cw and ca what are you refering to. Center of Mass Crossectional Frontal Area. I would say speeds over 160 matter more with Crossectional area than the mass of the vehicle. The 117mph was achieved with 195.65.R15 tires. Standard is 205/70/R14. Ruin front axle, you mean have to replace the wheel bearings. If thats the case, Im not too worried because I will have to do that soon anyway with the amount of miles.

__________________
Current Stable:
1994 S500 v140, 210k miles, white with grey.

Former Mercedes in the Stable:
1983 300CD Turbo diesel 515k mi sold (rumor has it, that it has 750k miles on it now)
1984 300CD Turbo Diesel 150 k mi sold
1982 300D Turbo Diesel 225 sold
1987 300D Turbo Diesel 255k mi sold
1988 300 CE AMG Hammer 15k mi sold
1986 "300E" Amg Hammer 88k mi sold (it was really a 200, not even an E (124.020)
1992 500E 156k mi sold
etc.