DC2 is back home!

Today I visited my DC2 at the KYB (one of the high end car tuners in HK) in the afternoon. All the suspension parts are replaced, with a few maintenance items to keep the car fresh. However I decided not to take the car home until after dinner.
Around 8pm I paid the bill and took the car out for a spin with Tiki (my wife). The handling problem was gone but the steering and chassis feel were less direct. It was okay as I like stability over over-sensitive dynamics. Then I asked Simon (owner of KYB) to do a demo of what the car could handle. The grip was great and the car was much more stable. But then we found out we had tons of old parts in the rear trunk. After they were removed and I drove the car home. Boy, the car was a lot lighter (at least by 25kg+) and somewhat more nimble and it could be felt. The short journey from KYB to home was simply a delight. Immense and responsive power, light-weight, nimble handling summarized the experience.

The ride of C36 continued to improve a bit today, I now played some music to a kind of sublime to bump-thump road noise. Believe it or not, it worked for me.

C36 with the SLK Alloys

Easter Weekend. Took two friends with cars to a Jinway (a HK tire shop) for tire and wheel service. My friend's Aristo GS300 JZ161 got a new set of 18" 5-Zigen wheels and a set of Michelin PS2 tires (235/40R18 and 265/35R18), replacing his two-year old 225/45R17 AD07 on an unknown set of alloy that came with the car when he bought two years ago.

Jinway showed me a fresh set of used SLK350 alloy (zero marks though) for my C36. 7.5Jx17 front and 8.5Jx17 rear. Not AMG style but look absolutely stunning in my opinion on the C36. They look great when I see the reflection of my silver C36 with the new wheel from the car parked next to me. They were also lighter in weight compared to the AMG Monobloc that came with the C36. I lifted them back and forth between old and new ones to confirm that there was a weight difference. The turn-in was lighter and more keen. The new SLK alloys made the slightly dated C36 looked younger, and actually made it more like a "C360'.

Yesterday I also changed my windshied wiper, too, for the forthcoming rainy season.

Small Fixes on C36

Mar 31, 2006 Fri

Brought the C36 to KYB for wheel alignment. Front cambers were found to be almost equal on both sides at 1 degree. That's a good sign because they were not adjustable. It also told me that the geometry of the suspension and chassis was intact during the last 11 years. At least I hope so. It would be nice to have a bit over 2 degrees to dial out the natural understeering. Of course the front castor could not be adjustable, both at 4 degrees. Simon of KYB dialed in a bit of toe in for the rear wheels (factory spec). Front toe were set at 0 degree instead of slight toe-in as specified by the factory.

After the wheel alignment the car's handling was improved and cleaner but not as much as I expect. At least the car felt more nimble but still understeer in most cases, making me a bit worried about carrying speed into corners. I was just wondering if I were driving the car the right way. I understand that the car was front heavy and tended to oversteer when accelerating out of corners. However the turn-in was really not very good, until the front loading started to lighten up.

AD07 is showing more grip everyday. However the side wall is a bit soft for the loading on the outside wheel during cornering. I could feel the front tire bited very hard but the side wall failed to support this level of grip. I have to put 32psi to help the sidewall stiffness.

I guess it would be slow-in-fast-out for the time being. The failure to carry speed into corner was disappointing.

Saturday - April 1st Rugby 7 weekend

Met up with Charlton with his white C280 and both of us sent our W202s to Pak Lok Garage for some small fixes at 10am. Tiki and I then went to the Rugby 7 game at HK Stadium.

Small fixes on C36 included: (a) horn, (b) ambient temperature display, (c) head lamp adjustment, (d) lamp inside glove box, and (e) windshield wiper. The attention to details at Pak Lok in getting the C36 back to perfect working condition was amazing.

Ah Shing (owner of Pak Lok Garage) met us up at the Tin Hau MTR with the C36 around 7:30pm after the Rugby game. I was told that the ex-owner of my 1995 C36 bought himself a 1997 C36. Judging from the condition of my C36 and a lot of money spent on it previously, I wonder if I was getting lucky. As a matter of fact I missed the chance to see the 1997 C36 about six months ago and I just knew it was the ex-ower who bought the car before I had a chance to see it. I was wondering if the 1997 model had a 5-speed but was told it was only a 4-speed electronic gearbox. In UK and USA 5-speed was offered in 1997 models.