Mercedes Tuning Perfecting the Power of the Mercedes Benz C117 CLA250

Now and again, we all need a pick-me-up, and sometimes so does your car. In our shop we’ve been Mercedes Tuning or ECM tuning a gorgeous C117 Mercedes Benz CLA250 (watch the video here). It’s beautifully styled, with sleek lines and an excellent sports package. Now a power upgrade was in order to give this four-cylinder an extra boost. Prior to starting our work, we took the vehicle out for a test drive and noticed a sluggishness that could be dramatically improved with the proper Mercedes tuning. And, oh by the way, save our client a couple of miles per gallon in fuel efficiency.

The car arrived at the PRESSERtech garage, it performed at the stock flash, running at about 208 horsepower with 258LBS-FT Torque. We know from our experience as Mercedes tuners that stock settings often need adjustments to reach the car’s full potential. It’s not uncommon for a car to be purposely depowered in the factory. We could feel that this CLA250’s engine wanted to do more and take off better.

Talking to our client about the Mercedes Tuning

Strategizeing with our client, we had a couple of options available. A Stage 1 tune would bolster the horsepower to 250 and the torque to 295LBS-FT, providing a nice boost from the original specs. But we knew we could make the engine run even better than that. The vehicles owner landed on a Stage 2 tune, which would elevate the performance tune to 260 horsepower with about 310LBS-FT torque. We were more than happy to oblige.

Now we had our marching orders in place, our CTO Todd Presser got to work. With an emphasis on the correct methods of Mercedes tuning. You want an expert technician to make the adjustments, and we’ve spent over 30 years maintaining and Mercedes tuning Mercedes Benz vehicles. Most noteworthy, we’re talking about some very delicate work to adjust the car’s electronic control unit (read more about ECUs here).

Starting the Performance Tune Process

The ECU was carefully removed, Todd ran diagnostics and reviewed it with specialized programming tools. Then it was a matter of taking the tuning file and building the tune. Our PRESSERtech dog-in-residence Holly checked in on Todd’s progress as he worked to crack the code on the original factory settings.

Ultimately, the careful tuning behind-the-scenes paid off, with this Mercedes CLA250 performing at a staggering 50 more horsepower and 50 more lb-ft torque than when it arrived at our shop. That’s a 25% increase in horsepower. Just take a listen to our drive post-tune and you’ll hear the results. At 30,000 miles, this Mercedes is performing better than ever before. And don’t forget that by making the engine run better, we’re improving fuel economy as well.

Consequently, Pressertech believes that your Mercedes tune is customized to you. Our Mercedes tuning specialists will work with you and make sure your Mercedes Benz performance truly matches your needs. Enter your car’s details on our Select Tune page and see what’s possible to breathe new life into your vehicle.

Todd said, in the video, “if you go with a PRESSERtech tune, you’re not going to compromise everyday comfort… But when you want to drop the pedal, the power is there, the power is better

Mercedes Tuner M278 Engine Mercedes Performance Tuning of the E550

Recently in an article we discussed a Mercedes Tuner dream. Mercedes Performance Tuning of the M278 Engine in the Mercedes E550 series of cars. The M278 Engine that comes standard on the 2011 Mercedes-Benz S550, 2011 Mercedes-Benz CL550 and the 2011 Mercedes-Benz CLS550. Later followed in 2012 & 2013 by the Mercedes-Benz SL550, Mercedes-Benz E550 and the Mercedes-Benz GL550. Will Mercedes Performance Tuning dramatically increases the Horsepower & Torque? You can read the article here;

Mercedes M278 Engine

We discussed how a Mercedes Tuner can really take advantage of the M278 Engine and its awesome V8 block. The M278 Engine with its twin turbochargers, one per cylinder bank and gasoline direct injection with multi spark ignition. It has a stock power of approximately 402HP and 443LB-Ft Torque. It makes this a fantastic engine and definitely no slouch in the performance car category. Now compare that to the Mercedes M157 Engine that come standard on the 63AMG models that pulls out a staggering 550HP and exceeds its Torque of 531LB-FT. As a writer for The Drive says, “It’s a sport sedan that’s hard to beat“. Even though it’s a very similar engine, you’re going to pay a heavy price for that upgrade, or are you? Perhaps not with Mercedes Performance Tuning.

Mercedes Performance Tuning – The Process

Now with the M278 engine and the M157 Engine being so very similar, why is one putting out so much more power than the other? We were ready to start and set about Mercedes performance tuning an E550 to see how close we could get to the Mercedes E63 AMG. Quite frankly, even we were amazed by what our results showed. As Mercedes Tuners, we painstakingly adjusted the inner workings of the car over and over. We were making minor changes along the way until we were ready to unleash the beast.

Then we started by adjusting the rev limiter in precise detail and removing the speed limiter especially for those customers taking their car to the track. Taking time to optimize the boost pressure in the bi-turbos and made adjustments to the fuel, air and timing maps to achieve the most efficiency possible. We did all these modifications while maintaining the safe margins of stock components. The end result was a whopping 510HP and 590LB-Ft of Torque nearly equaling the E63’s numbers. Being happy with this performance we established this benchmark for our Stage 1 performance tune.

A Mercedes Tuner Dilemma, Stage 1 or Stage 2 Tune

We’re very happy with our Stage 1 Mercedes Performance Tuning. But, it became apparent that this E550 wasn’t even breathing heavily. So smooth was the tune and performance of the M278 engine we soon realized that the car still had so much untapped potential. We had just scraped the surface with the Stage 1 tune.

Back off to development! Again we painstakingly continued adjusting the car and testing it on a dyno in what seemed like a daily theatrical event. Every time, the car produced more and more. Performance tuning is not an easy process, it takes time, patience, long hours and a lot of testing. We kept going encouraged by what were incremental improvements. We wanted to keep the car’s stock components so the only thing we were doing was ECU tuning. All the hard work and effort paid off and our Stage 2 tune was ready and what a tune it is!

Mercedes Performance Tuning Results

Our Mercedes Performance Tuning of the M278 Engine was putting out an amazing 540HP and 705LB-Ft of Torque at the flywheel. Each car and testing location will put out slightly different results and even compensating for the loss of power at the wheels and elevation of the dyno (this particular test of the 550 at 3500 feet above sea level), this car is amazing! Pressertech’s Mercedes performance tuning has never been so rewarding. These Mercedes performance tuning numbers are produced with no other modification to the car except for ECU tuning of the M278 Engine. This Mercedes remains a smooth driving machine but when you put the pedal down, the power is there!

There you have it and you can see the results of Pressertech’s Stage 2 Mercedes Performance Tune. The Mercedes E550 model with the M278 engine outperforms the flagship Mercedes E63 AMG. Your car can be next. All we need is as little as 24 hours so when you are looking for Mercedes Tuners, look to Pressertech. We’ll have you smiling all the way to the track.

Contact Pressertech

If you have questions, give us a call at 770-648-0500 or 888-520-Tune. Alternatively, use our handy Pressertech Contact Page and lets see if we can give you a Mercedes Performance Tune to put a smile on your face.