Margate330

Ok, have a question but I been afraid to ask. lol

What's your top speed so far and how does it run and drive at higher speeds?
I'm guesing it's smooth as glass.

LH1

I don't have an answer to this but 160 has to feel like nothing. In rural Ohio anyway.

Striker, you gotta worry about deer like I do. Almost hit one this morning.

Striker223

As is it sits 130mph, it has a limiter......it hits it like you actually tap the brakes since it pulls so hard even at those speeds. 0-130 clocked in at 14.2 seconds with 0-100 9.2 with a full launch. 0-60 was 3.9

It is insanely smooth and controlled. 100 legitimately feels like my 460 at 60 mph, not even any road/wind noise to comment on. It's a very unreal experience......

Without one it will do 180 easy but the guy who did the run ran out of road before he got to 200, I'm going to try and break 200 once mine is where I want it to be and tuned with headers.

My 4.0 already got me 187 and it has a major disadvantage at high speed runs in the form of worse gearing, worse to end TQ curve, and most importantly top end intercooler heat soak.



Deer are indeed an issue, night runs can only be safely done in certain areas and the thermal camera comes in massive handy to check open fields for them. Easily able to check over a mile out for a heat blip, you can even see transformers on poles about a mile away....irony of this is the only time I've ever hit one was in my Jeep. I was going through the "S" turn and it jumped in front of me at like 25 mph. Went under the car since it slipped thankfully but bent my drag link and ruined my muffler.

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

never thought a thermal camera could be used for such a purpose as high speed runs! very useful and a great car here!

Lwerewolf

You wouldn't believe

AJT123

It's interesting how you mention hitting the limiter. With an LS430 heading into 120+ it is still charging but what's funny is even the hitting the 131MPH limiter of that car is buttery. Everything down to the speed limiter, lol. The fun just sorta stops, there is nothing unbecoming or unrefined feeling. You just can't go any faster. The car feels like it has plenty left, but it's like God's hand just stops the fun lol.

Obviously it's much slower than your rocket cars but just in general LS430 really has some good high speed chops. It would go roughly 160 unlimited, remember it had the lowest drag of any production car available then.


Edit: The SL500 has new, Z-rated tires and a 155mph limited top speed. Haven't done anything with that yet. There's a huge stretch of a back interstate that's safe for pulls when there's no traffic. I'd like to compare high speed stability of the two even though one is a sedan and one a GT. Not sure I want to hit 155 but I do want to see how she does at 100ish with some heavy gas, since that's when German cars really come into their element.

Striker223

162 actually......on GPS but it takes about 5 miles to hit from a 75 roll. If you are serious about a run in your SL you should make sure you have the hard top first, up tire PSI to the alternate spec (for example on the LS430 and LS460 you up from 35-35 to 38-42 and on my Audis from 35-34 to 45-45) that is included for cars like this and also make certain the under tray is properly secure.

Have a second car pre-run for you and check the route in both directions first and have a shutdown spotter since if you have never been at these speeds you will be disoriented as to how much ground you are covering. It's very hard to describe this but when you are moving that fast when you step down from 150 to 100 it will still like you went from 60/70 to 40 but you need to use the gauges and bleed off more. The blur starts to happen at around 120-130 and it's very distracting if you have never experienced it before so I recommend doing a run in careful steps of 20mph at first and then 10s after 140 to get used to the car since some dramatically change at speed.

THIS IS CRITICAL. Do not ever come on/off throttle or brakes quickly, carefully roll on and off both to ensure no body attitude disruption since there is an insane amount of airflow at these speeds. I shouldn't have to mention about steering or braking differences, careful to not overheat the brakes as well and everything I've said is assuming a car with perfect systems up to spec and at least dot 4 brake fluid.

AJT123

I just want to see her higher speed chops, I doubt I’ll go 155 lol. Maybe a quick burst up to 120ish.

Are you talking about an LS that does 162MPH?

Striker223

Yeah the LS430 with the tune/delimiter, the 460 is actually about the same but it gets there far faster. The Germans are on another level entirely.....

AJT123

My German car is slow to you but I know what you mean.

Most older Mercedes were known to be a little slow off the line, even powerful ones.

This thing flies off the line and that's the most fun. You're close to 80 when you hit 3rd and the car feels like it's getting faster and hunkering down for very high speeds but that's when you have to back off lol.

I see myself getting tickets in this.

Striker223

Nah you will be fine lol! It's super easy to today avoid cops, that's why you pre-run an area before driving it. Plus there aren't too many of them and detection is a great assist

AJT123

We pay a touch over $200 for all 3 vehicles full coverage insurance with low $500 deductibles. I don’t know why I ever had it at $1000, that stung when I backed the LX into a pole. Just “why on earth not pay $20 more a month and not be out a G” for any claims.

I start getting tickets with this Benz this price will increase rapidly, lol I’ll be watching it.

SW17LS

The reason is because in 2 years of paying premiums, you are losing money going to a $500 deductible from $1,000. $20/moX 24= $480. How long have you gone between collision claims? I have been driving for 25 years and I have never had a collision claim, nor has my wife. So, $20 a month for 25 years = $6,000 spent on premiums to maybe not have to fork over an additional $500 when and if I have a claim?

I keep my comprehensive deductible low, its only $50 but that adds maybe 20 a year to my premium, and that I am more likely to use because its not at fault, for windshields or parking lot hits etc, but my collision deductible is $1,000 because financially going lower doesn't make sense.

AJT123

It’s one of those mental things in your head. At the end of the day it really doesn’t matter. $500 is nothing to me but a grand is an annoyance even though it’s just double, idk how to explain it.

I have filed one claim on my rear bumper for LX and already have to file another one for the front from where I ran into my new water heater stand when they moved it. Damage isn’t bad but it’s there. So that will be two collision claims in one year. Last time was 2018 when I had my rear bumper replaced on the LS.

I also have a boat claim to already file as well. More bs just crappy luck could have been anybody. Also a storm blew some piece off our house a couple weeks back, we’re most likely gonna have to use insurance. It’s all bundled. Claims have not risen rates so far. I think that’s because I don’t cause any damage to anything else, just my stuff.

We use our insurance a lot (or will be) as you can see. Life happens, I like cheap deductibles.

My parents used to hammer the importance of insurance into my head like crazy and it was annoying. They were right.

SW17LS

2 collision claims in a year is going to kill your premium, and they might drop you. How bad is the damage from bumping into the water heater? I would just pay that out of pocket.

You really should avoid filing insurance claims if you can help it. You have whats called a CLUE report, that shows all the insurance claims you have ever filed...anywhere, so even filing against different policies with different carriers they will see that. When pricing your insurance companies absolutely look at that report and decline coverage or raise prices.