Does anyone know what the top end speed is for a S500 or S430 with out the speed limiter? I know MB stutters non-AMG cars at 130+- and AMG cars at 155.

I wonder what they will do with out the restriction? Just curious.

I think my S430 will do well above 140 but not anymore than around 155 delimited. S500 should go all the way to 160, the end of the speedometer. Just making educated guesses of course.

I have had the speed limiter taken off my car, and the ECU company said that 180 is possible. I will probably never try to see if that's true, but you asked.

I didn't ask anything. :p 180 seems unlikely in a w220 S500 unless the car was somewhat modified (aside from removing the limiter).

You can also check you tire speed rating. If your original tires are rated "H", 130 is just about as fast as you gonna make it to. My 500 has clocked 127 but I never went all the way safely when I was by myself on the express way. I'll only try that when there is no other driver on the road and my daughter is not with me in the car.

Well if the speed limiter is off then the car has been modified Yes 180 seems high but 100 to 120 is just seconds from one another and tires are not a problem. Goodyear F1's seem to enjoy the ride.

Here are some S class speedo pics!
I don't have S430 and S500, but I have some other!

They are not all TOP-speed pics, but you can calculate a bit from the rpm...

The first one is an S350!

Modified S320 CDI! (Carlsson chip)

S400 Cdi

S55 AMG Kompressor

Brabus S-class

Cl65 Amg

Brabus SV12

Holy Crap!!! I calculate that S55 AMG at about 190~191 MPH!!! I would guess that a S500 (with Z rated tires of course) would top out in the neighborhood of 170~175 MPH with the S430 maybe 160~165 MPH. Were you in any of these cars when these pics were taken? Thank you a bunch for your reply.

What is interesting to note is that with very little modification (only for safety and endurance) the S55 AMG and the Brabus cars could compete very well with NASCAR stock cars on the super speed ways at Talledega and Daytona!!!

I guess 180 on a un limited S500 is not so far off the mark!

No, sadly these pics were not taken by me!

But I've already had a chance to test-drive a S400 CDI, although I could not reach the max speed (I was in a city), it was souch a big adventure for me, I can hardly imagine how good it would be to drive a S55 or S65 AMG... WOW...

P.S.
For much more speedo pix, check out this link:

http://www.500sec.com/speedopix.htm

Holy crap. The MB's coming to the US are highly limited except the AMG and the V12 which can make it past 155. H speed rating has a max speed of 130 mph so MB will not give you H rated tires if your car can make it past 130. Thats kinda like mcdonalds giving you supersize drink on a small cup. Something is bound to give. On the other hand if you have Z rated tires you can easily scare the crap out of your wife. Too bad we have too many safety police here in the US that everything has to be governed.

the fastest the s430 let me go was 130. i had plenty of available road, but the limiter just wouldn't let it go faster. also, i thought the speed limiters were a part of german politics? in the top gear review of the cadillac cts-v (i think that was the model), they said that since it was an american car, there were no stupid speed limiters like german cars

I had a 00 model s430 which I had up to the limiter 156 mph (250kph) showing an indicated 158 mph on the digital readout on a very long flat possibly slightly down hill gradient , but it took ages to accelerate above 140 mph and any up hill gradient would bring it down from the high numbers

The S500 has 31 bhp more so i would say it should go a bit faster unrestricted but I,m not sure about 170-180 mph.

My s55 was limited to 156 (250kph) but was only doing 4500 rpm at this speed and as above I have heard of people getting 195 out of unrestricted ones but they do have 493bhp as opposed to the S500 306bhp. AMG will raise the limiter but only to 187 mph as tyres are only rated for this speed for prolonged use.

Clip below has 0-156mph in, car is still pulling well at limiter.

http://media.putfile.com/AMGS55bigclipNOsmusic

The S65 is also limited to 156 but I have heard on unrestricted ones hitting 205+ mph

S65 doesn't have an "AMG" speedo in (around half the S65 do , half don't )

Not got limiter on film yet but even on a damp road it pulls a little better than the S55

http://media.putfile.com/S65damppicts0-125mph

OUTSTANDING!! I thoroughly enjoyed those clips. Based upon the information presented one would be inclined to assume 155~165 for the S500 unlimited.

By the way, is that an abandoned air strip you were using for your "research"?

I also notice that there was a gathering of "birds" that tend to be attracted to this sort of thing.

Is there a legal limit for how many times I can watch those clips?

damn dats fast

In the owners manual for the S500 under Stats, it states 4th gear gets to the 155MPH limiter as does 5th gear.

This means roughly that 4th gear is not even out at 155MPH, so that leaves another 1,500 - 2,000 revs left in 5th gear, for say a further 20MPH?

175MPH?

UK S Classes are all restricted to 155MPH if they reach that, i.e. S280 & S320 do not, but they are not limited to 130MPH.

I would love to know for sure what a bog standard S500 does top end without limiter....

please.......

I have an
S430 that I got up to 130 but I quickly let off of it