Need Speed, Need Handles...

[kennymaxie]

Good morning, Everyone,

I trust that all of you turned back your clocks.

Try not to laugh too hard, but I just finished watching The Fast and the Furious, Tokyo Drift (I thought it was much better than the second movie in series, by the way).

You all know how it goes: You see movies like this and it makes you want to go out and do any and every thing to your car to make it better. The problem that I have is money. While I would love to take my car to Brabus or order everything I can from Kleemann's, I just don't have the funds to do so.

I have a 1999 C280 with the sport package. Believe me I try to get all I can out of this car, but I need so much more. I want to feel confident when I'm going a buck twenty down a long stretch of road. Those of you with C280s know how loose this car can feel when you're above 110 MPH. I want this car to handle so badly.

I suppose that I would love to whoop a little Honda butt too. Don't get me wrong, Honda makes a great car. I should know because I had one. But it's embarrassing to get spanked by a kid in a four-banger who probably only spent 2-3 large to get a great car.

Are there any comparable performance upgrades for my car? I'd like to know what kinds of performance upgrades have you all done to your cars? Were these upgrades reasonably priced?

Hey, we're Benz drivers. This is a cool fact in and of itself. But just think of how nice it would be to be not just cruising in style, but chewing up asphalt making Mustangs and Camaro owners say, "What the heck was that that passed me? Any and all suggestions are appreciated.

K..

[davis449]

I have a 1999 C280 with the sport package. Believe me I try to get all I can out of this car, but I need so much more. I want to feel confident when I'm going a buck twenty down a long stretch of road. Those of you with C280s know how loose this car can feel when you're above 110 MPH. I want this car to handle so badly.

You are never going to have a great "drift" car with the C-class Mercedes. It's a fact that the car just isn't light enough. But great handling can be accomplished here. It's going to highly depend on what you want out of your suspension, but for the extreme that you are shooting for would call for a change of rims, tires, shocks, springs, and possibly a sway bar. I would change the shocks and springs first. Go with some H&R sport or H&R race springs and some Bilstein Sport or Koni shocks. If you want to get really extreme, I won't swear to it, but I believe there are coilovers for our cars out there. There's also the major extreme: speedybenz custom suspension (do search) which will run you around $5000. Rims should be no larger than 18's (I would do 17's) and the tires something decent.


Are there any comparable performance upgrades for my car? I'd like to know what kinds of performance upgrades have you all done to your cars? Were these upgrades reasonably priced?

Hey, we're Benz drivers. This is a cool fact in and of itself. But just think of how nice it would be to be not just cruising in style, but chewing up asphalt making Mustangs and Camaro owners say, "What the heck was that that passed me? Any and all suggestions are appreciated.

Now this part is something else. You have the completely wrong car if this is a serious goal for you. You want to trade and get a C43 or C36 for this kind of performance. There are some "upgrades" out there, but none that are really going to turn you into the mega-rice beater you want (not that you couldn't take some of the stock ones out there, but the modded ones, forget it). Performance upgrades for naturally aspirated Mercedes are out there, but they are expensive (think Kleeman and Brabus). The C 230 Kompressor can acheive much more than that C 280 in this dept. due to the supercharger. I understand the feeling you get after watching these movies, I get it too. I'm not going to bother wasting my time with the C 280 in the performace dept. I'm just gonna buy a C32 for that.:D

[ncd]

Originally posted by davis449
You are never going to have a great "drift" car with the C-class Mercedes. It's a fact that the car just isn't light enough. But great handling can be accomplished here. It's going to highly depend on what you want out of your suspension, but for the extreme that you are shooting for would call for a change of rims, tires, shocks, springs, and possibly a sway bar. I would change the shocks and springs first. Go with some H&R sport or H&R race springs and some Bilstein Sport or Koni shocks. If you want to get really extreme, I won't swear to it, but I believe there are coilovers for our cars out there. There's also the major extreme: speedybenz custom suspension (do search) which will run you around $5000. Rims should be no larger than 18's (I would do 17's) and the tires something decent.



Now this part is something else. You have the completely wrong car if this is a serious goal for you. You want to trade and get a C43 or C36 for this kind of performance. There are some "upgrades" out there, but none that are really going to turn you into the mega-rice beater you want (not that you couldn't take some of the stock ones out there, but the modded ones, forget it). Performance upgrades for naturally aspirated Mercedes are out there, but they are expensive (think Kleeman and Brabus). The C 230 Kompressor can acheive much more than that C 280 in this dept. due to the supercharger. I understand the feeling you get after watching these movies, I get it too. I'm not going to bother wasting my time with the C 280 in the performace dept. I'm just gonna buy a C32 for that.:D

if you can afford a older one its all about the e55 AMG... isnt it?.

