Originally Posted by TonyJ89117

Hi guys,

I will be buying a used E55k soon and hopefully from a fellow forum member. However, I have a couple of concerns.

1. Does drag racing the E55 put a lot of extra stress on the car's drivetrain or is it no different than flooring it on the street?

2. Are there any reliability issues with higher hp and trq modded car? A friend of mine mentioned previously that he thought there were reliability problems with supercharged 55 motor in higher power applications.

3. Is there a general HP threshold to stay under to keep the engine reliable?

4. Are MB dealers generally friendly in honoring warranty repairs even on modded cars?

Thanks in advance for any advice
Tony

Originally Posted by ROCKETW19

there is alot of stress put on the car when dragin it especialy with drag tires.

Originally Posted by DJE55

What would that stress be? We can't preload our cars so it's not like your leaving at 3500rpms. You're only in the gas for 12secs on a normal 1/4mile run. That's less than most guys stay in it on the street. At a drag strip you aren't hurting the brakes, suspension, rear any of that stuff. I don't see where you think you are hurting the car by drag racing it. Most guys beat their cars up more and do more harm to them during everyday driving. If we were talking about a road course, I would agree but not the 1/4mi.

Originally Posted by Finny

After installing Victors TB kit and a set of Hoosier slicks I managed to take out my first Nissan GTR 4WD off the line in a street run. This guy always killed me on take off but I always got him in the legs. Now it's even off the line. Great fun...

On the GTR's revenge drag, we are all at the lights... green...bang... clunk..tick...tick..tick.... the Diff yanked out the mounting bolts of the 55's body... It just locked up and sat there with it's backside sticking up... The air springs raised up the bum 10" plus. See photos below... ****e... to much torque to the diff with slicks on! I swear the front wheels almost lift off the ground.. Ha

So back at the work shop... cut a long story short... about $3000 Ausie bux damage DIY... Damaged left air spring, Tail shaft flex disc, blind bolts & nuts ripped out, Bent exhaust etc...

I'm not quite sure, but I believe the blind bolt & nut setup are designed to sheer off on heavy impact for safety reasons. My speculation only. I suppose this is fine for stock power specifications, but after what we do... forgedaboutit !!!

After checking the WIS CD from MB, it mentions to check the nut with a flexible bore scope for fatigue and cracking around the top area. I had a look in there and noticed micro cracks all around the top section of the nut mounting hole. To late for me...

I've done over a 100,000 K's so far and this problem may be a time bomb for any one who pushes the car hard. I'm very lucky that the Diff popped out at the lights. Imagine this happening at 100+ or whatever...

I "strongly suggest" that any one who owns a W211 to have these spots checked for micro fatigue and or cracking. Any competent Tech with the right tools could do it in 30 minutes. It could save your ***!

It's quite easy do it yourself: (1) Remove wheel (2) Remove inner plastic guard (3) Remove rust protection grommet. Look in here!

I repaired the damage myself with 110mm high tensile bolts & lock nuts with sprung stainless steel washers. This will never come off now but may have affected the safety characteristics.

It would be interesting to see how MB would handle this potentially lethal problem.

Originally Posted by DJE55

What would that stress be? We can't preload our cars so it's not like your leaving at 3500rpms. You're only in the gas for 12secs on a normal 1/4mile run. That's less than most guys stay in it on the street. At a drag strip you aren't hurting the brakes, suspension, rear any of that stuff. I don't see where you think you are hurting the car by drag racing it. Most guys beat their cars up more and do more harm to them during everyday driving. If we were talking about a road course, I would agree but not the 1/4mi.

Originally Posted by DJE55

What would that stress be? We can't preload our cars so it's not like your leaving at 3500rpms. You're only in the gas for 12secs on a normal 1/4mile run. That's less than most guys stay in it on the street. At a drag strip you aren't hurting the brakes, suspension, rear any of that stuff. I don't see where you think you are hurting the car by drag racing it. Most guys beat their cars up more and do more harm to them during everyday driving. If we were talking about a road course, I would agree but not the 1/4mi.

