drexappeal

Uh, no... Every single time I hit the freeway entrance and I'm already merging at 65mph in 3rd gear... I get a big smile. Funny thing is, there hasn't been a chance to finish up my low end tune, so once that's done...I'll be very curious. I'll most likely get my dyno done by then as well and possibly move on to more projects that the shop may want to do (not sure yet).

At this point, once the initial tune is completed, I'll be very happy (content), but if the shop decides they want to borrow my car again, I'm all for it!...LOL.

TruTaing

This never ceases to make me smile each day and im mostly stock, haha

Drop-a-Daimler

What's the story on those trick wheels, I'm digging 'em. They look like the OEM CLS 18" five spokes. I saw those staggered with 8.5" up front in 245/40s and 9.5" on the back in 275/35s. Looks lowered too. Is that them?

Drop-a-Daimler

Well the verdict is in. I took it out tonight for a cruise tonight after it cooled down all the way again. Santana, Mountain, Doobie Brothers, Credence, and The Band. That's about the fourth trip and maybe 150 miles on the new ECU. The schit works. Period. I like it.

rlee02135

they are the CLS wheels, he just changed the tires and lug bolts.

Drop-a-Daimler

Cool. I think they look great on the W230 sports.

FrankW

150miles just to test out the ECU...hardcore my man...two up

Drop-a-Daimler

Hey man, 600 MP3s in the changer, just trying to get through them all. It's a tough job but someone's gotta do it.

Drop-a-Daimler

All the sigs in this thread are starting to look like your photo shoot. And I gotta say, that dude's Audi looked beefy with those wheels.

TruTaing

rlee02135 doesnt miss a beat on these forums :P

Drop-a-Daimler

Here's another indication that the SI tuning works. It rained today and I had to use the "C" mode on the tranny for the second time ever (first time was during a bad ice storm). The sharper throttle response makes for an exciting stop-and-go commute in the rain. Shees! I think the ESP light was on more than it was off. But sometimes it doesn't feel super strong either. Like it comes and goes. This is what I have found trying to tune other closed loop systems. Sometimes the atmospheric conditions or the numerous sensors curtail the fun. But overall I think it's a worthwhile and simple upgrade. At under $40 per HP based on SI's claimed improvements, it is also one of the more cost effective performance mods. By their claims the car is making 290hp and 290tq at the crank and I think that feels about right.

Drop-a-Daimler

Anyone want to guess how much the MKB upgrade kit for the 3.5L is? It includes their headers, cams and springs, and ECU. Anyone?
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$13,000 for just the parts! WTF?!? Are they plated with Unobtainium or something?

rlee02135

so when is it coming in?

MJ50

13k???
it'd be similar price to go w/ renntech supercharger (if available for 350)

drexappeal

Can't say I didn't warn you

Drop-a-Daimler

You called it! And 330hp might be nice but it's not $13K nice. For that money I would go the S/C route and get 350+ hp and probably 20% more torque. You could buy a 335i, the mighty C32 or even the almighty C55 for that kind of an upgrade. And get this, the new 475hp C63 will do 0-60 in 4.5 seconds for only $63K!

FrankW

you probably can get the same result going with shrick cams, supersprint headers, and a SI retune for those mods.

you'll be more than likely paying mid $70k for the C63 with few options.

Blake P

No reason to put heavy wheels on if you're trying to increase performance. 18" forged FTW!

nlpamg

it doesn't make sense at all, especially when almost 90% of your posts are quotes from various magazine articles comparing and talking about a tenth of a second differential or differentials of 0.04g's. if you put on the heavier cast wheels, you'll be losing way more than a tenth of a second and it's apparent that you're really concerned with that...

also, from your other posts it sounds like you're also very concerned about handling and your skidpad numbers, then why get the H&R springs that you have in your sig? which you know will barely (if at all) lower your car and won't help with the ride or even handling. you need to get coilovers if you want to improve handling and your skidpad numbers.

Drop-a-Daimler

Yes, it's true, I read the magazines and yet, to me, it all still makes perfect sense . But then again, dropping a few extra grand to mod a Benz makes no sense whatsoever to a lot of people so it all needs to be taken with a grain of salt. To begin with, I am concerned with performance first and foremost but aggressive styling and good looks are definitely a close second. I am willing to trade a little performance for a lot of good looks on occasion. I'll switch up to larger wheels and wider rolling stock even if it means I might lose a little acceleration and trap speed in rolling resistance yet gain a beefy, wider, more aggressive stance. The springs will help here too. And although the wheels may be heavier, you do get to employ a wider footprint (245 vs. 265 and 40% aspect ration vs. 30%) which will help launching and cornering (as long as the aspect ratio and sidewall characteristics are as good or better) and that might even pick up a tenth or two. At the track, you win or lose at the launch and 60' time. Period. So, again, it all makes perfect sense to me. I was not aware the 19" Bremmas were all that much heavier so thanks for the tip, I'll look into that and "weigh" the trade off. And it is sprung weight too--not unsprung. But are the 19" Bremma wheels with PS2s really heavier? I think I read somewhere that they weighed almost exactly the same as the 18" AMG lightweight double spoke wheels. I know my stock wheels are about 25 lbs. each and the tires on them are about the same. Together my stock wheel/tires are a little over 50 lbs. each. If the 19" Bremmas are within a pound or two of that then that works for me. Let me know if your fact-finding proves otherwise.

