modifying the tuning file on your ECU is a delicate process, and you really want an expert to take on this task. We have over 30 years working on Mercedes Benz vehicles, so know that you are in good hands.

For this S550, the increase in horsepower and torque led to smoother acceleration and improved throttle response. Furthermore, the added benefit of improved fuel efficiency. By optimizing the torque curve, this vehicle is able to produce more torque at lower RPM’s. This allowing the driver to change gears earlier. To put it simply: the engine runs more efficiently, at lower revs.

In Conclusion

We work with all types of Mercedes vehicles, so check out our Select Tune page to find your car, or just give us a call. We’re more than happy to chat with you about the options for your car. Every tune is 100% customized and specific to your vehicle.

And if you want more power and want to ramp it up to 11, talk to us about our stage 2 tunes.

Mercedes Performance Upgrade Performance Tuning in 3 Easy Steps

These days, as a Mercedes owner, you have a lot of options when making upgrades to your vehicle. At PRESSERtech, we’re here to guide you through the world of Mercedes performance upgrade tuning. In the last 10-15 years, we’ve seen automotive technology become more and more complicated. But never fear, that also means the door is wide open to exciting new possibilities.

Getting affordable performance upgrades and better fuel efficiency has never been easier. Let’s walk through it with one of our recent tune’s with this stunning 2016 C300 4MATIC, with a M274 four cylinder turbo engine. (You can also watch a video of this tune featuring our CTO Todd Presser.)

1. Review the Stock Settings

First, we looked at the stock settings of the vehicle. For this C300 4MATIC, the stock power was 241 horsepower and 273 LBS-FT torque. This car had pretty good power for a four cylinder already, but we were looking to heighten its performance. With our Mercedes Performance Upgrade, we wanted to see this 4MATIC at its best. You should know that many manufacturers, including Mercedes, will often detune their cars. So, you may not be getting the full value out of your current vehicle. The best way to combat this practice is a performance tune, to make sure you have access to the full power of your car.

When reviewing the options, we’ll want to hear from you about your needs as a driver. Every owner will have a slightly different outcome based on his or her goals. For today’s example, our modifications would take this 4MATIC to 260 horsepower and 300 LBS-FT torque.

       2. Modify the ECU

In the PRESSERtech garage, you’ll find us hard at work and doing what we love. With this 4MATIC ECU tune, all of the work we did to improve performance was confined to a small box called the electronic control unit. We removed this critical piece of technology with extreme care. Then we ran some tests, and got to work on tuning the vehicle’s factory settings.

Modifying your ECU is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to our services. We also can perform ECU/ECM repair, or even install a virgin ECU that is unlocked, renewed and ready to be activated.

3. Test the Results

We believe that the results really must be seen and heard before we’ve finished our work. We wanted to ensure that in Sports Plus, this 4MATIC had a much crisper response. Right away we noticed the turbo coming in faster with more boost. This car now had much more power. A nice added benefit to making this vehicle’s engine run better is fuel efficiency. This customer in particular averaged 23.2 miles per gallon before coming into our shop. We anticipated that average to go up to at least 24.5, if not 25 miles per gallon.

We love Mercedes Benz and we hope it shows. Every vehicle and driver are different so please reach out by phone or email so if you are looking for a Mercedes Performance Upgrade we can get to planning the exciting new rebirth for your car. You’ll be glad you did.

Mercedes Tune SL55 AMG Refining the Raw Power of an All Time Favorite Mercedes Engine

Can you guess one of our all time favorite engines to Mercedes Tune? Any takers? (Hint it might be a Mercedes SL55 Tune)

In other words, we can’t get enough of these R230 Mercedes SL55 AMG’s and performing a Mercedes SL55 Tune. A car that was so fast, that when it came out in 2002 for the 2003 model year, Car & Driver pointed out that no road tires even existed for the speeds it could reach.

In the case of this particular Mercedes SL55 AMG with a 5.4 Liter V8 supercharged engine, this car is nearly perfect. At the stock specs, it was running at 493 horsepower and 516 LBS-FT torque. But as always, our passion is to fine tune our favorite cars so they can run to their fullest potential. Over the past 15 years, cars have been getting more complex and with that comes more opportunity.

You might ask us, as Mercedes tuners, what do we see on stock factory settings that are available to fix? For instance, In a test drive of this Mercedes SL55, our biggest indicator was lag between the time we pushed the accelerator and the time the car took off. Ultimately we want to reduce the lag and punch up the response. In addiction, we have custom Mercedes tunes for 55 kompressor engines that don’t need pulley modifications.

