slacker55

Fellow BSers,

I've decided that I'm going to shorten the break-in period to 500 miles, which I'm at right now...conveniently. I've listened to the angel and devil on my shoulders yapping away for long enough and the time has come to choose sides.

So now that my car is "broken in," I want to start modding it. I'm thinking of going all out evosport since they seem to have the most options. But I want to work on the handling first. I plan to get the spacers and maybe wider rubbers. How wide can I go on the stock wheels and will it help the grip? Any other options that can add noticable improvements to the handling?

JamE55

Are you not getting aftermarket wheels? If you do then it'll eliminate the use of spacers which imo is better.

I think Evo has an aftermarket version of KW's for that car. So i'd probably do that and then lower it a bit. Then do corner balancing. Should take care of the handling part.

slacker55

Well I was thinking about aftermarket wheels. However, there seems to be no options out there that chuck z seems to approve of...jk.

But I've been looking for wheels for a while and it seems that they will either be too expensive or too heavy to justify the "value" they will add to the car. So I'm sticking to the factory wheels for now.

And not to sound like an idiot, but what are KWs?

JamE55

Too heavy? HRE Competition series are pretty light and there's also Dymag (much more expensive) but for your car i'd pick a set of C20's maybe in 19"s with blacked out centers.

KW's are coilovers.

Jim Brady

I like the look of the stock wheels and decided to get the spacers which change the whole look of the car. Since I track my car I felt that it needed a little more help in the spring department and went with the upgraded H&R's that Evosport sells. Regardless these cars need a competition alignment.

I believe that Power Chip has figured out the ECU tune in which the first generation had problems with the ESP putting the car in limp mode when pushed hard on the track. There is some gains to be had with a tune and carbon filter removal.

user z478747

prolly not far from the truth though.....

DFW01E55

The stock 285's are the limit for the 9.5" wheels.
You may stretch a wider tire on but it will (I'm told) impact the footprint.

Noticably improve the handling? I doubt that you'd notice anything on the street.
You may want to try the car at the track first and see what you think it needs.

TTAMG

They just adjust and tune the shock i believe. They also replace the coils for H&R's. I dont think the actual coilover itself is different.

Rear rotors are a no brainer. Thats probably something you should do.

slacker55

Speaking of wheels, I'm debating whether or not I should just take these HRE M47s. I'm not sure how heavy they are and how they will look without slamming my car, but I would like something wider than the factory wheels...

Come on chuck...lets hear it!


https://mbworld.org/forums/clk63-bla...47-clk-bs.html

jrcart

I've got news for you, the factory wheels are not that light either, don't buy into the "light weight forged wheel" thing that AMG touted, they are one of the heaviest 19" forged wheels I have ever seen, rears are over 30 pounds a piece.

I must say you seem to be contradicting yourself quite a bit, in one post you state you want to go with all out with the evosport package and then you say you want to start with handling, mention wider rubber and/or spacers and then a few post later throw out the "expensive" word. Modding this car is not going to be cheap, so my advice is don't cut any corners. If handling is your first priority that is great, just do it right. Do the springs, do some 19"x10" or 19"x11" light weight wheels a good alignment and corner balance. a 19"x11" will allow for a 305 tire with no clearence isues. If you really want to focus on handling, throw out the 19's all together and go with an 18" wheel. I would also recomend the evosport light weight two-piece rear rotors at the same time and the evosport aero package as well, they are all going to contribute to the handling of the car. I would not bother with changing the shocks, the stock units are actually pretty good, as are the stock brake calipers and pads. I was actually talking to a company about a one-off set of shocks but I put that on hold and the truth of the matter is that I really did not need them I was just looking for remote resevoirs that were easier to access than the stock units, adjusting the stock units is a pain in the butt, a remote resevoir in the trunk and a couple up under the hood for fine tuning compession and rebound would be ideal, if you want a shock set up something like this expect to spend $8k

Evosport did all the work on my car, they have done similar work to several other Black Series as well, I have had 3 different Black Series owners drive my car on road courses and all of them have made comments on the drastically improved handling of my car over stock. I'm sure the Dymags have a lot to do with this, they allow for much quicker steering input, they come with a hefty price tag but worth every penny.

The truth of the matter is that the car is awesome in it's stock form, but we all know there is always room for improvement, bottom line, if you are going to do it, do it right.

slacker55

Thanks for the tips. As for the contradictions, I know modding this car will be costly and don't mind paying. But my point was that the costs need to add enough "value" in order for them to be worthwhile.

If the evosport dymag wheels are really that much better, I might consider getting them first. How much lighter are they compared to factory?

Also, is the Quaife dif worth it for this car?

user z478747

Mmmm, I'm indifferent about these wheels....... Don't love 'em, don't hate 'em... The stock wheels just look so good it's tough to do better...... IMHO of course.

slacker55

Yeah...there doesn't seem to be any wheels out there that will really make the car look "significantly" better. But I'm looking for something that will help performancewise...so I'd consider the dymags if they really help that much.

user z478747

Is it worth $10k to save a few pounds? Not that it's any of my business but why do you seem set on customizing your BS (lighter, faster/better handling)? Do you plan to track it? This car is so great right out of the box, if it's going to be just a street car how much more performance does one need? Better yet, how much more performance is really usable for the street? Not making a judgment, I'm just curious that's all....

Vic55

Id pass here... they look like factory 997TT wheels.

