Piked up my E55 tonight - report and help with mods
After long and hard thinking I picked up my new E55 tonight. It's 2001 silver in a MINTEST condition I've EVER seen in used car )))))))). Person who owned it was definitely anal - retentive . Has all the options - parktronic, vented sits, designeo, phone etc. Also came with best aftermarket warranty I've seen until 100K miles.
Also person did not drive car hard at all. It shows average MPG as 25.8 for a last 27K miles. Then I test drove car I thought it was broken - Iit was pulling very lazy and shifting very soft. Then I reset ECU and car tuned in to beast ))))))))))).
Quality of build and interior seems to be much nicer then W211's and love styling of the car. Integrated IPod via AUX and Phone via Motorola V60 Bluetooth puck - works real well. Even GPS is not as bad as I anticipated and if I need really good GPS for driving long distances I could always use my TomTom
Now - on to the things I do not like about this car. Sound system is horrible - one of the worst once I've heard. I've never been fan of BOSE but this time they outdone themself big time. In the same time I really do not want to loose Command head unit so some research needs to be done.
Moving on to performance of the car - I would like to improve pickup just a little bit especially at lower RPMs. Nothing major but I was hitting some power holes and car did not downshifted in time. It typically happened between 2900-3500 RPM and then plenty of power arrived at 4K. So I'm thinking what extracting more HP and especially torque will greatly improve drivability of the car to the point were I would not feel bad about not getting W211. I really do not need all that power so I'm not going to do anything too radical such as SC.
Right now I'm planning following performance mods. E55 Kompressor Airbox with K&N filter. "Underdrive" pulley. Headers, and ECU reprograming. I'm thinking of getting them all from VRP Tuning. Vadim thinks what I should get about 35-40rwh or close to the 400 on the engine. I do know him as more conservative guy and his stuff typically does not hurt car. What do you guys think of his pulley vs other available pulleys. What about VRP headers vs LET headers. Who else does god ECU programming. Basically i'm trying to understand what kind of performance I could get by getting "budget" best of the bread instead of trying to source it all in one place. Now - with my previous experiences with Vadim on my SHO I know he delivers what he promises, does it conservatively and reliably.
Am I missing some other mods I should be doing. What do you guys think of X-Pipe. I know it "improves" sound a great deal - but to me it's actually rather negative then positive. I like my car as stealthy as possible and even plan to rebadge it with E320 or at least debadge it and take all tell a tale sings off )))). So does it add some real HP/torque? Anything else - as long as it's not uber expencive?
Now let's move on my next negative point about this car. I really was not fond of suspension. To me car feels too mushy and jumpy in the same time. Front shocks on the car were recently replaced under warranty so I know it's not suspension getting old. To me it feels what car needs shocks with more dampenng but not too stiff. I'm planning to go with Kony FJS. What else can I do to improve handling without sacrificing ride quality too much. Please remember I'm going to be driving my infant baby in this car and do not want him to feel every pothole. I'm potentially considering EBach progressive ratio springs as they behave quite civilized during normal ride but quickly stiffen then needed. How much do you guys feel I would mess up ride quality and how much better handling would get? Anything else I should do?
And final question about tires and rims - right now car has Kumho mounted on it. Which tires should i put on it to improve handling, traction? No megaexpencive tires pease/ SizeWise - do I stay with 245/40s on front and 275/35s on back? Also how heavy stock rim's are?
Sounds system is good for stock, try a for stock system, wow....bad.
I went with a JVC iPod/USB/front aux in set up. Infinity kappas in the front doors and it sounds much better.
As far as the "power hole" goes. Are you stomping on the pedal? you cant ease into it, you have to stomp it to the limit and keep it there. There should be no power hole. If your doing say 60 and your in 5th you should stomp on it and it should imedeatly chose 2nd at a higher rpm and go like a raped ape. Dont bother with the Left right shifting silly ness just put it in D and stomp. As far as a 211 thats 120 more hp/tq after driving a 211 the 210 will feel lethargic and powerless.
I dont know if I would invest any money in the performance. 02 E55s will be worth about 15k next year and i have found according to auctions that mileage only slightly matters. it usualy makes the car a hard sell and these cars are a hard sell to begin with. Most people that get performance mods are usually unhappy with them. (I can think of a lot of examples)
I believe ECU programing does NOTHING on these cars. My MB tech when i lived in germany said all it does is richen the mixture destroy your cats and delimits your car so it can do 175. Most people that say it works go by their seat-o'-the-pants meter. I have been around these cars alot, the ecu is already tuned exactly how it should be . Some people swear by the sprintbooster. thats snake oil too. I told everyone id test the sprint booster. but then i never posted the results because i didnt want to get into an argument.
Headers may actually do something.. I have never seen conclusive evidence that they do/dont in the form of a dyno. Pulley probably also would be worthwile, but then again....
Even a supercharger has its drawbacks et al not making clamed numbers, triggering cels, generally runing like crap ect.... X-Pipe, i have never seen evidence it adds power but it does sound nicer. Mercedes are very tricky to tune.
