bige2455

In the market for a second car and looking at a E500 Estate 4matic. Want to know what performance upgrades you can do to the E500. Would get an E55 AMG estate but it isn't AWD and need this car for Seattle and I snowboard quite a bit. Specifically would like to know if you can put AMG front and rear bumpers on the E500 either E55 or E63. Also exhaust systems for the E500.

despicable merc

Not sure about performance mods but you better be sure about your choice. E500 especially used is not a Toyota.

bige2455

I understand they are not Toyotas and there will be some gremlins involved. But if i wanted a boring car everybody had I would buy myself a Toyota.

AMGAffalterbach

To answer the performance question:

Well what can you do to a naturally aspirated engine performance wise? The main things you'll be looking at will be ECU tune, headers, and then cams. Kleemann offers these in three mains stages as you'll see here: http://www.kleemann.dk/Performance/E...3043AMGV8_M113. With all of the above you'll almost be touching 550 (M273) power levels, but cams and headers are really expensive. The next level up would be to supercharge the M113 to make it effectively what an E55 is, the M113/K that is supercharged from factory with a clutch-based pulley.

It's really quite expensive, if you live near sea-level then you're already ahead of the game. If you live some place like I do, expect the E500 to keep up but still lose to things like the WRX since it is heavy. You can mod an NA engine, but especially with a Mercedes it will be quite a bit of money for comparatively little gain. For me it hasn't been worth it and I plan on going to something biturbo V8 soon.

!!WARNING!! That 4-Matic will reduce the after-market for the car, for instance Kleemann does not do headers for many 4-Matic vehicles. This could have changed but I believe some of the all wheel drive hardware gets in the way of long tube headers and some companies just don't offer them.


To answer the bumper question:

You can put an AMG bumper on there, yes. For the 55 bumper it should be a straight bolt on, for the 63 bumper you will have to change some of the mounting hardware below and possibly do head lights I don't quite remember. But there are hundreds of threads on MBWorld with this same question so my suggestion is to search around for the conversion instructions. There are even some full-fledged tutorials here that show the process so you can decide how crazy you want to go. You will not have to quarter panels fenders or hood or anything like that fortunately. Beejay would be a good resource on this, that crafty Aussie just did the facelift E63 conversion on his car and it looks stellar.


To answer the exhaust question:

Headers are where you will see the torque and performance gain for that car. As for header-back exhaust systems, well once again you're a little limited by platform. The best full systems are from companies like Kleemann, Brabus, Eisenmann, etc, but you'll have to check on a case-by-case basis as to what fits. Being naturally aspirated once again there will be marginal benefits to doing a full exhaust compared to a turbocharged car.

Hope that answers most of your burning questions.

bige2455

Thanks for the reply. All great information. I'm not looking to make this E500 a tire smoking, 600hp, 10 second drag car. I have my Mustang and it'll take care of all the tire smoking I need. Just want it to have a decent amount of power, look, and sound good.

despicable merc

300 horses is not that bad and sound pretty good.

bige2455

I think it comes stock with 300 so may try and push towards 400 but pretty much leave it at that. Rest would be cosmetic.

JDM_SXE-10

Unfortunately, the E500 just doesn't have any cheap solutions when it comes to to performance. Just to get from the stock 302 rating to 400 will cost more money than it's worth. If you want to improve aesthetics then there are many options that range drastically in price, but the premium to make these engines go faster is another story.

AMGAffalterbach

Exactly what JDM said, in my reply I said a Kleemann K3 package will take you toward 400 if the headers actually fit. Kleemann K3 is in the $8-10k range if I remember correctly, just their tune alone is $1200.

I would just do a tune then go for show car looks with a great but practical stance, some high end wheels, E63 front/rear bumper conversion, then get some mad carbon fiber bits like a rear diffuser and front lip (would look excellent on black or white), maybe even wrap the car a satin color.

bige2455

Sounds good guys. Wish i could do E55 sedan but really need the AWD to go to the mountains and carrying around the kid and all her stuff.

beejAMG

I reckon this pretty much answers all your questions.
if you have a deep pocket then a lot of these are possible. with regards to an AMG look, you'll need a 5 specific parts if you want the E63 look but a straight bolt on with the E55. as for the rear bar, that im not so sure since i have a sedan. goodluck mate! if you need more info with the conversion just let me know.

beejAMG

"I would just do a tune then go for show car looks with a great but practical stance, some high end wheels, E63 front/rear bumper conversion, then get some mad carbon fiber bits like a rear diffuser and front lip (would look excellent on black or white), maybe even wrap the car a satin color."

^+1

cetialpha5

What year E500 were you considering? If you want closer to 400, I think there's the E550 which is also available with AWD and had 382hp, then there'd be no need to do expensive engine mods but you could probably still do some cosmetic ones.

despicable merc

Kinda complicated request you got there 400 hps and all wheel drive.

Good luck finding 550..

As some of us said these cars don't really meant for mods.. It can be done but its a complicated car. Its already tight...

Might wanna check audi A6 C3 generation. They have V8s with all wheel drive(famous Quattro) and 350hps.

cetialpha5

There's not that many of E550 4matics out there, but just punching in the W211 (2007-2009) into cars.com yields 26 of them in the US and they range from about 13.5k-24k whereas autotrader has 40 of them and goes up to 40k for one with just 24k miles on it.

AMGAffalterbach

E550 production, an MBUSA employee recently told me, accounts for about 2% of total E-Class production world wide so that's quite true, I eventually found an E550 4-Matic though. Did they make the E550 in an estate?

agm18

It might be cheaper to put in a crate motor.
http://www.turnkeyenginesupply.com/ls-crate-engines/
It also might save a few bucks.

AMGAffalterbach

That won't be cheap at all LOL