Hi everybody, I stumbled across this group in the quest for a manual transmission kit for my '00 CLK430.

I've had the car for a couple months and have enjoyed it immensely. Just the other week I had the good fortune to take it out to Sears Point (now Infinion Raceway) for 100 miles of high-speed laps.

The car did great, very nicely balanced front to rear. It is sprung a bit soft (stock suspension right now) and the stock Continental tires stunk. Well, any non-race tires were pretty bad, the track hit 114F that day I managed to trash the front tires so I'm on my way to some S03's on 18" rims.

But the purpose of my post is to discuss the transmission. It's great around town and for casual high-performance driving. In my opinion it is just not very track friendly. I know people can probably manage with it but I'd be much happier with a 6spd manual.

On the track, I struggled with this transmission the whole time. Between it downshifting when it shouldn't (very dangerous when accelerating out of a medium-speed sweeping turn), delays in shifting (I hear the AMG-tuned transmission is MUCH better) and the reduction in engine control (like slipping the clutch to get the back end to swing out in a turn), I was a very unhappy camper.

So, I read that 6-speed CLKs are available out in Europe (true?) and that there are a couple places which import the parts and can convert the car. Anyone have experience with this? I would love to get a manual transmission on this great car.

Any comments are welcome!

Renntech will convert your car to 6 speed not sure the $$$$ but here is the link http://www.renntechmercedes.com/

Good luck

It is definitely something you can do, however, expect some serious sticker shock.