The reason I thought I might gain something...even with an SL450...by adding a WaveTrack, Quaife, etc., is that my right rear tire seems to wear at roughly twice the rate of the left rear tire. I talked to the tech at my local dealer while he was checking the alignment on my car, about the high wear rate on that tire, and he said it was quite normal because of the lack of posi. I was really floored...I'd naively assumed the car already had posi. Gads...what else did they skimp on (rhetorical, though a heated steering wheel was also expected)? I had also assumed the car needed an alignment because it had so much negative camber. Wrong again! He showed me the alignment readout while my car was on the machine, and at just under two degrees all the way around, it was well withing spec. I may be a bit out of the loop on recent developments in chassis design, but that sure seems like a ton of negative camber. Perhaps it helps account for how well the car sticks in the corners, even with just the stock smallish (for the car's weight) Conti run-flats...

 

Haha, yeah with a LSD you’ll be replacing two tires instead of one. That kind of tire wear is associated with the heavy right foot syndrome. I have suffered from this affliction for years 😀

 

Fact / reality is there is no front or rear adjustment to resolve excess Camber !

The often quoted reassuring "Full front & rear '4' wheel alignment" is only Toe, directional adjustment.

Then the frustration of being told nothing more can be done - "is within (the broad parameter) of factory specs".

It is all to do with cost cutting and ever increasing speed of auto assembly lines !

We saw the need therefore to reinstate once again from the early 90's Front Camber (and Caster), Rear Camber (and extra Toe). Bolt-on no mods. Precise single wrench adjustable.

Catering for other then showroom height conditions - day to day commuting encountering high cambered roads, wheel squat through load carrying or lowering, fitting wide profile tires or simply the ability to have ongoing adjustment for curb knock damage.

R231 all incl. AMG
Front Camber & Caster #502216K $480
Camber Only #502216-1i $345
Rear Camber (& extra Toe) #502126-1K $480

 

I have the OE Tuning on my 17 450. And I don't have any of the Objective Data the OP asked for. Subjective data is - It's great!. It makes a fun car funner. The car is more responsive and zippier. I know Zippier isn't an objective data point, but that's the way the car feels. Freeway cruising (in sport or Sport+ mode of course), and punch it at 50-55 you might get a mere blip of tire chirp before being tossed into the seat and watch the Speedometer fly up to triple digits.

My wife has a 2019 Vette, her car is faster overall, but the experience in the SL is alot more fun. And if you are a chubby person like me getting in and out of the SL is a dream compared to the vette. And while off the line the Vette moves out faster, I think the response when punching it at 50-55 - the SL takes it hands down.

I recently spent a weekend with my Dad's BMW 2019 850 csi - A heavy car with quite a bit more power than the SL. And while I haven't gone head to head against my Dad, I'm pretty confident the SL will take the BMW up to about 75-80 after that it's hard to say because the BMW seems to pull hard, but the SL is much faster getting through the gears. And the BMW's response when punching it at 35 or 50 or 55 - is nothing like the SL.

As for the Weistec upgrades. To get the numbers out of the turbo upgrade you need to change out the Exhaust system and take out the cats. Which takes the classy SL and makes it so you can't drive home after dark without waking the neighbors.

I haven't looked in the last year or so, but there also isn't a single review, comment, or anything from anyone that has done the turbo upgrade, including Weistec. Weistec is within an hour from me, and I had reached out to them several times, but could never get much specifics other than, it's going to be really loud.

Dave B

 

IF I do the turbo upgrade, I'm not doing the exhaust and intake, so the numbers may be under 500hp. Right now, however, with gas over $5/gal and on its way to $6, I'm happy with the tune I have and still getting that nice V6 mileage.

Remember, hp is generally a function of fuel, air, compression, and timing. More hp usually means more fuel. Also, if you're not going to drive it like it should be driven, why spend the money on an upgrade?

 

Do we know stock boost psi vs tuned boost psi? Specifically on an SL550

 

The tech also explained about the lack of adjustment...though he did say that on the front end, there are offset bushings that can be installed into the stock lower arms for camber reduction, but that they'd only net about 1/2deg improvement (less negative) for all the trouble of installing them. He offered nothing at all for the rear. My car has a rear camber spec of 1.5-2.5 deg negative(!), with mine falling around 1.9 negative. The front is only slightly less than that...around 1.6 negative. No wonder these cars eat tires like they do. What was M-B thinking? There must have been some German reasoning for doing this. It might have made sense for an SL63 with performance suspension, but for an SL450? My friend has a C7 Grand Sport Corvette that was delivered with a whacky setup like this for track use, but he had the option to have the dealer correct it to somewhere around zero camber for road use at no cost, which he took advantage of.
I'm checking out your catalog online, but it's kind of tough to decipher for someone who didn't lay out the info. If I'm reading correctly, on the rear there's a choice of whether you adjust the camber at the top or at the bottom? Are some of the part numbers for ABC, and others without? A bit confusing...

I just watched a YouTube clip of a guy who just does videos of himself tearing down various engines that have failed. This vid was on the M278. I think the lower end of one of the rods had let go due to something getting in between the rod bearing and crank journal. Sad. What was really interesting was the exhaust manifold/turbo setup. The log-type manifold was one piece with the turbine housing! It's pretty tough to get more efficient than that...though the manifold half was just a log with holes in the side that line up with the exhaust ports in the head. I've read a lot about turbos over the years, and I'm always amazed at how horrible some of the exhaust manifolds look (like these), compared to how well the whole setup actually works.