Mercedes-Benz C216 CL 500
Discussion
I was very lucky with the purchase experience with this one. It does make a difference when that side of things goes well.
The CL doesn't replace the Designo optioned CLK, but I had previously decided that the other two aren't keepers: the Cubanite car is being sold once I relieve it of all the options and return to a basic spec, and the 280 cabriolet is being broken for parts including the Sport kit.
The Sport kit and options will be retrofitted to the Designo car, which will be a high days and holidays car in order to keep the miles down. I have a big soft spot for the CLK and the CL has confirmed why: a V6 or V8 CLK coupe is 70% of the CL experience for 50% of the complexity and cost. I also think that they look great.
Here are the wheels I picked up for the CL. I was lucky to find a set in great condition with the original diamond cut finish, and 6mm & 5mm Continental tyres. The others for sale were powder coated in a single colour. It doesn't always work out with cars, but the sun was certainly shining on me that day.
The 19's are well suited to the AMG kit, but not to the aesthetic of my car.
The CL doesn't replace the Designo optioned CLK, but I had previously decided that the other two aren't keepers: the Cubanite car is being sold once I relieve it of all the options and return to a basic spec, and the 280 cabriolet is being broken for parts including the Sport kit.
The Sport kit and options will be retrofitted to the Designo car, which will be a high days and holidays car in order to keep the miles down. I have a big soft spot for the CLK and the CL has confirmed why: a V6 or V8 CLK coupe is 70% of the CL experience for 50% of the complexity and cost. I also think that they look great.
Here are the wheels I picked up for the CL. I was lucky to find a set in great condition with the original diamond cut finish, and 6mm & 5mm Continental tyres. The others for sale were powder coated in a single colour. It doesn't always work out with cars, but the sun was certainly shining on me that day.
The 19's are well suited to the AMG kit, but not to the aesthetic of my car.
I had an S600 with the same sort of ABC suspension system and it came with 20" wheels, I was really surprised that fitting the proper chunky S600 spec 18" wheels made almost no difference whatsoever to ride quality.
It did stop the wheels cracking every time I went over a twig though.
It did stop the wheels cracking every time I went over a twig though.
A few maintenance tasks and small modifications.
Harman/Kardon Amplifier
Harman/Kardon amplifiers are a known problem area in the C216 and W221 S Class. The amplifiers are placed in the boot area behind the rear quarte panel, as is the case for telematics in most cars, however because the amp is fan cooled it tends to draw in dusty air which over time builds up on the PCB, and can become damp and short it out. I decided to remove my amp and strip it down to perform some proactive maintenance.
After removing the boot floor and N/S boot trim I was greeted with a pleasant surprise: the area was completely clean. I've seen photos of W221s with the area looking like the bottom of a dried up swamp.
I removed the amp to strip it and clean the PCB with contact cleaner. A slight dust build up can be seen in the following photo, which over time can build up to the degree that it covers tracks and components.
Board cleaned with contact cleaner, dried out, and refitted. If I keep the car long term then I'll make this a service task; most likely on a three schedule.
Oil Leak
There was an oil leak on top of the engine which had dripped down on to the block. I found that the oil filler cap was leaking.
I replaced the gasket with Febi part #101352 and cleaned up the engine using brake cleaner.
Cabin Filters
I couldn't find a record of recent cabin filter replacement in the service history, so I've fitted some Febi activated charcoal filters. This turned out to be a waste as the existing filters were nearly new Mann items.
Thankfully, fitting is only a five minute job: five Torx screws to remove the passenger side footwell trim under the dashboard, and two locking tabs to release a panel on the air box.
550 Badging
Unlike US market cars, European market Mercedes' were not badged as 550 when moving to the newer 5.5 engines. Perhaps because historically the 500 was always towards the top of the range, and marketing decided this would be better. Whatever the reason, I ordered a 550 badge which is actually for the CLS - in this case the S is obviously superfluous.
Using masking tape I created a removable template of the existing badge location, then peeled it off so that I could remove the existing badges, polish the area, degrease, and then refit the new badges using the re-applied template.
Wood Trim for Keypad Cover
The 600 has a number of interior changes, most of which only an anorak would notice, but one that I particularly wanted was the wood trim cover for the telephone keypad cover. it looks nicer, and is functional because the keypad cover is a high traffic area and tends to wear smooth on higher mileage cars. I bought a £13 Chinese copy of the OEM part that does a reasonable job of matching the Black Ash wood trim, however it was too brown to match the near black wood in my car. I decided to try tinting the part to match. I keyed with 1200 wet & dry, then tinted with Jenolite headlamp tinting spray.
