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Thanks. I stopped by the dealer to get the center caps from Parts and no less than two MB service techs, three customers and one Audi tech from next door were eyeballing it in the service lane (over the S63 AMG behind me). LOL. I guess people dig the wheels.

Looks sick!

Very nice!

PGT wrote:I know, I was scared too. It rides better on 'Sport' than my STI did on Ohlins and 245/35/19 NT05's. Like 500% better. I can blast over rough stuff without a care in the world.

wow, that's particularly awesome.

thought I'd update this thread.....

better pics of summer wheels mounted:




sold the fugly stock split six spoke AMG wheels and terrible PZero all-seasons and ordered C63 AMG wheels instead with Conti DWS. These will let me rock 275/35/18's in the rear (something this car desperately needs):

Oh, and the ECU arrives back tomorrow from Kleemann USA after sending to them for their K1 package. Tune, remove speed limiter and remap throttle angle tables. Crank power is 410 HP and 580 Nm (414 lb-ft) of torque.

Wait, it's going from 382 hp and 391 lb-ft of peak torque to 410/414? Damn nice from just a reflash. What do the other upgrades make?

most reflashes are about the same. the same gains can be had from long-tube headers on top of that (i.e. another 20+hp) but we're talking about another $5k all-in for that step ($3500+ another flash). No thanks....I like the 'stock' setup of what I've put together so far.

without some "serious" upgrades (think supercharger) there is very little to be gained from mods on most MBs, BMWs & Audi 8 cylinders.

And they are crazy expensive.

yep. having done this a few times on other marques, I know there's the sweet spot of bang for the buck. one must go ''all in'' to really make a difference past a certain point and then that creates other issues unless you pony up for a Brabus conversion.

Now, a 135i and $5k will garner you a screaming fast ride.

just be wary of the upcoming issues.

It's always interesting to me how the same amount of the same metal can cost $Honda or $Texas depending on what car it's going on to. Very sad really. They are just taking advantage because they know people will pay it.

yep. porsche is the worst. $2100 for a muffler delete

Ridiculous!

ECU is now back in my hands. I'll reinstall it tonight when I get home. From Kleeman "drive it hard the first 150 miles to get the ECU to learn aggressively".

lol! Give us impressions when you're done treating it like a bastard step child!

Hope it comes out just right for you!

well, everything went back together in five minutes or less. no tools except the 10mm to secure the battery terminal. On these cars, the ECU sits right in the middle of the motor, where a TMIC would sit on a Subaru. There's a heatsink on the top edge with a cut out in the airbox assembly for it to get fresh air. Amazing how easy it was to work on....I figured I'd have more work involved.

Did a quick drive on the way to get my daughter from daycare....definitely feels more aggressive even around town. The stock mapping was quite sleepy....this is not. Full drive tomorrow where I can open it up beyond 45mph. So far, so good.

UPDATE - Removed the Kleemann tune....didn't think it made enough of a difference for $1400 spent. They were more than helpful and fair in getting me a refund.

In other news, got the winter set on....C63 AMG stock wheels


and ran it on the dyno. Read a little low....had some issues going WOT in 4th from below 3,000 RPM (tranny kept downshifting, even in full manual mode...probably a safety feature). A CLK63 Black Series only read 100 higher on the same dyno so that's a good gauge of the power this setup has.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17GV0mz-oeY[/video]

Did you get a chance to dyno it with the tune by chance?

^^^ That $1400 for a tune... I hope you got at least 150HP out of it, but I doubt it.

No, that would have made sense. Its only supposed to add about 25-30 to each number. Thing is, the tune removed the "rush" up top that I like so much in this car. Perhaps it made more power down the curve....it just never felt as fun or as fast.

Ya, it probably smoothed out the power curve a good bit and distributed that rush.

well, moreso than other manufacturers, I'm not sure one can improve (too much) on the product MB puts out. KW makes Variant 3's for this car and as much as I think the car would be more to my liking, I also appreciate the ability of the active suspension to tune out road crap. The push-button nature of firm vs. soft would be lost.

PGT wrote:well, moreso than other manufacturers, I'm not sure one can improve (too much) on the product MB puts out. KW makes Variant 3's for this car and as much as I think the car would be more to my liking, I also appreciate the ability of the active suspension to tune out road crap. The push-button nature of firm vs. soft would be lost.

i think that's a smart decision. real life driving vs track time.