With ESP on, the ESP lights are on the whole time when I mash the throttle, and this obviously eats up a lot of of power (there's even a little delay in the gear shifts). Mashing the pedal With the ESP off, the car will just sit there and fishtail the whole time. What are your experiences with straight line accelaration? And is it faster to leave the car in S or use the Speedshift or paddle shift? And what does the C stand for in the Shift Gear? My owner's manual doesn't even mention any AMG stuff at all. In fact, at the end of the manual, in the specs page, it doesn't list the car at all!!

Thanks guys,

Sammy

 

hello there!

I guess C is for comfort! as well for the acceleration ESP is always on , I dont know if you can turn it off, I heard it turns off around 50mph (completly off)

leave the esp, just step on the pedal slightly , until u feel the car has gained traction then floor it to death

this all situation takes 1 sec.... I know it sounds more time....

hope this helped!

 

Thanks for the reply!
So I guess C is for city driving...do you know if it alters the damping system of the car?
As far as the acceleration issue, you mentioned that the ESP shuts off after 50 mph? And you also mentioned that the best way to accelerate is to leave the ESP and then slowly step on the gas until the car gains traction then floor it...when you say leave the ESP, do you mean on or leave it off? Thanks for the help!

 

Your times will always be slower with ESP on. Since you are asking for the fastest/quickest way to 60, try the following method.

1. Make sure car is in 'S' mode (it'll start in 2nd gear otherwise)
2. Turn off ESP
3. "Roll" the throttle in a progressive, even manner
4. Hang on!

 

i don't know about that...

 

...too much, and you lose precious time spinning your tires; too little, and you bog. As you've observed, it's a lot easier to get too much than too little!!

I've done timed runs with a GTECH, and my most consistent times are done as follows:

1) hold brake with left foot, throttle with right;

2) hold rpms at around 750-1000 rpms (higher if possible, depending upon how much spin it gets you);

3) hold throttle steady, and yank left foot off of brake. wait for an instant until you feel weight shifting to rear, then give throttle a "fast squeeze" to floor. DON'T just stomp it, or you'll get spin, but get it down as fast as you can without a full stomp....you'll have to practice this, but it works.

Ideally, you want some spin, say 15' or so worth, but that's about it. Unlike the supercharged 5.5L cars where fast launches without traction control are pretty much hopeless, you will get your best times with traction control off, but beware: too much spin will get you axle hop (feels like something is banging on the rear of the car repeatedly), which will toast your axle and driveline in a hurry; if you get anything like this, let off that throttle, ASAFP!! Then, practice being more gentle with the throttle!

I've also gotten a great deal of improvement by switching to E55 18" rims with 265/35-18 tires on the back, which hook up much better than the too-skinny 245's.

Hope this helps! You might also get a GTECH or other performance tester to test your results; works a lot better than the butt-meter...

 

ESP never switches off. Remember it's designed to save our little butts.

 

Say what? Sure switches off on mine...I can fry the rear tires at will and get extremely sidways if I shut that puppy down...

 

he meant automatically.. like a previous poster stated that it would shut off past 50mph.. which i too highly doubt it.

 

Yeah, I can vouch for the fact that the TC stays on at high speeds; I've had the light blink in a few pretty high speed corners (at well above 50!)

 

Listen~!!! It never shuts off unless you disconnect it from the ECU. It is possible because that's what old SL drivers do near Boston. But if it is hooked on, it will be on no matter what speed you ar running. Even though u turn it off, it is still on but it will just interfere less. If there is a wheel spin it will apply brakes on the wheel that spins.
Anyways, IMO, the fastest way to launch is using the Manual Mode. I tested this on the Dragway.
1) Manual Mode & turn off ESP.
2) Burn the rubber a bit. It will give you a better traction. and also the rubber on the road surface can help you too.
3) Don't floor it until 2000rpm. Just practice how not to get the wheel spins until 2000 rpm.
4) Floor it as much as you want after 2000 rpm and be safe~ ^^;;

I bet there are many other ways that would work for other people but revving and applying brakes can damage your vehicle if you do it too much or too hard.

Since MB AMG models don't come with Limited differential slip, it will have more wheel spins than let's say M3. Get it if you really want to feel the punch from the first gear. If you get larger wheels, it will give you less wheel spins but the car feels and actually becomes heavier.
I think 19 inches are a bit heavy for stock CLK55. I have HRE 19s and that's how I feel. And if one does modify the engine with supercharger, it will generate more hps and torques so one will get wheel spins again even with larger tires.

