MRI Doc

My dealer contacted MBUSA regarding removal of the speed limiter and was told in no uncertain terms that this was not possible in the US.

I told her that this could be optionally done at the factory in Germany, but I do not no the process.

Has anyone gotten a delimited US car and if so, how do you go about having the restricter removed?

absent

Even in Germany it's not complete removal,just a change from 155
to about 190mph because of tire restrictions(weight of the car)
Renntech will have a chip for S/CL600 increasing the speed to 175.

jco-amg

Even if MBUSA will not do it...there are ways to do it here...I looked into it with my CLK...There is one guy who comes over from Germany and does a bunch at a time or you can pull the module and send it over there.

Richard

Yup, my SL55 came with the Pirelli P-Zero Rosso Y rated tyres - Y rating means rated to 186mph.
So, I beleive that MBs standard "deristriction" is to 186

Presumably if you pay them enough and sign away your life, and prove you want to race the thing only, they'll remove the limiter totally ...

morebhp

As stated two choices - 186mpg (or 189 can't remember the exact figure) and 'do what you like'. 186 was about 1600 UK pounds (2500 euros?).

Do what you like will be a lot more expensive with tyres, etc.

The UK story was it had to be taken to the AMG factory near Stuttgart and they would not do the mod until the car was second hand, registered in the UK.

As I have stated previously I am sure this is an expensive parameter change!

I didn't bother - broke 155 maybe 4 times in my 360 - roughly 400 pounds a pop (then for about 10 seconds before hitting the brakes) - so 40 pounds a second. Decided not to bother!

Will be tempted when other offer the service cheaper and without the 200 mile round trip, nice as the trip would be!

morebhp

Typo - make that 2000 miles!

mookie

Having the delimiter taken off seem like a waste unless u have the chance on a regular basis to drive in excess of 155mph. Around me in northern new jersey there is not to many places to go that kind of speed without taking your life in your hands. If you are running the cannonball then it is surely useful. There are some great videos of cars driving almost 200mph on the bmw website under their message board under Gumball 3000 forum or Race stories http://www.bmwm5.com/

issanni

If I remember correctly Lonman had hit 176mph in his SL55 during the Gumball 3000. And I believe his car still had the 155mph limit. But I could be wrong, yes...no?

jco-amg

AMG will only delimit up to 186 because of the tire issue...they will..for a price...totally unlimit the car for a supervised top speed run with special tires which they provide.

mookie

Hello jco-amg were did u find out about the special speed run sounds very interesting!

davidxxxx

My SL55 AMG. Is due to arrive in UK in late Dec 02. Over here we can not get these cars from the UK network 2 years wait. I have been offered the option to have the limiter removed for 2500 Euro.

For this i get a speedo that will read upto 340KPH and superchargers are remapped to give more BHP and torque. I will have to pay extra for the rubber that is rated at over 200 MPH.

Im not to bothered about this as i have upgraded to the 19" AMG any way, Same as on the F1 pace car. I agree with the posts on this point that were can you drive at over 200 MPH, however its the incresed BHP and torque that intrests me.

I seem to recall reading in a mag that remapped 55SL beat a 996GT2 to 200MPH by some 15 secs. If any one needs any more info please get back to me. david@drkltd.co.uk.

SL500 new style
360 Mod sp Reg No 360S
4.6IS X5
Range rover 3.0d
996GT2

issanni

In an issue of Sports Car International a few months back they reviewed the SL55. In that article they talked about giving customers a test run of the SL55 in it's "unlimited" state on special tires down the Autobahn. The AMG rep that they interviewed also spoke of AMG's "Special Wishes Department" which I would assume is the department you'd go through to pay absurd amounts of money to get whatever you want done to your AMG.

davidxxxx

With the tyres I expect to pay for the upgrade approx 3000 GBP. Juts think about this Porsche charge 9000 GBP for a extra 30BHP.

With the upgrade on the AMG 55SL I expect a min of 10% increse in BHP. The ferrari Enzo quotes 215 MPH for 495,000 GBP
The SL55 Will top 212 MPH For Under 100k.

