Mercedes SL55 AMG - Buying Advice

[BigBen]

cb1965 said:

BigBen said:

I would argue the boot seals are the exception where a DIY fix will be better than what the dealer offers. £1200 of new seals which use the same adhesive to stick to the screen vs. some flexible adhesive applied to the exiting seals is not a difficult decision especially where there are many examples of dealers not managing to fix leaky boots.

I use a specialist for most work on mine but have found a lot of it up to and including replacing ABC spheres fairly easy to do at home, not quite the average shed as I have an MB star system.

Ben

The seals go out of shape, it's not the adhesive! The DIY fixes are a temporary respite.

As I understand it there are two thing go on:

i) The seals go out of shape
ii) The adhesive stops sticking in particular under the C-pillar where the seal crosses the weld lines that are there.

The DIY adhesive fix is a 100% fix for ii) I have not come across i) but it seems to be much talked about on the Merc forums and the fix involves hosepipe and the like.

Plenty of folks have got many years out of DIY fixes and not very long from the OEM seals, even the revised seal design that came in later in the run is prone to leaking.

Ben

[anonymous-user]

Oh for the love of God here we go again!

To the OP, up to you what you do....I couldn't care less whether you take my advice or not to be honest. I tried the nonsense fixes on my car and they lasted a few weeks so bought new seals 3 years ago... been watertight ever since! Must be lucky I guess.... and they weren't £1200.

[BigBen]

cb1965 said:

Oh for the love of God here we go again!

To the OP, up to you what you do....I couldn't care less whether you take my advice or not to be honest. I tried the nonsense fixes on my car and they lasted a few weeks so bought new seals 3 years ago... been watertight ever since! Must be lucky I guess.... and they weren't £1200.

Good for you, I am glad your fix worked really I am as you seem like such a nice chap. Probably all those people who have had success with the DIY fixes were making it up to look good on the internet, I know I am.

Still I expect you have tested every SL out there and yours is the only advice worth listening to.

Ben

[ZX10R NIN]

So OP did you buy the car you were looking at?

[anonymous-user]

BigBen said:

Good for you, I am glad your fix worked really I am as you seem like such a nice chap. Probably all those people who have had success with the DIY fixes were making it up to look good on the internet, I know I am.

Still I expect you have tested every SL out there and yours is the only advice worth listening to.

Ben

Back at you, I expect all those people with water in their boot and failed electrics after your wonderful type of fix are liars too! Thankfully I won't be buying another so am unlikely to purchase a bodged up piece of garbage, others will obviously be less fortunate with your type around! C'est la vie!

To the OP, I have removed my original advice re. what to look for with these cars as it's obviously not useful, good luck... as you can see you'll need it!

Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 3rd February 18:40

[BigBen]

cb1965 said:

BigBen said:

Good for you, I am glad your fix worked really I am as you seem like such a nice chap. Probably all those people who have had success with the DIY fixes were making it up to look good on the internet, I know I am.

Still I expect you have tested every SL out there and yours is the only advice worth listening to.

Ben

Back at you, I expect all those people with water in their boot and failed electrics after your wonderful type of fix are liars too! Thankfully I won't be buying another so am unlikely to purchase a bodged up piece of garbage, others will obviously be less fortunate with your type around! C'est la vie!

To the OP, I have removed my original advice re. what to look for with these cars as it's obviously not useful, good luck... as you can see you'll need it!

Edited by cb1965 on Wednesday 3rd February 18:40

I have come across plenty of owners who's cars have still leaked after being 'fixed' at the dealers, less so with the 'bodge'. I could see how the 'bodge' might not work if the person applying said 'bodge' was not a very practical person or not good at following instructions but that is not me so I am sure my car will continue to be tip top.

Nice of you to remove your otherwise good advice, very helpful and totally within the spirit of this forum. I can totally see your reasoning, after all might as well hide information from the OP after all someone else (me) posted something that didn't match your experience so therefore the OP should be denied the information.

Ben

[anonymous-user]

BigBen said:

I have come across plenty of owners who's cars have still leaked after being 'fixed' at the dealers, less so with the 'bodge'. I could see how the 'bodge' might not work if the person applying said 'bodge' was not a very practical person or not good at following instructions but that is not me so I am sure my car will continue to be tip top.

Nice of you to remove your otherwise good advice, very helpful and totally within the spirit of this forum. I can totally see your reasoning, after all might as well hide information from the OP after all someone else (me) posted something that didn't match your experience so therefore the OP should be denied the information.

Ben

Well I thought I'd let you tell him how it is seeing as you are such a genius and obviously vastly more practical and knowledgeable than I

[BigBen]

cb1965 said:

BigBen said:

I have come across plenty of owners who's cars have still leaked after being 'fixed' at the dealers, less so with the 'bodge'. I could see how the 'bodge' might not work if the person applying said 'bodge' was not a very practical person or not good at following instructions but that is not me so I am sure my car will continue to be tip top.

Nice of you to remove your otherwise good advice, very helpful and totally within the spirit of this forum. I can totally see your reasoning, after all might as well hide information from the OP after all someone else (me) posted something that didn't match your experience so therefore the OP should be denied the information.