Go to a Dragway and practice. U will get the feel a lot faster than u expect. Good luck.

 

.....what if you put it in dyno mode?

 

In the dyno, the tester decide when to push the throttle. They usually don't program it to floor the car in the first gear. If they do that on MB without LSD, they can't measure the max performance of the car.

 

I meant to say you can drive it in dyno mode, but may not be recommended. Doesn't that turn off ESP, ETS, etc.?

My buddy tried it once in his C32. He went through the menus and switched everything off....all kinds of warnings, etc. came up though

 

As far as I know, u Can disconnect ESP. This is the only way that you can turn it off completely. But by pressing the ESP button, it is still on.

 

Gotcha. Thanks for the reply.

 

If you ask your dealer.. I mean the service manager, they will do it for you and the ESP light will be on until you reconnect it.

 

If I disable it, I can (and have) literally smoke 'em for an entire city block. There was absolutely no intervention by the ESP system during this time.

I've also induced snap oversteer with it off; in one instance the back end came out so quickly that I nearly spun 180 degrees before correcting. ESP would not allow this to happen if it was functional.

Maybe there's something wrong with mine, but if I turn it off, it is *off*. And when it is on, it is too damn heavy-handed!!

 

"but if I turn it off, it is *off*. And when it is on, it is too damn heavy-handed!!"

My car is the exact same way...I have a 2003...is it possible for them to have revised the ESP program, or its intervention level....BTW, I do have 21000 km (13000 miles) and my tires have still not been changed, so that might have something to do with the heavy amount of fishtailing the car does

 

Ok if you really want to test this... Drive as hard as you can in a rainy day. Take a hard turn with your ESP off. I actually tried it myself and I felt the brake coming on when the car turned about 50 degrees from the vertical line. If you want some proof, go see the Top Gear review between E55 and RS6. Jeremy Clarkson will tell you the same thing.. The best way is to try it with your car at your own risk.

 

I can turn ESP & ABS completly off using "Dyno Mode". I don't think it can be done w/ CLK's but my C32 can do it and I have no ESP at any time with the mode on.

Pretty cool to the 1/4 mile or playing around town...

 

I wrote as much in my previous post, and will state it again here...

You'd written in your prior post that even when disabled, If there is a wheel spin it will apply brakes on the wheel that spins. . I am telling you that this is simply not the case in my experience. Here are two examples:

1) I was playing around with a guy in a Z06 once. He was behind me at a light, and I was first in line. Traction control was off. I power braked it a bit and jumped on it when the light turned (after making sure no idiots were going to run the light, that is), and proceeded to smoke the rears and fishtail for an entire city block. There was *zero* intervention by the ESP.

2) I disabled it another time when out enjoying some curvy roads. On one low-speed hard off-axis right-hander, I decided to give it a bit more throttle than usual. Result: instant snap oversteer, with again *zero* intervention from the ESP. The only things which kept me from going ***-end first into a curb were quick reflexes, years of experience with oversteer, and a very hasty application of opposite lock. The rearend was well past 50 degrees out at this point, well over 100 actually, getting perilously close to 180...had ESP intervened, I'd have felt it. It did not.

Now with ESP *on*, having replicated both of these situations *with* it on, I can promise you that intervention by the system would have prevented the spin. In particular, for case two, I proved it by taking the same corner, at the same speed, same gear, same application of throttle, with ESP on. Result: the ESP light went nuts, the system scrubbed power and applied the rear brakes, and the rear end stayed firmly put.

Maybe yours is different, but in mine, I repeat: when it's off, it's off. There is no intervention, and certainly no braking of spinning rear wheels if I can spin them for an entire block whereas ESP on kills power and shuts them down within ten feet.

 

I have to agree with Improviz:

I too have experienced the snap oversteer when then triangle was lit ESP OFF and my *** end swung around quick and hard enough to hurl me into a 180 which I got lucky and didnt hit anything. I have experimented at a light as well I have 19 inch heavy tires and if I turn the ESP OFF I can literally spin sideways until I release the gas and wait for the tires to slow enough to catch traction and then take off. Maybe they did change the programming of it. My 2001 is almost impossible to drive fast with the ESP OFF