Quite a few things but you have to research it. Look on the W204 forums and see what people have done to their cars. Im guessing intake setup and chip is basically all the C300 and 350 have. No F/I yet and im not so sure about bolt ons. Mostly aesthetics are all that can be done to the cars so far as major. They're still fairly new. Even the W203 FINALLY has a widely marketed supercharger made by Kleeman for the 06-07's and its the middle of 2009. I'd say you would have to look into a custom tune and F/I setup from a company for major HP gains but that will cost you a pretty coin. Good luck and look throught the photo section and ask around. Good luck :thumbsup:

 

Hello car tuner newbie..

There's no such thing as chips anymore, there are reflash and ecu tunes.. Specially in euro cars.. You get this, you will tamper with the air fuel mixture and widen the stock maps so to speak to create a map to give you optimal performance...you can go to your local tuner/dyno to do this.. Intake? K&N, exhaust? X pipe, more faster? Save money, faster? Save more money, still want to be faster??.... get the brabus program 4.0 stroker kit, here in PR they have sold 2 kits to c350's I dunno if they are available for c300's.. Any more questions.? Ask me, I can help u!

 

Take his advice^+1

Im not up to par on the new C-class mods but I really doubt you will go with the Brabus 4.0 for not that large of gains and the listing price is 17.900euros plus 2.000euros for installation! I would have bought a used C63 or C55 for those prices and been waaaay faster and happier. A reflash is usually done to the ECU now but performance chips still do exist. Anyway the 4.0stroker kit is NOT available for the C300. C350 MSRP's for 39k plus basically 20k in mods for a car tha goes 0-60 in 5.9?! not impressive.(Brabus ratings) So you spent 60k on a car that keep up with a ford taurus SHO. Nice. or go get a 60k car...C6 Z06, E9X M3, E60 M5, E46 M3, 135, 335, used C63, c55, C32, slk350, slk32, slk55, lotus, etc.... the list goes on and on and the list of cars that will kill yours with that mod go on and on. Drop in filters, ecu tune, get rid of spare tire, and then accessorize the thing. Its got decent power from MB. I would focus on looks. You'd be luck to get 25hp from these two things and still spend around 500 all together. Enjoy your ride for what it is and learn to handle the car beter before opting for more power. Go to a track and test your skills in different modes..ESP off, dyno mode, regular..and then once you learn that, THEN shop for power. If you're looking for straight line then American muscle or German Muscle should have been your shopping point.

Goodluck and welcome to the world of tuning:thumbsup:

 

Amglover is right.... if performance was your goal adquiring a c class, let me tell you, it's posible but your hands are full...1st we are @ the very bottom of all the competition.. G37's, 335i's, 135i's, is350... etc. It's even been said that people who buy our cars are people that buy the badge and the status rather than a car (I stopped reading car&driver for this). Are they right? Weell...... yeah. Performance iss bmw's forte and that's why they are so highly rated by that magazine and most of the euro performance whizs.. Handling is bmws forte also... c63 handling is worth a shit but hell I would take it 1st anyday in front of an m3.. luxury? That's us, status,, yep that's us.. When mercedes is pushed upon, amg is the way to go... buttt.... mb performance is waaaay to expensive.. So If performance was your goal you have NOT struck gold.. In fact, you nailed the litter in that! Haha.. 135i is your car, more space? 335i or an used up e46m3, they still look good and you can mean serious business with a supercharged or turbo kit

As a matter of fact, I have almost 2 years with my c class and when my lease get's a bit closer to the end I will trade it 4 the c63amg... I will try not to buy that brabus kit..

 

Excellent points. BMW is the way to go when searching for performance AND handling. Hence the M3 on my end. I got the C55 for the whole status effect and the 230 is my dd and play car. I am going to trade it in for a 135 in about 6 months after the facelift and interior is done(to the 135). I will then be using:

Vishnu PROcede Rev II CANbus Computer
Plug-and-Play Harness
(original BMW plugs)
Remote map switcher
Vishnu BMW Cat-back Exhaust.

Just from the chip, custom tuned dual exhaust, and cone filter the 135 will have 420bhp and 390tq. It'll basically put the new M3 to shame after I add the M package which includes the OEM LSD from M.

As far as Infiniti goes..:nono:..I drove the new G37S for about two weeks while my brother left it at my house when on vaction. Its a fast ride and handles nicely but lacks the feel of a performance car. He had it delimited ecu tune, and the catback system from Infiniti. Your C300 FEELS faster but the G37 is too refined for a sports car in my opinion. I thought going from 0-130mph was actually boring in it.

I want to congratulate bulletspec on choosing a fine engine to switch to but may I suggest the 2010 C63 in your case as more horsies have been added making it a grand total of 500-525. So stock for stock a 2010 will outrun an 09. Not to mention the fact that you will literally smoke any M car you meet thats stock(yes I mean even the M5 and M6) on the road because you are so much damn lighter than them.

