I am new to the board but I've had my car for several months now and I am ready to start the modding process. I know of the Kleeman LSD, but I hear that Renntech will fabricate one as well. Any thoughts or suggestions? I will supercharge the car later.

Cheers from Arizona

 

Don't rule out Quaife either,the world leader in this category. They now make an LSD for the C class, don't know if the fitment is applicable, though.

 

Unless you are into extreme auto crossing (which the SLK55 is not that great at) I see very little practical use for LSD on such a short wheelbase car. I had it on my S-2000 and about the only time it was of use was when turning (and accelerating) onto a road that has sand on the inside.

 

dont you think a LSD coupled with wider rear tires would help get the power onto the road from the line.

I had another question about the LSD, does it have a break in after installation, say a thousand miles or so, and will you have to nanny the car around, cause that would definitely be depressing after having done the initial break in. Easier to keep 4500 revs when you dont realize it's full potential!

 

What Data do you have to support this? I'll be trying it out this weekend on Hoosier A6s so I don't know how well it will do. But compared to my Subaru STi (when it was stock) and an S2000 that I drove, this car appears much faster than those cars that will be in it's class. I did multiple slaloms last week and it felt great, plus with it's massive torque out of low speed corners, i think it will be competitive in this class. It drives more like a Vette (point and shoot) as opposed to a speed maintenance car, so I think it will be course dependent.

 

Yes. Absolutely.

 

Drive it like you stole it. A quality name properly installed LSD is bulletproof. You'll blow the tranny way before the diff!

 

Thanks for the input guys. I appreciate the Quaife suggestion. I will check and see if they have plans. But I'm amazed that no one on our board has LSD yet. I'd really like to hear from someone who's experienced the difference in our car. Since we are severely limited in choices for wider rubber, it just seems logical that LSD would be the only way to get more power on the ground. I know I will go that route. It's just a matter of what is offered in the market place.
Cheers from Arizona

 

I have the Kleemann LSD & it provides a 60% lock up ratio (vs AMG's 30% on the E55, CLS55, etc). It is an excellent LSD & it does indeed help with grip

You should get the LSD - its an excellent mod that will aid in traction (as well as some wider rubber/stickier rubber).

-Matt

 

Matt,

Have you gotten your new wheels and tires on yet? I've been waiting to see how they work out for you.

And of course, pics would be nice!

Brad

 

Err, its been a NIGHTMARE. Fikse shipped about 6 weeks ago....wrong offset for the front rims. They hit the calipers....not even close to a good fit.

2nd time (rims sent back to Fikse for re-machining), rims arrive yesterday. Guess what.....front rims clear the front calipers by the width of a piece of paper. Basicly, if I run over an ant, "we have contact Houston". Not good - too risky.

3rd time, front rim centers are being machined by 1/16" to accomodate the front brakes so there is a little "room" in case I hit pot hole/bump/etc. Rims due by Monday. Man, I've burned 2 Buyers for my stock rims & tires due to Fikse's offset mistakes. Monday looks like "the day" & I can take care of the 2nd Buyer of my stock rims/tires.

I'll post some pics next week assuming we have no more issues.

Its funny, I got "accused" of not having stock brakes on my SLK not only because they are bigger than say an SLK350, but because I have all this Kleemann stuff on the car. They kept insinuating my brakes were aftermarket (even when I pointed out "AMG" on the calipers ). Geezus....pain in the ****. End of rant.

-Matt

 

Sounds like you have not been enjoying this upgrade.

I hope that you get it all worked out before too long. It's probably your fault though with those aftermarket AMG callipers on your AMG car. Seems to me, Kleemann has Kleemann on their callipers.

Brad

 

Oh.....I'm enjoying the LSD allright. I just need some additional traction. 245's are no longer sufficient.

-Matt

 

Actually, I was refering to the wheels. It sounds like the LSD does a good job considering the tires that it has to work with. I think that Mercedes designed the SLK without really considering the power that could and would be pumped from these engines. It would have been nice to have a little more space in the wheel wells.

Brad

 

mercedes never thinks about what AMG does to their stock cars when designing wheel wells, look at the rear tyres on a porsche with 19" rims, that is what the 55 needs with 376 lbft of torque.

 

What you need for traction is some real tires.

I tried Hoosier A6s on the track last weekend and the grip is insane. I can't even spin them without doing a brakestand.

They are 245s, but don't let that fool you. The contact patch is wider than a 275 street tire.

But then again, these aren't really street tires:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....r&tireModel=A6

THe car does well on the track. I just didn't like the brakes. I had lap times that were faster than C5 Z06 Vettes and I wasn't even pushing it hard.

You wouldn't want to run these on the street or even at the track for long sessions as they are more autocross tires. But the Hoosier R6s could be run for as long as you want without giving up grip. They could be used on the street, but if it rains you are toast.

 

Yes, I've seen these on a few cars up at Seca (Hoosiers, Khumos, etc). They last about 5k miles on the street . Great dry traction but toast in the rain as you said. Even though we don't drive our toys in the rain, I don't want my wife getting caught in by a surprise downpour - I am sticking with Goodyear F1 GDS3s.

Tromp, I'm surprised you posting C5 Z06 beating track numbers - they do pretty well (mucho low end tourque, great brakes, great handling - just a good all around track car). Were they running street tires? They are very strong on the track (my limited experience @ Seca at least).

You mentioned the brakes weren't great. Did you start getting fade pretty quick, or?

-Matt

 

The Z06s were on Pilot Sport Cup R compounds.

I'd get brake fade on the first turn of the first lap, and it would then be consistent for the whole 6 lap session. The fade was a mushy pedal feel which usually indicates fluid temps too high, but I just put in Motul fluid which should have no problem handling the temps. Otherwise the car felt well on the track.

This weekend I did an autocross event on a really tight course and didn't like the car at all intially, but i think i just need more time in it. The biggest problem is keeping it in the right gear. I tried Sport, Manual, and leaving it in drive and it seemed to have a mind of it's own. Why can't manual be actually manual and leave it in the gear i want?