I'm very happy with the finished result.
Disc and Caliper Painting
For my daily driver cars I use Hammerite direct-to-rust brush on; it's cheap, fast to apply, simple to touch-up, and extremely durable. The preparation is also quick and simple: I use a wire brush to remove any loose scale, wipe over with a petrol-soaked rag, and then spray with brake cleaner. Using this process a complete car takes ~one hour from start to wheels back on.
Front - before.
Front - during. I don't mask off any of the parts. I found that adds a lot of time with no real benefit; Instead I paint everything ensuring a good coverage without too much care of any excess.
I finish with a petrol soaked rag to remove any excess paint. This takes one minute vs. 15 minutes for a masking approach.
Rear - before.
Rear - after.
Interior Cleaning
There's usually scope for improvement on interior trim in a used car with lighter coloured leather. I suspect that this will be the first deep clean as I could see a slight brown tinge on some of the leather - the original owner was over 80 years old, so to me perfectly understandable that he had better things to do than to clean his car interior.
I masked off a few of the high traffic areas to see what could be achieved with a microfibre cloth and APC alone; the results speak for themselves.
I will finish the complete interior using APC, microfibre, and some soft bristled brushes. Also, I will spot-shampoo a few of the carpet areas. Photos to follow.
Harman/Kardon Amplifier
Harman/Kardon amplifiers are a known problem area in the C216 and W221 S Class. The amplifiers are placed in the boot area behind the rear quarte panel, as is the case for telematics in most cars, however because the amp is fan cooled it tends to draw in dusty air which over time builds up on the PCB, and can become damp and short it out. I decided to remove my amp and strip it down to perform some proactive maintenance.
After removing the boot floor and N/S boot trim I was greeted with a pleasant surprise: the area was completely clean. I've seen photos of W221s with the area looking like the bottom of a dried up swamp.
I removed the amp to strip it and clean the PCB with contact cleaner. A slight dust build up can be seen in the following photo, which over time can build up to the degree that it covers tracks and components.
Board cleaned with contact cleaner, dried out, and refitted. If I keep the car long term then I'll make this a service task; most likely on a three schedule.
Oil Leak
There was an oil leak on top of the engine which had dripped down on to the block. I found that the oil filler cap was leaking.
I replaced the gasket with Febi part #101352 and cleaned up the engine using brake cleaner.
Cabin Filters
I couldn't find a record of recent cabin filter replacement in the service history, so I've fitted some Febi activated charcoal filters. This turned out to be a waste as the existing filters were nearly new Mann items.
Thankfully, fitting is only a five minute job: five Torx screws to remove the passenger side footwell trim under the dashboard, and two locking tabs to release a panel on the air box.
550 Badging
Unlike US market cars, European market Mercedes' were not badged as 550 when moving to the newer 5.5 engines. Perhaps because historically the 500 was always towards the top of the range, and marketing decided this would be better. Whatever the reason, I ordered a 550 badge which is actually for the CLS - in this case the S is obviously superfluous.
Using masking tape I created a removable template of the existing badge location, then peeled it off so that I could remove the existing badges, polish the area, degrease, and then refit the new badges using the re-applied template.
Wood Trim for Keypad Cover
The 600 has a number of interior changes, most of which only an anorak would notice, but one that I particularly wanted was the wood trim cover for the telephone keypad cover. it looks nicer, and is functional because the keypad cover is a high traffic area and tends to wear smooth on higher mileage cars. I bought a £13 Chinese copy of the OEM part that does a reasonable job of matching the Black Ash wood trim, however it was too brown to match the near black wood in my car. I decided to try tinting the part to match. I keyed with 1200 wet & dry, then tinted with Jenolite headlamp tinting spray.
I'm very happy with the finished result.
Disc and Caliper Painting
For my daily driver cars I use Hammerite direct-to-rust brush on; it's cheap, fast to apply, simple to touch-up, and extremely durable. The preparation is also quick and simple: I use a wire brush to remove any loose scale, wipe over with a petrol-soaked rag, and then spray with brake cleaner. Using this process a complete car takes ~one hour from start to wheels back on.
Front - before.
