s4avt

I have decided not to get rid of my CLK since the value is so low now
I am loosing too much $$.

So I tried to give some change but there aren't many options like M3...

Unless I spend 10K + for SC or some crazy goody...

Too bad

neilbo75

Not so fast to the snooze, pal. There are options out there: for less money than that SC you can make the car drive much more aggressively, getting the most out of that ol' V8. Think coilovers, LSD, ECU, headers, strut bars and Toyo888 (or similar) tires and watch your ESP warning light start to get bored instead of you.

AMS Performance

you can get up to the 400HP mark relatively easily, doesn't take that much to get there. Also reducing the weight a bit as well as improving traction and you should have a great performance car. If anything the car is better in NA form as that's how it was designed and it can put all the power to the ground, where as with SC it basically just roasts tires like marshmellows.

Moedy

just curious to what mods you've done so far

s4avt

I got Spring, and Carbon Lip.. wheels and tires

I used to have b5 S4 avt stg3. and it was fast and more fun car and much cheaper to mod

mk4mike

I just installed some bilstein pss9 coilovers and it transformed the car, the h&r springs served their purpose for lowering. But now my car handles like an m3. Im sure adding some h&r sway bars is going to make the car handle even better.

Bilstein is literally amazing!

s4avt

So did you have spring before pss9?

how is your pss9 give us more detailed review and i'd love to hear comparison against V2.

btw, where did you get it and how much did you pay?

s4avt

To make 400hp that about 30 hp on top of what we have right?

so does it means, Headers, ECU, Sport Cat will do the trick?

mk4mike

All i can say is get the pss9 system, i am totally blown away with the difference in the car. I had previously run just h&r springs with stock shocks. The car responds with the flick of your wrist, as soon as you turn the wheel the rear is already pointing inthe direction your steering to.

I cant believe how much difference the coilovers have made, to be honest i dont know why people who have the coilovers havent given them so much praise as i have.

I will explain what i found from them, they have reduced the amount of rattling and juddering from normal driving. The car sits flat going around corners now and the tires dont squeek much because of the additional grip.

Im currently on setting 5/6 which is right in the middle, therefore i could get a lot harders and softer. I think this setting is perfect for street use and i can switch it to 1 on the odd track day.

I highly recommend the kit!

The clk also suffers with terrible brakes, i plan to upgrade to bbk very soon.

Hope this helps, Mike

Klinh

No surprised there since you're compared it with H&R springs just with STOCK SHOCKS !!! I'm not sure how you able to ride around with stock struts/shocks after you changed your springs. I sure didn't like my Eibach spring with stock struts/shocks. I has the struts changed out with Bilstein sport struts/shocks within month. But I do love the Bilstein PSS9 on my friend C55.

mk4mike

if your gonna do suspention - do it properly = coilovers

Nachtsturm

Also get LSD, and a custom T/C from Eurocharged. And if you are there might as well get a set of longtubes put on and get it tuned.

Bmwr1d3h

I dunno what you're talking bout the brakes...maybe yours is not an AMG but i have a 2002 clk55 and the stock brakes are amazing it just stops the car with no effort, I've never owned a car with better brakes than this...brakes are the only thing that I would never touch on my car...I dunno the exact stopping distance but it matches with porsche...I mean the rotors are over 13"

Carl Lassiter

Take it to a road course and get back to us. The brakes are decent but they don't resist fade like those of MY00 or newer Porsche. Mine are just under 15" both front and rear and they stop amazingly. However, fade will come on sooner than it did in my 996TT which had smaller brakes. Aside from just diameter, pads, rotor thickness, calipers, venting, lines, etc are all factors very important. Weight too, naturally.

mk4mike

Thats because you have probably never driven a car with better brakes than a clk55. I actually have a clk500 with the same brakes as you and they suck, i also drive a s55 amg with 8 piston brakes. drive a car with beefy brakes and you will realize just how bad the clk brakes are. I need at least 6 piston on the fronts if i want to track my car again.

When i tracked my car the brakes got so hot that the brake pedal dropped to the floor. i had to bleed the brakes the next day as they wouldnt harldy repsond. Once you push your car to the limits that when you see it's drawbacks, you could never experience this with street driving.

Mike

Bmwr1d3h

Yes if we're talking about tracking if it was me I wouldn't buy a mercedes unless it's a black series...so all I'm saying is given the age of the car it compares well to bmw and the new infiniti(some porsches also)...look at the new 3 serieses or the g37, they all have similar brakes as the clk55...of course g37 and 3 seriese have vented and all that but I was reading a resent test and even with more advanced braking systems(supposedly) they both suffered after 5 tests and took more to stop, so unless your gonna drop 3000-5000 bucks I don't think it's worth upgrading your brakes...

Every car I see these days have vented and slotted brakes but when their up to test they pretty much suck given how good they look...

I did drive many car including an m6 which didn't really surprise me with speed or braking...it was faster than my car but nothing special...

2002 Clk55 60-0(convertible, heavier):
http://www.mpt.org/motorweek/reviews/rt2134a.shtml

2003 Clk500 60-0 unless you changed yours already:
http://mercedes.jbcarpages.com/CLK/2003/index3.php

It might be the same but it's still slower to stop might be cuz of weight..

neilbo75

I tracked my 208 CLK 55 for two days around Nurburgring last September with the AMG driving academy. My car runs heavy because it has every option, down to the TV tuner, plus a custom stereo in the trunk featuring a 13 inch subwoofer and two amps. Both days we baked under the summer sun - 90 degrees F.

The second day in particular featured a lot of hot laps strung together. I had to drive my car hard to hang with the 63s as best I could.

Guess what: the stock AMG brakes never did fade.

So maybe a BBK would have been better, I won't say no, but we all know that tires stop cars, not brakes.

Bmwr1d3h

Well Said...

Carl Lassiter

You sure it wasn't a rebadged 645i? Maybe it was in P400 and S1 and had bald tires. Or maybe you never did drive one? An M6 or M5's acceleration and all-round performance is so far removed from that of a W208 CLK55 (which I am not bashing as it's a nice car in its own right) it renders your posts rather worthless.

malahhaor

I've got a clk500 and by my calculations I may be able to get it to 380+ HP and 400 tq and that’s w/o SC.
I can’t imagine how someone may call 55AMG boring. You can push that thing to 450HP easily. Not to mentione easy suspension mods as already listed here.

Bmwr1d3h

I did say it's faster and everything but nothing that would amaze me...I mean I rather have a e55 or e63(which I drove one, e55 my coworker has one and I love it) than any of those but that might be that i'm biased...since I had two brand new BMWs that were lemon after 3 months so I gave up on them even though they were my favorite cars before...

And I know the difference between a 645i and an m6...anyways no need to explain myself why I would feel that way about an m6/m5 but that's just me...

Moedy

the 05 clk55's got upgraded with 6 piston front brakes

blackbenzz

I disagree
Brake fade is usually due to the pads and brake fluid. Easy fix.

Carl Lassiter

Sure, but I'm talking from the factory. Even the P Gayman's brakes will outlast an AMG or M stock-stock.

s4avt

Doesn't Porsche known for brake?