Just throwing out a hypothetical question (I'm not in this position). Both the C55 and C63 have their advantages/disadvantages but what would you rather do in this point in time:

A) Sell the C55 ($15K=$20K) and buy a used 2009 C63 for around $40K.

B) Keep the C55 and invest ($12.5K-$15K) in Kleemann's S/C kit. 500-K3(S/C): K1 + K2 + super sport camshafts. Up to 500 HP and 655 Nm (485 lb-ft) of torque.

C) Other options...?

 

you guys are lucky yesterday looked at 2009 C63 aussie $110,000

 

I'd actually go with option C.

I would pull the engine out of a S55 and put that in the C55. For a few reasons...

I always believe in keeping an NA engine NA.. but I also believe in making a SC or Turbo engine anything you want. Due to compression ratios its always easier and best to mess within engines that have lower compression ratios on purpose when it comes to adding or modifying forced induction.

While I like the power of the C63.. and all of the 6.2L engines (drove the CSL63, E63, and C63x2 at the AMG driving experience) I'm not a fan of the C63 interior. I actually kind of like the W203 better. Mainly when it comes to the dash cluster and the navigation screen position. That being said I do like the C63 seats better. I like the fact the seat really wraps around you.

So I think I would enjoy a slightly older AMG more than the current W204 lineup.

I can say I can't wait to see what the W205 is going to look like... and by then I hope to have the money saved up to be first in line.

 

A or C.

A because I figure 500hp with mild mods will be more reliable and require less messing about than an aftermarket supercharger system. Not that I have anything against aftermarket supercharger systems (I do have one on my S2000) but there just isn't the wealth of experience in the forums with supercharger installs and tuning in the C55 world. I mean, there is 91RS and...? And I don't mean to sound negative, but I have read his posts and it seems like it has taken a lot of work to get his car to a nicely tuned state. Compare to my S2000, there are several hundred Science of Speed supercharger kits out there.

I'll admit I have a serious infatuation with the C63 and am dying to get myself into one ASAP. Don't get me wrong, I love my C55 and as alluded to in Viper's other thread, it is definitely a good value for money at the moment. However, I don't think it viable to put lots of money into the car in the future as I will likely get rid of it to get into a C63 at some point.

The other option, C, would be to find a nice W211 E55 or W219 CLS55 and throw some money at that for somemods, including a coil spring conversion and away you go with 500+ hp and 500+ ft lbs. But I've said it before, and I'll say it again, the analog clock face taking up one of the three dials on the instrument cluster on W209s, W11s and W219s really annoys me and says 'old man' car to me. If there was an easy swap to get something else there, I would seriously consider getting into an E55 or CLS55 sooner rather than later - locally to me CLS55s are about $10k cheaper than C63s at the moment.

But therein also lies the torque vs. horsepower debate. The supercharged 55 motors make pile more torque than the 63 motors, and in 'real world' driving, torque gives more thrills and ease of driving. If the 55K motors were easier to swap into the C55 I think I would have done it already! I think for the larger sedans, the 55K is a more suitable motor, but for the smaller C classes, the 63 suits the car just fine. It is, after all, still about 440 ft lbs.

 

The C63 will always have more potential given it's greater displacement and newer technology. That being said, I've had the opportunity to play with 2 C63s before the DCAI, crank pulley and cams. I had Kleemann headers, dual exhaust, K&N filters and the Eurocharged tune at the time. The first didn't catch me and the second didn't pull away even with a jump. Granted, I'm assuming they were both stock and non-PP. Heavily modded, a N/A C55 can keep up with a stock non-PP C63 IMHO. Modded C63, I'm sure it will be a different story.

The fastest 1/4 mile for a stock C63 on dragtimes (it did have DR's) is 12.168 @ 115.82 with a DA of -1564' (MBworld member mthis). My best so far is 12.345 @ 113.5 with a DA of -667' on DR's and without retuning for my Needswings DCAI. If you correct DA for both (using Dragtime's DA calculator), C63= 12.379 @ 113.736 and mine = 12.415 @ 112.883, a difference of .177 seconds. Like I said, this is before retuning for the intake (and now cams). I'm anticipating I'll be 12.1X's minimum this spring after the retune and haven't even taken it as far as I can N/A...yet

Personally, I do not care for the interiors of other AMG models. I have no intentions of replacing my C55 ever. The interior (and exterior) of the C55 suits me perfectly. Two big gauges; Speedometer and Tach. All business. I don't want anything else. I agree with Saab, the clock on "upscale" models says old man. W204s are a bit too hard edged style-wise for me too, both inside and out. Every time I see a W204 tail end I wonder if it's a Camry until I get closer! Actually, all of the newer models have gone in a styling direction I don't care for too much. The new CLS may be the only exception. The shift speed and ratios of the new 7 speed transmissions would be nice though.