As i said before its not the top speed that intrests me more the big increase in mid range.

jco-amg

That Article was in the December 2001 Auto Motor und Sport,

Comparison was with Ferrari 500 Marenello, Porsche 911 GT2, Lamborghini Murcielago, Mercedes SL 55 and Aston Martin Vanquish,...results have been posted here before...do a search.
I believe I posted tne full results of this test and one of the SL 55 and the Z8 on the Nurburging.

My understanding is that the delimiting DOES NOT change or improve mid range performance...as these figures seem to confirm:

..........................0-100....0-200.......0-300..........top speed
Porsche GT2.......4.0........13.1..........40.9........... .....315
SL 55 AMG..........4.6........13.7..........32.5........ ........325

jco-amg

If you want a big increase in BHP and Torque I would look into something like MKB's upgrade of cams, charge pressure, intercooler and exhaust system...they will also delimit. You can net at least a 10-12% gain in each category.

davidxxxx

I take your point. However i am informed that i can expect a 10% at least increase in both BHP and torque over the standard car.

I am also haveing the 100mm race cats fitted to my exhaust system.I have to say that 2500 Euros for the upgrade is a bargin.

London Lad

I hope you are right but I think you have been given duff information.

I am pretty certain that 2500 Euro just gets you the 155 MPH speed limiter removed (software parameter adjusted) and a new speedo.

The removal of the speed limiter makes no difference to the power output.


Graham.

(BTW. I collect my 55 from Bremen next Monday.)

MRI Doc

jco-amg:

How do I go about getting the 186 delimit option?

I am willing to pay the price. I have no evidence this is possible through M-B for a US car.

blueSL

Graham, have a great trip to Bremen, we'll look forward to hearing your impressions and seeing pictures of the Silver Arrow paint.

Mr. Xristo

All vehicles that arrive in the USA must be limited to 155mph. This is federal law.

You are allowed to have the limiter removed once it is in the USA.. If the dealer will not perform this task, take it to RennTech, or any other shop.

I doubt the dealer will notice when the vehicle is brought in for maintenance.

MRI Doc

I don't believe Ferrari's or Lamborgini's are limited to 155 MPH.

What is your reference for a federal law limiting cars to 155 MPH?

bobafett

My understand is that it is GERMAN law to do so - in an effort to restrict speeds of drivers on limitless motorways.

--Dan

blueSL

It's not the law in Germany, Porsches, Ferraris and the like ship without a limiter. The 250 kph restriction is a voluntary limit imposed by Mercedes, BMW and Audi in an effort to appease the green faction of the Government who, if they had their way, would strangle the German car industry.

Even in Germany, the opportunities to drive at high speed are becoming fewer, with many autobahns heavily congested especially in the industrial heartland. Even then, the amount of de-restricted road space, indicated by the magic black diagonal line in a white circle, is reducing as limits are imposed near towns and autobahn exits.

It makes the whole issue of removing the limiter largely academic though I would be interested to know if the performance is really boosted at lower speeds or whether, as Graham suggests, it's simply a case of lifting the limit. My car has a 200 mph speedo, so in that case, not even the new speedo is required.

The SL55 has user configurable speed limits anyway; a temporary one as part of the cruise control and a second semi-permanent one for use when running on snow tires. I had assumed that the 250 kph limit was just another threshold in the software. The mechanism to prevent the car going any faster already exists.

Richard

The cruise control one doesnt seem to be on US cars :-)

Almost all European MB's for the last few years that have had cruise control also get speed limiting (certainly the ones ive owned/seen, maybee not on the low end vehicles) (you press in the end of the cruise control lever, a light on it lights up, and then it becomes a speed limiting control).

I beleive that all you need to do to add this to US cars is (a) change the lever (b) program the cruise system to tell it has speed limiter ..

BTW, Im pretty sure the speed limit is just programmed by Star Diagnosis into the instrument cluster - I remember seeing (in an hidden menu somewhere) the ability to set the V-Max at
0 (presumably unlimited)
10kmh (presumably for transport)
250kmh (155mph)
EEPROM Value

I assume that AMG set the EEPROM value in the engine management eeprom, and set that setting in the cluster. Couldnt find the setting last time I had the dealer look at the car :-)

R

blueSL

Sounds like it's about time someone learned to hack into the STAR system, no end of fun things to check out in there. Having just spent the morning playing with Visual Studio .NET (dire or am I getting too old to be into gratuitous change?), I'd be more interested in Microsoft channeling their energies in this direction.