But it's not really as black-and-white (everything for a tenth and damn the styling) as you may be reading into my rants. And .04g's, as I was trying to articulate earlier, is--I believe--a large differential and not a negligible one. A car that will turn .86 will usually drive away from a car doing .82 at the track. It's a big difference after a couple of laps. But it's more an accumulation of the statistics and not just one, like lateral g's, that make up the handling although looking at those numbers is a good place to start understanding the dynamic capabilities of a car. As for the springs, I've had pretty good luck just using better progressive rate springs on an already decent sport tuned suspension to improve track manners. The springs I am looking at seem to lower my already low Sport suspension about an inch which I believe is pretty significant. With the progressive rates, the initial dampening is about the same so bumps are not all that much worse (at least that's been my experience using the Eibach Pro Kit springs in the past). And the stiffer rates at higher compression can improve cornering characteristics by keeping the car more level thus making use of more foot print and smoother transitions. That slight improvement along with the lower center of gravity usually ads up to mildly improve handling. And to tell the truth I am not ready to spend what little I have on coilovers, good ones can be just down right expensive. Like the set of Bilstein B16 PSS9s I have been eyeballing. They will set you back a few grand! A set of good springs will only set me back $200 and installation is even less. I do agree that the coil overs will do a lot more to improve handling, just on my budget and on the bang-for-the-buck scale, the progressive rate lowering springs are hard to beat. But I have little or no experience with tweaking my new car, being new to M-B in general, and if others on the forum have reported worse handling on the C350 with lowering springs then I will certainly take their experience into account. I'll start doing some searches. If you have some links please post them.

In the end it is just like life: one big trade-off after another. A little power here, a little style there, always a balancing game but ultimately I hope to have an aggressive (yet not wildly non-stock) looking car that out performs it's stock counterpart. I'd like it to look like the average C-Class sitting at a stop light. In reality I would love to match the 335i as a benchmark. And that will definitely mean giving up some ride smoothness and drive-ability just as BMW agrees a sporty ride means a little less luxury. I think the 265/30s and 235/35s with an inch lower stance and stiffer spring rates will bump me up from a .86 to more like a .88, get those Toyo Proxes and that will easily be more like a .90 or .92 on the skid pad. And if the heavier wheels mean a little more resistance but harder launches and less wheel spin going into second? Them I am all over that. Rarely do I do 130 where the added resistance means the most. I tried three different tires last time I was on a dyno and nothing made much of a difference under 60 mph. Granted, the stickiest tire I tried did lose about 3% to 4% hp at 130 mph. But the harder launches at the track actually made me .3 of a second quicker overall. I even picked up an mph because I could leave harder. It was a fair trade in my book. I think the springs and wheels will be too.

nlpamg

I can't help but laugh whenever I read your posts now.

your long diatribes on blatantly obvious yet misguided concepts in a matter-of-fact, know-it-all manner never cease to amaze me.

first off, wheels are UNsprung weight. adding more to the unsprung weight greatly reduces performance compared to adding to the sprung weight. sure you read somewhere that the Bremma's weighed as much as the stock AMG 18's, no one was talking about getting stock AMG's. many people here who don't parade around magazine statistics have lightweight 3-piece wheels that are lighter than the stock 17-inch wheels even if they're 18 or 19's. sure, it is a trade off, but you seem to be overly consumed by margins of a tenth of a second to be willing to take that trade off.

you keep on talking about track times, are you really going to be bringing this car to the track? you say you don't want to spend on coilovers, yet you're going to burn a set of expensive rubber at the track? suuuuure. what you don't know about the springs is that H&R hasn't changed their part numbers and springs since they first developed the springs for the w203. are you aware that different years of the w203 have different ride heights? that the H&R springs are built for the pre-05's with much higher ride heights than the post-05's? everyone with an 05 and newer car has CUT coils on the H&R springs if they've wanted a decent drop. so, for someone that's overly concerned with handling, do you want to be running on cut springs? furthermore, as all knowing as you like to sound, you do understand that your stock shocks aren't tuned for those springs and will wear prematurely. so, cheap out now for hardly improved anything and spend more later. the PSS9's will set you back a few grand? hardly. I have PSS9's on my M3 and quite a few other members have the PSS9's on their w203's and it wasn't even close to two grand.

