0a’s Mercedes SLK 55 AMG

[0a]

When the car was in at my Merc The Man I asked him to look at why the car was rubbing on full lock. Must be something wrong right?

Well it turned out i’d managed to order front tyres in r172 SLK55 size. These are both wider, and have a deeper profile.

£195 later this morning and the right tyres are on. What an idiot I am!

Any r172 SLK55 owners out there?!

[Mr Tidy]

0a said:

When the car was in at my Merc The Man I asked him to look at why the car was rubbing on full lock. Must be something wrong right?

Well it turned out i’d managed to order front tyres in r172 SLK55 size. These are both wider, and have a deeper profile.

£195 later this morning and the right tyres are on. What an idiot I am!

Any r172 SLK55 owners out there?!

I think we've all done things like that!

Hopefully you can get a few quid back for the "wrong" ones.

[anonymous-user]

0a said:

When the car was in at my Merc The Man I asked him to look at why the car was rubbing on full lock. Must be something wrong right?

Well it turned out i’d managed to order front tyres in r172 SLK55 size. These are both wider, and have a deeper profile.

£195 later this morning and the right tyres are on. What an idiot I am!

Any r172 SLK55 owners out there?!

I've have just ignored that

What size are the surplus tyres?

[0a]

stickleback123 said:

I've have just ignored that

What size are the surplus tyres?

[0a]

The slk55 is in at the Merc specialist for a new radiator fan unit. This is what was triggering the “coolant visit workshop” warning. Not cheap at about £500 for the part. Plus a few other bits, including looking at the gearbox being a bit clunky when cold first to second.

[SLK55AMG]

0a said:

The slk55 is in at the Merc specialist for a new radiator fan unit. This is what was triggering the “coolant visit workshop” warning. Not cheap at about £500 for the part. Plus a few other bits, including looking at the gearbox being a bit clunky when cold first to second.

I had a gearbox service, so new filters and flush and fresh oil and it is so much better changing gear it’s seamless now whereas before it was a bit clunky changing

[0a]

SLK55AMG said:

I had a gearbox service, so new filters and flush and fresh oil and it is so much better changing gear it’s seamless now whereas before it was a bit clunky changing

Thanks SLK55, I did have a gearbox service done when I bought the car, but it's still a bit clunky. I understand that the gearbox transmission plate (? can't remember) is an issue with these that need sorting at about my miles; the specialist said he'd take a look and see what they could do as they know these boxes well.

What miles does your car have?

On another note, wahoo!

[SLK55AMG]

0a said:

SLK55AMG said:

I had a gearbox service, so new filters and flush and fresh oil and it is so much better changing gear it’s seamless now whereas before it was a bit clunky changing

Thanks SLK55, I did have a gearbox service done when I bought the car, but it's still a bit clunky. I understand that the gearbox transmission plate (? can't remember) is an issue with these that need sorting at about my miles; the specialist said he'd take a look and see what they could do as they know these boxes well.

What miles does your car have?

On another note, wahoo!

Mines on 36k and a 12 plate. Had it done last year on the basis that the oil had been in there around 10 years or so.

[0a]

Car now passed its MOT and back. And boy does it feel better.

The bill:



That little line about the transmission adaption hides a totally different feeling transmission. Remarkable.

[bolidemichael]

Amazing what can be achieved with a well placed aubergine.

[0a]

An update on the SLK.

I had been expecting it to happen, but it finally did it in December - the old conductor plate issue, where the car refuses to change out of gear. I turned the car off, restarted and it was fine again for hundreds of miles.

But reading around the web, the car is in the usual mileage for the issue and it had the symptoms - and they only get worse, eventually rendering the car undriveable (rather than a pull over and restart).

So I booked the car into MB Automotive in Loughborough, with a few other issues that needed attention.

One of the rear parking sensors had fallen into the bumper. This was diagnosed as the bracket being broken. They took the bumper off, fixed it and refitted it. They also adjusted the roof mechanism as it had been making more noise at higher speed recently.

The conductor plate contains a sensor but the whole unit needs to be replaced. Fortunately reconditioned units are available from MB. I had to pop down to MB Loughborough to get the unit coded to the car as it's a "theft sensitive part". Fitting meant draining the transmission oil, so this meant a transmission oil and filter change.

All in, this was £979, which I was happy with. My research had suggested that this is one of the bigger things that always needs doing on the car, so it's good that there's a relatively cheap solution nowadays. The cost of the reconditioned part from MB was £399+vat.




It's a good degree smoother now, and the clunk on putting into first gear when cold is gone.

I had a nice, refreshing and very smooth (ice on the roads tonight) drive this evening. Toasty warm with air scarf and heated seat on though.

[Tom4398cc]

Chapeau for using the SLK in icy conditions!

[BrettMRC]

That is sublime - perfect fun car.

[juice]

Nice that you got away with just the conductor plate, I needed a new Valve body on mine too

The difference afterwards is amazing isn't it ?

[j4ck100]

I keep checking in with the hope you pop it up for sale! Do let me know if that ever is the case. You old LS400 is running sweet as a nut still.

[0a]

juice said:

Nice that you got away with just the conductor plate, I needed a new Valve body on mine too

The difference afterwards is amazing isn't it ?

It really is, solved all the gearbox issues I now realise I had been driving around.

I now know a few other SLK55 owners and recommended just getting the conductor plate done if your car has done, say, over 60k miles. Cheap enough to do, but it could really ruin a long roadtrip - as you recommended!

I still haven't had the X pipe done...

I was out in -2 this evening. Fun! Roof down of course.




Thanks again for the wheels, every single time I look at the car I am thankful those big black wheels are gone!

[B'stard Child]

0a said:

I still haven't had the X pipe done...

I did

1. secondary cat removal
2. Resonator delete
3. X pipe

My advice is do two out of the three

Keep the secondary cats and do resonator delete and X-pipe

or

Delete the secondary cats and X-Pipe keeping the resonator

Doing all three is just too anti social - I mean it's fking awesome but frankly fking embarrassing at the same time - it's just too much

[cerb4.5lee]

You're definitely making me feel really disappointed that I've put the 370 on a SORN this winter for sure! My hat is off.

[0a]

B'stard Child said:

I did

1. secondary cat removal
2. Resonator delete
3. X pipe

My advice is do two out of the three

Keep the secondary cats and do resonator delete and X-pipe

or

Delete the secondary cats and X-Pipe keeping the resonator

Doing all three is just too anti social - I mean it's fking awesome but frankly fking embarrassing at the same time - it's just too much

I think I'll start with the X-pipe.

cerb4.5lee said:

You're definitely making me feel really disappointed that I've put the 370 on a SORN this winter for sure! My hat is off.

Best time of year to have the roof down and to get out and about!

[B'stard Child]

0a said:

B'stard Child said:

I did

1. secondary cat removal
2. Resonator delete
3. X pipe

My advice is do two out of the three

Keep the secondary cats and do resonator delete and X-pipe

or

Delete the secondary cats and X-Pipe keeping the resonator

Doing all three is just too anti social - I mean it's fking awesome but frankly fking embarrassing at the same time - it's just too much

I think I'll start with the X-pipe.

When you get underneath with an exhaust fabricator I think you'll realise that X-piping with secondary cats and resonator in place isn't going to happen so you really do have to pick one or the other

It's x-pipe with resonator delete or x-pipe with secondary cats delete as a minimum

I'm just trying to stop you doing the both option - many people have done it and are happy - for me it's just over the top and I'm going to fit additional silencers