MBH motorsports

I had a RENNtech 168mm on my C55. No issues what so ever In fact I installed a stock 55k pulley during boost testing on My C55. That thing wobbled. Installed a 168 and had no wobble. However, some tips to consider: Get a pulley made off of a Mercedes pulley. Dont get a pulley that joins the supercharger pulley to the crank pulley by bolts. No 2 piece pulleys. Your woodruff key will thank you.

Coalman

Realizing that I have no expertise at all in this area, I liked the idea that my Kleeman 168 pulley could use the stock belts. The MB mechanic who installed the pulley said he liked the fit better because it was a little more snug. Also, from what I've seen of heat issues, I'm wondering if there isn't a point of diminishing returns with larger pulley's even with cooling mods.

skratch77

I honeslty wanted a 172 because I was afraid of heat issues and had a 180 so I know what to expect.I also will run 50/50 meth water to keep temps down in the summer.

The 168 is not enough boost for my goals with this car.

Hitting the track up tonight and the k4 car might come.Should smoke me since im on stock pulley still but I want to bench my car with it bad.

brad @ evosport

see below...

This thinking is really flawed IMHO. We have seen so many crank pulley's fail that are this design.

A few problems:

1. The factory dampened pulley fails on stock cars. As the years have gone past and cars are getting higher mileage, we are seeing more and more failures on BONE STOCK cars of the pulley. They crack and they also work out of the "grove". Here is an example of a pulley that did both:





This pulley WILL fail. It may fail at 40K miles or it may fail at 150K+, but it will fail.

2. The "pinned" design is flawed. By that design, I mean that someone takes a factory dampened pulled, machines off the groves and slides on an alum ring and uses 4-6 "set-screws" to bond the outer alum ring to the inner ring. The amount of torque that goes through this pulley is immense. A few set-screws will not hold it together for a long time. Again, some may last longer than others, but it will fail.

3. Same design as above, but welded not pinned. This is better than pins, but it adds a lot of weight to the outside outer edge of the pulley. The failures we have seen with this are of balancing and of damaging the crank due to the extra mass added to the outer edge of the rotating assembly.

We have been doing crank pulley's for Mercedes for about 9 years. We have gone through more research time than many of these companies who now sell pulleys have even been in business. There is a method to our madness.

Our pulley is a clean sheet design with a lifetime damper (ok, we have had one fail in 9 years). Take a look at ours and compare to the stock or the other competitors:



To my knowledge at this point only evosport and Brabus do it this way. In fact, Brabus changed their design to one similar to ours after we released this design. While some may think evosport is the "new kid" on the block, I think we can agree that Brabus is the pinnacle in terms of long term reputation for a MBZ tuner. So if they also do it the way we do, there just might be something to it, don't you think!?

Thanks
brad

c32AMG-DTM

Interesting info - wasn't aware of that, thanks Brad. Any pics you can post of the current-gen Brabus crank pulley?

skratch77

My renntech pulley has a new damper on it.its not the factory and only uses the solid piece design with no bolts that we need to worry about conning loose.I have it at the shop and ill take pics later.I havnt heard one story on here about a renntech pulley having any problems.

brad @ evosport

I don't. I will keep looking.

Did not know that, so that might make 3. Post a pic!

thanks
Brad

skratch77

here is my renntech,not sure if its a stock damper but they put something in there that turned brown.Also dosnt look like the picture of the oem pulley,to tell you the truth I never actually sat down to look at my stock pulley.

brad @ evosport

That is a pinned pulley, you can see the outer ring where it meets the inner pulley.

thanks
Brad

skratch77

from that picture is it a stock damper or something else?It loks like they stacked a few things in there.

Coalman

I spoke to Cory at Kleeman at length about pulley failures before I went with the Kleeman 168 pulley. He stated that the only failures he was aware of had to do with some early OEM designs that were fixed a long time ago. He also stated that Kleeman was conservative in their pulley size to avoid problems. To his credit he did not take any cheap shots at other pulley designs. But then again Kleeman is a class act, unlike some others (see above), which is why I went with them.

MBH motorsports

I'm so glad I'm not in the pulley market and have no planes to. Just when You think you got something figured out a thread like this pops up.

Infact i'm in the market for a pulley, I find this thread to be very helpfull. i was always under the impression you dont want a bolt style pulley. Maybe its time to reinvestigation

Hammer Down

I'll agree with you on one thing that yes Cory is a class act but who are you saying isn't a class act?

