kevm14 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 03, 2024 7:48 pm
- The sport suspension says it is lower, and the springs/shocks are stiffer. Hopefully this is not on original shocks but probably?
The catalog makes it seem like the OEM rear shocks are different for the sport suspension though. The Rockauto catalog is just claiming they offer one shock that is compatible with both. Which is lame.
If you really want it dialed there is a B6 or B8 option. The B8 honestly is really a track only type setup. B6 is a very firm option that can work for the street.
The B6 front is $272. And they only have 1 rear in stock @ $115/ea.
The rest of the front suspension (stock replacement stuff) is also incredibly cheap.
He drove by at 8:08pm headed west on my street and basically just stopped in the road several hundred feet from my driveway to get the car off. I walked over to greet him. Nice guy, was driving a real semi tractor, or I guess one sort of made for this kind of work.
It has two keys. I backed it up to my driveway but the next thing I did was take the key out and try the Keyless Go (button on shifter to start it, just like my E55). It worked! Good start (get it?).
It is getting late but I did take it on a couple of neighborhood test drives. I already have some decent impressions to report.
Exterior
As can be expected from FL and possibly this color, the paint is more a 10-20 foot affair. It clearly has been buffed (maybe too much in spots) so there's that. I don't know if it would be possible to like ceramic coat it or something to give it a fighting chance from here. Overall it presents well but has plenty of blemishes close up. It might be a bit dirty from the trip as well.
Wheels/tires
Wheels match though some have some rash. Brakes looked adequate through the spokes. Not fresh but not like razor thin. Interestingly, the front tires are Michelin PS2 (Pilot Sport 2) which I should check the date codes on because they sound old. But man that is a high end summer tire. I think the V2 shipped with those for example. The rears are PS4S which is the current lineage of the same tire (summer max performance).
I guess I can put this in the wheel section. TPMS light on and no pressure readout. I guess I would assume dead sensors. A full scan may reveal/confirm.
Interior
Needs a little cleaning but nice overall. The radio display has some weird smudges on it that may not clean off easily. Meh. The windows all go up and down. Interior lights work. HVAC works (that includes the A/C though I would need more summer conditions to know for sure but the cooling fan ramped up and it was making condensate so that's something). Power mirrors work. Heated seats work. Power seats work. Actually there seems to be a sunroof issue. It tilts up and down OK. But to open it, I was only able to open it like one inch at a time. It probably needs the track cleaned and lubricated and there is probably a procedure to restore this. Not terribly worried about it.
The windshield seems to be brand new. When I turned the A/C off it was having a fogging issue on the inside but it didn't smell wet at all to me so I will chalk this up to the car sitting around in high humidity for so long. Hopefully as it gets used this will just go away. It is currently 88% humidity outside...
The seat belt presenters both work.
Audio
Quick audio review. The rear sub(s) rattle but I didn't dig too much further into it. Not sure if interior or the speaker itself. It DID sound like it has some power and thump so restoring it to factory function is probably worth it, as far as sound quality I mean. My S550 sub required rubber cement to glue down the spider or something on the sub and that fixed the rattle (and has been holding since I fixed it). Maybe pop the grill(s) off and inspect for any mechanical driver issues.
Engine bay
Looked pretty clean but didn't take any covers off to really hunt for problems. But I poked a little and didn't find anything egregious. Hood struts are TOTALLY dead. Did the vice grip routine just so I could look under it easier. Didn't check fluids yet.
The engine bay side cabin air filter (basically an intake air filter for the HVAC fan) housing was not clamped on properly. I removed it to inspect and it had a filter. So I simply placed it in the correct spot and snapped all 3 metal clamps down and it is fine. That was easy.
Exterior lighting
Yes, the lighting report. It seems to have inherited the lame base W211 style lighting. It is actually halogen which is a bit sad. I think the bi-xenon was much better but this doesn't have that. And Adam can upgrade to whatever from halogen so I am sure he's not concerned. The low beam aim, like every single used car I have ever purchased, was off. I aimed them up quite a bit and more level and the low beams at least are somewhat acceptable. The high beams are quite decent. This is similar to my E55. The front fogs light up and the rear fog works. However, the passenger side fog lamp is just loose in the bumper. Something broke in there. Maybe can remove the lower front underbody cover and fiddle with it that way.
