Good evening ladies, gentleman and M5 owners ( ). I've been dying to start my own thread... I was famous for doing it in my BMW board days... but now that I'm all grown up, I figure its my turn to chime in with some good solid info for my Mercedes Brethren.

First, what I purchased: LSD, K2 package, and hospitality not found at 5 star hotels, Cory, Brandon and Kleemann USA kick ***. Really... just like everyone has mentioned, 1st class, competent, the best.

Second, what I got: Something that now has more problems off the line than I imagined because of the volumes of additional power. Really, with stock tires (what I put on it when I shipped it, no point in scratching the Kinesis'), I can eat lunch waiting for it to hook up. And that's WITH traction control fighting an ongoing war through 40mph. Nutty.

So I put on my monster 295/19 PS2s on the Kineses wheels. The result? I hookup better but still can't get it to engage even close to how it was stock. Gradual on the throttle, every possible way... makes little difference... the thing arm wrestles traction control the whole way. Now I get the whole drag radial thing. I may get some and make them my daily driver at this rate. Good lord, I punch it 60 and the thing lifts off like superman the ride. VERY NICE.

So, yeah, the K2 package is great. The 295 "wiggle" people have mentioned is not. I can only speak for myself, but rather than live with the disheartening wiggle, I tested things and figured this out: The 295s rub the inside wheel well under severe compression / acceleration. This is now exaserbated by the additional power. After swapping stock wheels / tires with the 295s, I think I get what is going on. Anyone who has 295s on knows they have all of 1 millionth of a millimeter of free space on the inside and outside. But have you taken the wheel off an looked for subtle wear marks on the inside appron of the wheel well? The inside edge of your tire, ever so faint, a slight darkening of the rubber. THAT'S HOW CLOSE this is. Well, unfortunately, the rub is enough to create a tick of resistance. I don't know if its tripping traction control, but it "wiggles" from left to right back and forth constantly WHEN YOU FLOOR IT. If you're driving normally, no issues, the tire never touches anything. But under compression, it hits just enough to cause it to fishtail slightly as you move through 40mph, the whole way.

Now, I had to wait for the K2 to come back to test this... and it confirmed my suspicions. Its Way, WAY worse now with the extra power and LSD and even more compression under acceleration.

My "wiggle" is actualy friction either pulling the car left and right as each side tries to compensate (traction control?) or just pure friction.

I'm moving back down to 285s... boy I wish I could find a 285/19 competition / hybrid type drag radial... I'll keep looking.

Here's the final dyno chart before the ECU gets its full grove on. Note I started higher in hp than some of the other baselines I've seen on here.. but end up a little less power wise after the mods. It's because I'm in CA, and I had to install 2 200 cell racing cats to replace the stock ones that come out with the header job. No biggee... small price to pay to be smog legal here in the state of eternal litigation.

I did have my headers coated in advance... figured may as well given all the heat stories on here! Lastly, did all of you know about the common, COMMON leak problem on our trannys... where the 16 pin or however many pin connector plugs in? Apparently Cory sees them all the time on 55s of all types, and there's a service bulletin on it. He found mine, sent it to the local dealer, had it fixed under warranty. Kick *** service. But back to the tranny, even when its leaking you may not know because it leaks into a plastic cover / bin / shield or whatever you'd like to call it. Thus, you don't see it on the ground. Mine had leaked out a LOT, and he says this was common on 2005 and before models (pre May ish production dates). So, have your dealer check for the notorious tranny leak where the xx numbered pin connection plugs in! I know, most of you knew this already. I just wanted to mention specifically where it is... the seal on this electrical connector. Damn, I type like 350 words a minute it seems. Screw spell check, I'm out...



Loren
--------------------------
From Cory:

This was the original ECU file I put in, and after I had driven it around the block and to and from the dealership (maybe 15 miles on the road, and 10 Dyno miles). The ECU was just starting to adapt at that point, which is why we picked up a little more power and torque. I'm sure HP and TQ will climb a little bit more, once you put some miles on it. I would say 580 HP and 635 TQ is what you'll end up with, once the ECU has adapted, and maybe sightly higher than that.

 

WOW those are some impressive numbers! sounds like you have quite the monster on your hands!

 

Congrats Loren!!! Glad to see you went with Kleemann. Remember to teach your ECU. They tell you to " drive it, like you stole it." My car is definitely running much stronger now, then when I initially got it back from Cory.

 

with all my wiggle testing, its getting quite the workout ... very hard on it righ now! Thanks for your reassurances... glad I did it too!



Loren

 

Congrats! So you sent your car to kleemann in CO directly? Are you going to re-dyno it at sea level?

 

naw, not just yet... I'm trying to figure out how to put all this power to the ground now!



Loren

 

Awesome. Did you have it installed out in Colorado?

Also, am I reading your dyno chart correctly? That the stock HP numbers are very close to what MBUSA has been reporting and not over 500HP as some people have said?

~ Ian

 

yup, sent it out on a truck, and had to wait for some snow to pass before a truck brought it back... I almost flew out to get it!

