SLK/R171: Launch Control: is it safe?
Thread Starter
Super Member
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 970
Likes: 0
From: Washington DC
OLD: 2004 C230 Sport Sedan, NEW: 2007 SLK350
Launch Control: is it safe?
I was reading a review on the new Audi R8 in a car magazine, and it explained a launch process, that I want to mimic in my SLK.
Basically it says:
* Turn off ESP
* Step on the brake
* Put it in Sport, manual, 1st gear
* Step on the accelerator
* Watch the RPMs rise
* Let go of the brake
* Launch!
* Remember to shift up
Is this something I can do safely in my SLK?
Basically it says:
* Turn off ESP
* Step on the brake
* Put it in Sport, manual, 1st gear
* Step on the accelerator
* Watch the RPMs rise
* Let go of the brake
* Launch!
* Remember to shift up
Is this something I can do safely in my SLK?
Thread Starter
Super Member
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 970
Likes: 0
From: Washington DC
OLD: 2004 C230 Sport Sedan, NEW: 2007 SLK350
Super Member
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 761
Likes: 0
From: Lausanne, Switzerland
SLK 55 AMG
The SLK doesn't have a real launch control like you'd find in some cars. Even in those cars that do have one, the it will wear out the clutch.
In the SLK, what you're doing if you try to perform this, is technically called "brake torqueing". i.e. you apply the brakes to get the car into the correct torque range for maximum push. If I perform this on my AMG, I get quite a bit of tire squeal, the patch just isn't large enough.
The automatic gearbox will technically last just fine. Clutches wear out quick, but the 7G box is made to withstand up to 720nm of continuous torque stress, so a few launch techniques here and there won't do all that much damage, if any.
However, brake torqueing will heat up the brake fluids pretty quickly. This could lead to the brake fluids boiling, leaving you with poor brake action when you need it the most. So if you do try a launch here or there, do it in a place where you won't be left having to do multiple urgent brake stops.
In the SLK, what you're doing if you try to perform this, is technically called "brake torqueing". i.e. you apply the brakes to get the car into the correct torque range for maximum push. If I perform this on my AMG, I get quite a bit of tire squeal, the patch just isn't large enough.
The automatic gearbox will technically last just fine. Clutches wear out quick, but the 7G box is made to withstand up to 720nm of continuous torque stress, so a few launch techniques here and there won't do all that much damage, if any.
However, brake torqueing will heat up the brake fluids pretty quickly. This could lead to the brake fluids boiling, leaving you with poor brake action when you need it the most. So if you do try a launch here or there, do it in a place where you won't be left having to do multiple urgent brake stops.
Senior Member
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 303
Likes: 0
From: orlando, florida. Dr.Phillips, UCF
04 CLK 500, 07 GSX-R 750, S 550, 09 Jeep GC
The SLK doesn't have a real launch control like you'd find in some cars. Even in those cars that do have one, the it will wear out the clutch.
In the SLK, what you're doing if you try to perform this, is technically called "brake torqueing". i.e. you apply the brakes to get the car into the correct torque range for maximum push. If I perform this on my AMG, I get quite a bit of tire squeal, the patch just isn't large enough.
The automatic gearbox will technically last just fine. Clutches wear out quick, but the 7G box is made to withstand up to 720nm of continuous torque stress, so a few launch techniques here and there won't do all that much damage, if any.
However, brake torqueing will heat up the brake fluids pretty quickly. This could lead to the brake fluids boiling, leaving you with poor brake action when you need it the most. So if you do try a launch here or there, do it in a place where you won't be left having to do multiple urgent brake stops.
In the SLK, what you're doing if you try to perform this, is technically called "brake torqueing". i.e. you apply the brakes to get the car into the correct torque range for maximum push. If I perform this on my AMG, I get quite a bit of tire squeal, the patch just isn't large enough.
The automatic gearbox will technically last just fine. Clutches wear out quick, but the 7G box is made to withstand up to 720nm of continuous torque stress, so a few launch techniques here and there won't do all that much damage, if any.
However, brake torqueing will heat up the brake fluids pretty quickly. This could lead to the brake fluids boiling, leaving you with poor brake action when you need it the most. So if you do try a launch here or there, do it in a place where you won't be left having to do multiple urgent brake stops.
No offense but that's not correct. "brake torqueing" WILL NOT CAUSE your brake fuilds to heat up. For your brake fluuids to heat up your brake Rotor & pads have to be hot (from hard use of the brakes at speed) then the heat will transfer from the rotor to the pad from the pad to the caliper from the caliper to the pistions then to the brake fluid.
So unless your doing a Killer burnout your brake fluid won't heat up.
However you might eventually burnout your torque converter (the automatic tranmissions clutch)
Also i never heard of it being refered to by "brake torqueing" we call it power braking or loading up the T/C (torque converter)
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Junior Member
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 68
Likes: 0
From: Arlington, VA
2012 SLK 350 Mars Red
I was reading a review on the new Audi R8 in a car magazine, and it explained a launch process, that I want to mimic in my SLK.
Basically it says:
* Turn off ESP
* Step on the brake
* Put it in Sport, manual, 1st gear
* Step on the accelerator
* Watch the RPMs rise
* Let go of the brake
* Launch!
* Remember to shift up
Is this something I can do safely in my SLK?
Basically it says:
* Turn off ESP
* Step on the brake
* Put it in Sport, manual, 1st gear
* Step on the accelerator
* Watch the RPMs rise
* Let go of the brake
* Launch!
* Remember to shift up
Is this something I can do safely in my SLK?
Almost a Member!
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 65
Likes: 0
MB SLK 350 with pathetic amg parts
When I was 16, my mother's car (a Dodge) had a push-button transmission that was great for doing just that. Rev up the engine and punch the drive button. Great burn outs until I fried the tranny doing it. The mechanic told my father it was the most trashed transmission he had ever seen.
