s55amg newbie here !
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 2
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s55amg
s55amg newbie here !
hello folks,
new registrant on the forum . . . and new owner of a '04 s55amg w/15k.
my brother passed away & I would much rather see him behind the wheel of this beauty but that is not the case. nice of him to hand it on down to me !
anyhow, I have some reading to continue with and I have a sense of coming maintenance requirements. I am a corp jet pilot by trade and A&P mechanic as well. No stranger to machines - - what a nice one this is !
A few questions. Other than tires & brakes how does this sled hold up to aggressive driving ? Anyone take it on a track - - (www)MillerMotorSports
is my local playground here in Utah. I run my BMW r1100s bike out there several times a year.
What's with MB and their (non) transmission fluid change advice ? what say 'ye knowing heads on the issue of changing transmission fluid ?
any way to hard wire in a lead for an ipod into the . . . 'system' ?
Look forward to being on here. Thanks to all for the info. It is appreciated.
David
new registrant on the forum . . . and new owner of a '04 s55amg w/15k.
my brother passed away & I would much rather see him behind the wheel of this beauty but that is not the case. nice of him to hand it on down to me !
anyhow, I have some reading to continue with and I have a sense of coming maintenance requirements. I am a corp jet pilot by trade and A&P mechanic as well. No stranger to machines - - what a nice one this is !
A few questions. Other than tires & brakes how does this sled hold up to aggressive driving ? Anyone take it on a track - - (www)MillerMotorSports
is my local playground here in Utah. I run my BMW r1100s bike out there several times a year.
What's with MB and their (non) transmission fluid change advice ? what say 'ye knowing heads on the issue of changing transmission fluid ?
any way to hard wire in a lead for an ipod into the . . . 'system' ?
Look forward to being on here. Thanks to all for the info. It is appreciated.
David
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 4,278
Likes: 377
From: San Jose area
'19 E63S sedan
Sorry about your bittersweet acquisition.
That's a great cruiser but not too many people find it very satisfying on the track. It's loads of fun on twisties but awfully heavy to expect to be a competitve track machine. The brakes are pretty good but if you are serious about this you might want to think about upgrading to the much larger brakes that come on the S65. They have 390 mm rotors up front with 8 piston calipers that hold four pads. You need 19" wheels to clear them but should otherwise bolt on.
A transmission flush at 60K is now recommended by the factory, at least quasi-officially. It has to be a flush since the torque converter has no drain hole. Just draining the pan and refilling will leave a lot of dirty fluid behind so the dealers use a flush system that connects in place of the trans oil cooler and run about twice the capacity of fluid through until it's clear. BTW, you have to use MB fluid and it's not cheap.
There are aftermarket IPOD integrations for that car, but nothing from the factory as far as I know. You may not realize it, but the in-dash CD slot (but not the trunk-mounted changer) will play MPs burned onto a CD or DVD. You can cram an awful lot of songs on a single DVD. They have to be .mp3 format, so select "MP3 CD" in the Burning preferences.
That's a great cruiser but not too many people find it very satisfying on the track. It's loads of fun on twisties but awfully heavy to expect to be a competitve track machine. The brakes are pretty good but if you are serious about this you might want to think about upgrading to the much larger brakes that come on the S65. They have 390 mm rotors up front with 8 piston calipers that hold four pads. You need 19" wheels to clear them but should otherwise bolt on.
A transmission flush at 60K is now recommended by the factory, at least quasi-officially. It has to be a flush since the torque converter has no drain hole. Just draining the pan and refilling will leave a lot of dirty fluid behind so the dealers use a flush system that connects in place of the trans oil cooler and run about twice the capacity of fluid through until it's clear. BTW, you have to use MB fluid and it's not cheap.
There are aftermarket IPOD integrations for that car, but nothing from the factory as far as I know. You may not realize it, but the in-dash CD slot (but not the trunk-mounted changer) will play MPs burned onto a CD or DVD. You can cram an awful lot of songs on a single DVD. They have to be .mp3 format, so select "MP3 CD" in the Burning preferences.
Member
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 88
Likes: 2
2003 S55 AMG silver
Sorry about your bittersweet acquisition.
That's a great cruiser but not too many people find it very satisfying on the track. It's loads of fun on twisties but awfully heavy to expect to be a competitve track machine. The brakes are pretty good but if you are serious about this you might want to think about upgrading to the much larger brakes that come on the S65. They have 390 mm rotors up front with 8 piston calipers that hold four pads. You need 19" wheels to clear them but should otherwise bolt on.
That's a great cruiser but not too many people find it very satisfying on the track. It's loads of fun on twisties but awfully heavy to expect to be a competitve track machine. The brakes are pretty good but if you are serious about this you might want to think about upgrading to the much larger brakes that come on the S65. They have 390 mm rotors up front with 8 piston calipers that hold four pads. You need 19" wheels to clear them but should otherwise bolt on.
Although the car on the street can fool you, it does feel like a smaller car, the heft of it will show itself under track conditions, this vehicle is trully the ultimate cruiser and is very comfortable in that role.
Enjoy it.
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 4,278
Likes: 377
From: San Jose area
'19 E63S sedan
True, but the S65 brakes are bigger and even more superb. Obviously the factory thinks that under some driving conditions the bigger brakes offer a suitable margin of safety for this car. Tracking this behemoth create such conditions, in my opinion. The fact that larger bolt-on brakes, factory engineered for this exact chassis, are available is too good a situation to ignore if the OP is truly thinking of the track, I would think.
Member
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 88
Likes: 2
2003 S55 AMG silver
True, but the S65 brakes are bigger and even more superb. Obviously the factory thinks that under some driving conditions the bigger brakes offer a suitable margin of safety for this car. Tracking this behemoth create such conditions, in my opinion. The fact that larger bolt-on brakes, factory engineered for this exact chassis, are available is too good a situation to ignore if the OP is truly thinking of the track, I would think.
The brakes on the s55 and s65 are amazing but designed to cool on the highway at those speeds where you have plenty of air, and where repeated use is not likely as opposed to a track setting.
My opinion is that if he is planning to track the car, the OP would be better serve to get custom ducting fabricated to cool the brakes than just going bigger.
Just my 0.2