Originally Posted by DJE55

Ricker, we're not talking about a Vette. Guys break these parts all the time in the Vette because the can launch the car at what ever RPM the want. You can't do that in an E55. Look at your link, you guys are all talking about 1 car, the same car. You will alway have someone that breaks, it's a car. It happens no matter who builds it or modifies it. I'm sure Finny isn't running the times that Alberts running with NOS and he tracks his car quite a bit. We've now seen a few heavily moddified E's running in the 10's with no failures?

FWIW, my original point wasn't to say for everyone to drag their car and all is fine. It was that guys beat on their cars everyday and do more harm to them on the street than most of these guys do at that track.

Originally Posted by TonyJ89117

Hi guys,

I will be buying a used E55k soon and hopefully from a fellow forum member. However, I have a couple of concerns.

1. Does drag racing the E55 put a lot of extra stress on the car's drivetrain or is it no different than flooring it on the street?

2. Are there any reliability issues with higher hp and trq modded car? A friend of mine mentioned previously that he thought there were reliability problems with supercharged 55 motor in higher power applications.

3. Is there a general HP threshold to stay under to keep the engine reliable?

4. Are MB dealers generally friendly in honoring warranty repairs even on modded cars?

Thanks in advance for any advice
Tony

Originally Posted by jangy

The key for me is was it raced in drag race trim, or straight street trim? If it has been modded for power, it means it has more potential to apply. If it has been modded for traction (i.e. DR tires, wider tires, etc.), then it is probably making a more direct link between the motor and the road, which does distribute that force accross everything in between. Snapping diffs is not just something that happens on load launches. I've been there and done that many times.

Originally Posted by zoink

OP, I'd suggest you go visit DJE55 (I assume you're buying from him ), take a look at the car and if it looks good and drives good, buy it... have a 2nd opinion from an MB tech is not a bad idea. If all comes out good, I don't see why not.... the car w/ 1/4 like that seems very healthy.

Originally Posted by DJE55

Don't think he's talking about my car. I've only tracked my car 3 times at MB track rentals and I haven't run DR's.

Originally Posted by DJE55

Jangster, what diffs have you snapped launcing from an idle? Was it your E55? If so, that sucks! This really isn't my point or argument but I'm curious were some guys comes up with this opinion for the E55. I'm curious why some guys think that DR are hurting the car when we really have nothing that proves this. Look at most of the 60' times out there form the fastest cars running DR or slicks(Albert, DerekFSU). You have guys in street trim that have turned mid 1.6 60' or low 1.7 60's. Most of the guys running DR's haven't done better than that. I'm asking, how does it hurt the car anymore when it's turning the same time or at most .05 better 60' than guys on regular street tires? That's the only place (60') where you would see more stress on the rear. I just don't see the argument when you don't see that much of an improvement with DR's vs regular street tires? Am I missing something? Like I said before, this wasn't my point earlier. I was saying more guys hurt their cars in other ways on the street than the guys that take their car to the track.

Originally Posted by Thericker

Man you are extremely SHORT SIGHTED, I'm not only talking about the Vette, NOTICE! Link may be to one E55k, but you are seriously under informed on stress/breakage levels that are imposed on tracking ALL makes of cars, you make me scratch my head, just because you haven't seen a falure in yours or close to home? you negate it? WRONG buddy very wrong Even Mercs aren't immune to track abuse

The driveline is a weak link on all cars, your Merc family 4 door wasn't made to be 1/4 tracked, nor my Vette, driveline pieces will-do break on ALL of them, even prof built 1/4 cars, break, ever wonder why they make Carbon Fiber drive shafts it's a known critical link, as is all running gear ie tranny, diffs etc..believe what you want, I have been to the track as a spectator many times in my youth, grandparents were big fans, and seen every make & model break something down the line.


