SL55/63/65/R230 AMG: New SL55 owner. Some questions!
Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
SL55, Gallardo
New SL55 owner. Some questions!
I just bought an 05 SL55 with 58K miles on it. Love it! It's an amazing car, almost as fast as my Gallardo (but not as fun and definitely not as good sounding). Its comfort and speed as well as the convertible option makes it the perfect daily driver. I plan on racking up the miles over the next years. My dad has an SL560 with 190K miles, still running great. Mercedes knows how to build engines. I'm not worried. I think the "low miles" hysteria is sometimes a bit too much. Anyway!
I wanted to ask other owners of the SL55 some questions:
1. How often do you use the manual "paddle" shifts? I love my e-gear on my gallardo and although the ones on the SL55 feel a little flimsy and plastic-y they are much more fun than simply putting it in "D" and go.. I'm concerned that manual mode might not be the best way to drive the SL55 if longevity of the engine is of importance. Any thoughts?
2. What's the easiest, cheapest way of adding more power? It's already supercharged, and I'm sure the intercooler is pretty efficient. The cylinders have already been enlarged. I would assume that the gear ratios are all dialed in to perfection by the AMG team.
3. Although the sound is really really good, it is a little too civilized for my taste. Have anyone here experimented with straight pipes, free-flow mufflers or 3rd party exhaust packages? What seems to be the best and cheapest option to improve sound without loosing that low growly AMG feel?
-Chad
I wanted to ask other owners of the SL55 some questions:
1. How often do you use the manual "paddle" shifts? I love my e-gear on my gallardo and although the ones on the SL55 feel a little flimsy and plastic-y they are much more fun than simply putting it in "D" and go.. I'm concerned that manual mode might not be the best way to drive the SL55 if longevity of the engine is of importance. Any thoughts?
2. What's the easiest, cheapest way of adding more power? It's already supercharged, and I'm sure the intercooler is pretty efficient. The cylinders have already been enlarged. I would assume that the gear ratios are all dialed in to perfection by the AMG team.
3. Although the sound is really really good, it is a little too civilized for my taste. Have anyone here experimented with straight pipes, free-flow mufflers or 3rd party exhaust packages? What seems to be the best and cheapest option to improve sound without loosing that low growly AMG feel?
-Chad
Former Vendor of MBWorld
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 2,305
Likes: 93
From: Valley of the Sun, Arizona
C63, SL55, E55, CLS55, ML63, C55
You cant go wrong with a pulley and a tune for the most part. Pending you choose your pulley and tune wisely. As for exhaust. I'm working on a exhaust system for my SL55. I've literary have a stack of mufflers that we've tried and only one of them sounded good. At least to my liking. I might have made the mistake of chopping my resonators out too. As that kind of, slightly added some drone in side the car. Its not bad, but I notice it from time to time.
As for headers, We have long tube headers for the SL55 that make in the range of 40-50whp as a stand alone mod. It totally changed the way my car gets up and goes. Along with a bunch of other forum members cars that are running our headers. In fact we have a 100% money back guarantee if you don't make minimum of 40whp with our header kit.
As for headers, We have long tube headers for the SL55 that make in the range of 40-50whp as a stand alone mod. It totally changed the way my car gets up and goes. Along with a bunch of other forum members cars that are running our headers. In fact we have a 100% money back guarantee if you don't make minimum of 40whp with our header kit.
Member
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 160
Likes: 0
From: San Juan, Puerto Rico
2004 SL55 AMG
just took out my 2ndary cats and resonator and it sounds amazing. powerful but not too loud. as for other mods see my signature. i drive my care hard and usually use the paddles, no problem so far.
Newbie
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 6
Likes: 0
2006 911 C2S, 2005 F430, 2005 SL55
Congrats on the SL55!
I picked one up about 6 months ago and have been quite impressed with the balance between performance and luxury.
The SL55 has an automatic transmission with torque converter so you can pretty much shift away with the paddles as you like and not hurt anything. The e-gear in the Gallardo is a manual w/ computer control so its more sensitive than the SL (but more fun!).
I picked one up about 6 months ago and have been quite impressed with the balance between performance and luxury.
The SL55 has an automatic transmission with torque converter so you can pretty much shift away with the paddles as you like and not hurt anything. The e-gear in the Gallardo is a manual w/ computer control so its more sensitive than the SL (but more fun!).
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 1,653
Likes: 5
From: Ann Arbor
'03 SL55
Congrats on your purchase!
+1 on the advice to add an overdrive crank pulley and ECU tune. Definitely the biggest bang for the buck.
The Mercedes engines are pretty stout so I wouldn't worry too much about premature wear from manually shifting at higher RPMs than the auto tranny.
+1 on the advice to add an overdrive crank pulley and ECU tune. Definitely the biggest bang for the buck.
The Mercedes engines are pretty stout so I wouldn't worry too much about premature wear from manually shifting at higher RPMs than the auto tranny.