Front - during. I don't mask off any of the parts. I found that adds a lot of time with no real benefit; Instead I paint everything ensuring a good coverage without too much care of any excess.
I finish with a petrol soaked rag to remove any excess paint. This takes one minute vs. 15 minutes for a masking approach.
Rear - before.
Rear - after.
Interior Cleaning
There's usually scope for improvement on interior trim in a used car with lighter coloured leather. I suspect that this will be the first deep clean as I could see a slight brown tinge on some of the leather - the original owner was over 80 years old, so to me perfectly understandable that he had better things to do than to clean his car interior.
I masked off a few of the high traffic areas to see what could be achieved with a microfibre cloth and APC alone; the results speak for themselves.
I will finish the complete interior using APC, microfibre, and some soft bristled brushes. Also, I will spot-shampoo a few of the carpet areas. Photos to follow.
I had an oil leak on my CLS, same engine as this, there is a cam banking plate on the right had side of the engine that wept onto the exhaust manifold and gave that classic burning oil smell of utter terror, was about £40 to replace but its worth a check to see if its weeping.
Never sure why they didnt make a bigger deal about the extra 80 or so bhp the 5.5 added by changing it to 550 instead of 500 over here as well.
Does it go well ? always thought the CLS was impressive for a non AMG model, suppose these are a bit heavier but shouldn't make much difference, the more powerful variants are different degrees of overkill I expect.
Remember you saying about the CLK that the middle of the range is the sweet spot and the AMG ones, though fantastic are probably more power than the chassis it up to.
Never sure why they didnt make a bigger deal about the extra 80 or so bhp the 5.5 added by changing it to 550 instead of 500 over here as well.
Does it go well ? always thought the CLS was impressive for a non AMG model, suppose these are a bit heavier but shouldn't make much difference, the more powerful variants are different degrees of overkill I expect.
Remember you saying about the CLK that the middle of the range is the sweet spot and the AMG ones, though fantastic are probably more power than the chassis it up to.
trails said:
Attention to detail is amazing as always, thread title change now required though? 
Possibly 
RDMcG said:
Looks like a great buy! They are wonderful cars- I was very impressed by the quality of the interior . A great car for a long distance trip.
Thanks, me too. I look forward to a longer trip into Europe.J4CKO said:
I had an oil leak on my CLS, same engine as this, there is a cam banking plate on the right had side of the engine that wept onto the exhaust manifold and gave that classic burning oil smell of utter terror, was about £40 to replace but its worth a check to see if its weeping.
Never sure why they didnt make a bigger deal about the extra 80 or so bhp the 5.5 added by changing it to 550 instead of 500 over here as well.
Does it go well ? always thought the CLS was impressive for a non AMG model, suppose these are a bit heavier but shouldn't make much difference, the more powerful variants are different degrees of overkill I expect.
Remember you saying about the CLK that the middle of the range is the sweet spot and the AMG ones, though fantastic are probably more power than the chassis it up to.
Thanks for the info. I've put together a batch of seals and gaskets to replace: the cam caps which you mention, the centrifugal oil seperator, o rings for the front cam sensors & magnets, and the oil cooler/filter housing.Never sure why they didnt make a bigger deal about the extra 80 or so bhp the 5.5 added by changing it to 550 instead of 500 over here as well.
Does it go well ? always thought the CLS was impressive for a non AMG model, suppose these are a bit heavier but shouldn't make much difference, the more powerful variants are different degrees of overkill I expect.
Remember you saying about the CLK that the middle of the range is the sweet spot and the AMG ones, though fantastic are probably more power than the chassis it up to.
It does go well. I'd like a bit more of an exhaust note, but do not feel wanting for more performance. 0-60 is 5.1 or close to it, and that feels more than enough in this body; it does feel like a big car more suited to wafting.
rodericb said:
That's a good result. Will you do the same on the underside of the car?
I don't think so with with this car as it isn't going to be a long term keeper. Maybe a bit of Dinitrol around the chassis and that's it.Chunkychucky said:
I think from memory I gave up asking on the other thread a few years ago, but any chance of an update on the Fiesta Mk3 thread...? 
Worried given it's not been mentioned on here for a while and your projects seem to have taken a distinct OAP-turn.
Ha! Fair! I've been working on it but I'm saving the photos for a bigger update rather than posting dribs and drabs.Worried given it's not been mentioned on here for a while and your projects seem to have taken a distinct OAP-turn.
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