SLK55 AMG

[ba65]

Hello all,

Just bought one of these - it's currently undergoing prep (full major service at Mercedes, brake discs and pads front and rear pads, new foglight due to leaking and a few small bits - I'm very fussy!). Garage is also refurbing all the alloys, new centre caps, new bolts and repainting the plastic side skirts as they are showing some light stone chipping.

Car is on 67k miles with FMBSH.

It's black/black with next to no options (not even electric seats!). Quite rare on UK streets - anyone got one?

Keen to hear about ownership experience I'm coming from an E46 M3 SMG.

Cheers,

Bill

[rgv250ads]

Nice one

Ive had mine a little under a year very pleased. Seems unfortunate you got one with no options, has it got air scarf or heated seats.

Get some cash set aside for minor exhaust mods, loads on slkworld about it. Makes em purr and growl properly.

Good work on the wheel refurb. Be prepared to gulp when you get the bill for the discs and pads if you got 6 piston calipers

[rgv250ads]

Oh yah and rare on roads, ive only seen one other that wasnt at an SLK meet.

Some before and after pics and cost for the skirt refurbish woild be useful, common on black ones now some are getting into 10 years old.

There are a lot of owners who really love these cars so hope you get the same ownership experience. Were you searching long? I took 3 months as there are a few dogs out there now !

Edited by rgv250ads on Wednesday 19th November 21:31

[ba65]

Good to hear from you.

Few weeks and I settled on this one as it was the right colour combo, price and prep. To be honest my budget was very low (£13k) so this one seemed right. It has 67k miles with FMBSH which I also verified by calling around each Merc garage just for peace of mind. Has all the service books and documents.

No airscarf but heated seats, command, parking sensors, climate, Bluetooth and telephone but shes sitting on the 5 spokes which I actually prefer (as you can see the massive brakes).

Any ideas how easy the airscarf can be retrofitted? Loads of threads around but can't see anything straightforward. A quick summary of parts required would be nice.

She's had 3 previous owners but I presume that's normal for a convertible - unfortunately the car hadn't been serviced since 2011 (and 12k miles) so the dealer (a well known Ferrari specialist) is getting it into Mercedes for a major service, full set of discs and pads, new foglight, reset of the SRS light, refurb of alloys etc etc.

I'm waiting to hear back from Mercedes on the full inspection report of the car and to know if there are any underlying issues that need sorting. If it turns out to be a dog I will be rejecting the car but I doubt it...

Cheers,

Bill

[ba65]

Just to add unfortunately it does have the 6 piston calipers (so £2k at MB for discs and pads) but the garage is picking up all the work including this mentioned above.

[rgv250ads]

Mine had the turbine/20 spoke ones that'd been diamond cut and poorly lacquered and rotten like hell. Car had 39k on it. Swapped em immediately for a set of amg 5 spokes of 2005 vintage and what a difference! So much better

Retrofit airscarf could be hard, different headrests, switches in dash and then wiring harness mods?
Real shame yours is missing as it is brilliant for chilly top down driving

If the supplying garage is footing the tart up then het the cam cover gaskets changed. Common weep and shoild be done else you get puffs of smoke under bonnet. Annoying more than worrying.

Gummy phledge the miles of door and roof seals for longevity

If you get all your proposed stuff done and still end up paying 13k then good for you. The guy your buying it off mist be unsure of the discs costs if they are agreeing to all this 'in cost' ???

[ba65]

Cheers for the tip with GP - useful and I've got loads of bottles sitting in the garage. Are you interested in selling your turbines? I think they look stunning in the original finish and really set off a black car. The 5 spokes however do have their own appeal though and the brakes look so good poking through.

The garage checked the price with MB and confirmed a-ok so I presume they've agreed to foot the £2k bill on top of all the other bits and pieces. Truth be told they've got loads of Ferrari / Lamborghini / AM super cars so I presume they'd want this motor out the door. Plus it's pretty low on spec but I'm all about the driving experience and have never really cared much for spec. I don't keep my cars long enough either!

The airscarf would improve the driving experience and hence i'm keen to get it done. Now where can I find a salvage SLK55...?

Have you been to any meets in the UK - any coming up? I'm from London by the way, would be nice to meet and compare motors!

Thanks,

Bill

[buzzsaw]

ba65 said:

Cheers for the tip with GP - useful and I've got loads of bottles sitting in the garage. Are you interested in selling your turbines? I think they look stunning in the original finish and really set off a black car. The 5 spokes however do have their own appeal though and the brakes look so good poking through.

