BenzoBoi

I recently went to buttonwillow with some friends and I fell in love. I thought to myself that I would LOVE to get my car out there but I knew there were ALOT of things holding back the car. One of them being the air suspension. I thought the car would handle a million times better with coils.

So here is my question. How many of you guys given that a coilover systems was available for our cars, would actually opt to go with coilovers in place of the air suspension? Just wondering if I'm thinking the same things as some of yall on here...

V12Godspeed

If I had an E I would love to switch it...why not? It will make the car handle 10x times better...

jangy

I disagree. The E will never be a buttonwillow car and coil overs won't change that. For a simple comparison, take a look at the handling between comparable setups on an E500 and an E350. The 500 has 30hp advantage and some TQ, but it is basically as close to a wash as we can find. the E350 is slightly lighter and has traditional suspension. Would the E350 honestly be faster than the E500 at buttonwillow? I'd argue that the active suspension would fair better on a more open course but any large car will be a chore on such a tight course.

shardul

iTrader: (1)

I was thinking about the same thing today. It is do able, electronics of the air suspension may be an issue.
A good staring point would be to upgrade the sway bars, this will dramatically reduce body roll which in turn will give you the feeling of a stiffer suspension.

LZH

Not a fair comparison at all. The E350 is sprung for senior citizens...
Strap some good triple adjustable coils on the E55 and it will make a HUGE difference dealing with the weight. Add some good suspension pieces to help dial in more negative camber and you have yourself a very competent handling sedan. Dealing with weight is difficult, but when you've got LOTS of mechanical grip, it tends to hide the weight in the corners. That doesn't mean it's not there, you just don't feel it as much and the car becomes much easier to drive quickly. The caveat to that is when it does break loose...you better know what you're doing as that much weight can be a handful. The CLK Black Series is a good example of this as it weighs almost the same as an E55.

SaMaS

electronics should not be an issue you can simply select steel suspension...

bobgodd

It will make the handling better yes, but probably not what you're hoping for. There are many other suspension pieces that were not designed with optimum handling in mind and unless you address all of them, the shocks will only get you so far.

BenzoBoi

Thanks for all the replies thus far guys. I'm not trying to be a full on track guy with the car. If I was, then I would have bought another car.

BUT

I thought it was a start. Start with coils and then do sways after. Then do the lil things after that. I'm just lookin for something a lil more "sturdy"...

Crawl, walk, run...

Yacht Master

Have you seen the sway bar on the front of a E55, good luck finding one larger/stiffer.

Victor (VRP) was going too go down this road I think he abondon it. Untill someone installs a coil over on al four corners. No one can say that it will be better, till its on the skid pad and it proves out.

I have had Airmatic problem and did consider a conversion to coilovers.
But I need to be able to adjust my ride hight on the fly.

Marcus Frost

Sun,

Actually, the bigger problem you will have is not with suspension (which is a problem) but it's weight. Weight trickles down to everything... braking, suspension, etc. There have been people crazy enough to track their 55s but most of them complained about brake fade more than handling. Your car is also modded and while I know you did a cooling package, with all that extra power I am curious how the car would hold up with multiple hot-laps at a track like buttonwillow.

-m

LZH

Excellent point, but there is nothing curious about it. As you said, the brakes would need to be upgraded as well to make it "safe". Of course if you don't plan on really pushing it on the track the stock setup is adequate - but not for any extended periods of time under track duty... Running a street car on the track hard tears things up in a hurry if they are not built for it. Just going to coil overs will make a big difference, but as I mentioned before, shocks can only do so much and you would need start changing out suspension pieces to realize the full benefit of coil overs.

jangy

I looked into sway bars and even had a shop that was willing to make them for about $500, but they needed the car for a week. Turns out we have 45mm fronts and 40mm rears (I think). I gave up since that was already so fat. Does anyone that understands better than I feel this is worth looking into more?

BenzoBoi

Thanks fer yer input Marcus! It's always valued. I guess there is only one way to find out how the car does at the track I only plan on going out in my car 2/5 or 3/5 sessions per day. If the event is more then one day I'll prolly space it out to 2 a day. I still have ALOT to learn before actually getting behind the wheel at the track. The other times, I plan on taking rides with friends and learning how they run.

I am taking steps to alleviate weight issues as well. Upgrading to the Evosport rotors soon, gettin new wheels (lightweight forged one piece for the track) + R compound tires, and trying to lighten up the interior a lil

Once again, I'm not tryin to go ALL out but I want to do what I can to make it quick. I know it won't be as fast as other track dedicated cars, but I want to be able to enjoy the car at the track once in a while also.

As far as everyday driving (which I do), I don't mind not having air suspension.

JamE55

Luke = lol

Marcus Frost

Luke,

Sorry for the misunderstanding - I was referring to the motor, with IATs/coolant possibly becoming a problem after so much back to back WOT. Obviously, higher entry speeds because of the extra HP will also attack the brakes more so than with stock HP levels, but I'd be curious how IATs/coolant temps would look after a few laps with pulley/tune/etc - essentially if the heat exchanger is capable of doing it's job outside the street/dragstrip.

-m

BenzoBoi

Thanks again to all the responses. I'm just a n00b and fellow car nut trying to learn something new everyday .

Thanks to all the guys that contributed and who are about to contribute!

LZH

Sorry, my bad...but you do bring up great points regarding the E55's durability issues on the track. We've all seen how well it performs at the drags....but extended use on a road course is so much more demanding and I agree with you...IAT's and a huge heat exchanger would be a must. But then again, once you start down that road of modding for the track; the better the car is setup for the track, the worse it's streetability will be. It's a sippery slope and more often than not one would be better served to leave the street car alone and buy a dedicated track car. Good points nonetheless, Marcus.

The Godfather

https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/...-w211-55s.html

BenzoBoi

Yo Mike!

I saw that thread a long time ago. What I'm talkin about is getting rid of the air suspension completely and going coils. I don't want a hybrid suspension like that is.

Air is nice for comfort, but when pushed, I don't think it can hang with a coilover system. Just my 2 cents.

jangy

No doubt about that.

OT, but can you pm me info on your side skirts? I'ma gonna grab a set.

bobgodd

While weight is a problem, it CAN be addressed through the suspension, rather than trying to go on a diet. Look at the new CTS-V, it handles better than a lot of sports cars, and it's just as heavy as our AMG's.... This is because it's suspension was purposely designed; not just shocks and sway bars, but every single component, down to bushings.

Marcus Frost

Bob,

Anything is possible. It is possible to put a V12 in a new c-class, it is possible to make a festiva a track car, anything is possible with enough time and money. My point was just to speak to fundamentals. A CTS-V weighing 3000lbs will perform better than a CTS-V that weighs 4000lbs. At the track weight will become your enemy, regardless if theoretically you could reengineer the entire chassis to deal with it better -it is fairly obvious that is neither feasible nor plausible in the context of this discussion.

-m

AudiOn19s

While I'd love to see coilovers as a suspension option on the market for the E55, I can't say I'd actually buy a set. Track was just not what I bought the E55 to do. I've got two other track prepped cars in the garage for that.

Andy

MJ50

+1

bobgodd

We're definitely on the same page here, trust.

All I'm trying to point out is that of the two issues, one is easier to address than the other