ItalianStallion

I finally got a chance to really drive around my father's SL55 AMG without him being in the car. Besides the obvious differences (disgusting torque, smooth handling, cool hardtop convertible, amazing exhaust, etc), the main thing I really envied was the manual mode. It was so cool, you actually had control of the gears. It gave the car a much more sporty and fun feel. With the tiptronic I have in my CLK, it will upshift if I don't want it to and if I have it in a gear, if I give it just a little gas it will automatically downshift one or two gears. The tiptronic they give us is really just pointless, you can't control gear selection, you can just delay when the car will shift. Is there any upgrade so that I can get manual mode for my 7 speed tranny?

clkcadet

i wish.... but again if your spending big bucks ive heard of ppl throwing manual trannys in these cars

ItalianStallion

Have you really?! I haven't seen one auto to manual conversion on these forums yet. If its possible then that sounds pretty sweet. But like you said, its probably gonna be big bucks.

Gojaroo

I would definitely pay to have a manual mode option installed in my car.

Oh, btw Italian, your HID's look pretty sweet.
I was unable to get the lightning package when I got my CLK500 and I am debating getting a set of oem xenons installed. I like the look of the HIDs at night and I was wondering where you got yours and how much did it cost?

S2000

My 7-speed will stay in the gear I select and hold until I shift or +/- 500K before redline (unless under full throttle and then it shifts at redline)

Now in "C-Mode" is will start in 2nd and shift sooner when I shift.

In auto mode it shifts sooner or later based on my driving.

ItalianStallion

Sorry to revive an old thread, I just noticed it and feel bad I didn't respond.

The HID's were about $400 installed, I just got it installed at a local custom/accessory shop, it was a very easy install.

As for the shifting goes in the 7 speed, I have the 7 speed as well and although it will hold gears, it won't follow your input all the time, instead it follows your foot (gas pedal). Like if I have the car in 3rd gear and I'm doing 30 and I floor it the car will downshift to 2nd gear even though I have it in 3rd. The 7 speed does a lot of shifting, sometimes it will downshift 3 gears. That shifting could make you lose a lot of time and it can get annoying because by the time your car downshifts 3 gears, about 1.5 crucial seconds have passed. What I like about the manual mode that the AMG's have is that if you keep the car in the selected gear, it stays in it. If you floor it in 4th gear it won't downshift and wind up at 6000rpm's in 2nd. I just wish there was some kind of programming that we could upload into the trannies to give it a real manual mode.

mguerrero

hey italionstalion,

quick question, i noticed you have xenons on your car! i installed what i was told bi-xenons on my car and was wondering are yours oem and if so , do you know if on bi's both the xenon and high beam halogen light come on are is the high beam supposed to be off? thanks for the help!

ItalianStallion

My xenons are not OEM. But my father's got the stock bi-xenons in his SL55. And no, the high beams are not always on, there are seperate high beams and low beams. The low beams are the xenons and I think the high beams are just regular strong lights.

My xenons are HID 8000k low beams. My high beams and fogs are just strong lights with a bluish hue to them. My blinkers are blue (not sure what was used for them).

mguerrero

thanks for the info! i found out that i do have bi-xenons and what happens is that both the high beam xenon and the regular halogen high beam turn on at the same time! can i put differnt lights on my high beam markers?

ItalianStallion

My high beams are different lights. I don't know what they are, but they make everything turn blue.

alexSF

If anyone has hacked their CLK to allow the AMG manual mode please share details!

I HATE that my CLK shifts down when I put my foot down. I put my foot down because I want to GO - not wait around for 2 seconds while it decides to shift down, only to use 0.5 seconds worth of that gear and then shift back up again. SO ANNOYING!

M-bENZ

I feel u on that...its so annoying.

Andy

chrislis

im just trying to figure out how your clk500 has 400+ bhp. elaborate.

bheng

sucks but maybe the sprint booster can help?

M-bENZ

dont think so bheng...lol

Andy

bheng

woops. misread. you guys are talking about shift times. i figure the sprint booster will get you to full throttle sooner.

dynomite05

Or maybe a tune?

AMGY

So CLK 500/550s dont have a manual mode like the CLK 55s do?

dynomite05

Maunual mode is only on AMG engines.

2MCHCAR

On the thread below, they advertise to flash your TCU (Transmission Control Unit) to behave like the ///AMG Speedshift in 'S' mode.
https://mbworld.org/forums/performan...-upgrades.html

They do not claim a full 'M' mode functionality, but it shows that a TCU Flash does change the behavior of the transmission. I'm no MB expert or mechanic, but I bet if we get a ///AMG TCU (Enabled through Star SDS, then programed for use on your VIN) and Transmission Plate (the plate next to the shift knob, has the 'M', 'S', and 'C' button); we could get manual mode.

Any thoughts?

Kevwood

You know, it may be possible since just about everything just software. I'm not sure about the 3 switch plate though as it adding another binary 'function' but I bet it is possible to re-program and designate 'S' to a manual mode. The TCU is programmed to shift at redline, it's got to be possible to change that to hold until command.