Hopefully there will be another option other than Kleemann or the overpriced Renntech SC soon, but I'm not getting my hopes up TOO high. Now that Weistec is making a SC upgrade for the 55Ks, maybe Blackbenzz or someone else (Weistec???) can figure out a way to make it work with our NA MAF setup. Betrezza has mentioned trying this as well IIRC. Swap in some lower compression 55K pistons like GT-ER did with his friend's C55, dial up the boost on the Weistec 3L blower and I'd bet we would have all the power we could ever use Then again, I'm just a dummy who throws too much money at parts for my car lol. If the Weistec blower never is an option I'd be content with a Kleemann setup.

 

It really depends on how much you like the car. I do like mine, obviously since I've spent a ton of money on it, but I wish I hadn't. Don't get me wrong, I smile just about every time I drive the car, but the money I spent for the returns I got I'm just not happy with. Plus, I've had all kinds of little issues since doing the SC from coolant leaks, fuel leaks, fuel line problems, and I need yet another belt because of another coolant leak... I really didn't like how universal the SC kit is, but that's just the way it is with these cars I suppose since hardly anyone does this. There are others on here who've had much better results from their cars, like Betrezra and there's another guy with a CLK500 that put down 399whp. The N/A 5.5L has too high of a compression ratio to run very much boost so once you do that you can't do anything else. If you come out disappointed, you're done unless you want to really drop some cash into the bottom end to lower the compression ratio. If you really want to do it right, find a used E/S/SL/CLS factory SC 5.5L and drop it in the C like hooleyboy did. Then you can crank up the boost and be safe doing it.

Dre's car amazes me. I can't believe how fast his car is for being N/A and he really hasn't done that much to it. My car ran a 12.1 with all I've done to it and his ran a 12.3 and his will no doubt be much more reliable overall than mine. He's got a factory freak for sure. I wouldn't get your hopes up for someone new to come out with an SC kit though, these cars are old and there wasn't much of a market when they were new.

If you like the looks and interior of a pre-facelift W204, you'll be WAY better off selling the C55 and getting a C63. Then just get the C63 tuned to let the throttle body open all the way and you've got a real beast. I can't do the pre-facelift W204 interior so I'd have to get at least a 12 which brings the cost up quite a bit. I think at that point, I'd just rather go get either a Corvette or CTS-V (but only if I could find exactly what I want). That's probably still a couple of years away though. We'll just have to see what comes around. Maybe by then a 12 C63 will be really cheap, but who knows.

 

He's 2MCHCAR on this forum (Carlos). I've met him at our meet (cool car guy) and his Kleemann S/C looks/sounds great and he's had no issues on our canyon run.

On a related note I've attended a private drag event in Sacramento where there was a SLK55 with the Kleemann S/C kit and he was consistently running 12.xx but had he thrown on DRs he would have dipped into the 11s. He must have made 20-30 passes without any issues.

91RS, did you install the kit yourself? or did you have a reputable shop install it? I can't help but think your issues are related to the initial setup of your S/C kit??

 

My car has been to the drag strip probably 10 times with 8-10 runs each time, but I only had a problem while there once. Fuel ate up the inside of the hoses and they popped off. Not really a Kleemann issue, but I think a kit that cost $10k should include absolutly everything needed to install. I had to make brackets for the secondary fuel pump, heat exchanger, and intercooler pump. All my problems have been in the real world. I mainly just have to tighten up the intercooler clamps a few times and tighten a banjo bolt on the secondary fuel pump every few weeks and Kleemann can't explain why. I installed the kit myself and I took all the time I needed to do it right, I work on cars for a living. Everyone that looks at it says it looks factory. I am very particular (OCD).

 

Boo, making your own brackets?!? My $5k SOS supercharger kit for my S2000 came with absolutely everything, down to the last hose clamp and bolt.

I think I prefer the pre facelift W204 C63s exterior wise. I do like the idea of the pop up an screen on the pre facelift cars too, but the rest of the interior is supposed to be quite a bit nicer. I'm seeing highish mileage pre facelift C63/ for low to mid C$40k locally now. High mileage meaning 60-70,000 km on MY2010s, which is a lot of mileage in my opinion for not even a three year old car. I think probably another couple of years for me to step up too, sooner if I can dump some debt but we'll see. I guess I'm just not baller like the guys in the C63 forum..... That said, probably 997s or C6 Z06s will be coming down in price too, tough call. Then again, it will be hard to justify to the wife one of those as I already own a sportscar and also being a family man now I can probably pass the four door car off as somewhat practical....

 

Next car for me will be a C63 black wagon with whitish leather.
Kleemann headers and a tune on that will give maybe 530-540 hp.
Period!!