The garage checked the price with MB and confirmed a-ok so I presume they've agreed to foot the £2k bill on top of all the other bits and pieces. Truth be told they've got loads of Ferrari / Lamborghini / AM super cars so I presume they'd want this motor out the door. Plus it's pretty low on spec but I'm all about the driving experience and have never really cared much for spec. I don't keep my cars long enough either!

The airscarf would improve the driving experience and hence i'm keen to get it done. Now where can I find a salvage SLK55...?

Have you been to any meets in the UK - any coming up? I'm from London by the way, would be nice to meet and compare motors!

Thanks,

Bill

That's one helluva deal you're getting there. Effectively £11k for a SLK 55 with 67K on it. Haven't seen any advertised near that.

[LordHaveMurci]

The noise, oh my God the noise

A mate has had one from new back in 2005, in black with black/red interior & airscarf.

[rgv250ads]

I'm just north of London by 40 Miles, up the A1, Biggleswade.

I dont have the wheels, done an exchange with http://www.fawheels.co.uk/
Managed to wrangle a deal whereby i gave them the (horrific condition) turbines and they gave me a set of refurbed, freshly powdercoated AMG 5 spokes in Merc Sterling Silver. £288 all in. Incredible value IMO and just set off the car lovely.

I hope you get the airscarf installed, it's a very nice 'to have' and one of those things that just works. Das Germans for you.

Like above, they must have wanted rid for £13k plus a two grand bill on their part from MB. wonder what they gave for it to start with aye!
Like you i'm a bit of a serial changer of cars but this one is staying. really has grown on me, i think the blend of quality and value (now so cheap for what you get IMO) plus the N/A V8 experience in a small car is so much to be admired.

Cannot reccomend a 2nd Cat delete and x-pipe enough. Had mine done at Infinity Exhausts just off the M4 near bristol (our side of bristol). So worth it, and with the roof off, the noise is childishly addictive.

[ba65]

rgv250ads said:

I'm just north of London by 40 Miles, up the A1, Biggleswade.

I dont have the wheels, done an exchange with http://www.fawheels.co.uk/
Managed to wrangle a deal whereby i gave them the (horrific condition) turbines and they gave me a set of refurbed, freshly powdercoated AMG 5 spokes in Merc Sterling Silver. £288 all in. Incredible value IMO and just set off the car lovely.

I hope you get the airscarf installed, it's a very nice 'to have' and one of those things that just works. Das Germans for you.

Like above, they must have wanted rid for £13k plus a two grand bill on their part from MB. wonder what they gave for it to start with aye!
Like you i'm a bit of a serial changer of cars but this one is staying. really has grown on me, i think the blend of quality and value (now so cheap for what you get IMO) plus the N/A V8 experience in a small car is so much to be admired.

Cannot reccomend a 2nd Cat delete and x-pipe enough. Had mine done at Infinity Exhausts just off the M4 near bristol (our side of bristol). So worth it, and with the roof off, the noise is childishly addictive.

Ah Biggleswade! I know it well, my uncle used to live in the mansion on Rose Lane, I think it was called Brunswick House?

That's a really good deal on the alloys - did they swap over the tyres for you too? Not sure, however it got traded against a Bentley Continental GTC (which now wears the plate V8 RKT!) so I presume the p/o had a few bob. He kept the car 5 years so it must have been a good one for him.

I've been reading about the x-pipe - very tempted. Do you attend any meets? Would be good to see and hear your motor from the inside. The SLK sounded really loud and throaty on the test drive even at low speeds and medium throttle so I'd imagine these mods really open that V8 sound up.

[rgv250ads]

If you are noticing 'throaty' sounds already you might have some exhaust mods done. I only say this because i test drove a totally standard 2005 car before buying mine and it was very refined/'too' quiet. I also test drove one with 2nd cats out, and had a nice 'almost there' V8 burbles. the x-pipe & 2nd cats out install you get the full beans.

You might have 2nd cats out..... if it's easy to get under your car have a look or ask P/O if you can?

A mate of mine lives in rose lane, small world eh. ?!

Below is a pic completely standard, The 2nd cats are the small cylinders before the big box. The big box is the resonator which is where this gets binned for an xpipe. you might have the 2nd cats out. it'll look like pic two but still retain the big box.

Edited by rgv250ads on Thursday 20th November 15:26

[rgv250ads]

ba65 said:

That's a really good deal on the alloys - did they swap over the tyres for you too?