The suspension is jumpy.. although i dont think mushy is the word id use..unless your talking about the body roll. I would say more jumpy and stiff. If you "upgrade" it becomes even more jarring and jumpy. with eibachs i feel it when i run over small rocks and tar snakes (when they patch the cracks). The nature of the E55s suspension is not smooth whatever you do to it. It handles better although my lap times at autoX showed little or no improvement. As far as childern, my infant daughter didnt care too much about the ride as long as the sun blocked she was happy.
Kuhmo tires are okay... I have BFGs they are a little better but Contis/Michelin Pilot/Goodyear Eagle F1. Perelli P zeros would show some handling, traction improvement but if you get a more high performance tire our jumpy suspension becomes dagerous in the wet.
Stock Rims are 37 lbs. which is pretty light.
Its sounding more like you should have gotten a E430 (210) or E500(211)
But then again they arent AMGs. Enjoy the ride, welcome to the club.
As far as power hole - yep learnd that trick with stomping today. But a little bit of extra hp still would not hurt. Also guys what do you think about relaiability with Kleeman SC? ECU from germans does just that what you mentioned, but i do trust Vadim at VRP to quote his numbers correct. He did not gave me a lip service to what I wanted(low end torque) and told me what this is what I can get and why.
As far as resale value goes - who cares - I hope to drive this car for next 3-4 years.
Again love quality of build compared with 211 - much nicer car.
Now - my main problem - suspension - I see why ou reffer to it as jumpy. etc. but my problem with it - car dives in to the corner with a lot of body roll . Not what I whant from it. Jumpy I do not mind as I had Swift Progressives installed on my Q45 with active suspension and it did became jumpy.
As far as power hole - yep learnd that trick with stomping today. But a little bit of extra hp still would not hurt. Also guys what do you think about relaiability with Kleeman SC? ECU from germans does just that what you mentioned, but i do trust Vadim at VRP to quote his numbers correct. He did not gave me a lip service to what I wanted(low end torque) and told me what this is what I can get and why.
As far as resale value goes - who cares - I hope to drive this car for next 3-4 years.
Again love quality of build compared with 211 - much nicer car.
Now - my main problem - suspension - I see why ou reffer to it as jumpy. etc. but my problem with it - car dives in to the corner with a lot of body roll . Not what I whant from it. Jumpy I do not mind as I had Swift Progressives installed on my Q45 with active suspension and it did became jumpy.
I would pass on the Kleemann S/C. They are not worth the money ($15,000). I have a stage 2 and it only making about 50whp more than stock. Very disappointing
X-pipe is DEFINITELY a modification you want to do. It barely effects normal cruising sound, infact you barely tell a difference under light throttle but when you open it up it sounds amazing. Furthermore it gains 8wheel HP on dyno on top end as I proved in my well known X-pipe thread.
Chips on these cars don't do anything really. K&Ns add about 2HP and they do sound great but be prepared to clean your MAS every 3-4 months for max power.
There is no underdrive crank pulley for our cars but there is AMS Crank pulley. I am not 100% sure if E\/osport makes accessory pulleys for w210 E55s but if they do thats another route you can take, you can mix and match with crank pulley or chose either or, its up to you depending on how much power you want and how much you are willing to sacrifice as far as comfort & etc. Weight reduction always helps as well as lighter wheels and better tires, lighter battery, X-pipe and etc.
Secondary cat removal is an option or you can replace all 4 cats with high flow race cats if you like. Don't touch stock catback muffler its perfect as is (and the rest of the system as well, minus X-pipe, which imo is a necessity not an option).
There are a few headers out there in prototype phase but as far as headers actually out I know theres Supersprint which are $2600 and VRP which are $1799 I believe.
If you don't have documented evidence that tranny service has been done, go ahead and do tranny fluid & filters, costs roughly $250 for service to be done but its worth it, Tranny will feel brand new again. Royal purple in engine & diff will also help out a bit, definitely worth it to change all your fluids just to be on the safe side.
You can get an upgraded head unit to improve sound but then you are forced to sacrifice steering wheel controls which I REALLY liked. The best option is to some how convert 6disc changer to an MP3 Hard drive (there are a few kits out there, gives you much better sound and also thousands of songs in storage, plus it won't ever mess up like the stock CD changer will.
OP mentioned going with Koni shocks, the FJS. I imagine he meant FSD, which do have compelling technology...especially for a big missle like the E55. I'm curious if anyone has experience with those.
I do want to clarify something that andy380SEC posted, that the stock rims weigh 37lbs. Egads, if those are lightweight MB rims, what do the heavy ones weigh???
Perhaps that's a typo and the actual weight is 27lbs.?
)))))))). Person who owned it was definitely anal - retentive 
. Not what I whant from it. Jumpy I do not mind as I had Swift Progressives installed on my Q45 with active suspension and it did became jumpy.
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