Mercedes Tune for the Mercedes SL55 AMG

This is a car that was sitting on a lot potential raw power. Obviously, we see it often, especially when a model is in its earlier years. For instance, every year Mercedes rolls out another model, and each year you’ll see an increase in horsepower. But in a lot of cases it’s the same engine as the year before. Moreover, a Mercedes SL55 Tune or any tune for that matter is just refining the tuning of the car’s electronic control unit (ECU).

These days, the ECU controls a lot of things. So many things that a performance Mercedes Tune can really make a difference without expensive upgrades. For this 2003 Mercedes SL55 AMG, this was the first year Mercedes made this car, and we could tell from our test drive that they had left some horsepower on the bench.

The Mercedes SL55 Tune upgrade took place in our PRESSERtech garage. We always test the tune in real world scenarios to get vital feedback. Our clients are real drivers who are looking to keep their cars running smoothly for a range of activities, from everyday errands to track days. As experienced technicians, we always tune your vehicle within the limits of your car’s capabilities. Accordingly, we keep your original and tuned ECU flash on file.

You’ll see in the video of our final test drive showing our Mercedes SL55 Tune, the lag is gone and response has improved significantly. We can really see the supercharger coming in much faster and stronger. There for, our chiptuning modifications took this SL55 AMG to 530 horsepower and 604 LBS-FT torque. That’s a 17% increase in torque, which really helps with the pull. As you can see, a few tweaks to the car’s technology can make a formidable difference.

Get in touch for Mercedes SL55 AMG Tuning

Learn more about PRESSERtech and the type of work we do on our About Us page. In conclusion, we’d love to chat with you about your Mercedes, so don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. You’ll be glad you did.

Mercedes Tuners CLS63 AMG Mercedes Tuning

As you can imagine, as Mercedes tuners, we love a good tuning story. Today we’ll recount Mercedes Tuning of a 2012 CLS63 AMG. Upgrading the performance to a whopping 665 horsepower. Here’s how it all went down.

Factory Specs

From the factory, this CLS63 AMG already had something special going for it. Particularly because the owner chose the performance package. Coming into the PRESSERtech Mercedes Tuners garage, this CLS63 had 550 horsepower and 590 LBS-FT torque. That’s simply amazing. But if you know us, we’re here to perfect what’s already great, and take your vehicle to its truest potential.

When our CTO Todd Presser took the CLS63 out for a spin, it was obvious that despite the incredible numbers on paper, this AMG was missing a little bit of kick. “I can tell this thing has a lot of lag going on with it,” Todd said during our video of this tuning story. “This thing should just be jumping up when I hit the gas in sports mode.”

And as you can see at the 2:10 mark of the video, Todd couldn’t wait to get started tuning.

The Pressertech Mercedes Tune

There is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to performance tuning. A stage 1 tune on this car would increase the horsepower to 580 and the torque to 627 LBS-FT. This particular client chose a stage 2 tune. The Stage 2 Tune would produce eye popping numbers. Increasing the performance to 665 horsepower and 730 LBS-FT torque. Now that’s a Mercedes Tuners dream.

Now came the fun part for us. In the garage, Todd worked with the CLS63’s electric control unit (ECU) also commonly known as the electric control module (ECM). When Mercedes Tuning, whether we’ve popped the hood of a C-Class, E-Class, or another series. This process requires Mercedes Tuners to have an intense attention to detail and careful precision. When looking for the best Mercedes tuning company for you, you want to make sure you’re working with a specialist, who has a strong background in engine tuning. Once the ECU is removed we make sure it’ in good working condition by running diagnostics (we can also help with a ECM repair if needed). Then we read the ECU with special programming tools and work on the Mercedes tuning file.

The Results

And now it was time for the big reveal. After tuning the CLS63 we saw a 20% increase in horsepower. For this vehicle that meant a total 665 horsepower, and while we could think of a lot of ways to describe this tune, we’ll leave it simply with Todd’s words: “Good god, this thing is awesome.”

When you come to PRESSERtech Mercedes Tuners, you should know that we’re in this business because we’re passionate about fine tuning the performance of Mercedes vehicles. We’ve been working with these cars for over 30 years, from complete rebuilds to ECU tunes. Unlike the other companies who are just worried about making their numbers, you’ll get to work with the people that actually Mercedes Tune your car. We first and foremost want to hear from you about your needs.

Contact Pressertech

If you’d like to unlock the potential in your Mercedes, go to our Select Tune page to learn more or simply call or email. We’re ready to help.