UncleSlam

I was showing off my new car (02 clk55 cabrio) to a friend yesterday. As I was leaving he says to me and my passenger, "lay some rubber!". So I turned off the traction control, manually selected 1st gear and gave her full gas from a stop (with no brake stand). I thought it would lay rubber with ease, but it didn't. So, I came to a full stop and tried it once again - same thing. I thought these cars could lay rubber with ease, especially since they are one-wheel-wonder-non-lsd and have 370lbs or torque on hand. The engine seems to run perfectly, but this has got me thinking about a tune up, even though I doubt it needs one. I do have a failed motor mount that I'm replacing sometime this week, so perhaps that is a factor.

Nachtsturm

My 01 CLK55 had no problem lighting them up. Even when I took it to the strip, if I was too agressive it would spin at the track.

Could also be a failing trans, if you notice anyother problems. But yes, the CLK55 should light the tires up with ease.

ashutt

A lot depends on traction, since laying rubber is basically loosing it. A very smooth surfce road will loose traction way to easy while a more gritty surface will not near as easy. Also, factor in grippy tires vs low grip cheap rubber. At the end of the day, if you want to show-off then power brake a burn out.

betrezra

Agreed on the road surface... .in Texas we have this contoured concrete which is harder to burn out on.... and when you do it eats tires. In my younger days I went through a set of drag radials in a w/e test/n/tune my blown mustang on this surface (all on a private test track).

A slick black-top asphalt surface seems to spin with ease.

GL>

elijah

Road surface matters of course but you cant expect to lay serious rubber by just flooring it from a stop.
ESP off, hit the brakes, then floor it and release the brakes depending on how much smoke you want to see in your rearview...

dohcfiend

that's weird if i do a standing accelleration just right and less than 3/8 tank the traction control will kick in. Ive done a few donut sessions when the road is wet in a vacant lot but i have never done a burnout....too hard on tranny and not very enthusiastic about replacing rear tires.

i have 9.5 inch rear tires and given the way it acts im sure it could do a burnout with ease if i disabled the esp.

Nachtsturm

I am sure peeling out is way worse that doing donut sessions.

dohcfiend

granted it's not great for the tranny but i have only done donuts a few times when i first got the car....it was on wet pavement as well to minimize tire wear.

it is very easy to break traction on wet pavement and while it does present some wear it does so much less than on dry pavement; that being said i will concede to your inescapable point.

as far as component wear...track(road course) sessions are the worst.

CLK55_NYC

yep.. EPS off, Slight brake tap while smashing the pedal to the floor just to get the rear wheels moving and it lights up smokey burnouts with ease.. cold tires are a plus.. I'd want to minimize the stress

amschnellsten

no problems breaking them loose without braking. I am running 19x9.5

rsr911

I know you said you selected 1st manually. However if by accident you have hit the w/s button and selected "W" next to the shifter it might have overidden the command and started you out in 2nd gear.
Just food for thought.