Ben

Well I thought I'd let you tell him how it is seeing as you are such a genius and obviously vastly more practical and knowledgeable than I

Look I am sure I have missed your point and you mine and neither of us are helping the OP so I am out. Let's just agree they are great cars and the OP should get one but go in eyes open.

Ben

[Monkeylegend]

cb1965 said:

BigBen said:

I have come across plenty of owners who's cars have still leaked after being 'fixed' at the dealers, less so with the 'bodge'. I could see how the 'bodge' might not work if the person applying said 'bodge' was not a very practical person or not good at following instructions but that is not me so I am sure my car will continue to be tip top.

Nice of you to remove your otherwise good advice, very helpful and totally within the spirit of this forum. I can totally see your reasoning, after all might as well hide information from the OP after all someone else (me) posted something that didn't match your experience so therefore the OP should be denied the information.

Ben

Well I thought I'd let you tell him how it is seeing as you are such a genius and obviously vastly more practical and knowledgeable than I

Baby out of the pram and all that, it's a shame because there is always more than one way to solve a problem, and all ideas and experience is valid.

The senior technician at my local Mercedes franchise who I know very well, told me to glue my boot lip seals rather than automatically replace, so there must be some merit in doing that

[bonnim]

Well guys, the car had the all clear from the mb specialist and they told me to stop worrying it's a cracking car! So I've paid the deposit and hopefully in a few days I will be the proud owner of an sl55!!

Thanks to all of your helpful comments! I'm sooooo excited!!

I will let you know how it goes.

[ZX10R NIN]

Well done OP they're great cars

[BigBen]

ZX10R NIN said:

Well done OP they're great cars

Great news.

Photos asap.

[swisstoni]

I've had one for a few months. As a welcome to the Merc club it lunched it's ABC pump in about week 3
But I can forgive it because it's fabulous. i think these are a good buy and I'll be hanging on to mine.

[BIRMA]

swisstoni said:

I've had one for a few months. As a welcome to the Merc club it lunched it's ABC pump in about week 3
But I can forgive it because it's fabulous. i think these are a good buy and I'll be hanging on to mine.

Wow, that was a bit of a wallet bashing intro to the world of AMG.

[swisstoni]

BIRMA said:

swisstoni said:

I've had one for a few months. As a welcome to the Merc club it lunched it's ABC pump in about week 3
But I can forgive it because it's fabulous. i think these are a good buy and I'll be hanging on to mine.

Wow, that was a bit of a wallet bashing intro to the world of AMG.

Yes but it's not like I didn't know the score. Possibly a bit unlucky for a 42k miles 2007 example. Ironically I had already booked it in for a preventative ABC fluid change.

[BIRMA]

swisstoni said:

BIRMA said:

swisstoni said:

I've had one for a few months. As a welcome to the Merc club it lunched it's ABC pump in about week 3
But I can forgive it because it's fabulous. i think these are a good buy and I'll be hanging on to mine.

Wow, that was a bit of a wallet bashing intro to the world of AMG.

Yes but it's not like I didn't know the score. Possibly a bit unlucky for a 42k miles 2007 example. Ironically I had already booked it in for a preventative ABC fluid change.

Fair point , I guess long term it's one of those known potential issues dealt with and sorted now.

[bonnim]

Hi forum,

I am pleased to announce that I am the proud owner of an SL55

After ragging it around since the weekend, I have noticed some hydraulic liquid on the abc pump (at least I think it is). This is a bit worrying to say the least. Could it be that this was just a spillage from when it was last put in? Or is the beginning of a huge bill? The ABC suspension seems to be working fine and it lowers and rises OK...

Also, I have noticed the smallest amount of water in the boot after its been raining. The water seems to settle on the inner roof contraption (the thing you need to have in place in order to put down the roof). But the carpets themselves have not collected water so I reckon only a small amount of water is coming in. Is it possible that the seals just need a good clean, rather than replacing? I suppose if they are not clean then water could back up.

I have posted a few pictures of ABC pump and the boot water.

Many thanks guys!

[bonnim]

[BigBen]

bonnim said:

Also, I have noticed the smallest amount of water in the boot after its been raining. The water seems to settle on the inner roof contraption (the thing you need to have in place in order to put down the roof). But the carpets themselves have not collected water so I reckon only a small amount of water is coming in. Is it possible that the seals just need a good clean, rather than replacing? I suppose if they are not clean then water could back up.

Where on the carpet thing? In the middle or on one of the 'wings' at the edge of the cover? Worth cleaning the seals and using some rubber seal rejuvinating stuff to make sure they keep their 'sprinyness'. If that doesn't work then the two fixes have been discussed at some length on this very thread

[bonnim]

Hi Ben,

Nice to see you.

The collects like a little puddle in the corners. It seems like it takes a long time to collect, which leads me to think that something is blocked. I had a poke around the seals and it certainly looks a bit dirty, so I will give that a try first.

Do you think I will need to take the seal off entirely and then bond it back or just touch it up in certain places?