Placebo or not it just became more enjoyable to go for a drive. That's a win any day in my book.
I installed an E55 air box on my '04 CLK500..... Oh baby!
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 54
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From: Knoxville, TN
CLK 500, 2013 C300 Sport
I installed an E55 air box on my '04 CLK500..... Oh baby!
Got my E55 air box in the mail today from a great guy in AZ who should be jumping on the CLS forum here soon. The air box was actually off of his 2006 CLS55AMG. Perfect fit once I swapped the Y! I used black electrical tape on the MAF opening for a perfect fit. Held on with a hose clamp for good measure. Still using the CLK500's intake tubes for now. Newer Kevlar ones on the way. I'll also mention I have taken the metal screen out from the MAF and am also running K&N's and a badass strut bar from Gixxerboy here on the board.
This thing came alive! Not only was throttle response improved but this this had get up and go like its never had before. Now, granted it's cold here in E. TN and the traction is not the best I was getting a ton of wheel hop and kickout when I'd mash the throttle. It's never done that before! I've seen the numbers on here as to the gains I can expect and that wasnt even on my mind when I realized the "Fun Factor" of the car just improved more than any number can show me. My only day off tomorrow and sadly its going to snow here because I want to go driving and the universe hates me. Once its nice again I'm doing a muffler delete, adding a vibrant resonator out to left side dual tip for now. Already had the oem resonator and 2nd cats deleted.
Can't wait to see how that will all come together! I realize I'll lose a bit of hp from back pressure loss but the sound should be awesome!
This thing came alive! Not only was throttle response improved but this this had get up and go like its never had before. Now, granted it's cold here in E. TN and the traction is not the best I was getting a ton of wheel hop and kickout when I'd mash the throttle. It's never done that before! I've seen the numbers on here as to the gains I can expect and that wasnt even on my mind when I realized the "Fun Factor" of the car just improved more than any number can show me. My only day off tomorrow and sadly its going to snow here because I want to go driving and the universe hates me. Once its nice again I'm doing a muffler delete, adding a vibrant resonator out to left side dual tip for now. Already had the oem resonator and 2nd cats deleted.
Can't wait to see how that will all come together! I realize I'll lose a bit of hp from back pressure loss but the sound should be awesome!
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Joined: Jan 2016
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From: New Jersey, USA
2006 Mercedes-Benz CLK500 Convertible
Cool. Glad to hear that placebo works on you.
Don't forget to put AMG badge on the trunk and you will start to feel extra horses.
Don't forget to put AMG badge on the trunk and you will start to feel extra horses.
Last edited by merceBENZ; Feb 14, 2016 at 07:54 AM.
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CLK55 W209, CL63 W216
It's not about ruining somebody else's fun. It's about propagating false ideas. You don't have more power. You now have a poorly fitting intake. Congrats.
Also, people's voting habits have nothing to do with this forum so keep character attacks for other avenues of discussion.
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2016
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From: New Jersey, USA
2006 Mercedes-Benz CLK500 Convertible
Originally Posted by megacrazy
Haha exactly my thinking.
It's not about ruining somebody else's fun. It's about propagating false ideas. You don't have more power. You now have a poorly fitting intake. Congrats.
Also, people's voting habits have nothing to do with this forum so keep character attacks for other avenues of discussion.
It's not about ruining somebody else's fun. It's about propagating false ideas. You don't have more power. You now have a poorly fitting intake. Congrats.
Also, people's voting habits have nothing to do with this forum so keep character attacks for other avenues of discussion.
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From: Atlanta Metro
2008 clk550 - Navigator - Frontier
jhanson25, go have fun!!!!
My thoughts: I can't see the electrical tape as a good idea. It will not handle the kind of heat it will be exposed to. The hose clamps (presumably stainless steel) should hold up just fine. Assuming the electrical tape was just to enlarge the circumference of the MAF housing to get a good fit, reflective heat shield tape might be better.
I would not have removed the screen. I think the openings in the screen are fairly large and I doubt there would be a noticeable increase in air flow or volume with it removed.
