I agree with most, BUT..the differences that you mention are NOT the case between an '06E55 and an '07E63. The E63 does have a lower ride height. EVERYTHING else you mentioned is the same and was derived from the CLS. I have been through the parts and Material Specification sheets on all of the suspension components to verify. TRUST me on one thing. If the E63 truly handled better, I'd get one. The only added catch is the "live" brake feedback. Don't forget that I am an SBC fan. Yes, there is no feedback, but I still like it. If you need the feel to drive hard, then yes an E63 is your only option.

Last thing, I agree on having to "muscle" the E55 to handle, but I'll take the active suspension over the coil over option simply because that weight shift helps handling WAY more than the other would. Yes, it is a bit sloppy, but it does not lean nearly as bad in transition as a coil over system would.

 

im with you on that 1. thats why i got a clk55 and not an e.

my clk actually handled reasonably well and the grip was very good after i put 235 and 275 ps2's on it.

brabus makes a conversion/coilover kit for the airbagged 211's

that would be the 1st thing id do if it was my car


btw,

i agree w/ canyoncrv about night runnin and very small groups (4 cars at most)

we gotta do this sometime

 

LOL!!!! Dude, if he was dissing the E, the CLK is not exactly what he is guaging against. We do need to get together. All this theory is too much for me. I also agree that anything more than 4 gets too crowded. I'll post a map of the area I am talking about and maybe a few LA folks will finally show and ride instead of just preaching.......maybe?

 

OK, I looked it up and it is called Ortega Highway. Is that close enough for the LA crew? I've never been, so we can't have any home field advantage excuses, either. Also, Jay55 has already shown you guys how we roll with the cameras, so plan on everyone knowing what happenned. Rev up that CLK and see how it hangs...

 

do it at night

It's safer
Takes more skill
you can push HARDER, and go FASTER


plus you become a better driver, you ge to see every bump on the road, feel every bump..etc...hmm man i wanna goo ! show you guys what the North Cal pp have to offer ! Id be bad *** if a 500SE killed a few AMG's ne ?


carry on!

 

i heard about ortega, never been though.

my clk is gone back to mb, the lease finally ran out.

i would have to bring my moms e55 (bone stock) or maybe ill get a car by then (thinkimg of a 997s, m5, z06, in that order)

 

do you guys carry stop watches ? JW if im the only crazy nut out there...

 

18 mins and 45 seconds in the rain !
Hmm my first time with the 350z i ran a 17:23 in the dry....hmm i predict i can get it under 15 mins with the 350z...ill be getting itagain the 11th...soo ill get it all on camera... and ill try to hit under 16mins with the benz..


New road...with the 350z it was my 2nd time with the benz was my 3rd time...so times are dropping... i have 53 other 'courses' back homw where i practice... u guys should live in that yay area! so i can show u all the great mtn roads!

 

Wow this is strange...They Have Brabus on them...But BRABUS does NOT list sway bars on the site...Guess I will measure the Dia and compare to the AMGs

 

Virtually every journalist who's set foot in the E63 says you're wrong Jangy, one of the first and foremost things mentioned is the improvements in handling, I doubt if they'd rate the car so highly if it was just down 100 pounds of torque and had better brakes.

And coilovers leaning in transition??? MADNESS. I've had four cars with coilover suspensions and they're probably the best thing since the microwave. You can't possibly try and argue that an airbag suspension handles better in a transition than a coilover setup, its just silly. Swaybars help, but your shock/spring setup is the backbone of any setup and airbags are the absolute worst thing you can slap on.

 

I got to agree with you here. Big bars to mask a poorly set car is asking for a real mess. Once the car is tuned, set and ready to go with springs, shocks, and allignment, you can add bigger bars to FINE TUNE the cars nature.

The C32 I use at the track had all the above done and then we added some H & R bars and the car finally came into its own. We gained some real exit speed and actually reduced front tire wear on a track where you will kill a drivers front tire in 3-4 sessions of driving.

 

Where airmatic is in a league of its own is when the road throws an insanely large bump at you mid corner or when you hit some rough road at speed. I have been in a E320 with airmatic going through lockwood valley (an empty section for 100 miles of some of the best canyons known to man kind). Several times I though the car was doomed when coming up on rough road (in a stright line) at 130 but airmatic just refuses to bottom out (at stock ride height) and it keeps the car level and undercontrol. Coilovers could do this but the air shocks can close off and become very stiff when the computer tells it to. THe reality is that at 10/10th the E55 is not that bad because it stiffens up a great deal but it just feels like trash at 7/10ths because the ecu is keeping the car pretty soft.

