Greetings,

I'm new to the list. I have an '04 E55 Silver/Black, 19" GFG's... I recently took the car to the drag strip for the first time. Since the car never seems to get traction on the street, I purchased a set of 275 35 18 (on stock wheels) BFG Drag Radials (26 psi) to assist w/ the aformentioned problem. Outside temp. was 55 deg, and it should have been a stage set for a great run. My best time was my first, I gave it a pretty good burn, hopped on the dry one more time, and yet when the car left the line, the traction light (esp turned off) was flashing and it felt like it had intercepted my gracious power. I ran a 12.40 @ 112.6 w/ a 1.8 60ft. I felt the car should have done this on stock tires, and with the added traction, should have broken into the 11's. Questions:

1) Has anyone run into the esp light flashing at launch (even w/ drag comps.)
2) Has anyone run it in dyno mode?
3) I have yet to get my E in Dyno mode, no problem on SL though...
4) Any advise...

I was disappointed w/ the E.T. and the trap speed. Especially when I read what other members are running...

Sincerely,

Macmtr
04 E55 Silver/Black w/ 19" GFG Versailles
05 Hummer H2 SUT w/ Everything

 

Did you keep the 19's in the front on when you ran with the drag radials?
Jason

 

Put all stock tires and wheels on the car.

Macmtr

 

hmmm interesting thing is your 60ft is great, and your ET isnt bad, the MPH could come up a bit....i bet you could get a 12.20 and 2 more mph with some more practice...what was the humidity? Empty car, of everything...How many miles on car?
Jason

 

Empty (except my jacket), 5K on the car, Humidity about 30%.

 

Was this done at Firebird? Firebird's at 1243' elevation, not super high, but not sea level, either. IMO, you'd drop a two or three 10ths running on a sea level track like Moroso (6' elevation).

 

A 112 mph trap speed on a cool day means you aren't making power.

If I understand correctly, you had the ESP turned off, but it still kicked in for during the run. Did you try running with the ESP on?

 

I ran w/ the esp off, never tried with it on. Firebird is correct. I was wondering if during the burnout, the computer (since it's alway helping unless dyno mode), got excited and alarmed it to implenent the traction control. I tried a run w/o a burnout to test that theory, and ended up w/ the same result at launch. The funny thing is, I can't get these tires to spin on the street w/ no burnout... The mph concerned me more though... The more I ran it the lower the trap speed went. There wasn't much cool off between runs.

 

That's heat soak, and it's common to the 55's. Not enough cooling. Try 22-23 PSI and roast the drag radials real good before the launch. That should help.

 

Not speaking from experience (yet) but I heard that you should burn out with ESP off, then run your time with ESP on?

Still, low 12's are great!

Hey macmtr, we have a bunch in common, we both are from AZ and have E55's, and H2's

 

high DA, that explains it... plain and simple

 

How are you doing a real burnout without being in dyno mode? Run the tires at between 15-20 psi cold, get in dyno mode, do a 5-10 second burnout, power break up to right before you break traction at the staging lights, and then floor it on green. I floor it immediately on green and NEVER break traction on the BF drag radials.

Your 60 ft time is pretty good. Make sure you raise your hood while in the staging lanes to cool the engine and use icebags if they are available.

 

I have been unsuccessfull getting my E into dyno mode (SL, no problem). All the info. I have read on the forum seems to have been from SL, C, and S class models. Do you have specific "E Class instructions for dyno mode.

 

Wow. The DA has that big of an effect on a forced induction car?

 

What he said. I have an 05 and can't seem to access it.

 

Here's the link to the article about Dyno mode.
http://www.caranddriver.com/article....&page_number=2
It worked on my 05.

My the way, does DA stand for driving altitude?

 

That Car & Driver recipe never worked for me.

DA is Density Altitude. The lower the number (it can even be negative), the better the "air" for racing.

 

Are you guys that are running 11's with Drag Radials, running the car in "Dyno Mode" or with the esp off?

Macmtr

 

That's not a bad time. My 2004 E55 has run a best of 12.6 @ 113.8 mph with a 2.05 60 foot in 55 degree weather.

 

Could it have been the 19's??, I have 20's does anyone know how much of difference that would make on the times?

 

I had the stock wheels on the car...

Macmtr

 

check out this link and play around with different values and see how much altitude and air temperature affect the air density(a.k.a. density altitude). From what you have stated the density altitude for the day in question at that altitude was +2000ft which isn't that great. If you had run near sea level your e.t. would have been about .2-.3 faster. http://www.wahiduddin.net/calc/calc_hp_dp.htm The largest swing in e.t.'s due to weather at the same altitude(same track) that I have had in my own cars was +/- .3sec/3mph. Contrasting a 40degree dry air day to a 90 degree day with 70% humidity will affect engine power dramatically.

 

Just hope that this - http://www.lvracingscene.com/videos/...ows_engine.wmv - doesn't happen!


TJC

 

It was awfully considerate of him to continue for another 250 feet down the track spewing God knows what all over the place. You just know that track was shut down for some time to clean that up.

 

Personally, I would avoid the burn out with the drag redials. The heat built up in the engine with the e55 during the burnout hurts the run more than the better traction helps. My suggestion, lower the airpressure to 22 psi and avoid the water, take the esp off, upon launch half thottle for a fraction of a second and then floor it. You should experiment to see what best suits the track conditions but keep in mind that often your first run will be your best because of heat soak. I understand that track conditions (altitude, temp etc.) have a great effect on performance but if your trap speed is below 114, my opinion is that the computer is managing heat resulting in reduced power (rich fuel mixture, timing etc.). These are just my observations