My thoughts: I can't see the electrical tape as a good idea. It will not handle the kind of heat it will be exposed to. The hose clamps (presumably stainless steel) should hold up just fine. Assuming the electrical tape was just to enlarge the circumference of the MAF housing to get a good fit, reflective heat shield tape might be better.
I would not have removed the screen. I think the openings in the screen are fairly large and I doubt there would be a noticeable increase in air flow or volume with it removed.
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From: NOVA/DC
20' RCF, 18' NX, 09' E350, 07' Solara, 05' STi, 01' Ranger
In the same boat as to why one would think switching airboxes is going to suddenly increase power? The engine is still going to suck in the same amount of air as before.... This is what I think people really don't understand. If it was more free flowing cool, but you needed tuned then to even take advantage of it.
Almost as bad as people on my other forum putting short ram intakes on their STi's and then thinking they are making a lot more power... when the reality is they are sucking hot *** engine air.
If nothing else at least the new airbox will and kevlar tubes will look cool...but really doubt any performance is gained, unless you dyno'ed the car before and then after?
-Nigel
Almost as bad as people on my other forum putting short ram intakes on their STi's and then thinking they are making a lot more power... when the reality is they are sucking hot *** engine air.
If nothing else at least the new airbox will and kevlar tubes will look cool...but really doubt any performance is gained, unless you dyno'ed the car before and then after?
-Nigel
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CLK55 W209, CL63 W216
In the same boat as to why one would think switching airboxes is going to suddenly increase power? The engine is still going to suck in the same amount of air as before.... This is what I think people really don't understand. If it was more free flowing cool, but you needed tuned then to even take advantage of it.
Almost as bad as people on my other forum putting short ram intakes on their STi's and then thinking they are making a lot more power... when the reality is they are sucking hot *** engine air.
If nothing else at least the new airbox will and kevlar tubes will look cool...but really doubt any performance is gained, unless you dyno'ed the car before and then after?
-Nigel
Almost as bad as people on my other forum putting short ram intakes on their STi's and then thinking they are making a lot more power... when the reality is they are sucking hot *** engine air.
If nothing else at least the new airbox will and kevlar tubes will look cool...but really doubt any performance is gained, unless you dyno'ed the car before and then after?
-Nigel
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 54
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From: Knoxville, TN
CLK 500, 2013 C300 Sport
No harm meant on the voting comment.... I'm floored as to what it is then that happened as the general consensus is there is no advantage. Honestly I wasn't expecting any gain from it when I installed it as there isn't evidence to support it. But I got it at a good price to play with and try. When I first got the car in Dec I tried several "maneuvers" several times and was really disappointed in the car compared to my CLK430 I had. Now when I try the same "maneuvers" it's as if there is just more behind the throttle. I'd like to consider myself pretty objective and was really ready to be let down when I went for the first drive..... clearly I wasn't. I appreciate all your comments and responses. Hell, if someone said.... give me $150 and I'll trick your brain into loving to drive your car even more than you already do. I'd pay it and enjoy the drive!
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2008 CLK550 Cab
Assuming you kept your old box, shouldn't be too hard to swap back and try exactly the same types of acceleration under the same conditions. Even if it gave you a tiny gain, it certainly did not go from not being able to tear the tires loose to tearing the tires loose.
Funny thing about performance gains of any type is that I think that there is always a bit of a "I'm going to really feel this because I'm supposed to and I spent money" effect. I drive almost all the time at a mile altitude. That means I am down 60.5 horsepower as a matter of pure science - 322 instead of 382. I have taken my car to sea level several times, but I always forget about the hp gain. You'd think I'd notice an increase of over 60 hp anyway, right? Nope. And I drive pretty briskly. I suppose I'd notice if I put a stop watch to it, but if I'm not thinking about it I don't notice even a gain that large.
Funny thing about performance gains of any type is that I think that there is always a bit of a "I'm going to really feel this because I'm supposed to and I spent money" effect. I drive almost all the time at a mile altitude. That means I am down 60.5 horsepower as a matter of pure science - 322 instead of 382. I have taken my car to sea level several times, but I always forget about the hp gain. You'd think I'd notice an increase of over 60 hp anyway, right? Nope. And I drive pretty briskly. I suppose I'd notice if I put a stop watch to it, but if I'm not thinking about it I don't notice even a gain that large.
