phatchink

I'm sure some of you have heard of this sprintbooster but in case you havn't its supposed to make your MB 'feel' alot faster by increasing throttle responce. I've recently begun looking into this but I still am not exactly sure how it works.

I know it will decrease your throttle range so you would not have to floor it to get WOT, but what I dont understand is how it can reduce the lag time from me pressing on the thottle to engine response. The only logical explaination I can think of is it keeps the car at a higher rev so when you touch the throttle the car would respond much quicker.

Is there a downside to this?

DansSlk

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There was another thread on this somewhere but instead of messing about trying to find it here's how it works -

0% pedal travel - Idle RPM
100% pedal travel - Kickdown

MB make the first few % of travel "sloppy" to allow for around town driving, backing into spaces and so on the way they do this is by instructing the ECU that the first lets say 10% of pedal travel requires the throttle valve be actuated slower than the other 90% so you can more finely control the car at slow speeds.

So if you give the pedal 50% travel then you are moving past this slow zone before getting into the faster take up section this gives the feeling of a dead pedal because you can jab your foot about as much as you like in the slow zone and the car just wont jump up and go until you get into the 90% of faster take up travel.

The sprintbooster works by sitting on the electrical lines and monitoring pedal travel it knows how much of the travel is slow and where the faster take up kicks in so as soon as you apply even 1% throttle it uses the 12V feed to up the voltage returning to the ECU so it thinks your at 10% throttle and goes into the fast take up mode.

This gives the faster acceleration feeling because the car starts to move faster and with less travel of the pedal once the pedal reaches 10% travel the device shuts off and the feed is sent directly to the ECU as normal so to get kickdown you still need to floor the throttle, its not actually messing with the system so 90% of travel equals 100% throttle it just cuts out the first 10% and holds it at the lowest setting it can until the pedal reaches the fast take up zone.

So basically it does not matter where your foot is during that first 10% with the booster connected it can be at 1% or 9% your at 10% throttle until the pedal moves to 11% and then your back in control.

The disadvantage being that you lose the more relaxed throttle and this can make slow speed maneuvers more difficult.

I hope this explains it OK

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phatchink

Thank you very much for your input Dan, it was extremely informative. After reading that I drove around town this morning making sure that every time i step on the pedal it is 10% or more but I would still feel a considerable amount of lag time from input to power delievery. If your above theory is correct then this would still happen with sprintbooster installed am I correct?

It claims it will speeden the delievery of the signal to the transmission is that true?

Will I have a problem if I install this device and takeit in for MB dealer maintaince?

jliu

Get the AMG version though.

Its takes a few minutes to install and is easy to remove. I don't think the dealer will see it unless they are looking for it.

mtiede

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I didn't check back in the thread, but you ARE using S mode setting right? If you aren't, there would be more lag. I don't push the car hard generally, but it seems pretty responsive to me. Especially so compared to my previous SLK320.

DansSlk

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Unfortunately its impossible to replicate the effect of the booster manually because even if you jab the throttle you still have to move past the dead band, unless you physically remove the connector and short the terminals you wont be able to produce the same effect by using the pedal alone.

It does not increase the speed of any data transmission it does not even have data packets passing it its simply a stepped voltage, its a fancy resistor basically mate.

I would not have thought MB would mind its plug and play and does not interface with the cars computers in any way that could re-program or damage them.

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phatchink

in short Dan do you recommend this 'mod' if you will ?

DansSlk

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Um well to be honest I'm indifferent to it mate.

If you want to install it go ahead, i just feel they are charging a lot of money for whats basically a few dollars worth of hardware

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DesignoSLK

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It's funny, this thing seems to raise its ugly head every few months.

Dan's right, the cost compared to what you're getting is IMHO a total rip-off. The guy producing it ought to be ashammed of himself for charging so much for so little.

...just my take. There are better places to spend a few hundred bucks.

. . . rant off.

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'00 SLK230 Designo copper, '06 Saturn Vue, Cessna 172 (pilot)

bclark

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Am very curious about this device, or at least the claimed
effect since my biggest wishlist item is greater responsiveness
starting off the dime. Alot of discussion over at MBWorld
but much is speculative (and they aren't nearly as polite to
one another as we are over here).

DansSlk

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To be honest with you mate this peice of kit is not ideal on your car it wont hurt it but its not going to do drivability any favours either.

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http://www.slkworld.com/performance-...converter.html

phatchink

Dan if what you're saying is true then this would surely benefit the 1/4 time as it will eleminate the lag cause at the first 10% hence making a faster 1/4 time, wouldn't you agree?

DansSlk

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In theory yes i imagine it would but in practice you move past the dead band so fast that i don't see it making any real difference to be honest with you pal.

It feels worse than it actually is

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It´s difficult to explain, but with a power converter you must drive more aggressiv than without. I rebuilt it because it matches better to an automatic gearbox.

algrensan

more info about the sprint booster can be found at http://www.sprintbooster.gr/en/ if you haven't checked it out already. after surfing several different forums raving about this sprint booster for the slk350 (and other models), i decided to take a risk and get one myself. i'm not a technical guru, sprint booster sales rep, online business or whatever. so all i can tell you is from from one slk350 owner to another: have you ever felt like there were times you wanted to push your car hard and it seemed kind of sluggish/hesitant (like it took a second to think about going faster)? and then it felt like you had to apply more throttle pressure to get where you wanted to be a second ago? or maybe after getting the slk350 you wondered if you should've tried to get the slk55 instead... (*i'm not claiming that this product will make you beat so-and-so car.) basically, i have no regrets getting the sprint booster and i highly recommend this as a first or close-second upgrade modification to anyone's slk350. the first being green air filters or something other than stock filters-(or at least clean the damn stock filters/boxes! you will be surprised by how much **** is in there!) the car is much more responsive-the way it should've been in the first place. it should "go" when you want it to go and it sure as hell does. installation is about medium difficulty. there are some threads out there with detailed pics/info (like what tools you need). i forget where but i did the installation myself and i'm no mechanic. it just feels weird seeing the gas pedal extend out and not be in its usual place. the only downside i can think of is your gas mileage might hurt a little bit. it's hard not to have a spirited drive when you got this thing in your car. the car is much more fun to drive and it feels like you just brought it home from the dealership. you will know what i'm talking about when you get it.

Snofun

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My car does have this (installed by the previous owner) and I do have to say that the biggest advantage that I have seen is starting on a hill, especially with another car right behind you. Your car just "goes" right away.....not really sure if I would purchase this if my car did not already have it. It just seems like a lot of $$$ for what it does.

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can any of u guys recommend where i can buy an ECU uprgrade? how much $$$ am I gonna expect to spend? thanks!!!

phatchink

I dont see it the same way, just as how would you spend 200 bucks on aerofins which is essentially pieces of plastics? Why spend on bodykit when the production cost is the same as civic bodykits? This goes the same as other cosmetic accessories. In the end its all about how much you want to pay for what you're getting.

You're driving a merc, so they charge more, thats the law.

Ynot

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Check out the sponsors at mbworld.org, iirc you can send your ecu to speed innovations in Southern California, and they will next day air your ecu back to you, the cost is ~$700 plus shipping, suppose to gain 15hp and 15lb/tq, I would recommend you dyno your SLK first b/c sending in your ECU, so you'll know your results.

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