slacker55

Hey all,

Does anyone know what the weight distribution is for the W211 E55? I've been trying to figure out whether or not it's worth trying to improve the car's handling but can't find much info on the weight distribution for this car. One source claims that it's 52/48, but I find that a tad difficult to believe...

dsc

That's about right, I weighed mine at 53/47.

slacker55

Thanks for the response dsc. Is there anything that can be done to really improve the handling? My friend's Honda Prelude handles better than my 55 and I find it embarassing.

CynCarvin32

You can increase your tire size by going with custom off-set wheels. Some say 265 or even 275 tires fit up front with the correct wheel off-set. With that in mind you could run 275 tires on all 4 corners and that would dial out a lot of understeer.

Now after that you can lower the car a bit and change the alignment specs as well. The lowering is a questionable area. I personally dont like what happens to the car once its lowered more than say half an inch. You lose a lot of shock valving and control. The cars stock suspension is made to soak up bumps well at the stock height but once lowered it bounces and bottoms out easily. Even if its not bottoming out you can feel it has a reduced level of body control.

The alignment is set for hight speed stability from the factory and the car reacts well to reducing toe in to around 1/32nd per side and then also increasing the camber to 2 degrees at all 4 corners via the camber bolts on the front axle. You can also increase caster if you feel the need but on a 04 car with the older rack it can make the wheel fairly hard to turn.

Finally you can go about changing out the front control arms to be off the newer (post november 2004 build) E55 or CLS55 cars at the cost of 1700 per side. These arms have stiffer bushings which tighten the car up quite a bit. If you are into that type of upgrade you can also swap out the steering rack to be the same as the newer E55s and CLS55's (again post november 2004 build) as its a faster rack and it also has stiffer mounting bushings.

Lastly you can change your shocks to the newer version (again that stupid post november 2004 build date) as they have stiffer compression valving and the car has more controlled rebound as well. When lowered, these newer shocks work much better than the 2003 and pre november 2004 build shocks.

I have a 2004 that has the newer shocks all around, is lowered .5 an inch, and is aligned to grip not be rock steady at 200 mph. It sticks very well but if the corner has bumps it gets unsettled and tends to feel detached. But you can fly around smooth corners in a way never expected when stock with these upgrades. Adding bigger front tires would have been nice but I fear rubbing like the plague.

Saddest part about the AirMatic kit is that there is no cost effective method of STIFFENING the spring rate (and corresponding compression and rebound on the shocks) due to the nature of the suspension. The car would be a blast if it just had better body control. You can re-valve the entire system but it is EXTREMELY costly or you can call Germany and order up the AMG upgraded ("ring" suspension) shock and bushing kit for 8k in parts but you cant use it in the states legally (not dot approved) and installation will run another 2k.

So you are limited in your options in the end if you are after body control and not 1/4 mile times.

jangy

+1 on 275s in the front.

slacker55

Wow. Thanks for all that info. I'm probably going to go with wider wheels and possibly the Kleeman Lowering Module. I'm also considering H&R sway bars. As for all the other stuff, I might be better off investing the cash towards Kleeman K4, Limited Slip, and the Evosport Cooling Upgrade. Has anyone installed the sway bars? If so, did it improve the cornering enough to justify the costs?

dsc

Better check on those sway bars. To date there has not been any improvement on the stock sway bars for the E55 that I know of. A lot of us would like them.

jangy

There are currently No sway bars available for the E55. There are some that are for the non-AMG E class and is the same diameter as the E55 ones. I"ve been trying to get some made for years, but have now settled for making a sset of adjustable fronts. I'll post when I get it on.

jangy

You may also want to re-think the ELM. Why not get the RennTech? As much as I hate them, they have the best ELM out at the best price.

Wider wheels will change handling big time. Mine no longer pushes at all and is almost scary on lift-off steer.

jmf003

In addition to going wider on the tires you can also go with stickier rubber. That will make quite a bit of difference.

slacker55

Thanks for the feedback guys. I'll ask about the Renntech ELM. As for the wheels and tires, I'm currently running on Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Pole Positions (245/35R19 front and 275/30R19 rear.) They were highly reccomended by Tirerack so I got them. Are they any good?

jangy

The Poles are at least ok. They are Z rated, not Rs, but very nice and stiff sidewalls. All a matter of preference. The size is what you need to work on. Right now, you are too narrow.

vraa

How fat are you?
This plays a crucial role in calculations.

slacker55

I weigh about 170. But I have experienced how sensitive the car is to weight. I had 4 people in the car the other day and the car felt totally different. It barely chirped with ESP off when I tried to do a burnout...

vraa

I was just messing around. I should've included some smiley's

slacker55

What?! So you're telling me that I went out and hired a personal trainer for nothing?! Jk...

But just out of curiosity, is it normal for the e55 to lose that much power with 4 average sized people in it? I asked the guy at a speed shop that specializes in Porsches and Benzes and he said that having 4 people in the car will reduce wheelspin drastically on a stock 55.

vraa

Yes. Consider 150lb per person. That's 600lb added into a car.
That's what, 600 / 4300lb * 100 = 13%. That's 13% extra weight of the car.

(I picked 4300 because I think the E55 weighs around this much, this figure may be 2000lb higher or lower. Void where prohibited.)