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From: Abbeville, AL
CLK 500, yr 2005
How do you figure your losing 60 hp with your elevation? That's a big number. I thought the car's PCM makes adjustments for absolute pressure, temperature,etc. I usually drive at 150 ft elevation and when visiting CO at 10,000 ft I haven't noticed any real difference in performance as you said, but I'm not racing either.
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2008 CLK550 Cab
Just google hp loss and elevation. You'll even find calculators where you just plug in your hp and altitude. Your car does compensate for altitude much the same way it compensates for high air temps - both of which result in less dense air. That is the basic function of your MAF sensor, which measures air by mass instead of volume. But the computer compensates by making your car run as efficiently as possible with the air it is breathing. So it adjusts the amount of fuel, etc. In the old days cars ran like crap at high altitude because fuel was used based on air volume, not mass. But even though your car adjusts for altitude to make it run well, it cannot do anything about the physics of less dense air. When your piston travels down on the intake stroke, it pulls in a certain volume of air no matter the altitude or temperature. If that air is less dense, which it will still be even after being compressed 10:1, then you get less bang for the buck when the spark plug fires. There is a mathematical relationship between density and altitude, and thus a relationship between hp loss and altitude at a constant temp. Rising temps add to the loss. I think it would be a fun experiment to have a reputable tuner tune 50 cars of people who are into their cars. Tell 25 you did it and don't tell the other 25. The 25 you tell will be all "OMG!!!" and I wonder how many of the other 25 would ever notice.
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From: Chicago area
2015 E400 and 2015 GLK350
One situation where your assumption of power loss at altitude may not hold up is when the engine is turbocharged or supercharged. Most modern boosted engines can produce more boost than they are designed for, so they have a "blow-off valve" or "waste gate" which allows excess air pressure to exit to the atmosphere. At altitude, the turbo or supercharger may be able to supply enough air to give full performance before the waste gate opens. In this case, there would be little to no performance loss. I haven't had a chance to test this, since I just got the TT last summer, but I know when I had turbo cars in the (long) past that was the case.
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2008 CLK550 Cab
One situation where your assumption of power loss at altitude may not hold up is when the engine is turbocharged or supercharged. Most modern boosted engines can produce more boost than they are designed for, so they have a "blow-off valve" or "waste gate" which allows excess air pressure to exit to the atmosphere. At altitude, the turbo or supercharger may be able to supply enough air to give full performance before the waste gate opens. In this case, there would be little to no performance loss. I haven't had a chance to test this, since I just got the TT last summer, but I know when I had turbo cars in the (long) past that was the case.
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Joined: Jan 2016
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From: Abbeville, AL
CLK 500, yr 2005
Just google hp loss and elevation. You'll even find calculators where you just plug in your hp and altitude. Your car does compensate for altitude much the same way it compensates for high air temps - both of which result in less dense air. That is the basic function of your MAF sensor, which measures air by mass instead of volume. But the computer compensates by making your car run as efficiently as possible with the air it is breathing. So it adjusts the amount of fuel, etc. In the old days cars ran like crap at high altitude because fuel was used based on air volume, not mass. But even though your car adjusts for altitude to make it run well, it cannot do anything about the physics of less dense air. When your piston travels down on the intake stroke, it pulls in a certain volume of air no matter the altitude or temperature. If that air is less dense, which it will still be even after being compressed 10:1, then you get less bang for the buck when the spark plug fires. There is a mathematical relationship between density and altitude, and thus a relationship between hp loss and altitude at a constant temp. Rising temps add to the loss. I think it would be a fun experiment to have a reputable tuner tune 50 cars of people who are into their cars. Tell 25 you did it and don't tell the other 25. The 25 you tell will be all "OMG!!!" and I wonder how many of the other 25 would ever notice.
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From: Dallas
2013 CLS63, 2001 ML430, 2012 e350 coupe
I installed an E55 air box on my '04 CLK500..... Oh baby!
wow, so changing the intake system to a better design wont increase power or throttle response ? I'm not going to debate on how much. But by some logic on here that apparently the basics of engine performance doesn't work on Mercedes.