Powertrain/drivability
The important part. Let me cut to the chase: this car is fast. It turns out a relatively "light" car like this with the M273 is pretty awesome. It has ridiculous torque at any RPM and just pulls so damn hard. I love this. The transmission actually felt like it was just fine. Definitely want to do a service on it though to preserve it. It has quite a bit more engine noise than my S550 not shockingly. Definitely a more sporty feel despite the same engine and transmission. I think I heard some pinging so I am sure it needs a fresh tank of 93 (probably has 87). Despite that it was still really fast and responsive. No complaints about the drivetrain. You can use the shifter (left and right when in D) to manually shift because the wood wheel option deletes the paddle shifters.
In fact, I tried to roll onto the throttle off the line and it still kicked in the T/C and shifted to 2nd. I did not try with ESP off.
A little bit of vibration at idle but nothing to write home about. Needs to be serviced and all the things inspected. Maybe some Techron, 93 octane and Italian tune-up. Then I would consider looking into it more.
The brakes were strong with the characteristic long Mercedes pedal. You get used to it. I am sure a brake service might improve things a bit (fluid, and later on when it needs them, pads and rotors) but for now the brakes feel VERY serviceable. No warpage or anything.
The steering is nice with a typically good turning radius. I think it's just right for what this car is. Didn't really seem to have any on-center play.
In a tie with the engine, I think my favorite thing about this car is the way the suspension and chassis feels. This did actually surprise me. It seems to be about as well calibrated as it could possibly be considering all the factors that go into suspension design and tuning. All 4 shocks felt like they are functioning perfectly. I observed NO clunking, looseness or really anything. Dare I say it almost drove like a new car. Yeah, that good. It is compliant over bumps despite the 18s, but very well damped and in control. I guess it's not overly sporty but considering the car's mission and our roads, it is just damn perfect as it is. I am very impressed. With these performance tires, this thing would be such a joy to drive on pretty much any road.
In total, the way it feels on the road (ok, some side roads, but I got her up to 70 briefly), is SO good. It feels incredibly solid and planted, but still comfortable and refined. Really a pleasure to drive it.
Other than the TPMS, there was no CEL, warning lights or anything like that. This is good.
Bonus feature report
The power trunk works but it sounds....strained. My E55 had that sound but this is even worse. Not sure if anything can be lubricated or whatever. It did work fine.
There is one non-functional Keyless Go feature. Well I didn't try both remotes but I did try the door handles. You can lock the car from both handles. You can open it from the driver's side. You cannot open it from the passenger side (meaning pull to unlock - it opens fine if unlocked). So it would probably need a passenger side door handle OR an enterprising repair (which is very possible from what I've read). Or ignore it because the driver's door works fine.
I set the clock.
I set the seat and mirror memory and column to at least a reasonable starting point.
It does NOT seem to have mirror tilt in reverse or I couldn't figure it out. Have to RTFM I guess.
Awesome. In case anyone is confused, I'm "out of the area" for work. Due to some of the challenges with shipping, it didn't work out to get this car delivered between work trips, so Kevin kindly stepped in and accepted delivery of the vehicle.
About that shipping - apparently I had several things working against me. Due to the time of year, getting shipping in an "out of the way" place like RI is difficult from Florida. All the snow birds are getting their vehicles shipped back north right now and most of the shippers aren't interested in going anywhere that isn't close to NYC or Boston.
Initially, there was a delay in completing the transaction, which had already moved things to the right anyways, which didn't help. The auction ended while I was on travel, so it took a few days to get home and send the wire for the payment. From there, the seller sent me some paperwork to fill out and send back for the state along with the title. That added about a week to the time, plus the guy was on vacation for part of that period.
Related to that, the shipping method this guy uses is a bid based system. You post the request info on a site and shippers submit bits for the trip. It took > 2 weeks to get any takers, and when he finally did, the cost was higher than the estimate from the week of the auction. He stores his cars in a garage, so waiting on shipping was preventing him from getting other vehicles in and selling them. As he was extra motivated to get the car out the door, he split the cost increase with me, which is something, so I ended up paying an additional $250 for shipping.
Some may postulate this was "part of his plan all along", but I doubt that, as it would have been much less work on his part to just quote a higher shipping cost up front rather than go though all this trouble for only another $250.
