xdx

Interested to see if anyone knows of any effective ways of weight reduction for our 209's. Weight reduction is often overlooked by a lot of people that are trying to get more speed. Carbon fiber can turn a car into a rocket just as easily as an upgrade under the hood. Ive been researching this for awhile and it seems literally no one has invested too much effort into weight reduction for their 550's. Or any CLK for that matter.

bheng

well you can go with what you said, a cf hood but i think its a bit over the top unless you have a speed machine. a painted cf hood is the way to go. im sure you can end up with a whole cf front end.

but yeah i havent really seen members do that. i dont even see vendors looking into that either. you might be looking at getting a custom mold for everything which will cost bank.

xdx

A CF Hood would be great, but i literally cannot find any out there. CF Racing seats are pretty popular in this category, but kinda pointless/impossible for most of our cars.

bheng

vis makes a cf hood. not sure about the quality or fitment.

there are racing seats available. maybe not in cf, but i know a member whole had pole positions available for purchase. it was a good deal too.

xdx

Well for me personally the seats wouldn't be worth it. Installing racing seats in the front would mean all of the luxury options like heated seats, power comfort adjusters etc are now unusable and wasted, and installing them in the back would be nearly impossible, the headrests aren't even attached to the seats.

But yea the only hood i found was the vis that you mentioned and it seems everyone that bought it ended up regretting it. I dont even think it actually fits.

dynomite05

You actually came across people that bought it?

bheng

+1

like i said, it would be best to get a cf person to mold you one from your original. or you can go to vis's company to have them test fit onto yours. and if it doesnt fit, im sure an easy return or they will fix for it to fit. change their molding and take 2 years for its to be released like the 3 slat grill LOL

xdx

Im not too worried about getting a hood anytime soon unless a respectable Mercedes tuner comes out with one that actually fits. I was only curious to see if anyone has done any weight reduction projects on their clk or plan on doing them. Any work towards that will mostly be custom work. Ill worry about that when i run out of engine upgrades.

dynomite05

I remember reading "weight reduction' listed in a members sig but don't remember who..lol sorry I know thats no help

bheng

i do remember reading that as well. you could do a search and find him.

i did the opposite tho. added like 100 lbs in the trunk. -_-
i need a 500/550. LOL

i did race a friend with a 350, he didnt get that much in front of mine in a span of a block. but i am sure he can pull away on a freeway. lol. but my audio sounds better than his stock

dynomite05

hahah lol

xdx

I went through my audio phase with my last car, some like em fast, some like em loud.. lol. At least performance parts are cheaper for your car compared to the 500/550's - If you ever decided to get a little more power.

dynomite05

Yea, but is there really a point to power mod a 320/350?? I mean beside the basics

xdx

Same reason someone would power mod any car i guess. If someone invested the money they could have an incredibly fast 350.

dynomite05

I don't think it is worth it economically. For the money your going to dump into the 350 to make it "incredibly fast" you could probably get a 500/550/55

M-bENZ

. Gota listen to this guy .

Andy

bheng

one good thing i like about the 320s is the gas mileage compared to the 500/550s. lol saves me some pretty pennies to spend on other stuff lol and yeah i agree. for the money, can prolly trade in my car for a 500. however, what i am thinking about doing in the way future. is getting another 320 engine if there are any left and getting a kleeman supercharger.

lol dont ask why. and yeah for the money spent i could get an upgraded car, but for some reason, when i say i wanna do something i eventually end up doing it. lol plus i dont wanan deal with the hassle of audio mods again -__-

dynomite05

Yea the gas is pretty good. I only fill up twice a month

badblackbenz550

Well i make sure my trunk is empty meaning no jack, no spare no cover all empty, and you can get 15LBS battery so all of that will save you about 100LBS =D

xdx

Yea i agree, i was just pointing out that the v6's aren't completely helpless. Its all up to the driver.

dynomite05

What if you get a flat?

M-bENZ

taxi ?

Andy

badblackbenz550

well then sucks to be you .... when i drive far i get the spare in the trunk if i drive with in 50 miles of my house no need for spare.

dynomite05

True but that's kind of a PITA unloading and loading, no?

xdx

I thought about cleaning out my trunk too, but it seems like that extra weight on the rear tires would help more than hurt, at least help enough to not make it worth taking out. My car has enough trouble with wheel spin when i floor the throttle.