[davis449]

if you can afford a older one its all about the e55 AMG... isnt it?.

Not necessarily. The w210 E55 is a fast car, but it's bigger and heavier than the C. I would have to say that if you want to beat up on a lot of people in both the straights and the twists, BMW M3 is your car.

[rollinrealbig]

at 120mph my C230 felt like it would get blown away last nite but its cool hahaha it just sits too high off the ground, maybe H&R Cup kit will do the trick!

[omeyhomey]

H&R sport or eibach sports feel great. I've even done intrax on my S32 project and they were fantastic. H&R are linear springs, eibach are progressive-rate (which is why they are slightly softer). H&R technically handle alittle better but are more firm over small bumps. For shocks get bilstein for sure, its the best way to go. Also don't forget spring pads, spring pads alone will make a difference as well but if you do springs & pads the car will probably drop too low so make a choice either or. hope that helps.

[kennymaxie]

These are great responses to my questions. I guess the best thing to do is to change my suspension. I can really see myself getting the sway bar, springs, and shocks.

What about speed and power?

What do you all know about performance chips, cold-air intakes, and exhausts? Can these upgrades get me some extra (and significant) horses? Dare I ask the following: What about stroker kits and different cams for more torque? Are there turbos available for the M112?

BTW, I'm not really that interested in drifting the C280. I just want it to look kind of cool, but sleepy. If it sounded better that would be awesome also.

K..

[omeyhomey]

Originally posted by kennymaxie
These are great responses to my questions. I guess the best thing to do is to change my suspension. I can really see myself getting the sway bar, springs, and shocks.

What about speed and power?

What do you all know about performance chips, cold-air intakes, and exhausts? Can these upgrades get me some extra (and significant) horses? Dare I ask the following: What about stroker kits and different cams for more torque? Are there turbos available for the M112?

BTW, I'm not really that interested in drifting the C280. I just want it to look kind of cool, but sleepy. If it sounded better that would be awesome also.

K..


Yes there is power to be had on the C280. The exhaust is pretty inefficient and you should be able to net great gains if you went with a custom setup. My C280 pullley will be out soon, I am going to dyno test it to see what kind of gains it can make. As far as intake is concerned, getting a C36 intake plenum and running a TRUE cold air intake (or at least just getting K&N airbox filter) will yeild decent results as well. Hope that helps

[Abuimad]

well you can do the standered cold air intakes, exhaust...or you can go crazy and start spending some serious cash by incresing the piston size, or adding a supercharger to ur 280...

[davis449]

Originally posted by rollinrealbig
at 120mph my C230 felt like it would get blown away last nite but its cool hahaha it just sits too high off the ground, maybe H&R Cup kit will do the trick!

You don't even need coilovers to feel confidence at high speed. You can go as simple as I did with the Eibach Prokits and some Bilstein Sports and DRAMATICALLY improve your high speed stability and handling.

[omeyhomey]

also don't forget wheels & tires. low profile tires also make a huge difference. hope that helps.

[black96benz]

All you need is low profile tires, eibach prokit and some bilstein sport shocks. Night and day difference. Also check your tie rod ends, ball joints and steering damper. My car feels a hundred times more solid hitting sweeping turns on I-5 at the 110-130mph range. My dads new jetta 2.5 with the sport package feels like a boat on the same stretch at those speeds.

[omeyhomey]

i agree, my W140 S320 SWB with AMG monoblocks kuhmo MX, bilsteins and Intrax progressive-rates could probably out handle a stock C easily, that car drove like it was on rails and thats a 4500+ lb car.

[benz90220]

sell your c280 and lease the new C63 AMG, only at your Mercedes-Benz dealer. Call 1800-FOR-MERCEDES, "Like No Other",
Visit your local Mercedes-Benz dealer or checkout what Mercedes-Benz has to offer at MBUSA.com

[OCKlasse]

Originally posted by benz90220
sell your c280 and lease the new C63 AMG, only at your Mercedes-Benz dealer. Call 1800-FOR-MERCEDES, "Like No Other",
Visit your local Mercedes-Benz dealer or checkout what Mercedes-Benz has to offer at MBUSA.com

haha this sounds like a commercial, too bad the C63 is not out, nor will it come in W203 form.

[mike mac]

well for now i would do just sway bars from Eibach...its about $400. the reason i say this is you may want to put a body kit on it in the long run... i made the mistake of dropping my 03 cavalier and slapping a body kit on it... i hit every thing that was on the road...speed bumps! forget it !
so im going to take this in a different approach and put SWAY BARS on for now and see how the car handles.... also if someone rear ends me or somtign i will get some $$ and it wil help me with a body kit. lol