racer m

20" HRE Comp 95s
H&R Springs up front
Links in the rear
JL Motoring carbon bumper trim

Driving impressions: ride comfort is significantly impacted (more than I have noticed on any other car I have owned). My guess is that this is due to the change in spring rate up front (softer as it is an E350 spring since no spring is available yet for the E63) coupled with the air suspension being forced into compression with the lowering links. This makes for a pretty harsh ride. Also, even after an alignment the car noticeably pulls to the right even on the flattest surfaces. Lowering the car is applying too much pre-load on the stock drop links (attached to the sway bar). My shop is looking into fabricating some adjustable drop links to solve this issue.

***sorry pics aren't amazing, I took them with my iPhone4***

Mockbam5

Thx for the info, wouldnt sacrifice ride comfort for that drop. Nice looking car!

RW C55

man, i was just thinking about lowering the car too, but i love the comfort of the ride atm..

///AMGflossin

Maybe this was covered already but does switching out oem spring or replacing oem coilovers work in compliance with the suspension button (sport/sport+).

Vic55

Now I agree that ride has become more harsh since Im running the same drop and wheel size set up; but the ride to me is more harsh due to the lower profile tires and increased wheel size as well.

I went from 18's sitting on 35's and 30s to 20's sitting on 30's and 25's but Im used to it running all my previous cars on 19's or 20's with low pros...

Our cars are almost twins.

Stein

Renntech supposedly a link designed for lowered E63s, maybe they have springs as well?

JamE55

That and your Nissan GT-R's. lol! Less the P for racer m though.

Vic55

Ummmmmmm no

He has a gray GTR--- do you really think the same models (not color) are twins too james, cause everyone has a silver E55

Remember I had mine before you did.

JamE55

Yes i remember.

Just saying in general that you both almost have the same car and setup that's all.

dynomite05

Looks Great. Subtle diffuser

E55_GT3wheels

Love it. Great looking car!

E55_GT3wheels

btw - so you like the E63 now? just wondering since you spent money on it doing mods and you liked it when you 1st got it and then a month later hated it and now...like or hate? I am curious

tgoss

Beautiful looking car! love the step lips on the wheels.

racer m

Funny you mentioned that, I used to own a highly modded 996TT. I sold it to a guy, and he crashed it a few hours after he bought it. Very sad.

racer m

It's a love/hate relationship...

Just to clarify, I was excited about the car when I first bought it as it was my first ever AMG car. After driving it for some time though, I found out many things about the car that I didn't like, most notably the traction control problems, the transmission up-shifting at 1000 rpms regardless of which auto mode you select (C, S, or S+) and the nav system being utterly useless. However, as I explained before, I leased the car and am going to be stuck with it for another 2.5 years so I want to enjoy it as much as possible. Nobody is going to take over my payment as you can get a much better deal on an E63 now, and the twin turbo engine car is right around the corner. I mod all my cars, and this one is no exception. After doing some research for the last few months I have found a LSD from Mercedes that is available, and am waiting to hear back from a Qaife distributor on wheather or not they are going to produce a LSD for the W212 before I make a decision on which one to purchase. This should solve the one wheel burnouts, ignition retard problem hopefully. As for the Nav, there is nothing that can be done (I know someone who just got a 2011 C350 and it has the same problems). When I need to find a place that I don't know I just use my iPhone and input the address manually (I love having to pull over to do this also since the car won't let you do it while in motion!). I drive mine with the tranny in M mode 95% of the time because I can't stand the inept computer's decisions when its in any of the auto modes.

There are many things I do like about my car, the looks, the engine and exhaust sound, the steering ratio/feedback, the massaging seat, but if I had to do it over again I would've gotten another car. I guess now that I know the brand better, if I do consider getting another AMG, I will look into it much more thoroughly before making a decision. Anyway, I just want to enjoy it as much as I can, and enjoy talking to other AMG owners on this forum. I don't want to stir up any more controversy so lets just let this one go please.

Thanks for the props, I think I am going to order the trunk spoiler in carbon right now!

Vic55

Fair enough- thanks Matt for your honest opinion!!

E55_GT3wheels

Yes, thank you for that post.

I need to get a carbon diffuser and carbon front lip. Can't decide if I want fins or not on the diffuser. Plus, I have no damn time at the moment though thanks to work kicking my a$$

racer m

Fins are kind of cheesy IMO since they aren't functional, but if that's the look you are going for I don't think there is much price difference between the two from Revozport.

220S

Yeah, I heard that they removed the input while in motion on the W212's nav. But won't it let you use VC while in motion for nav input?

fwiw, I was speaking with an AMG/MBUSA product manager and he was talking about the fact that MB AMGs are primarily 'luxury' cars first. That's kind of Daimler's mindset. I personally wouldn't buy one of these cars primarily as a performance car only sort of thing. Except for the BS or SLS, maybe. But even then they are still a 'Mercedes' first.

I know they're kind of trying to follow the original AMG concept (as a tuner) and now marketing a consumer 'motorsport' division, but they still use the Daimler concept of 'luxury' vehicles. And although things have changed recently (like building the SLS from the ground up as an AMG) we'll have to see where Daimler will take AMG (they've only owned it 100% for not a very long time.)