MBTEK

THE PULLEY FAILING LOOKS TO ME LIKE A REGULAR 113 PULLEY,NOTICE ONLY ONE BELT,NOT A S/C CRANK PULLEY.PERSONALLY I HAVE NEVER SEEN AS OF YET A STOCK 55K PULLEY HAVE THE RUBBER COME OUT OF IT,NOT SAYING IT CAN'T HAPPEN,I DID SEE A C32 DO IT BUT THE HUNDRED+ 55K CARS I'VE WORKED ON I'VE NEVER SEEN IT.THE EVO PULLEY I WAS RUNNING WAS GREAT EXCEPT FOR THE FACT YOU NEED A STOCK BOLT MACHINED DOWN TO ATTACH IT TO THE CRANK,ASP DIRECT BOLT ON,VRP PULLIES-I WOULD NEVER DO.IN MY EXPERIENCE I THINK YOU CAN TRUST THE EVO,ASP,KLEEMANN,RENNTECH PULLIES W/O FEAR,INSTALL ALSO HAS ALOT TO DO W/ PROBLEM PULLIES,EITHER WAY ENJOY YOUR PULLEY POWER!

brad @ evosport

You are absolutely correct. In my haste, I mislabeled it. I will fix it as soon as I can. K or N/A, we have seen this many times. In fact the last tech I employed that came from the dealer (Fletcher Jones and Caliber) said he had done dozens of them in the last few years. There is less stress on the NA pulley than the Kompressor one however. This is the same motor and the same damper, failure is failure. It will fail sooner on a Kompressor than an NA car.

I think he might be referring to me. I guess it makes me "classless" to share real information gathered over the last 10 years of research, development and tuning S/C Mercedes in the US!

Hammer Down

So let me get this straight, he says your classless because you were trying to warn us of potential failures? You have been trying to warning us for quite some time now.

skratch77

exactly your scaring people wanting to run a renntech/kleemann/evotech/asp pullies because your saying that they will fail.

Show us some of those failed pullies that use the stock oem pulley and then we can talk,other than that your just making up bs about renntech and kleemann and Im sure someone at kleemann is going to chime in since there a paying sponcer too.

Coalman

Thanks. Someone who actually reads and understands a thread before shooting off his mouth. We all agree Cory is a class act. So I have to assume we also agree that he is fully aware of the reliablity of Kleemann pulleys and would not lie to someone about Kleemann pulley failures. This guy also states Cory is a class act, so I assume he agrees Cory would not lie about Klemann pulley failues, but still he takes his cheap shot by saying design is defective and doomed to fail. QED, he is classless.

brad @ evosport

And you guys wonder why more tuners don't participate in these threads! lol

Try and help and you get attacked! Just about as much fun as banging your head against a wall!

Thanks
brad

Coalman

Gosh. Now I feel really bad. It never occurred to me that you were interested soley in the welfare of the members of this forum and that there was absolutely nothing self-serving in your criticism of the Kleemann et al pulley designs. Please accept my apology and continue to keep us informed on the deficiencies of your competitors.

guysandiego

I think it is understandable for the sponser to explain his product. I know that product is considerably more expensive than some others. I like hearing the explanation for that cost. You may not agree with the explanation but it answers some questions. This is why the company demands more for their product...and how they feel their product differs from others. Also, explains why they feel their product is superior.

I do have their pulley on my car but I bought it used. The product has been awesome for me but I would not buy it new... I dont think the extra cost is worth it... when I can buy something else for 1/3 of the price.... However, others are not as frugile as me and will spend the money after knowing the reason.

Anyways, dont jump on a sponser for explaining their logic -- its good to hear from them -- if they are being self-serving or not -- they are providing some information ---

brad @ evosport

Nice to know sarcasm is still rampant on this site. This attitude is so distasteful to professionals that most will never post. Is that what you want? A site full of unsubstantiated information from users with no input from the manufacturers?

You may not know, but I co-founded and built this site from the first day. Way before we had evosport. I have done more for this community than anyone else save perhaps Mr. Vanos (my partner). So in the end, you can believe what you want - it is a free market system. Just don't say you were not warned about a design flaw with a particular style of pulley. (And yes, just because a lot of people do it a certain way does not make it right or safe).

Simple rule of thumb is to follow the money. I bet that there is more profit in any of the pinned designs then we have in our clean sheet damper. I would think that most rational reasonable people would wonder why certain companies like evosport and Brabus do something in a manner that is more expensive, more complicated and less profitable. I think that you can figure out that answer.

Thanks
Brad

e551986

i LIKE EVO SPORT PULLEYS , BUT ITS ****IN EXPANSIVE ,EVERYTHING , YOU CAN GET MORE CHEAPER FOR OTHER BRANDS AND SAME ****IN QUILTY

Roverron

@e551986 Hey people say the samething about our cars.

Hammer Down

Stay tuned, they may have a end of summer/race season sale soon