Yep they did the whole lot for £288 drive in drive out.
Also found a bulge on one of the inner sidewalls, kevlar belt was breaking down, so a good find. they could have just ignored it but then checked all tyres and made me aware. I found them Very good.

[ba65]

rgv250ads said:

If you are noticing 'throaty' sounds already you might have some exhaust mods done. I only say this because i test drove a totally standard 2005 car before buying mine and it was very refined/'too' quiet. I also test drove one with 2nd cats out, and had a nice 'almost there' V8 burbles. the x-pipe & 2nd cats out install you get the full beans.

You might have 2nd cats out..... if it's easy to get under your car have a look or ask P/O if you can?

A mate of mine lives in rose lane, small world eh. ?!

Below is a pic completely standard, The 2nd cats are the small cylinders before the big box. The big box is the resonator which is where this gets binned for an xpipe. you might have the 2nd cats out. it'll look like pic two but still retain the big box.

Edited by rgv250ads on Thursday 20th November 15:26

Thanks for sharing. I'll check it out next Saturday when I collect

[smashy]

Thats funny behind a silver one today,,,,the 4 hosepipes!! excellant ,good luck with the beast

[ba65]

smashy said:

Thats funny behind a silver one today,,,,the 4 hosepipes!! excellant ,good luck with the beast

Cheers mate! How did it sound? They look good in silver too, but mine had to be black! Brings out the badges, alloys and exhaust pipes so well.

Only issue is that I'll be cleaning it all day

[sideways sid]

rgv250ads said:

I'm just north of London by 40 Miles, up the A1, Biggleswade.

I dont have the wheels, done an exchange with http://www.fawheels.co.uk/
Managed to wrangle a deal whereby i gave them the (horrific condition) turbines and they gave me a set of refurbed, freshly powdercoated AMG 5 spokes in Merc Sterling Silver. £288 all in. Incredible value IMO and just set off the car lovely.

I hope you get the airscarf installed, it's a very nice 'to have' and one of those things that just works. Das Germans for you.

Like above, they must have wanted rid for £13k plus a two grand bill on their part from MB. wonder what they gave for it to start with aye!
Like you i'm a bit of a serial changer of cars but this one is staying. really has grown on me, i think the blend of quality and value (now so cheap for what you get IMO) plus the N/A V8 experience in a small car is so much to be admired.

Cannot reccomend a 2nd Cat delete and x-pipe enough. Had mine done at Infinity Exhausts just off the M4 near bristol (our side of bristol). So worth it, and with the roof off, the noise is childishly addictive.

May I ask what the exhaust cost? Very tempted to do same to mine and Infinity are not far away.

The holy grail would be a switchable system, quiet in Comfort, Nascar in Sport or Manual. Does anyone know if a system is available?

[rgv250ads]

Ininify charge £200 for an Xpipe, custom made to car by hand.
I already had 2nd cats out. SLKWorld forum members who've used Infinity for both 2nd Cats out and XPipe have been quoted £300 by Ininity. I guess that means:
2nd Cats out = £100.
Xpipe = £200.

If you've got standard system then try 2nd cats first and maybe even have 30 min drive on the previso that if you want an Xpipe then do that in the afternoon. For some the 2nd cats out is enough, it does liberate a bit of growl and V8 Burble. However both 2nd cats out and an x-pipe unleashing the real McCoy. It is perfectly fine at 60/70/80 on motorway and no drone. yet get on the load pedal....... x100

Mine's also got a eurocharged tune. Use MSL in Birmingham. The Tune is well worth it, noticable and crisper throttle response. Also Got K&N's

Edited by rgv250ads on Friday 21st November 17:22

[MattyB_]

ba65 said:

No airscarf but heated seats, command, parking sensors, climate, Bluetooth and telephone but shes sitting on the 5 spokes which I actually prefer (as you can see the massive brakes).
Bill

You say "poorly specced" but Airscalf aside (which is odd, considering the rest) it's not too bad.

And you did well to get them to do the brakes!

Did you look at many others? In the market myself, like you the budget is limited but I've not been convinced by the few I've enquired about. Ignorance on spark plugs, gearbox oil changes, etc, always puts me off

[rgv250ads]

In my search 11 months ago, I looked at two before mine. both previous efforts were not great, almost dogs. Mine was good underneath but wasn't what i'd call 'really well looked after'. Alot of these cars fall into the hands of people wanting cheap V8 convertibles who then scrimp on maintenance & general TLC.

I found i needed north of £16k to get into the decent stuff. was Dec 2013 though.