But right now I've never viewed these cars solely as 'sports performance' cars. Leave that to other brands, imho.

Maybe what doesn't quite cut it is that MB attempts to promote AMGs as performance cars. I'm mean they are, but then at the same time they aren't quite..... dunno if that makes any sense. But anyway they are sort of schizophrenic in a way. True performance or luxury daily drivers? Trying to combine the two always means compromise on either end.

racer m

I don't want to open a can of worms, but here is my comment on that:

The main problem that I encounter with the nav isn't the inability for it to be used while the vehicle is in motion (even though BMW does not limit their nav in that way as all features can be used at any speed), however I do find it insulting to my intelligence that I can scroll through my phone book, radio stations, or even the POIs for that matter but not input an address as if it takes more concentration to do one over the other. The massive thorn in my *** comes from the fact that the Search for POI feature is beyond horrible. If you go to the nav, and click on POI, then click SEARCH BY NAME, after typing in the name, say TACO BELL for example, the nav will find TACO BELL in Minnesota which doesn't do me much good living in Los Angeles. If you are on a road trip, or in an unfamiliar area this can be extremely frustrating. I have realized now, however, that if you go to POIs, but you search BY CATEGORY instead of NAME, the nav will find the closest ones to your current location. However, if you are looking for something and aren't sure of the category this can also become very frustrating as you have to keep guessing which category over and over, sometimes with no success. For example, if I go to search BY CATEGORY and select RESTAURANTS, then FAST FOOD and I am looking for Jersey Mike's Subs I have to scroll though every fast food establishment hoping the one I am searching for will show up, which many times it does not. I have tested it in my neighborhood where I know there are the restaurants I am searching for nearby and the nav still doesn't find them. I have tried this not just on my car, but also on my friend's C350 which is a 2011 and it has the exact same problem. Neither my GTR or BMW have this problem, so I guess what I am saying is Mercedes is a little behind the 8 ball. Since the same nav exists on the SL65 Black Series I could imagine there are people out there who are pissed off that their $325k car can't find Taco Bell. If they aren't, they should be.

As far as the "performance cars" goes, the E63 is without a doubt advertised as that. It is in the same class as the M5, CTS-V and RS6. If luxury is supposed to come first than why isn't there an option for a leather dash board, alcantara headliner, heads up display, seats with key activated memory, heating steering wheel, etc instead of a $9000 Performance Package that no dealer even keeps in stock. While each car has their differences, in my opinion when there is a button that can turn off the traction control, it should stay off after it is pushed. If there is an //M button, or in our case an AMG button that you can program your tranny, suspension and traction control settings to, the push of that button should place the cars in the exact settings that you stored to it. It does on the M5, however the AMG button will not store the ESP off setting. You have to manually do it each time, followed by selecting the OK button after a short "disclaimer" that the ESP is OFF (even thought it really isn't LOL). If Mercedes fixed these things about the E63, in my opinion it would be the best performance/luxury sedan ever made.

Vic55

Not saying Im cheap but I do like both Taco Bell and Jersey Mike's---!!!

220S

I'm curious about the nav issues. NAVTEQ (owned by Nokia) is the provider for the MB maps and POIs. They supply about 85% of the auto market. Does BMW use somebody else instead of NAVTEQ? Tele Atlas is the other biggest provider.

Anyway, yeah I hear you on the luxury/performance dichotomy. That was pretty much my point. Ironically they removed the alcantara and other niceties from the W212. It was definite cost cutting. My dealer said he was embarrassed to show his returning AMG customers the new 2010 W212. MB realized people noticed and for 2011 they returned the alcantara and also offer a stitched leather dash now. Plus they're trying to market Designo a lot heavier now in the USA.

MB has slowly decontented a lot of things over the years (at least in the US; ROW models still get stuff we can't get.) And so has BMW. There are plenty of complaints on the BMW boards about the new F10 5er. And VAG is going on a campaign of decontenting USA bound cars. Sucks all the way around.

Vic55

I think as of 2010 sometime Navteq ended is relationship with BMW.

220S

You sure you're not thinking of the telematics service. Mbrace versus TeleAid?

NAVTEQ is still the provider of the nav maps and POIs last I checked (they have a new DVD available now.)


EDIT: I read too fast and thought you said MB, not BMW. Duh.

racer m

It's too bad Garmin cant strike a deal with all auto manufacturers to be the sole navigation system in every car. My hand-held Garmin and the one I have incorporated in my Kenwood touchscreen in my truck is the most user friendly and comprehensive nav system I have ever used. It can find a needle in a haystack if I need to.

Hope the 2011 E offers an iPod cable that also charges the iPod along with a leather dash and alcantara! They might also want to update the Command System so the Bluetooth can read contacts directly off a phone. I've noticed that if I add a new contact to my phone, the car won't recognize it in the system without deleting all contacts and then re-downloading them. I guess I'm just not sure how small things like this are overlooked on a car that carries a $100k price tag.