W211 AMG Discuss the W211 AMG's such as the E55 and the E63

How does a stage 1 (pulley/ecu) E55 compare to a stock SL65 in acceleration?

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Rate Thread
 
Old Dec 13, 2008 | 04:09 PM
  #26  
JBFMCAR's Avatar
Senior Member
 
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 414
Likes: 2
From: Ft Lauderdale, Florida
G63, 360CS, CLK63 BS, 997.2TT, 328D
0-125 great race then first the M6 would pass and then the M5 would soon follow suit these cars a geared for the hwy and haul serious *** up top! The M6 pulls the SL65 on the HWY up top.
Reply
Old Dec 13, 2008 | 04:11 PM
  #27  
J 2OOI's Avatar
Super Member
 
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 527
Likes: 1
From: Indianapolis, IN
2012 JDM
Originally Posted by Marcus Frost
I have both - it would be very, very close. I will admit my particular E55 is without question in the top percentile when it comes to power for it's mods - so not all E55s would fare as well as mine - but I know that my SL could not run away from my 55.

Once I start modding the 65 this winter, that will, of course, change

-m
Hey Marcus, just curious... what is your best 1/4 mile trap speed in the E55??

Hope all is well....
Reply
Old Dec 13, 2008 | 04:51 PM
  #28  
Improviz's Avatar
MBWorld Fanatic!
20 Year Member
 
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 3,679
Likes: 0
CLS55 AMG
Originally Posted by NSX2NV
From a roll I don't think the 65 or 600 would have much trouble pulling away from the smaller 55. Exactly why the M5/M6 kills us up top. There is no replacement for displacement. Remember.... V12
Actually, the M5/M6 motors have smaller displacement than the 55k cars; they have 5.0L V10s vs 5.4L V8s. Why they win up high is because once the 55k cars hit fourth gear at 130 their torque multiplication drops off dramatically as their gear ratios are a compromise between performance and fuel economy, while the M cars are geared for max acceleration all the way up--and which is why they have to fill up with gas every 160 miles or so.

Doesn't bother me...don't get up that high enough to worry about it, frankly.
Reply
Old Dec 13, 2008 | 06:02 PM
  #29  
Brabus E55's Avatar
Member
 
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 216
Likes: 0
From: OC
E55
I raced Vic once with his 65 and he smoked me pretty good
Reply
Old Dec 13, 2008 | 06:04 PM
  #30  
New2this's Avatar
Member
 
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 91
Likes: 1
From: Salt Lake City Utah
SL65 VRP1000 and 20" Monolites
I don't know about a stage 1 E55, but I do know that a K4 E55 holds it own vs Renntech SL65 from a dig all the way up to the speed limiters..

My buddy has the K4 E55, and I had the RT SL65.. Tried several different times, and it was ALWAYS the same result...

Whichever car got the jump, was the car that stayed ahead, the whole way.
Reply
Old Dec 13, 2008 | 06:17 PM
  #31  
jangy's Avatar
Out Of Control!!
 
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 13,394
Likes: 6
From: San Diego
2015 S212
Originally Posted by Improviz
Actually, the M5/M6 motors have smaller displacement than the 55k cars; they have 5.0L V10s vs 5.4L V8s. Why they win up high is because once the 55k cars hit fourth gear at 130 their torque multiplication drops off dramatically as their gear ratios are a compromise between performance and fuel economy, while the M cars are geared for max acceleration all the way up--and which is why they have to fill up with gas every 160 miles or so.