Those are the stock numbers! I think the stock number is down because the intake restrictions on E55s... which I REALLY wish someone / some company could address WELL, but not for 4k ...



Loren

 

i think pirelli makes the corsa in 285/19 and 245/19, check it out, thats most likely ur best bet for the 19in wheels
good luck
nice car

 

Awesome! The PS2 cups come in 265/19, but that's it.. then there were the cora asymetricalisticalistic ones... 285/35/19... if anyone has tried them, let me know... otherwise I'll just take the dive and try em' out...

THANKS,

Loren

 

Pirelli Asimmetrico....

255/40/19
285/35/19

That will give you the same diameter front and back (give or take 0.1 inch).

 

Will 285/35/19 fit? I'm thinking side wall height. They say 275/30 or 285/30 or 295/30 (which I have now and rub)... but 285/35 puts the sidewall at 99.5 up from 88.5... or about a half an inch.

Anyone have 285/35/19 on their car?

Thanks,

Loren

 

FYI , my 285/30/19 SO3 rub slightly on dips in the road. However, I'm lowered.

 

Is there any specific reason why you didn't have it installed locally? I was thinking about the K2 for my SL55.

Also, I ask about the E55 because there seems to be this prevailing thought among owners that MB purposely understates the stock HP significantly as some type of twisted marketing strategy (a argument I've never understood or bought into).

~ Ian

 

So Kleemann US removes Primary Cats along with headers and get more power out of K2 kit with stock exhausts???

That is why US K2 kit cars have 580 HP and Euro 560HP...

 

If you have Kleemann products, and you can't get it installed by Evosport is Cali, ship your car to Cory + Brandon in snow country, they are PERFECT at everything. They treat your car like it was thier own!

 

Woops! I wasn't thinking straight when I posted that. The 35 series tires are definitely too tall...

Here are other choices with 30 series profiles out back...

Michelin Pilot PS2
Bridgestone Potenza S03
Dunlop SP Sport 9000
245/35/19
285/30/19

 

yeah, I don't get the stock versus actual hp stuff either... who knows.

While many of the things (pulley, diff, ecu) can be done locally at a dealer, I sent it to Colorado because the header work takes more experience, especially when it comes to welding it all in...

Plus the aforementioned competence... they are really, really good. Total turn around time was 3 weeks.



Loren

 

And that's the problem. I can't find the 285 PS2s, like every one else, for the life of me... terminally back ordered. And after reading all the car & driver test results:

C&D tire test

you learn that the Potenza's stink (at least the RE050A), and same with the Dunlop... and same with the regular Pirelli PZero Rossos. Only the PS2 in this size is worth getting. What a pickle. Its why I got the 295s to begin with, because I couldn't find the 285/30/19 PS2s.

Ugh.

Thanks,

Loren

 

I have 2 friends who own tire shops...I could ask them if they can get the PS2's if you want them. One is in Northridge, the other is in Van Nuys.

The S03 is still a pretty badass tire. I was surprised when it got substandard ratings in that C&D test. It doesn't have the engineering technology of the PS2's, but they were simply awesome when they had just hit the market. The same goes for the Bridgestone SP9000's.

 

Just a thought...obviously not the best solution, but you could also drop down a size in rim width.

I have 19X9 rears with 285's and now rubbing.

car is not lowered, 2005 e500 (amg sport-if that matters with respect to ride height.

this would make that tire a bit narrower.

I am using the rims from my previous 2002 e55 and these were the recommended size. If I was buying new, I would have gone wider for the rears, but perhaps that is not the best way to go for your situation.

good luck.

dr dave

 

C&D tested the Bridgestone Potenza RE050A, not the S03 Pole Position In fact, the SO3 is listed on Tirerack as the most popular tire choice for a W210 E55. It was surprising to see the PS2 not in the top 2 spots though.

 

I'm still puzzled by the dyno numbers. Unless they pulled your engine and used an engine dyno (which seems highly unlikely), then these are rear wheel numbers (in which case the baseline is 40-50 hp higher than a typical stock 55). Or perhaps they measured the numbers at the rear wheels and then had their software approximate flywheel numbers using a correction factor for driveline loss?

 

Loren,

Congrats on your new K2 w/LSD beast! Have had my mods for over 8 months and no issues. Did you get he IC mod?

When not tracking it w/DR's on 17" rims, I run with my 19" AMG rims with 275 in the rears and can hook up ok. My best 0-60' time was 1.78 with that set up.

Enjoy and be safe

 

Man Loren, sorry you are having that trouble. I think the a$$ wiggle is inherint of the LSD for a little bit. Someone posted the exact same post months ago (rear wiggles on hard acceleration). I have had a little wiggle here and there, but not like yours. Sorry you are having trouble finding PS2's.....they worked great for me. Of course with 600hp you still break the tires loose when you want, but it's a lot less.

I would NOT drive daily on drag rads.....I might get flamed for this, but they are just not daily drivers. There was nothing more terrifying, than to be caught in a hard downpour and be praying for my life on the way home.....(you wanna talk about a$$ wiggle...WOW) but with PS2's, you shake your fist at the sky and scream, "That all you got????"......or maybe it's the guy in front of you??