I bought my car with a set of four, new Sumitomo's. That was 7+ years ago. I had replaced 3 of the 4 since then, for various reasons. Here's the last remaining front, 255/35R 20 Sumitomo:



And, the DOT #:



The last 4 DOT #'s give you the week and year of manufacture. In my case, that's the 47th week of 2014; making the tire about 8 years old. Opinions vary, but generally, consensus is, 6 to 10 years is a safe life-expectancy... And, as shown in pic #1, my 8 year old tire looked pretty good... No???

Au contraire mon frère...

I had lately noticed some less-than-desirable vibration, and had been meaning to jack up the front and check that tire for out-of-roundness, and replace it, if needed. Let's just say, that was ranked very low on my life's priority list... Until I was about 50 miles from home!!! And, was driving, as is my habit, at 10% over the posted 70 mph limit!!!

"WHACK!" I was pretty sure of what had just happened, but kept the Distronic engaged and carried on… About 10 miles later, another "WHACK". Then the decision tree became:
1) pull over in the middle of nowhere;
2) keep going at 70+ and see what happens; or
3) slow down considerably, and see if I can make it home.

I chose option 3, and then, to me, it became obvious my last Sumitomo's tread had separated... Weird, the vibration increased a lot as I slowed below 70 mph... Like the higher speed was "rounding out" the missing rubber patch!

Anyway, to the Sumitomo's-- 97Y rated 186 mph--, credit, the tire made it, the almost 50 miles, home. I kept the TPMS display on, and it never lost any pressure. Only when I removed the tire, did I see the catastrophic failure that had occurred... Frankly, I'm glad I didn't see it until I was safely home in my garage...



What idiot would drive 50 highway miles on that??? Well... I even stopped at HEB and filled the boot with groceries...

So, the moral of the story is to check those DOT #'s. Especially, if you recently bought the car. Tread depth and visual inspection isn't a good indicator of the condition of these very-high-speed-rated tires...

And, now some Fun... "Silver Lining" and all...

I have 20" AMG wheels and my brake calipers are Fugly (Have you heard of that brand?)... Did they even come with any paint on them from the factory?

So, while I waited for a new 97Y tire to be shipped-- none available at my latitude--, I decided to add some Bling. I wouldn't have done this 7 years ago-- trying to keep the S600 in its wolf-in-sheeps-clothing (which it is), but I think I'm now ready to "show a little leg". (Also thinking about doing something with that muted V-12 exhaust and looking for suggestions...)

In case anyone else is thinking along these lines, here's what I did:

I started with Super Clean-- in the purple spray bottle-- and steel wool to "super clean" the calipers... I have no idea if I did this right... Just winged it...



I also took off the star bolts with an E18 socket, breaker bar, and a 3+ foot cheater bar-- a 250 ft-lb impact wrench wouldn't touch these. Painted those black with some simple lacquer.

I taped off the calipers and sprayed with, allegedly, 2000F, high-heat Rust-Oleum red-- $20 a can. Three coats.

This too had been on my to-do list, so I also had some, allegedly, heat-proof AMG decals from Ebay.

Some purist will say, "Those aren't AMG S65 calipers!." Yeah, I know, but who's to say I didn't put 2006 AMG calipers on my 2007? Take that!!!

And, I tried two options with the decals:

Option 1:



I didn't like that so much, because it looks like, well, a decal!

Option 2:



I sprayed the bare caliper with a dash of plain black laqcuer-- I didn't have heat-proof black--, and masked with "AMG" letters, then sprayed 3 coats of red, and peeled off the "AMG" letters...

Neither will win any awards. Close examination reveals this was Not a factory option; unless it was made in England (hold your jeers , I own a Jag from when they were still made there and love it). But, at two feet away it's hard to tell...

I like Option 2, but welcome any critique...

For now, it will be a mismatch-- Hell, you can't look at both sides of the car at the same time! But, I kind of doubt that Ebay decal will withstand the test of time. Although, I did apply it to the fresh, uncured red Rust-Oleum, so it's probably not going anywhere.... At this point, it will be easy enough to go with one option or the other…

Regards... Mark

 

I would prefer option 1 due to AMG stripes but honestly none of them works for me, sorry

 

I like option 2 but they both look good 👍
As far as exhaust goes, I have a S63 exhaust on my S550 and it sounds great to me. Loud on cold start up and then it quiets down just enough when warm.