Doesn't bother me...don't get up that high enough to worry about it, frankly.
Its the SC. At some point, it stops pushing as hard and actually becomes a hindrance. Don't buy into all the gearing crap. Power is real, regardless of the gear you are in and that is what needs the multiplier. If not, all cars would have 10 gears and be faster than the E55. The Ms are faster because they are made that way. Their intake and exhaust is "geared" for 100 - 150mph blasts, whereas MB made the 55k to go 0 - 100.
Reply
Old Dec 13, 2008 | 06:41 PM
  #32  
NSX2NV's Avatar
Super Member
 
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 586
Likes: 2
From: Springfield, Missouri
03' E55 Techtite Grey
Originally Posted by jangy
Its the SC. At some point, it stops pushing as hard and actually becomes a hindrance. Don't buy into all the gearing crap. Power is real, regardless of the gear you are in and that is what needs the multiplier. If not, all cars would have 10 gears and be faster than the E55. The Ms are faster because they are made that way. Their intake and exhaust is "geared" for 100 - 150mph blasts, whereas MB made the 55k to go 0 - 100.
+8,000,000,001
Reply
Old Dec 13, 2008 | 08:20 PM
  #33  
Marcus Frost's Avatar
MBWorld Fanatic!
 
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 2,123
Likes: 3
From: Chicago, IL
Real Cars
Originally Posted by J 2OOI
Hey Marcus, just curious... what is your best 1/4 mile trap speed in the E55??

Hope all is well....
I trapped almost 118mph bone stock, and with VRP550 I picked up ~30rwhp and ~50rwtq over stock. I have not been back to the track with the VRP550.

I dyno'd my SL65 but it had a bad IC pump, however the E55 would be very close to the 65 in hp (within 10%) and while the 65 would have the leg up on TQ, it has quite a few pounds over the 55 to contend with.

Not saying the E55 would win, but it would be a great race.

-m
Reply
MB World Stories

The Best of Mercedes & AMG

story-0

6 Mercedes Models That Did NOT Age Well (But Are Somehow Still Cool)

 Verdad Gallardo
story-1

Manual Mercedes? 6 Times Sindelfingen Let Drivers Have All The Fun

 Verdad Gallardo
story-2

Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren

 Verdad Gallardo
story-3

8 Classic Boxy Mercedes Designs That Have Aged Like Fine Wine

 Verdad Gallardo
story-4

Flawlessly Restored Mercedes 190E Evo II Heads to Auction

 Verdad Gallardo
story-5

Electric Mercedes C-Class Unveiled: 11 Things You Need to Know

 Verdad Gallardo
story-6

Mercedes EQS Gets A Major Update: Everything You Need to Know

 Verdad Gallardo
story-7

5 Underrated Mercedes-Benz Models That Don't Get the Love They Deserve

 Verdad Gallardo
story-8

Mercedes 300D Has Pushed Well Past 1 Million Miles and It Ain't Stopping

 Verdad Gallardo
story-9

10 Most Reliable Mercedes-Benz Models You Can Buy Used

 Verdad Gallardo
Old Dec 13, 2008 | 08:26 PM
  #34  
Marcus Frost's Avatar
MBWorld Fanatic!
 
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 2,123
Likes: 3
From: Chicago, IL
Real Cars
Originally Posted by jangy
Its the SC. At some point, it stops pushing as hard and actually becomes a hindrance. Don't buy into all the gearing crap. Power is real, regardless of the gear you are in and that is what needs the multiplier. If not, all cars would have 10 gears and be faster than the E55. The Ms are faster because they are made that way. Their intake and exhaust is "geared" for 100 - 150mph blasts, whereas MB made the 55k to go 0 - 100.
Jangy,

I disagree, but on the premise that gearing is not the actual reason WHY the V10s pull on top, rather it ALLOWS them to take advantage of the way their engines were built. True to F1, as power is squeezed out of a motor with higher revs, it is also limited to that extra power within a more confined section of their rev band - hence the need for additional gears. In other words, if you took "x" engine which makes 250hp at a redline of 7k rpm, but then worked the engine to make 300hp at 8k rpm - you would ideally want gearing that allowed you to keep the engine in the higher rev band while going through them. If shifting from 5th-6th on this motor dropped you below the real power hand that would, obviously, hinder acceleration.

It would be great to see an E55 vs SMG M5 vs 6spd E60 M5 - it would clearly show the true story.