Regardless, this only brought the shipping cost up to about what I would have ended up paying in costs to drive it home, outside of the 2 day time commitment, so I'm fine with that. For those wondering, airline and hotel points would have gone a long way, but I'd still have been on the hook for food, fuel, and tolls on the return trip.
Would I do this again (buy from out of state and have it shipped)? Now that I have a better idea of what the actual timetable can be, I'd have to say maybe. It really comes down to being willing to wait and availability of time to commit to driving it back. I already have plenty of (terrible) cars, so I wasn't really in dire need of an additional vehicle. Finding a couple of days to dedicate to a marathon road trip normally wouldn't be too much of an issue, but commitments at work and scheduled travel added some challenges to this particular transaction.
Would I do this again (but "sight unseen" from the Internet)? Definitely not ruling it out. While the car isn't perfect, for the price and mileage I wasn't under any illusion that it would be. It also isn't quite "doesn't need anything", but the issues Kevin highlights above fall into the grey area of "close enough".
I'm off to add some hood struts into my parts funnel. I'll see the car in person when I'm back at the end of the month.
Adam wrote: ↑Mon May 20, 2024 3:05 am
Some may postulate this was "part of his plan all along", but I doubt that, as it would have been much less work on his part to just quote a higher shipping cost up front rather than go though all this trouble for only another $250.
Regardless, this only brought the shipping cost up to about what I would have ended up paying in costs to drive it home, outside of the 2 day time commitment, so I'm fine with that. For those wondering, airline and hotel points would have gone a long way, but I'd still have been on the hook for food, fuel, and tolls on the return trip.
Would I do this again (buy from out of state and have it shipped)? Now that I have a better idea of what the actual timetable can be, I'd have to say maybe. It really comes down to being willing to wait and availability of time to commit to driving it back. I already have plenty of (terrible) cars, so I wasn't really in dire need of an additional vehicle. Finding a couple of days to dedicate to a marathon road trip normally wouldn't be too much of an issue, but commitments at work and scheduled travel added some challenges to this particular transaction.
Would I do this again (but "sight unseen" from the Internet)? Definitely not ruling it out.
It didn't even cross my mind that he manufactured this situation to get another $250 from you. This is the least efficient way ever to make $250.
Adam wrote: ↑Mon May 20, 2024 3:05 am
While the car isn't perfect, for the price and mileage I wasn't under any illusion that it would be. It also isn't quite "doesn't need anything", but the issues Kevin highlights above fall into the grey area of "close enough".
I'm off to add some hood struts into my parts funnel. I'll see the car in person when I'm back at the end of the month.
I think you will be satisfied with the result. I don't think it needs anything major. In fact, I think it will fly through RI inspection although I should put eyes on all 4 tires across the tread. The fluids need inspecting, and so does underneath.
I would also reserve judgement until you see/drive the car for yourself. My assessment is certainly not the final word. Mostly I think I am more picky than you so there's that.
On sale for $99 for a set of 4 (even cheaper than Rockauto - they are BH Sens which is the same thing), and as far as I know these are the OE supplier (Huf). Maybe not your top priority but the light would annoy me and I like having the car report my pressures. The good news is the tires all seemed to be around 30 psi so I only added 5 psi each or around there.
Fun fact: the wider rear wheels (255 tires) actually put the spokes more inboard than the fronts (225 tires).
Inspected tires more closely. The front PS2s are date code 2019, and they are starting to look long in the tooth. I didn't realize they made them for so long. I guess the PSS is still going so that might show how ahead of their time these tires were (and are still competitive). Fronts are 220 tread wear. Rear PS4S are 300. Rears are date code 2022.
Front right and left
Rear right and left
I declare these sufficient for inspection. But, the fronts will probably be cooked after the end of this summer tire driving season (so late fall). The rears are healthier but are still summer tires. So by late fall you will probably want to switch to all seasons. I think the only two I'd really recommend are the Michelin AS4 (I had them on my E55 and have them on my S550) or the latest Continental DWS06+.
Random shot of the passenger side hood area (kind of in line with the front right tire area).
I'm not sure how well this shows up in photos. How convenient.
It is possible that wet sanding and following up with a 2K clear (kind of on a per panel basis) could be a path. And wet sanding the clear. Do the worst ones first and go from there. There are probably a lot of DIY videos about this type of process.
It's not an emergency but at the same time it will just get worse with time. So I would probably recommend trying to seal what's there with a good product in the meantime.