Improviz

I archive my car mags, so I should be able to find it...I'm thinking it might have been in Car & Driver's first article on the engine, but I'm not certain...anyway, I may be wrong, but I was under the impression that both it and the M5 engine are hand built. I'll double check and post my findings this evening.

AMG///Merc

Much in the same way as AMG hand assembles their motors. As far as the CLK55 rear tires size isue, I think it's worth pointing out that the Euro, Asian, and Australian markets all have 255's mounted on 18" wheels, which begs this question. Being that the North American market CLK55 wheels are unique to that car and that car alone, why did they bother? I have to think that it would have been cheaper to utilize the same wheels as the rest of the world market. They had to pay the wheel manufacturer (Enkei, I believe...) for the costs of manufacturing a different wheel (Tooling, dies, R&D etc...)! Wouldn't it have been cheaper to save all of those production costs by using the world market 18" wheels? My only guess is that maybe the NA market gets 17's in order to fit slightly higher sidewalls to improve ride quality, and possibly to lower overall gearing. It's a shame, because I think the CLK55's wheels are a real let down. They look waaayyy too small in my opinion. If I didn't know better, I would have guessed that they were 16's, and possibly even 15's. While I believe 19's will probably look the best, I'm going to fit 18's on mine. Just my two cents...


Best regards,
Matt

Chappy

The W208 CLK55s all received 17 in wheels.

Chappy

Ditto. But I stopped taking most of them (except Autoweek) a few years ago. Archiving is a PITA as one year = 52 issues!

AMG///Merc

But that's not the case with the 209. If you look at the other MB websites, or just the world-site, you'll see that the 209's have 18's, with the exceptions of ours, naturally...

It amazes me when I read that all of the car manufacturers talk about how the US market is so important, and how we're the biggest market, and yet we continually get sub-standard cars, i.e., CLK55 wheels and E46 M3 brake rotors. What's the deal with that?


Best regards,
Matt

MB AMG

I remember looking at a brand new W209 at the Mercedes website and I though there was something wrong with the wheels!

Thai

I really doubt that the M3 engine is handmade. But, hey, if it is, then WOOHOOO!! I have heard that each M3 engine costs about $15-20K. Is that a lot?? How much are the AMG 5.5L V8 (NA) engines cost??

I think that AMG//Merc may have a point...US roads are not as smooth as European roads. It is quite common to see US cars having higher profile tires because of our crappy roads. I guess AMG/MB favor a good ride over pure handling...BMW M is the opposite...and trust me, my kidneys are the first ones to tell you that!

Improviz

...this is in the August 2001 issue. They make two references to its being handbuilt. In the other articles I found in other publications, there isn't any mention of this, though, including the Car & Driver sidebar which was devoted exclusively to the engine, so MT might well be wrong. Wouldn't be the first time!

AMG///Merc

And by 'hand made", that means that the crankshaft, pistons, rods, and cams are installed by hand. I'm not sure about the rest of the valvetrain, or what else is hand assembled. If you do a search over at the M3forum, you'll see allot of posts and some links that will verify that. speaking of the M3 board, I'm "MattsMthree" over there. I just realized today that you're the same "Thai" today...


Best regards,
Matt

Thai

Yup, i use the same name all across the different forums.