-m
Reply
Old Dec 13, 2008 | 09:48 PM
  #35  
Improviz's Avatar
MBWorld Fanatic!
20 Year Member
 
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 3,679
Likes: 0
CLS55 AMG
Originally Posted by Marcus Frost
Jangy,

I disagree, but on the premise that gearing is not the actual reason WHY the V10s pull on top, rather it ALLOWS them to take advantage of the way their engines were built. True to F1, as power is squeezed out of a motor with higher revs, it is also limited to that extra power within a more confined section of their rev band - hence the need for additional gears. In other words, if you took "x" engine which makes 250hp at a redline of 7k rpm, but then worked the engine to make 300hp at 8k rpm - you would ideally want gearing that allowed you to keep the engine in the higher rev band while going through them. If shifting from 5th-6th on this motor dropped you below the real power hand that would, obviously, hinder acceleration.

It would be great to see an E55 vs SMG M5 vs 6spd E60 M5 - it would clearly show the true story.

-m
Both are correct. The gears are designed such that they keep the engine in its max power band from gear-gear, *and* give substantially higher torque multiplication than the E55 in the process.

We all know that the E55's horsepower is underrated. Dynos are in the 420 hp range, and from trap speeds alone vs. weight they're obviously up in the 530 range, if not higher. But let's use that....this means that since hp is directly proportional to torque, the torque would get scaled up by the same amount, giving 575 "true" peak torque.

This is 575/383 = 150% of the M5's max rated torque. Now, have a look at how much more torque multiplication the M5's gears give it than the E55's:
if you take the product of the gear*final drive for each cars' gears, you see that the BMW has a much higher degree of torque multiplication...*particularly* in the higher gears. In the lower gears, the advantage is substantially less, but starting in 4th gear the BMW has an enormous gearing advantage--and it shows:

Compared to E55:
gear E55 mult M5 mult % advantage
1 9.51 14.44 152
2 5.8 9.59 165
3 3.74 6.55 175
4 2.65 5.03 190
5 2.2 4.2 191

Notice that the advantage in gearing is negated by the E55's advantage in torque, until the third, and especially fourth gear.

The lower gears' advantage is probably negated somewhat by the forced induction on the E55, which allows the engine's response to give a very flat response, maximizing torque over the power band, while the M5's n/a motor will be a bit more peaky...but when the gearing gives 190% in fourth gear, that's a pretty big advantage to overcome.
Reply
Old Dec 13, 2008 | 10:10 PM
  #36  
jangy's Avatar
Out Of Control!!
 
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 13,394
Likes: 6
From: San Diego
2015 S212
Originally Posted by Marcus Frost
...If shifting from 5th-6th on this motor dropped you below the real power hand that would, obviously, hinder acceleration.

true, but that is a real big IF in these cars. we have good power accross the band, but NONE up top regardless of gearing.

It would be great to see an E55 vs SMG M5 vs 6spd E60 M5 - it would clearly show the true story.

-m
Marcus, you bring up a great point and I'm definitely not arguing it. I guess my point is that I don't think the E55k would be much, if any, faster with more gears. As my car has gotten faster, getting air through the system is my #1 concern. I simply do not believe that there is enough air flow to run at top end. PERIOD. I don't even think it is close. I think we loose a CRAP LOAD of power up top simply because we run out of air. the drop off isn't small, it is HUGE.

