Striker223

Oh it was useless under 50mph, anything over 2/3 throttle was just smoke. It was using the Shelby trans with LSD and a 2.5 block and forged pistons/rods and a turbo from the gods at 35-42psi. Used 4 main injectors and a pair of supplemental ones that were roughly the size of the other 4 combined.

If I recall correctly he was using an alternative intake of some sort and I know for sure it was using the mopar ECU not a stock unit. Fuel was dual 450lph pumps in a cell that was bolted on the trunk floor. Clutch was a twin plate unit that is hell to use and grabby as hell, flywheel was a lightweight and it was easy to stall or burnout if you weren't used to the very odd torque "spike" when the turbo hits. I think the bearings are clevite H spec, rings have a stainless top ring gapped wide for boost, head was ported and one step larger valves and the exhaust valves are not the same as stock. I don't remember if he swapped them to sodium filled or stainless, I usually swap to sodium filled in my engines but I'm not sure what his standard is.


Aka a comically fast mopar! They have so many cars that can be built like this it's very funny and makes the brand endearing to me

LH1

Thanks for the input!

In a vacuum purchasing a C55 now makes zero sense but I've always wanted one. MB's from that era are so beautiful. It's only $23k too.

Btw, don't ever get rid of your E55. You'll regret it!

AJT123

Speaking of AMG, my buddy who brokers has a C63S with the V8, I forget what year. No ride this time, unfortunately, because he's selling it FOR a client.

Granted this is at the dealer, but just for front pads and rotors is $5,000.

This insane quote is NOT for ceramic brakes.

geko29

Yep even not sourced at the dealer, the front rotors are $1550 each if you want them stamped with the Mercedes logo. Same exact rotors (manufactured by VNE) without the logo are $513, or you can upgrade to Brembo 2-piece rotors for $481.

Kits featuring the Brembo 2-piece rotors are $1100 with Ferodo pads, or $1300 with OE Mercedes pads, then either install yourself or pay a local mechanic <$200 to do it for you. Then next time the parts are free and you only pay labor.

AJT123

That's just beyond insane. My indy quoted me just over a grand for OEM rotors and pads. SL is no AMG but it's for sure a GT so the brakes are serious. They're also different calipers even bc of the Silver Arrow which I think is neat. OEM brakes are good, after a year of hard driving the brakes are still great and were given all clear by dealer.

I love AMGs but don't have the need to own one, and wouldn't. But more power to anyone.

geko29

Your SL has standard 1-piece rotors like every other car on the road, albeit drilled in the silver arrow edition. They measure 334mm/13.1" in diameter and 32mm thick, which is pretty decent size, but for reference still smaller than the 348mm fronts on my base E90 3-series, or the 370mm rears on my M3. OEM ones are about $120 each. OEM pads are about $110.

The AMG rotors are a semi 2-piece, with a fixed hat and floating disc, a very different design that is dramatically more expensive to manufacture. They are also drilled and slotted, 390mm/15.3", and 36mm thick. Absolutely massive in comparison. The pads are a much more aggressive compound and over double the size to fit in the 6-piston rotors. It's just a totally different ballgame.

Given the differences, they should be significantly more expensive. Should they cost as much more like they do? Probably not. Lower-volume production certainly plays a role there.

Carfan94

Im 6’5” and I can absolutely dislike those kei sports cars! lol

AJT123

Thanks for the technical info. Of course owners will pay it, etc. but that is a hell of an expensive brake job for just one axle. That's why I'd pass, personally. I wonder if the calipers are technically any different other than being silver, I'll grab a pic when I go out.

Do you know LS430 rotor size? When it came out the brakes were mentioned, C&D said the rotors were legit and huge.

geko29

It absolutely is expensive. I'd still go for it, but buy the parts I linked for the lifetime warranty, like I've done for my other cars. That way I only have to cry once.

LH1

geko, I was just looking at pads/rotors for your M3.

I saw some reasonable numbers and some eye watering ones lol. If you ever decided to do a brake job at the dealer it would be in the $2k-3k range?

geko29

Yeah that sounds about right, if you're talking pads and rotors for one axle. A pair of OE front rotors is about $1200, and the OE pads are about $800, so you're at 2 grand just in parts. So call it ~$2500 all-in at the dealer?

What I forgot to mention in the AMG conversation though, is that these massive rotors have a ridiculous capacity for heat, so unless you're absolutely destroying them on the track, they often don't require replacement until the 2nd, 3rd, or even 4th set of pads. On "regular" cars the rotors are often so cheap that I just replace them with the pads by default. When I did brakes on my wife's Q7, I found that the beefy 375x36mm, semi-2-piece (but not floating like the AMG) rotors were fine and didn't need to be replaced. But I already had them, so I went ahead anyway. And now that I'll never have to pay for them again, they'll get done every time.

Back to the M3, I fully expect I'll just be pad slapping when the time comes. Since the factory pads dust horribly, that will probably be a set of iSweep i1500 or i2000 pads (about $700 for all 4 corners) or PSI RP1 pads ($850 for all 4 corners), which perform similarly to stock but dust 80-90% less When the time eventually comes to replace the rotors, I'll probably either stick with OEM, upgrade to the EBC true-2-piece (meaning the disc is replaceable by itself) ones which are about the same price, or have custom ones made by Adam's rotors. Of course I'll self-install, but if I didn't I think my indy would charge me two hours of labor ($185/hr) or less for all 4 corners.

AJT123

Here are my rotors and calipers starting with the fronts:




About the LS430, the calipers are large:


Bad pic. But they are impressive OEM brakes, people who take these and ruin them need spacers all the timmmmmme to clear the calipers to put stupid rims on them.

This is what C&D said wayyyyy back in late 2000:

The car has the hardware to do the job. Displayed in cutaways at the press preview for the LS430, its major bits and pieces looked like landing-gear parts from an F-14 Tomcat. The front and rear suspensions are tidy, strong, and light, with hot-forged aluminum control arms and steering knuckles. The one-piece, two-piston brake calipers would be at home on a race car; the brake rotors are a foot across.

I keep saying LS430s are autobahn stormers, extremely over-engineered for high speed cruising just like the big German cars but not a lot of you agree. 130mph limiter feels like 90 and the car would reach 160MPH (or very close) ungoverned.

Striker223

Exactly this, much cheaper to diy and you only ever pay once with German cars. Everything after is free parts for life

Striker223

The 430 and even 460 have what I would say are nice but average fixed caliper brake systems, large for what they are but small for German standards. The 460 and my sequoia have the same size brakes....

On the other hand you get stuff like this on performance tier German cars....the rotors are the same size as my 430s entire rims were.


400x38.5mm floating rotors

Even "normal" SUVs get stuff like this

Striker223

They really aren't that big or effective vs rivals, they start getting fade after only two 130-50 slow downs. Even the 460 is dramatically superior at all speeds and situations