do what you want, you've already made it clear that you're extremely stubborn and think you know everything so I'm just going to laugh when you come back to us and say that the springs aren't what you expected or that the wheels are significantly heavier. you seem to be so consumed by matching a stock 335i, then why don't you buy one? I've driven a 335i and it's not as harsh as you make it out to be. plus, a lightly modded 335i will rape a heavily modded C350 all day and all night.

also, I'm not posting links, you need to search for yourself. you seem to do so already with all the magazine racing you're doing.

nlpamg

I forgot to add, since you love to restate the obvious, you do know that different drivers = different results. if you took a driving course instead of all this magazine racing and conceptual modding that you're doing, then maybe you'd actually pass a stock 335i on the track rather than just talk about how your car may be able to keep up with one after you're done modding.

FrankW

magainze racing FTMFL!!!

fact of the matter is the stock 335i 6-spd have proved to get around 280rwhp which translate to 330hp easy. it's also a fact that no matter what's done to the C350 motor with the available mods it won't get 335i beating power. You don't just win or lose at launch. with the power they have they'll still blow pass you. it's like the head start I give my friend's IS300 when he wants to play around for a bit. Mind you the 19" tires are also heavier than 17's by few lbs. tire weight also vary depending on the brand of the tire. You can get better tires for off the line acceleration without changing the tire width/contact surface if straight line is all you care about. the Eagle F1 GS-D3 believe it or not has incredible off the line grip even if it does not handle lateral grip as well as few other specific tires.

the TSW Bremma's are at least 28-30 lbs no matter what ppl tells you without the tires. The added inch and weight is plain and simple performance killer. Those who have Bremmas didn't get them for performance. They got'em because they look good.

lateral G numbers don't mean a lot. A car can pull all the lateral G it wants while not being a great handling car. some suspensions are designed well enough to give you very high lateral G result while completely different when it's on the track. once again magazine racing FTL! for example, You can have the M3 coupe vs the M3 cabrio pulling the same lateral G, but the cabrio will not be as good on the track as the coupe. Or you can have two car pulling the same G, but the lighter car will respond better on the track.

PSS9 is expensive, but it's not going to be couple grand as suggested. many places can get them at a very fair and competitive price. PLUS if you want the car to handle and perform, coilover is not the only way. a good shocks and spring combo will work the same if not better. If you are just doing the springs along and using the stock shocks you will feel a little better in handling, but pretty soon you will need to swap out the shocks because stock shocks are generally not designed to have shorter travel.

one last thing, adding unsprung weight to the car i.e. heavier wheel will only mean ****tier lateral grip because now you have extra weight swing around at each corner. sorry i don't have a better word for it, but it's a fact.

p.s. no matter what mods I have added to the car I've never intended for it to be a E46 M3 or have a urge to "beat" one. It's all for my own driving pleasure.

Drop-a-Daimler

Dude, sorry, another long diatribe of blatantly obvious schit coming. Actually you are kind of bumming me out. I was trying hard to keep this civil and on a factual basis but your belittling jabs are kind of annoying. I come here to talk tech and to learn. But you start right in with stuff like "blatantly obvious yet misguided concepts" and "know-it-all manner" and all of a sudden I don't give a schit about what you think you know from the street. But hey man, ban me or bash me -- I'm not too concerned -- I'll keep ranting and learning but obviously without your help. I promise to to ratchet down the sarcasm so you can keep up. Personally though, I think 330 to 350 RWhp out of the MB 3.5L is not out of the question and if that's the case, I still believe it could hang with a stock 335i. That's all I'm saying.

nlpamg

sorry man, I was just responding in kind as to how you were posting. I gave you a decent response in terms of trying to steer you away from heavier wheels because of your performance aspirations, but then you went on a long-winded rant implying that you knew everything.

you obviously have a chip on your shoulder, constantly comparing BMW's to your car and trying to beat them. did I even say anything about the M3 convertible "racing" your car from a drag? I hardly think you're at 5 seconds, if it's true, then more power to you, but I didn't buy my M3 to race C350's or to drag for that matter.

you got a great deal on your C350, props on that. I wish the 350's were out in 04 when I was buying my w203, I would have definitely got one. since you got such a great deal on it, I think you should slap on a Kleemann supercharger on it if you want 335i performance.

with all this talk about how much faster a car is around a track with differentials of 0.02 g's, I'm disappointed that you don't track your car. it seems like someone that talks all that would be tracking their car frequently, but you're more concerned with magazine racing more than anything else.

p.s. thanks, I think I am doing a decent job at being a mod. we have too many damn newbies that aren't willing to listen to people, that think they know everything, that refuse to search, and want everything spoon fed to them that it really doesn't provide the incentive to make them feel all warm and fuzzy.