Here is a test that i have done and maybe we can set something up like it. I did some 3rd and 4th gear pulls against an E63 a long time ago. In each scenario, he was in 1 gear taller than me (either his 4th or 5th). Each time, I spanked him below 3500 rpm and he walked me from about 4k rpm all the way through. That is when i started modding....
Reply
Old Dec 13, 2008 | 11:10 PM
  #37  
Improviz's Avatar
MBWorld Fanatic!
20 Year Member
 
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 3,679
Likes: 0
CLS55 AMG
Forgot about this part:

Originally Posted by Marcus Frost
It would be great to see an E55 vs SMG M5 vs 6spd E60 M5 - it would clearly show the true story.-m
It does. The loss of the extra gear and weaker gearing clearly hurts the M5 up high. If you look at the results from the C&D tests of the six-speed M5 and the SMG, it becomes apparent. For the six speed, the 0-100 tests are meaningless from zero, as they stated that the six-speed version's traction control intervened at launch where the SMG's didn't. but you can still use them to compare the 60-100, 60-150 and 100-150 times where TC wouldn't be a factor:

SMG:
0-60: 4.2
0-100: 9.4
0-150: 20.7

6 spd manual:
0-60: 4.7
0-100: 10.3
0-150: 23.4

60-100 split:
6 spd: 5.6
SMG: 5.2

60-150 split:
6 spd: 18.7
SMG: 16.5

100-150 split:
6 spd: 13.1
SMG: 11.3

Also, when C&D tested the E55 back in '03, they got:
0-60: 4.3
0-100: 9.9
0-150: 24.5

So its 60-100 split of 5.6 was the same as the six speed M5 and only 0.4 off the SMG, its 60-150 time of 20.2 is 1.5 sec. off the six speed's vs 3.7 off the SMG, and its 100-150 time of 14.6 is also 1.5 sec off the six-speed's, vs a 3.3 sec. gap vs the SMG. The six speed car starts drops 0.4 from 60-100 vs the SMG, and almost 2 more from 100-150.

So in both cases virtually all of the pickup came between 100-150 for the M5, and with the six speed it was cut in half. Both cars have the same final drive, but the gear ratios of the seven speed and six speed respectively are:
3.99/2.65/1.81/1.39/1.16/1.00/0.83
4.06/2.40/1.58/1.19/1.00/0.87

Percentages of six speed ratio to seven speed ratio, gears 1-6:
102%/91%/87%/85%/86%/87%

Third gear in the six speed starts at 73 mph and goes to 110, and fourth goes up to 146. The acceleration falls off directly with the torque multiplication. It's all in the physics.

Last edited by Improviz; Dec 13, 2008 at 11:17 PM.
Reply
Old Dec 13, 2008 | 11:25 PM
  #38  
jangy's Avatar
Out Of Control!!
 
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 13,394
Likes: 6
From: San Diego
2015 S212
I'm reading and learning...
Reply
Old Dec 14, 2008 | 12:45 AM
  #39  
Blownbenz's Avatar
Member
 
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 171
Likes: 0
From: CT
2005 E55
By the way what options are included on your 06 cls55 perf pkg?



Originally Posted by Improviz
It does. The loss of the extra gear and weaker gearing clearly hurts the M5 up high. If you look at the results from the C&D tests of the six-speed M5 and the SMG, it becomes apparent. For the six speed, the 0-100 tests are meaningless from zero, as they stated that the six-speed version's traction control intervened at launch where the SMG's didn't. but you can still use them to compare the 60-100, 60-150 and 100-150 times where TC wouldn't be a factor:

SMG:
0-60: 4.2
0-100: 9.4
0-150: 20.7

6 spd manual:
0-60: 4.7
0-100: 10.3
0-150: 23.4

60-100 split:
6 spd: 5.6
SMG: 5.2

60-150 split:
6 spd: 18.7
SMG: 16.5

100-150 split:
6 spd: 13.1
SMG: 11.3

Also, when C&D tested the E55 back in '03, they got:
0-60: 4.3
0-100: 9.9
0-150: 24.5

So its 60-100 split of 5.6 was the same as the six speed M5 and only 0.4 off the SMG, its 60-150 time of 20.2 is 1.5 sec. off the six speed's vs 3.7 off the SMG, and its 100-150 time of 14.6 is also 1.5 sec off the six-speed's, vs a 3.3 sec. gap vs the SMG. The six speed car starts drops 0.4 from 60-100 vs the SMG, and almost 2 more from 100-150.

