carphreaky13

Hey guys, I've been lurking this forum for a long *** time. I was wondering, is it possible to keep up with a well tuned relatively lightweight car(miata, s2k, brz, etc) in an e55? I recently got my family's old E55, and it's a blast on the straights, but I took it up a local popular mountain road, and it felt a bit disconnected. The brakes also got a bit soft. Any recommendations for inexpensive (ish) mods that improve the handling feel?

tw2

Coilovers....

Dublinoh

Maybe you need a brake flush or at least have them checked out, I'm surprised they went soft.

Pinned

There is no way an E55 will ever keep up with even a low powered sportscar around corners - the car weighs 4,000 pounds. An NA Miata is around ~2200lbs. Coilovers will undoubtedly help, but these cars just excel at different things.

That said, it's still fun to try and throw the thing around.

kenneyd

I think the e55 sucks at handling. I believe it was designed to be a confortable, autobahn style sedan, with the most minor trackability, defiantly no autocross or nimble stuff.

Wasnt it only rated at like .84gs on a skidpad? thats like rav4 territory

Flarearrow

Agreed. Three years ago I had a 2005 C55, and took it on Tail of the Dragon. I couldn't shake this Acura RSX (very likely it was lowered on summer tires) and had to pull over and let it pass. Then I couldn't keep up with him and lost sight of the RSX.

In regular everyday driving conditions around the NYC area the C55 felt small and nimble. On Tail of the Dragon (a real road) the C55 felt h-u-g-e.

carphreaky13

Honestly at this point I'm tempted to trade in the E55 for an ND or BRZ and mod them, but I have sentimental attachment to the E55 as it's been in the family since new. I've driven both the ND and BRZ on and off track and they feel much quicker through turns as I can brake later and carry more rolling speed through the turns. Also I'm not as scared to take a late apex in them.

carphreaky13

If I install KW V2 coilovers though, will it make the ride too jarring compared to the airmatic?

Flarearrow

I say enjoy the E55 for what it is..... Great for bombing down the interstate at triple digit speeds, and for lining up at the drag strip against those Mustang GTs and Camaro SSs. Its a car that'll eat up miles going across the hils of I-80 across PA or I-81 thru VA. It'll look that part cruising the main drag thru Vegas and Miami
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s.i.f.i.

I dunno man. Something really tight like the Tail, yeah a light car will obviously work better but big sweepers, like pass roads through the Cascades or Rockies, oh say hypotbetically like 4th of July pass in Idaho, where just for fun pretend there might have been an M3 following that thought E55's can't go round corners, well, maybe they can't but this one went round them with more pace than the M3 was willing. My car is still on airmatics but is otherwise not stock and we're pretty sure Brabus messed with the valving so YMMV. Consensus here seems to be that the right set of coilovers will keep the ride qualities we like but also let it dance. Were ypu in sportII when you carved your canyon?

Pinned

KWs ride pretty well - it's a combination of relatively tame valving plus they usually have progressive springs to make initial travel more supple/increase small bump sensitivity. They'll be firmer than the airmatic for sure, but of course that's the only way they could really provide an improvement. Maybe you can find a local with some coilovers to ride along with?

kenneyd

Just buy a 2nd car for that purpose. I have one for each genre of driving I enjoy

tw2

I used to have my 350z for cornering fun and an amg for everything else. Best combo if one can afford it.

StarvingArtist

My CLS corners unbelievably well for a heavy car. On the top gear track it matched a Porsche carrera GT3 and the ferrari beat it by a 10th of a second. It's basically the same car as the E55 so there has to be some potential there. The differences that I know of are wheel and tire size, body style (shouldn't matter) and possibly shock stiffness. Stock tire size is 255/35/19 and 285/30/19. I'd start there.

BoostedAero

" the E55 pulls a middling 0.83 g on the skidpad—less grip than an E320 with a Sport package. The E55 feels distant, aloof."


http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/...d-beast-page-2

MTV10

E55 is not a canyon carver. Period.

It's a straight line missile.

BoostedAero

"508-hp V-12 Ferrari 575M Maranello F1....the E55 is a half-second quicker than the Ferrari from 50 to 70 mph."

I am in complete agreement...I have all new suspension components, coilovers sticky 255/285 series tires and it still feels less than nimble. Going straight, that's a different story

I will build a FFR 818 for a 'eat anything' through the turns car one day lol

bbirdwell

The E55 is definitely *not* a canyon carver.

My E55 weighs in at 4220 pounds with half-tank of fuel.
My former Miata weighed in at 2120 pounds with half-tank of fuel. Add turbo to bring it up to 250-270 rwhp and *that* was a canyon carver.

Don't get me wrong, I really, really like my E55. It's just that it's a different car for a different purpose.

Yuille36

Amen, the E55 and E63 weren't designed to carve canyons. But was designed to eat miles and miles of highway at triple digit speeds while chillin

MACEDON

I agree. This car is meant for Florida type roads... long straight and smooth.

It's so damn comfortable to drive and it makes 1h drives feel like 20 minutes. I honestly hope I hit red lights so I can hear my engine when I take off.

MACEDON

Yeah sure thing

70mph speed limit in Florida

waste of perfectly build smooth and wide roads.... we seriously have the best highways and they're not even getting used. Last time I did 130+ I got caught at 101mph and had to go straight to court.

I don't mind the tickets, but those points... they'll destroy your insurance premium. For f%%ks sake I'm in a car perfectly capable of handling this speed, keep that speed limit for the people in 19 ton F850's jacked up on 96 inch wheels, and those yoked jeeps that roll on every corner

patrick_y

This car is awful in canyon carving...

A highway was closed for a mudslide and I had to take one of my favorite twisty windy roads in lieu of the highway. It is important to note that I do drive this twisty windy road often but in smaller and more nimble cars. That road is no longer my favorite after driving it with the E55, which is a heavy ponderous car. Even with the AIRMATIC suspension in Sport II, the car is still not a nimble performer.

The E63 does drive a little better than the E55, credits to the "DIRECT STEER" steering rack and natural-feeling brakes. And the BMW M5 (the one with the V10 engine) is the best among cars of this size class when it comes to nimble driving.

But an E55 is just terrible for nimble driving. I thought I should've waited for the highway mudslide to clear up two days later!

MACEDON

Well one is a luxury full size sedan

the other is a tiny coupe purpose built for throwing it around

A 2006 Pontiac GTO 6.0 will definitely not be as good at going around a corner as a WRX STI right?

But they're both fun cars.

The E55 is a fancy car with lots of power to put a smile on your face every time, not for track days really. It's a pretty easy way to ruin this car if you twist that frame around corners over and over again.

Dublinoh

Macedon I can sympathize with you, if you are away from traffic, 120+ mph would be comfortable in these cars. Also agree about the insurance "points scam" regarding speeding tickets, just an excuse to raise rates and profits. I'm curious about your court appearance, care to share any details?

carphreaky13

Before I consider trading in my E for a 370Z nismo or ND club, I'm gonna take it to Sonoma raceway Wednesday night drags. It's not exactly close to where I live(2 hours), but I go there quite often for karting. I wanna see whether it's worth keeping my car to run drags.