Besides actual dyno numbers there are other factors, throttle response .... just because there isn't a big difference in peak numbers doesnt mean it doesnt effect the cars performance
Besides actual dyno numbers there are other factors, throttle response .... just because there isn't a big difference in peak numbers doesnt mean it doesnt effect the cars performance
Last edited by gixxerboy; Feb 16, 2016 at 12:58 AM.
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From: Oakland
2018 E43 | 2017 GLS450 | 2004 CLK 500
From the dynos I've seen there are gains. but I think the point is you can't just add it and expect any gains without a tune and exhaust. I had both at one time, and even then I can tell you with the E55 box and tubes my car felt no difference from stop. EXCEPT the throttle was definitely more responsive above 2500 and at freeway speed - especially accelerating from 65. Which again doesn't necessarily mean there were any significant hp gains.
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CLK55 W209, CL63 W216
There are a few dynos that were posted, unfortunately without a stock baseline so we can't tell if there were gains or not. Renntech seems to make about 10hp over stock and the E55 about 8hp less than that which would give you a whopping 2hp over stock. Hardly worth mentioning.
If you get "better throttle response" that only means the torque curved was moved around the RPM band...to what effect...who knows. Will you get worse gas mileage? Will your car suck at low RPMs?
Yes, you can replace parts with better designed parts but I don't think a part that needs electrical tape to install and makes no power falls in this category. If you want an intake that works buy the Renntech one, which has been proven many times to give you at least 10hp...or replicate it if you don't want to spend stupid money on it.
If you get "better throttle response" that only means the torque curved was moved around the RPM band...to what effect...who knows. Will you get worse gas mileage? Will your car suck at low RPMs?
Yes, you can replace parts with better designed parts but I don't think a part that needs electrical tape to install and makes no power falls in this category. If you want an intake that works buy the Renntech one, which has been proven many times to give you at least 10hp...or replicate it if you don't want to spend stupid money on it.
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 54
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From: Knoxville, TN
CLK 500, 2013 C300 Sport
Interesting that this same air box on an C55 w/ K&N vs stock air box. That doesn't look like no gain to me.
Original link:
http://www.slkworld.com/performance-...box-slk55.html
Original link:
http://www.slkworld.com/performance-...box-slk55.html
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From: Atlanta Metro
2008 clk550 - Navigator - Frontier
Interesting that this same air box on an C55 w/ K&N vs stock air box. That doesn't look like no gain to me.
Original link:
http://www.slkworld.com/performance-...box-slk55.html
Original link:
http://www.slkworld.com/performance-...box-slk55.html
Very good!I still think you should replace the electrical tape....
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CLK55 W209, CL63 W216
Interesting that this same air box on an C55 w/ K&N vs stock air box. That doesn't look like no gain to me.
Original link:
http://www.slkworld.com/performance-...box-slk55.html
Original link:
http://www.slkworld.com/performance-...box-slk55.html
Here's a dyno of the renntech vs E55. The renntech makes roughly 10 whp, which was confirmed by other people. The E55 made 10whp less...which equals stock???
https://mbworld.org/forums/c32-amg-c...rbox-dyno.html
If you still have your old airbox do a couple dyno pulls so we can see some real numbers. Hey, if we don't have to pay 1000 for 10hp even better.
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From: Dallas
2013 CLS63, 2001 ML430, 2012 e350 coupe
Megacrazy you are correct allot of vendors make claims and allot arent accurate. But i also see allot of post on here that pretty much claim everything adds no power. So pretty much any mod but a tune does nothing.
I'm changing my gears in my rear diff. from 2.65 to 3.05 and had people claim i wont feel much. Really?
I'm changing my gears in my rear diff. from 2.65 to 3.05 and had people claim i wont feel much. Really?
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CLK55 W209, CL63 W216
Megacrazy you are correct allot of vendors make claims and allot arent accurate. But i also see allot of post on here that pretty much claim everything adds no power. So pretty much any mod but a tune does nothing.
I'm changing my gears in my rear diff. from 2.65 to 3.05 and had people claim i wont feel much. Really?
I'm changing my gears in my rear diff. from 2.65 to 3.05 and had people claim i wont feel much. Really?
You'll definitely feel...something with the new gears
