Johnny Rad

Just wanted to say HEY to MBWorld! I'm a first time Merc owner ... decided I couldn't live without a '12 E550 4Matic. I've been been surfing your site for a few weeks now, but still have a ton to learn. Take it easy on the newb driver!

Iridium on Black - Dark gray or dark blue would've been nice, but silver is good to go. Interiors have to be black in my book.

P2 w/Command navi, Harmon Kardon, Keyless Go, lighting pkg, adaptive brights, bi-xenons, media interface, rear shade, folding rear seats, trunk closer and Parktronic.

No air susp or dynamic seats. Wished I had the massaging driver seat, but decided the air susp wouldn't be as reliable as old school springs. Not even Lexus has perfected a reliable air susp.

Pics to follow... plus newb q's that I can't figure out w/"search." [Oops! Mine is Iridium and not Palladium.]

samkimg

Welcome to the boards ... and very nice color choice

Ask away, we're a pretty friendly bunch ...

Johnny Rad

I'm going to debadge my trunk lid - taking off the model and 4Matic designations but leaving the Merc star. They're just stuck on with adhesive, right?

I'd also like to debadge the blue efficiency designation on the front quarter panels. Are they stuck on with adhesive OR is there a hole in the fender keeping it in place?!

BenzV12

Welcome,
A pleasure to hail new members and MB Owners
I don't think those BLUE EFFICIENCY badges are bolted or drilled . Some W212 models pre FL didn't come with these badges either .
Those drilled badges should be a thing of past as well

Johnny Rad

Thanks!

Another question: When I go from ECO to Sport on my '12 E-class, I understand the tranny gets a bit more aggressive ... but, what about the steering or anything else?

pamiboy

Congratulations on your new car and welcome to the club. You've got a stunner of a car with you. Great choice.
I don't think there's any further change in driving dynamics between sport and comfort mode (other than transmission shifts). This is not a sports car by any stretch.

steinjr

Congrats on your purchase. You will not be disappointed.

dbldpr

congrats on the purchase You will enjoy the car. Use heat gun to remove decals Go slow and carefully. Use a plastic scraper to help it along . The plastic will not hurt the car.

wanderfalke

Carefully remove the emblems with dental floss and a hair drier . Pull up on the floss so you do not rub paint. Remove only one and make sure the paint is not a different non faded color underneath.

dbldpr

I will try the dental floss next time. Never thought of that.

Munich77

Congrats on the new ride. Sport does not change anything but the transmission shifting. You got a nicely optioned car with a nice color combination. What color wood do you have?

Johnny Rad

Black ash! Love it especially in the light when it shows some grain otherwise it looks piano black which is ok. Burled walnut is nice, too - but I figured different is ok.

Thanks for the info on the E/S button. I was hoping it would reduce the crazy light steering.

Agreed the E550 is NOT a sports car. Not sure it's even a sports sedan to be honest. I was hoping it'd be better than it is, but I'm not a corner carver so whatever. By the way, I'll tell you the '09-14 CTS-V with its trick MR suspension can really dance but that's another topic!

rufmb

Congratulations. E Class is the best (other then an S of course) even though not quite the sports sedan.

Munich77

Nice combination that is what I have interior wise, too. THe E550 is not meant to be a sports car/sport sean. It is a Q-ship and a highway bruiser/cruiser. I think it may handle a bit better with some stickier tires - the ones one my 2014 are geared more to fuel economy than performance.

wanderfalke

I built the a car with the air suspension and I think that it lowers and stiffens the car some on the highway in sport mode. I think the new E550 only comes with the sport suspension (usa version)which is stiffer and .6 inch lower to begin with.

Could be wrong and I am willing to be corrected.

Johnny Rad

Yeah, I think the air susp models go lower and/or firmer than non-air susp models. I don't have air ... to be honest, I was scared of having to fix it one day sooner than later.

I've got P-Zero A/S tires and they were skewered by Car & Driver versus Continentals. The Pirellis took significantly longer to stop and dramatically lowered the skidpad rating. When time comes to replace them with another set, we'll see what happens...

I'm LOVING the "hold" braking feature. The Lexus LS has a button on the wheel to activate it, but I think Merc's solution to engaging it might just be easier.

And the multi-function speedo LCD is cool, too. It's not a replacement for the navi screen, but gives a busy buddy (me!) another screen to look at, fiddle and adjust.

And the twin turbo V8 ain't bad either! Did I mention it's kinda fast?!

JoelE55

Actually, those BLUE EFFICIENCY badges has double sided tape on them.

Johnny Rad

With winter approaching here in Utah, I'm debating getting a set of snows (Maybe the Blizzak WS80).

My 4Matic is currently wearing a 1/2 worn set of Pirelli Nero A/S tires. I like the idea of powering all four wheels, but am concerned that my tires will let me down. Will they be good enough?! Will I be impressed with my Pirelli's ability in the snow?!

My last car was RWD and wore A/S tires, which led to a number of white knuckle outings in the white stuff every year. My driveway is quite steep, but short, and it never could make it with any amount of snow. Even a skiff was too much. Once I got onto the open road in the white stuff, my car couldn't accelerate to save its life. I was generally the slowest one out there.

DMan918

Welcome to the forum.

This is my first winter with the E550 but I will be running all seasons. Winter tires will always outperform but I've had several awd cars and all seasons have been just fine for me. Running Continental ExtremeContacts BTW.

You'll also have to look at some tuning options. I unfortunately have a '11 so not too much aftermarket for me, but the '12 is a whole different story.

ss3964spd

Isn't "AWD" a bit of a misnomer on these, and most, cars?

I'm not entirely sure how MB sets up the system. Does it send a percentage of the power to the front all the time, or only when it detects rear wheel slip? Also, do they have any sort of limited slip differential front or rear?

pamiboy

On the contrary "AWD" seems most appropriate to the current MB 4Matic system. It continually sends power to all 4 wheels. As far as I know it is not an "on demand" system as most other cars out there.
There is no limited slip differential in the regular E class cars, unless you opt for the AMG versions which have them.

pamiboy

Also, I used the stock all season continentals during most of the horrible last winter and had no problems. My place is very hilly and I had gotten stuck with FWD cars on the same roads.

ss3964spd

Agreed, I was aware that the RWD cars don't have a LS differential - except the AMG cars.

Are you saying that the 4Matic cars do have LS diff's front and rear? If they don't, how is power applied to all 4 wheels all the time?

Just curious really, I haven't looked into the technical details behind the system.

Dan

pamiboy

May be someone with in depth knowledge of these systems can help us out.

Jerzeyjoe

When it snows, I leave my Toyota Tacoma home, and take my 350. Never got stuck and I still have the original tires.