Read the last sentence at the bottom of this link...I'm just trying to help the guy your advice is poor/wrong
http://everything2.com/index.pl?node=drag%20strip

Originally Posted by DJE55

Your missing it Ricky! I'm not saying I"m right and you're wrong. My car hasn't been tracked that much, I don't run DR's and I'm not referring too it. READ!!! You don't own an E55, you own a Vette, wonder why I said Vette? That's your reference point, not the E55. Yes, all cars break if you abuse them and i don't think Mercs are immune to this. My point is, it's hard to abuse this car at the drag strip. Guys are talking about street trim vs drag radials and such. LOOK at the times, not a lot of difference(.05) between guys running street tires vs guys running DR's. Wow, is that 5 hundreths the extra stress? Some guys have better times on street tires than guys with DR's? How are the DR's causing extra stress.

My dad drag raced professionally. I've been to the track and now all about track cars breaking. I've broken my fair share of parts on my street cars, all were manuals. IMHO, in THIS CAR you can do just as much harm on the street as you can at the 1/4 track. You are just automatically lumping this car in with all the other cars you see at the track. Most are manuals and do not have the limitations that this car has. You can't launch this car with any rpm's out of the hole. Most all of the stress and breakage you see cars have at the track is off the line. If you look at the numbers, most of the guys running DR's are not that much quicker in the 60' (off the line) than guys that know how to drive with street tires. A lot, (I'll say that again) A LOT of guys on this site have dragged their cars and we haven't seen many failures at all because of it. That's my observation.

Originally Posted by Thericker

I hear ya! but you're wrong bro....those sticky tires, track compounds add up to a bad/deffinitely pre-fatigued driveline/tranny .05 does make a difference in stress levels on car, also in final ET that's why they use drag tires--they hook way better... Look at the SL65 modded guys, some have had their trannys go kaput! I know they have higher torque but still in the realm of our comparison, the main thread starter ASKED "would modded e55k w/1/4 track history be troublesome?" Ahhem....yes they will

For someone w/your background why are you arguing this blatant/obvious point? remember tennis shoe comparison? You're going to sit there & tell me there's no extra stress on 1/4 track compared to street?

Give it a rest bro, just trying to help this guy make an informed used car purchase, not compare/say who has more experience etc..

Originally Posted by TonyJ89117

Hi guys,

I will be buying a used E55k soon and hopefully from a fellow forum member. However, I have a couple of concerns.

1. Does drag racing the E55 put a lot of extra stress on the car's drivetrain or is it no different than flooring it on the street?

2. Are there any reliability issues with higher hp and trq modded car? A friend of mine mentioned previously that he thought there were reliability problems with supercharged 55 motor in higher power applications.

3. Is there a general HP threshold to stay under to keep the engine reliable?

4. Are MB dealers generally friendly in honoring warranty repairs even on modded cars?

Thanks in advance for any advice
Tony

Originally Posted by DJE55

So guys wheel hopping off the line on street tires is better? Guys running around on the street making high speed runs back to back to back throwing cars in and out of turns, hard braking etc... That's better? People that don't keep their fluids changed is less harmfull than a guys that tracked his car? All my point is, their are a lot more guys in street trim doing more harm than guys running DR's. To make a general statement based on nothing but what you've seen from other cars (not the E's) is foolish. That would be like those other guys calling all Vette guys CheeseDicks? You are generalizing and that's WRONG!

You have dumb a$$es everywhere that don't know to take care of a car. This car is not a Vette, Mustang or a modded SL65 with 150 more ftlbs of torque. You can't compare them. I used .05 as a best case, in some cases guys with street tires have better 60' times. What is your answer there???? The general statement that DR are still more harmfull? Again, that's foolish and WRONG and it's not helping the guy out! I'm giving it a rest.

Originally Posted by DJE55

in some cases guys with street tires have better 60' times. What is your answer there???? T.

Originally Posted by DJE55

Jangster, what diffs have you snapped launcing from an idle? Was it your E55? If so, that sucks!