 

Thanks for the feedback guys...

As mentioned, I wouldn't have done the red calipers 7 years ago. At 15 years and the accompanying decline in FMV, however, I'm guessing a little "show", even w/o the added "go", is more likely to help than hurt resale-- not that I'm planning to sell. In other words, some "hot rodding" is okay at this age... And, although I don't have much flair for fashion, I think the red kind of compliments my tanzanite blue. Certainly, better than the grimy gray that it was...



And speaking of "Go", doni01, do the S63 resonators-- I assume that's what you replaced-- up the performance? Yours look great, and the sound you described is something I'm looking for... The look of the S600 is fine with me:



True story: A while back, I was leaving HEB and an employee came running up to me. I thought I had left my credit card or something in my basket. He stopped me and said he just wanted me to rev the V-12. He said he had never seen or heard one before. I apologized, but obliged. Mostly engine noise is all I could muster...

Also, several episodes of Engine Masters have explored the effect of the exhaust system on HP. I was surprised to learn the huge gains in HP in over 500 HP engines by slight mods... The V-12 seems ripe for such a change. Just guessing, but the absence of any rumble must be choking, perhaps, as much a 50 HP on the V-12... Also, guessing, most of that is in those rear resonators... Can't say I've do an "exhaustive" search, but I haven't found anything for the V-12...

Regards.... Mark

 

Hi Mark,

I did not do the resonators. Just the mufflers. I did not want anything crazy, or any drone inside the cabin just a little more than the stock exhaust was offering at the time. Bumper was dusty since I had just left the bodyshop from painting it.

 

More interested in the XJ8 and 911

 

I need to update my profile. XJ is still here, but the Carrera was my "tow vehicle". Ironically, it had the same HP as the turbo diesel, 40' motorhome it was towed behind.... Now, somewhere over the rainbow...

Regards... Mark

 

Thanks doni01:

As mentioned, I hadn't done any research when I posted #4. When I did (research), I found your posts:

https://mbworld.org/forums/s55-amg-s...aust-s600.html

and another 2007 S600 owner’s photos about the layout.

“It goes tips -> mufflers -> bullet resonators -> x-pipe -> primary cats -> turbos.”



Also, I am/was, a novice (read "idiot") when it comes to the exhaust system and the nomenclature. I confused muffler and resonator—have been for years. And, I hadn’t even looked under the car at my exhaust system…

And, found that BenzNinja says, changing the twin turbo exhaust won’t affect power. “None.” I trust his judgment on such matters... So, that kind of answers my question about performance...

So, I’m still unsure about what can be done to the V-12. Lots of people talk like all S-class exhausts are the same, as in interchangeable; V-12 and V-8, and AMG and MB OEM. But…



That’s an Ebay 2008 S65 USA. Note, the lack of resonators and x-pipe??? And:



That’s a 2012 S63 USA without the mufflers. Has resonators but also no x-pipe???

WHPH28, in the link above, has U-tubes of a pair of S600's; one with S65 exhaust and another with S600 muffler delete. WOW!!!

So, after looking a little, I'm assuming (as in ***-me):
1) a muffler delete would be FUN, but LOUD;
2) a resonator delete may be just right;
3) what about the x-pipe???; and
4) no power gain in any case—hard to imagine???

Then there’s this:


On Ebay, for about $1K, “Fits Mercedes Benz W221 S500 S550 S600 07-10, Direct Bolt On Fitment & No Cabin Drone, Very Sporty Aggressive Exhaust Tone Sound.”

I made a Rule for myself back in the 1970’s, after I knocked a hole in the muffler of my 1967 Volvo 1800S, when intentionally jumping, yes jumping, it airborne at 70 mph: Never, Ever do exhaust work yourself; take it to a muffler shop…. Still, how hard could it be???

Sorry, I took us off on this tangent, but more fun than flat tires… And, I titled this post and added some pics to, maybe, come up on a search, if another 221 S600 owner stumbles across it.

Now, I have to decide how far I want to go with this “hot-rodding"....



Regards... Mark

 

I did mine over a year ago and they still look fresh. https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w...cts-works.html

The decals I used were from ebay as well. The only difference is I was able to do it with all of the calipers off of the car which made it easier, especially baking in the oven to cure.