New C55 AMG owner with questions

[ZX10R NIN]

edc said:

I'm on the look out for a C55 saloon ideally in black as I already have a silver Boxster. It will complement my Boxster and moped.

Interested to hear of any age related parts worth replacing or any gotchas worth attending too.

Also if anyone know of any good cars coming up for sale I'd be grateful for an intro.

Only the suspension being worn might be an issue.

Here's a nice looking one for sale:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2005-MERCEDES-C-CLASS-C5...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

[edc]

Thanks.

Does the suspension fail and give up or does it just wear and degrade?

I'm used to suspension overhauls - what typically needs attention first, particular bushes or ball joints or the dampers?

[ZX10R NIN]

The suspension won't fail it just wears most of the time it's lower & upper arms as well as the drop links, change the gearbox oil if it hasn't already been done.

[edc]

ZX10R NIN said:

The suspension won't fail it just wears most of the time it's lower & upper arms as well as the drop links, change the gearbox oil if it hasn't already been done.

Thanks. Getting ahead of myself but where best and what sort of cost are the OE replacements? Are they the same as the rest of the C range? I'm new to Merc world and navjgating myself around who are the trusted parts manufacturers is me to me.

[ZX10R NIN]

Genuine OE are good or you could go down the route I went down of buying Poly Bushes & fitting those into the existing arms. Or you can go & fit coilovers (I fitted Penske verions) feel free to ask. Another good mod is a resonator delete which will give you a deeper exhaust note without costing the earth.

[edc]

ZX10R NIN said:

Genuine OE are good or you could go down the route I went down of buying Poly Bushes & fitting those into the existing arms. Or you can go & fit coilovers (I fitted Penske verions) feel free to ask. Another good mod is a resonator delete which will give you a deeper exhaust note without costing the earth.

Thanks. I won't be modding significantly if at all as this would be my regular sensible car. If cost effective then fresh rubber bushes and fresh ball joints on existing arms seems a good way forward. I know in many cases though replacing the arm as a whole rather than refurbing is just about more cost effective.

[ZX10R NIN]

edc said:

Thanks. I won't be modding significantly if at all as this would be my regular sensible car. If cost effective then fresh rubber bushes and fresh ball joints on existing arms seems a good way forward. I know in many cases though replacing the arm as a whole rather than refurbing is just about more cost effective.

Doing the arms as a whole is a much more cost effective way of doing things, I only took to the other method because I wanted Poly Bushes.

[mini me]

ZX10R NIN said:

Genuine OE are good or you could go down the route I went down of buying Poly Bushes & fitting those into the existing arms. Or you can go & fit coilovers (I fitted Penske verions) feel free to ask. Another good mod is a resonator delete which will give you a deeper exhaust note without costing the earth.

Resonator delete? Tell me more? Any vids of the results and what sort of costs are we looking at?

P.S. Several months into ownership now and still loving it. Did a track day at brands in June. Car held its own remarkably well considering. It is a heavy beast for track though. Have since fitted an Mcar Bluetooth/ USB adapter for the music and hand agree. Very costly and a little buggy but it works for the most parts I need nowhere near as good as a modern system though and command does some odd things. It's constantly turning traffic announcements back on and seems to keep wanting to default to preset 1 on the radio all the time.

I can forgive it those niggles though. Still a lovely motor.

[ZX10R NIN]

The Resonator Delete are the Two boxes after the Cats these will give it a deeper note, what I've had done is have these removed & an X Pipe put in there place which gives the exhaust a deeper/slightly louder exhaust note but it's note to loud.

I also removed the single box before the rear boxes here are some photos.

Edited by ZX10R NIN on Wednesday 5th August 20:45

[mini me]

Been looking at some videos of it on the tube. It does sound good. Kleemen headers also appear to sound good but are about 1200 quid!

[ZX10R NIN]

I didn't do the headers at first, you can gain 30bhp with Re map £300 with the exhaust mods 412.7 bhp 401 lb/ft when I finally put the Manifolds & sports cats on it dyno'd 446.3 bhp 422.9 lb/ft torque(figures are for my CLK55 but it's the same running gear)

[mini me]

Crumbs. That's quite tempting. Must resist. Grrrr!

[mini me]

Where have you had the work done? Not that I'm gonna go and inquire. I really shouldn't.

[V12 AMG]

Those 2 boxes are secondary cats, the first pair being the primary cats.

If you have them removed, don't leave them with the exhaust shop, they are £60 for the pair at scrap prices.

[ZX10R NIN]

Very true V12, if you'd like the full details PM me Mini.

[slk 32]

A word of warning. If you are going to consider getting the Kleemann headers done don't get the secondary cats removed/ resonator delete / x pipe.

I made the mistake of doing this first and when the primary cats were removed it was undriveable. The car was so loud it was deafening with a reap metallic drone around 3000 rpm. The day after having the kleemann cam and headers done I had some sports cats added with a custom built silencer with internal x pipe.its still louder than stock but is actually driveable now.

[ZX10R NIN]

Very true SLK plus you lose back pressure which means you lose BHP, that's why I said Headers & Sports Cats also I've kept the standard back boxes again to keep the back pressure up.

[edc]

Put a deposit on one today!

[ZX10R NIN]

Which one?

[edc]

It's the one at Mortimers. Not the colour I set out to buy and a little higher mileage than I wanted but I was able to speak to one of the previous owners who had it a couple of years until early 2014