So in both cases virtually all of the pickup came between 100-150 for the M5, and with the six speed it was cut in half. Both cars have the same final drive, but the gear ratios of the seven speed and six speed respectively are:
3.99/2.65/1.81/1.39/1.16/1.00/0.83
4.06/2.40/1.58/1.19/1.00/0.87

Percentages of six speed ratio to seven speed ratio, gears 1-6:
102%/91%/87%/85%/86%/87%

Third gear in the six speed starts at 73 mph and goes to 110, and fourth goes up to 146. The acceleration falls off directly with the torque multiplication. It's all in the physics.
Reply
Old Dec 14, 2008 | 03:06 AM
  #40  
Improviz's Avatar
MBWorld Fanatic!
20 Year Member
 
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 3,679
Likes: 0
CLS55 AMG
Originally Posted by Blownbenz
By the way what options are included on your 06 cls55 perf pkg?
Do you mean options on the car itself, or are you asking what options are included in the 030 package?
Reply

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 


You have already rated this thread Rating: Thread Rating: 0 votes,  average.


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 03:44 AM.

story-0
6 Mercedes Models That Did NOT Age Well (But Are Somehow Still Cool)

Slideshow: Not every Mercedes design becomes timeless, some feel stuck in the era they came from.

By Verdad Gallardo | 2026-05-12 18:09:07


VIEW MORE
story-1
Manual Mercedes? 6 Times Sindelfingen Let Drivers Have All The Fun

Slideshow: Yes, Mercedes built manual cars, and some of them are far more interesting than you'd expect.

By Verdad Gallardo | 2026-05-02 12:36:58


VIEW MORE
story-2
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren

Slideshow: A one-of-one U.S.-spec Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster became even rarer after a factory-backed transformation at McLaren's headquarters.

By Verdad Gallardo | 2026-04-29 11:19:28


VIEW MORE
story-3
8 Classic Boxy Mercedes Designs That Have Aged Like Fine Wine

Slideshow: Before curves took over, Mercedes mastered the art of the straight line, and some of those shapes still look right today.

By Verdad Gallardo | 2026-04-25 12:05:49


VIEW MORE
story-4
Flawlessly Restored Mercedes 190E Evo II Heads to Auction

Slideshow: The 190E Evolution II shows how a homologation necessity became a six-figure collector icon.

By Verdad Gallardo | 2026-04-22 17:53:47


VIEW MORE
story-5
Electric Mercedes C-Class Unveiled: 11 Things You Need to Know

Slideshow: Mercedes is turning one of its core nameplates electric, and the details show just how serious this shift is.

By Verdad Gallardo | 2026-04-21 13:58:06


VIEW MORE
story-6
Mercedes EQS Gets A Major Update: Everything You Need to Know

Slideshow: Faster charging, longer range, and a controversial steer-by-wire system define the latest evolution of Mercedes-Benz EQS.

By Verdad Gallardo | 2026-04-15 10:35:34


VIEW MORE
story-7
5 Underrated Mercedes-Benz Models That Don't Get the Love They Deserve

Slideshow: These overlooked Mercedes-Benz models never got the spotlight, but they quietly delivered more than most remember.

By Verdad Gallardo | 2026-04-13 19:35:45


VIEW MORE
story-8
Mercedes 300D Has Pushed Well Past 1 Million Miles and It Ain't Stopping

Slideshow: A well-used 1991 Mercedes-Benz 300D with more than one million miles is now looking for a new owner, and it still appears ready for more.

By Verdad Gallardo | 2026-04-10 10:05:15


VIEW MORE
story-9
10 Most Reliable Mercedes-Benz Models You Can Buy Used

Slideshow: From bulletproof sedans to surprisingly tough SUVs, these Mercedes models proved that the three-pointed star can go the distance.

By Verdad Gallardo | 2026-04-08 09:55:49


VIEW MORE