Back to the subject. BMW for performance on the lower vehicles and one hell of an experience, Mercedes for looks and feel, and Audi for looks. But since you jumped boat on the W204 then I would go with an ECU tune which will do the car some justice. Headers are mainly for sound as getting hp(bigger numbers) out of an N/A engine is a bit harder to do than F/I. On the Kleeman note, I wouldn't hold my breath. Its taken them 3 years to make a decent F/I system for the C230 V6 models and it costs as much as the car did new.:bash: Like I said just go for looks. Go for Y-split tips welded in place of the current ones, Grab a set of the C63 rims or reps, drop it on a set of coils(Tein is a low rider but very easy and newbie friendly, H&R is for more serious track boys and guys who want the feel of a C63 or M car, KW I don't know much about so I'll leave that slot open for another member, Carlsson sport lowering kit, Brabus has a spring set that "dampens height" the faster you drive and the more wind you hit. So basically your cars springs lower and tighten the faster you go making it more aerodynamic, tighter grip on higher speeds, and lower.

After that, you don't have much options asides from custom work. You could get into weight saving performance by taking out the spare, lighter wheels, etc. Most will move away from performance at this point and focus on handling and suspension. Here you have more options. Coilovers (H&R, Eibach, Ksport, Bilstein, KW)/Springs(H&R, Eibach), sway bars (Eibach), strut brace (MB Arts, Renntech), and adjustable cambering arms are readily available. You can also choose to upgrade your brakes here with AMGs, Brembos, or Rotara. -excellent points and a few in there i forgot to mention. It all comes back to looks for the W204 for now


Personally I think the C300 sport is a nice ride and apparently can keep up with 350z, G35, Mazda Rx8 etc.. on highways (stock for stock of course) and still be comfortable(trust me 350z going 140 is no fun).

Keep us updated and enjoy the ride:eclipsee_steering:

 

Kleemann should have their headers released soon along with their Kompressor kit. Headers are shorties though. Few companies have fabbed longtubes, but for the C63. I could get base 204 longtubes made though if there was interest. For ECU tunes, you have a few choices...Kleemann, RennTech, PowerChip, Speed Innovation, Brabus, Singh, etc.

You're intake already sports a built in CAI so I wouldn't mess with that....just upgrade the filters to K&N or better BMC. Airbox has some sound baffling you could dremmel out if you want.

Resonator delete and go with x or straight pipes. You'll lose some low end torque, but pick up high end hp. The torque loss will be pretty noticeable at first, but give your ECU a weeks time to adjust and it'll compensate. Exhaust you have a few options...you can go universals or get model specific ones like Remus or Meisterschaft for dual tips, or Meisterschaft and Eisenmann for quads. Y splitters and tips if you just want the quad look.

After that, you don't have much options asides from custom work. You could get into weight saving performance by taking out the spare, lighter wheels, etc. Most will move away from performance at this point and focus on handling and suspension. Here you have more options. Coilovers (H&R, Eibach, Ksport, Bilstein, KW)/Springs(H&R, Eibach), sway bars (Eibach), strut brace (MB Arts, Renntech), and adjustable cambering arms are readily available. You can also choose to upgrade your brakes here with AMGs, Brembos, or Rotara.

Hope that helps.

 

How would you benchmark a K&N or BMC Filters. What's the performance gain, and do you even notice it. If I noticed it in any way I'd spring right at it. If it's just behind the scenes stuff that feels cool to know you have but doesn't manifest obvious benefit then I'll just save my money.

BTW, if anyone wants to make your rear reading lights match your front LED reading lights, PM me and I'll sell you those bulbs for $10 shipped Paypal.

 

How would you benchmark a K&N or BMC Filters. What's the performance gain, and do you even notice it. If I noticed it in any way I'd spring right at it. If it's just behind the scenes stuff that feels cool to know you have but doesn't manifest obvious benefit then I'll just save my money.

Your throttle will feel a bit sharper and more responsive. The gain is only 1 to 2hp but it does make the engine breath better. If you were to race a C300 from 0-130 and you had k&n's and he was stock, you would pull him every time but only by maybe half a cars length(your passenger door will be next to his front wheel) and then you will slowly inch forward. The filters are just for better air flow and they seem to make the engine sound better. :thumbsup:

 

I doubt anything will be noticeable with just a filter swap and if so, you'd have to be really really sensitive. Way I see it is this....MB CLK DTM car was running K&N filters over stock. When they designed the C63 DTM car, they made the switch from K&N to BMC. Obviously they must have noticed some sort of performance gain to make the switch be it higher airflow or better particle trapping or even both.

 

]...

Sorry to hijack...it still goes with the improving a C300 theme:

AZN 300 what kind of rims are those on your C300? (the ones in your signature?)

 

Well, if you were trying to race or modify the car as a civic or anything else, where you put headers and there are a ton of available parts for a tuner crowd... well I'm sure there can be plenty of options but as far as I know, most of our cars are in warranty and the people that have it are not interested in performance, so hold there for some years and see how this develops.. C300 have a nice motor but is not performance.. Not even my c350.. They respond and could do nice against some competition but.. Not a car to be racing.. They are cars to cruise @ high speed, remember that.. As for the k&n filters.. Well you are doing an external engine modification with no tuning involved.. And if performance is your goal, every inch you gain on a car is worth the money, or am I wrong?