In regards to Monobloks from HRE- they have two molds, the P car mold which is lighter and then the standard heavy duty mold for Benzes and other cars (Bimmer Bentley GTR etc). These wheels weigh nearly 30 lbs while the Pcar ones (on mine) weigh 21 and 24 lbs in the 19 inch format. Im sure the 20lb M47's are at 30lbs. This would be counter productive to your "heavy comment" if you bought them.

If you want a light HRE wheel, the Comp series in 19 inch format weighs circa 20lbs.

slacker55

All very good questions that I'm currently debating. I guess there are those who like the idea of "stock" and others that like the idea of "custom." Apparently I fall into the second group. So I definitely plan to mod it.

But the question lies in: Which mods will be worth it and which ones wont? And that's what I'm hoping to get a better idea of with this thread.

user z478747

The question I get most often when I'm out with mine is; "where did you get all the cool the stuff to mod that car....." i.e, the wheels, exhaust, brakes fender flares, shorty shifter and all that carbon fiber.........? Bottom line, most people have no idea what they're looking at in the first place so if you modify it who will know? The others who know what they're looking at will ask if it's a real Black Series if it's not easily recognizable as a Black Series.......

It's your car, who cares what me or anyone else thinks. Have fun with it and do to it what makes you happy.

slacker55

Yeah...some guy asked me yesterday if it was a Lorinser and I was like "it's a black series" and he was like "errrrrrrr but the car's white..."

As for the modding...there's nothing I can think of that can make the car look better. But I do want to do some performance mods regardless whether or not I track the car. And while the decision is ultimately mine, I do value any feedback and input that can help me decide. Besides...modding this car is quite expensive and the economy sucks. So feel free to "unleash your fury" at will.

DFW01E55

Rears are 28 but your point remains valid, fronts are 24.

jrcart

I am not aware of a Quaife that is available for our cars, I looked into one a few months ago and was told they did not have one available. I would certainly start elsewhere on your modding than on a Quaife, the factory unit is great, rock solid and un-breakable...If it were going to break I would have broken it already, I have made over 100 passes at the drag strip and most of those where on Mickey Thompson tires while srpaying the car, my car make more torque than any other 63 out there, chances are you are not going to break it.

As for the Dymags, rears 19x11's are in the 15-16 pound range and the rear stockers are at or near 30 I believe. I am not saying you have to go with the Dymags, there are less expensive options that will still give you a huge weight savings over the stock wheels, which will also allow for some wider rubber.

As for Chuck and his opinions of the wheels, I have to agree with him, I am not in love the with looks of the Dymags, they are not ugly, but not beautiful either, the CF lip is a conversation piece and works well with the other cf on the car. I put them on my car for one reason only, performance.

Jon2007E63P30

Well in that case, your done! You will find nothing that will have the value of the modifications you could make to say something like a Honda FIT or Mitsubishi of any type.

jrcart is speaking from the perspective of "if it makes technical sense, then do it regardless of the cost".

jrcart's machine would be a good one to copy. Just go into evosport and say, make it like his.

jrcart, what would that cost?

Jon2007E63P30

See?! If it makes technical sense do it.

jrcart

God, don't ask me that...I am in denial and I don't really want to know how much I've spent, to say I went a little overboard on this project would be an understatement, the scary part is that I'm not done yet. I'm probably in the ballpark of $75k in aftermarket parts and mods on my BS, but that includes stuff like the CF DTM seats ($8000), multiple ECU's and ECU tunes, the NOS system, extra sets of drag wheels/tires. That also includes labor costs, I could have installed half the stuff myself, but I prefer to not turn wrenches and leave it to the pros. In all honesty I think it was money well spent, evosport and I found a way to improve on perfection.

As others and I have already stated the BS is an awesome car in it's stock form, there are only a small handfull of production cars that can out perform it on the road or track. It is a near perfect blend of performance, it can be driven hard on a road course, it can run some insanely quick times at a drag strip, you can take it to the country club or out for a night on the town and it is comfortable enough to take on a cross country road trip, with plenty of room for luggage and gear.

slacker55

Ok Master Chuck Z...I have now seen the light!

Haha. Well the way I see it, those that are prone to customizing their cars do so because "nothings ever enough" to them. With that mindset and the cashflow to back it up, we'll find another way to blow 75K anyways. So in the end, it makes no difference really. Although I was thinking more along the lines of 25K for now...

jrcart

You can still get a lot of stuff done for $25-30k. Keep in mind I have choosen a modding path that goes two ways, road racing and drag racing. I was never much of a drag racer and to be honest when I started the project there where no plans for drag racing mods, it was not until I got sucked in by some of the other guys on this board and caught the drag racing bug. I think for around $30k you can do the springs, lightweight wheels (maybe not the Dymags), headers, ECU, rear brakes rotors, stainless brake lines, pulley, and intake mods. Don't hold me to that number, I would call evosport for an exact quote. Those mods would make night and day noticable changes in the performance of your car and would get you somewhere in the ballpark of 480-500rwhp depending on if you run cats and what type of fuel you get tuned for. If you want to pass on the headers for warranty or emmisions reasons I would then recomend the evosport CF aero package, it makes some very noticible improvments, especially in fast sweepers, a light feeling azz-end is one area that needed to be addressed, european versions had the option of an aero performance package.

Keep us posted on your progress