tuningpegs

just a quick question, not really familiar with the mercedes scene becuase I just recently recieved a c230k upon getting accepted into stanford.
What was the reason for mercedes to release a cl and a clk? what does the K stand for...does It have a purpose....like i is injection for BMW. And that also goes for the same with the sl and slk....is it just to provide similar cars to a group of people that can't exactly afford the sl...but can get teh slk?
if any kali people you know can perhaps plugg in a better eaton supercharger in my car....hook me up....just need to wait till the end of my senior year...:o

thanks...sammy

KWiK

cl, clk, sl, slk are just model designations just like Honda has civic, accord, CRX.

ElDiabloJoe

I think it was discussed in the latest issue of "Benzo" magazine. The U.S. reps for Kleeman said that, except for the clk series, the letter "K" on a Mercedes represents "K"leeman and indicates a supercharged vehicle. "K" as in Kompressor, "K" as in SLK, "K" as in C32 K AMG.

Don't kill the messenger, I won't swear by the above, I'm just repeating what I remember reading last weekend.

HTH,

EDJ

LAMAY123

Correct me if someone knows the right answer, but I've heard it somewhere that the K in both SLK and CLK stands for "Kompact" as the Benz carmakers in Germany designed it. Take SLK for example, S for Sleek, L for light, K for Compact. They are also seen as the smaller/cheaper version of the SL class. Same thing w/ the CLK, the smaller/cheaper CL perhaps.

tuningpegs

ahh ok...cool....

I've read about kleeman before...and correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe they do a much better job of tuning than rentech. I'll be heading out for stanford soon, so I'd definatly appreciate if anyone can help me with some quality mb tuner shops. But I aint no nub, I've done a complete rebuild of an engine of my old corrado and actually rebuild the supercharger after it hit the 160,000 mile mark.

The "k" for compact seems to be pragmatic...might explain the reason why thier a bit cheaper..none the less well built and beautifully created machines.

thanks

-sammy

ElDiabloJoe

According to the page 40 "Benzo" magazine article on Kleeman USA, the author, a Terry Galanoy, states this:

"Now it's every model for itself. Although Mercedes-Benz has long used the letter "K" to designate a factory compressor or supercharged-equipped model, this is not true of its line of stock CLK series coupes. These are blowerless. However, the entry-level C230K coupe and the nifty-swifty little SLK two-seater sportster do have the K designation and do have Kompressors. Go figure."

Anyhow, hope this helps. The Benzo magazine is dated 2002, Volume 1.

EDJ

eyuan23

This was posted awhile ago....hope it helps

ElDiabloJoe

the ML series stands for

M: Mini-van
L: Leicht (as you point out, light curb weight).

I don't really know, I'm just making fun of the Mercedes Mini-van because I hate those roller-skate looking, jelly-bean wanting-to-be things!

EDJ

Ebrigham

I believe that in the newest SLs, the L in fact stands for Lead...

OK, OK, not very funny.

Ted Baldwin

.....wellcome to the world of MB naming.

......yes, the K in MB's usually means that the car has a kompressor, but this appliues to stock MB's and the usually comes after a THREE DIGITS such as C230K etc.

.......After market tunners such as Kleemann add a K to the car, but the K comes in after TWO DIGITS, not three digits. For example CLK 320 becomes CLK32k. If it was left as CLK320K as some have done it will denote an oem compressor and would mean that the car came stock with the Kompressor. No such CLk exists.

.............Even the new supercharged SL55, e55, CL 55 do not have sl55k or e55k or cl55k written on them. The side panel just has v8 kompressor. So you can be safe that when a car reads CLK32k or e55k, it has an aftermarket kompressor such as a Kleemann.

...............As for SLK vs SL and CLK vs CL..........my understanding is that the K in this case denotes Kompact. The sl and SLK are both roadsters without back seats but SLK is more compact. The CL and CLK are both coupes with back seats but the CLK is more kompact. THe K in these instances do not have anything to do with a compressor. So, you can be safe that in MB.s when the K comes after a series of alphabets instead of after a series of numbers, it has nothing to do with a kompressor.

...............Now if you think you are confused, MB has developed the CLE, a four door "coupe".....go figure.

Ted

vraa

i thought the CLK class was a deritive of teh E Class... man i'm messed up! lol

Ted Baldwin

..............the CLK is actually a derivative of the C class but marketed "upmarket" while the old 300Ce was a derivative of the class.

Ted

PhucNguyen57

for the current models:
163 ML, 170 SLK, 203 C, 209 CLK, 211 E, 215 CL, 220 S, 230 SL, 463 G Wagon

call the cars by the Chassis code and it is easier to differentiate

C280 Jr.

Umm what they said, YEA!!!!

ScottG

I did not realize that Stanford gave each entering freshman a new Mercedes-Benz.

postoak

Phuc, you make a good point! I pulled some size statistics for those chassis numbers:

163 ML - 182.6 x 72.4

170 SLK - 160.7 x 70.4

203 C - 178.2 x 68

209 CLK - 182.6 x 68.5

211 E - 189.7 x 71.3

215 CL - 196.4 x 73.1

220 S - 203.1 x 73

230 SL - 178.5 x 71.5

463 G Wagon - 185.6 x 71.3