 

Ortega is not all that. I used to ride it on my R6 a bunch. I actually took it yesterday with the E55 for the first time as I was on my way home from a job site. The only really good part is from the elsinore side to the lookout cafe (I forget the name of it).

 

I still hear a bunch of talk. Telling me how this is better than that. But, no one stepping up to show?

As for the Airmatic vs Coil over argument. I will take a flat E55 over one that is leaning ANYDAY. Active suspension on the Airmatic doe at least sddress weight balance. What exactly is the advantage of the springs?

 

weight, feel, tuning ability

off the top of my head

 

count me in

 

Again, more talk. I'll counter that with Airmatic's ability to counter sdjust vs the coil overs just "giving"

Weight. hmmm, you'd be amazed at how close the two setups are. I'll give you the added manifold and compressor as weight.
Feel. I'll take an active over a reactive for feel any day. Far less lean.
Tuning Ability. What is the difference. The airmatic is simply air springs, not shocks. The shock component is the same and can even be tuned. I am working with Bilstein right now to replace mine. I have also had the stock ones re-valved for rebound for much better transition response.

Anything else on the top of your head?

 

Jangy, if airbags were a good application for handling, you'd see them in some sort of competition use. You don't. Hell, if they were the better choice, don't you think BMW would be onto it?

 

Competition is one point. BMW is not. If supercharged gave you more power, wouldn't BMW useit? Ummm, no. They don't AND that is why the BMWs are not the king of anything. You want a sports car, get a 997TT. You want a sedan to kick butt, then get an E55. There is no BMW in there anywhere.

Also, check your references. Most competitive arenas WILL NOT ALLOW active suspensions. The reason is an attempt to keep the field competitive. Your exact argument was made when some people liked automatic transmissions. If automatic was better than manual, then they would be in competition. Hmmm, now years go by and what do you know?

 

a 997tt isnt a sports car, its a gt.
if you want a sedan to kick butt dont get a mb

youre 1 hard headed ****

 

Now here is an example of a E55 owner with a inflated ego. You might want to think about humbling yourself a little bit even if you have a great dislike of BMW they are a great car company IMO. The E55 suspension setup while good for what it is, is not better then a M5 and I think your getting a little to think it is.

 

Well, if your into modding and have lots of money to spend. I'd actually just say don't get a mid-size sedan like the E55. Get a compact sedan that's smaller and lighter and go to town with that.

 

For what MB wanted the E55 to be AirMatic is a good system.

Brabus removed it from the CLS V12TT vehicle because they needed to increase the SPRING RATE and the air spring did not allow such changes without serious changes. They also felt the AirMatic system was not controled enough for a car capable of doing 220mph+. So between the fact that it could not deal with the downforce created at speed and the fact that it was not all that sporting means that I think a coil-over kit is a real upgade. It should be noted that I think brabus did not remove the airmatic system but instead ordered a base CLS350 that has regular coil springs and shocks and not AirMatic.

With coil-over's you have the ability to call the spring company and get 12 sets of springs and fine tune the chassis. You can have 3 way adjustable external resevor shocks made for a car like that and a set-up like that will be so much better than an Air spring car.

An E55 cam and should be capable to chasing down an M5. But BMW put some real effort into the chassis and AMG just kind of went oh thats good enough and slapped ESP on there to keep it in check. The BMW is made for hard driving not just baun blasts.

Finally my E55 has the max camber allowed in stock form and it is fairly nice . Trouble is that I have a serious tire wear issue. NO car should require so much camber to make a corner that the inside fronts are gone after a few months of non-monkey canyon or track use. I now need to think about what to do and what this car is really for. I dont know how long I will get out of a set of tires but if its 5k miles forget it I am setting it back to stock and just using the car for trips to Santa Barbara on weekends etc.

Thoughts on how long a set of PS'2 will last with 2.5+ degrees of neg camber?

 

Never fear, I am quite aware of BMW and their advantages over the MBs. No doubt that the BMW chasis is their strength, nor that they put more effort into refining it than does MB. I simply took offense to the statement that if Airmatic was so good, then why does BMW not use it. Who the heck is BMW to validate things?

I am not saying that Airmatic as it stands is the be all and end all. It is just that I like the concept of an active system. No matter what you do to coilovers, they are a reactive system. You throw the car into a curve and the outside will compress, not "push".

Don't get your undies so tight. I am plenty humble, and have all the respect for BMW that they deserve. I am just thinking a bit outside the box.

 

Sorry to tell you bro, but I get maybe 6000 miles out of a set of PS2s. I've always been pretty hard on tires, though. Also, that is front AND rear and my camber is also at 2.5 degrees.

Maybe it is my fat butt in the car or that foot made of lead, but it has been that way ever since I've been in the E55s. I barely got 10K out of a set on my E500 before that.