 

Save up, buy a C63. Then sell the C55 and buy a weistec supercharger for the C63

 

My sentiment is similar to 91RS, I love my car but I had to go through a lot of crap to get to where I'm at now (399WHP running a pig rich tune and with the potential of going to a smaller pulley cause of my 10:1 Compression Ratio). The problem lies in the fact that there is not much info on these supercharger systems (ESPECIALLY on a non-AMG car), so your pretty much a trailblazer and that cost money! If I had to do it all over again, I would have Kleemann USA do the install and tune of all of my mods. They are EASILY the best Mercedes Tuner I have ever dealt with; Cory is the MAN!

My supercharger is reliable, no problems what so ever! No heat soak, power everywhere, and my transmission is still tip top (I'm running a Eurocharged TCU tune, not bad for a non-AMG tranny)! If you get the supercharger, an LSD is a must; so take that into consideration too. That being said, I always take the road less traveled (there tons of powerful AMG cars out there and I'm proud that I have one of the very few powerful non-AMG cars), I love my car and I will never sell it.

That being said, here is my opinion on this topic. IF you really like your car and plan on having Kleemann USA do the install and tune (bonus if you can find an Autorotor Twin Screw Kit); go for it. Else, get the W204 C63. When I talked to you earlier at the meet, you said that you wanted to get a R171 SLK55, so I would say you don't like your C55 THAT badly. Maybe a Kleemann SC SLK55 is a good alternative to the C63.

 

It depends on what you want to do, and also your personal preference which is hard for others to judge.

Having had a c230, a c63, and now a clk55 w/kleemann mods I can comment from my experience from the bunch.

I would not do the aftermarket blower route unless you are handy with tools and DAS Star system. There are a few common small issues which are less than $100 to fix on your own which would have set me back $1K/ea. to have a shop diagnose/fix.

IF you go the aftermarket blower route, have either Weistec or Kleemann do the installation. I tried to go local cheap route and had a very bad experience.

I personnally like the style/fit/finish/looks/feel of the older chassis clk55/c55 vs the 09c63. That is just my personal preference.

For pure performance..... I would go this order:
1. C63 + Weistec (there are some high HP examples out there now) 10's??? / 9'ssss possible?
2. C55 + Weistec (under development) 10's, maybe 9's with diff pistons?
3. C55 + Kleemann (many proven 400+ RWHP) low 12's, 11's???, 10'ss?
4. C63 w/bolt-ons (many proven fast examples) 11's, 10's w/spray...??
5. C55 w/bolt-ons (a few low 12's) low 12's, 11's w/spray.

Keep you eye's peeled on what BBenz does with weistec for the 5.5 n/a application.... this could be big!

 

Whaaaat? I had no idea Weistec had a C55 kit under development?!??

Wonder why they didn't release it yet, it could apply to all M113 (C55, SLK55, CLK55, E55 W210, etc.)

 

That will be a game changer. They will be cautious on release.... And I don't blame them. Have to see if. Bbbenz goes with mass air meter or speed density setup.

It also loooks like klee is getting into the C63 blower game as well..... so I would be patient and enjoy our c55 for a while.

If you are patient, you can find a good used klee blower kit. They come up from time to time.

 

Weistec has released their 55K upgrade already, right? It will be cool to see if they offer a fairly straightforward bolt on kit (with tune) for the NA M113 cars. The question is, though, will people be willing to fork over the $10-15k for such a kit? The NA M113 cars are getting older and more affordable all the time.

I'd be willing to throw $7-8k at a kit that would require minimal tuning, but anything more than that and the economics just dictate selling the C55 and buying a C63. That price point is probably just wishful thinking in my view.

There was a thread on the C63 forums about Kleeman allegedly stealing Weistec's tunes, but the thread appears to be deleted now. Weistec used to list Kleeman as a distributor of their kits for the 63 cars, but that relationship has been quietly discontinued.

 

The first unit that I'm aware of here on MBworld was installed this week by member Gadget@URD on his E55. Given that the 55K kit is $8,649.00, I can't see an NA version, should it ever come to fruition, being much more. IF it ever happens and it's around that price point, I can't see why I wouldn't pull the trigger on one.

 

Interesting. That price though is only an upgrade for the 5.5K though, there are still all the extras needed to add it to the N/A engine plus their R&D. I wouldn't expect a price less than $10k, but I bet it might even be more than that.

 

For the C55 maybe to keep it affordable/reliable just utilizing the same 55K Weistec S/C kit but running lower boost (450hp/430tq) is the answer for the M113 motor.

 

I'm sure you're right and I'm being too optimistic. I read in the E55 section thread that blackbenzz was trying to cantact Weistec to get one and work it out for an NA, hopefully that would help reduce R&D costs if that ever happens.