1998 Mercedes-Benz CL420 (C140)

[tobinen]

I think he said £388 but I was slightly hungover. I've asked for the rim edge to be a polished finish and the colour he will use as the main body is a fairly standard silver but on the alloys in the showroom it's quite bright so should be a close match the AMG original.

My only other concern is if it will match the centre caps as the ones I have are NLS with the chrome edge and star. The current caps on the 16" alloys are the superseded part so will fit if required.

[honevo]

tobinen said:

I dropped off the wheels to MyAlloys in Basingstoke this morning for the refurbishment and return to silver. They should be ready Weds or Thurs next week. I am now shopping around for tyres though I have asked them to quote as it would be easier for them to fit at the same time.

This may sound heretical to you but I fitted Landsail tyres to my CL500 - I was reluctant but my garage recommended them and they performed well in independent tests.

I don't skimp on maintenance - my logic was that the car was designed over 30 years ago so a more basic tyre from today would be as good, if not better, than what was aailable when mine was new in 1999.

I hasten to add that I wouldn't just go for any budget tyre - the tyres have proved to be perfectly adequate.

Of course , lots of Pistonheads contributors may disagree with this......

[anonymous-user]

An extra 40 metres to come to a stop from 60MPH in the rain. Forty metres, one hundred and thirty feet.



I really, really, really hope someone in a 2 ton C140 on landsails isn't behind me next time I need to brake moderately hard!

[tobinen]

When I first bought it, it had Rotellas all round. Utter st It may as well have had slicks in the wet.

[honevo]

stickleback123 said:

An extra 40 metres to come to a stop from 60MPH in the rain. Forty metres, one hundred and thirty feet.



I really, really, really hope someone in a 2 ton C140 on landsails isn't behind me next time I need to brake moderately hard!

Interesting - what site is this from? I think it may be from the 2021 Autobild test. Yet in the 2015 World Summer Tyre Test on Tyre Reviews site , it came 8th out of 15 tyres tested, scoring marginally less than Dunlop Blu Response (81.3 v 86.6) and was 1 point behind Michelin Primacy 3 Vredestein Sportrac 5 in performance in the wet. " Braking in the wet was excellent.... but quite susceptible to aquaplaning...."


Its Wet Grip Rating is B in the EU Tyre Label stats

Apart from the fact that I need to get a hobby, this tends to support Disraeli's view that there are 3 sorts of lies: Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics...

I always worry about someone travelling behind me who is not keeping the correct distance because they are over confident in their driving abilities/ reaction times/ the fact that their car is fitted with top branded tyres which have less than 3 mm tread or are unevenly worn due to lack of correct alignment.

Something more to fret about.....

Edited by honevo on Monday 21st June 20:05

Edited by honevo on Monday 21st June 20:24

Edited by honevo on Monday 21st June 20:31

Edited by honevo on Monday 21st June 20:46

[tobinen]

I collected the wheels last week and it's a thumbs up from me. He diamond-cut the edges. The bill was £364.80



The original centre caps might clean up a bit more or I can use the current ones from the 16s

[Northbrook]

They look good! I think I'll take my ratty set there, and see what they can do. Thanks!

[CharlesdeGaulle]

They do indeed look good. Seems a reasonable price overall too.

[harrykul]

Great job, and really cheap for diamond cutting!

[B'stard Child]

Wow - they look great

Glad you managed to upload pictures

[Stegel]

They look great, and that price seems very good value too.

[honevo]

nullogik said:

honevo said:

Yes, that is pretty much what my W140 looked like when I had the Sachs springs fitted. In fact I think mine might have been a tad higher than yours! You say its parked on an incline so that will have an effect, but I'd say you need to reduce the front ride height by about 50%.

I think the spring pad info that Tobinen has dug up (particularly the x2 outcome) maybe a viable path for you to follow as well. It all depends on what thickness you currently have installed on the front and much you can go further down by.

Edited by nullogik on Friday 16th April 17:56

Edited by nullogik on Friday 16th April 18:12

I hate going back to this topic but the issues of clearance and shims has proven to be fraught - I booked the car in to a Mercedes specialist to fit 8mm shims but his spring compressor lost its thread and he tells me its not worth the money buying a replacement from Mercedes so its now booked in to my original Merc specialist who does have a compressor but seems to be slightly arsey about it all so I want to make sure that the measurement is correct - I have measured the distance between the centre of the wheel and the wheel arch which is 420mm ( see photo)
There are currently 3 grooves so can I be confident on the basis of Tobinen's post that 8mm shims will resolve the issue without the tyres fouling the bodywork (I have fitted M-B OEM springs ..

[honevo]

honevo said:

nullogik said:

honevo said:

Yes, that is pretty much what my W140 looked like when I had the Sachs springs fitted. In fact I think mine might have been a tad higher than yours! You say its parked on an incline so that will have an effect, but I'd say you need to reduce the front ride height by about 50%.

I think the spring pad info that Tobinen has dug up (particularly the x2 outcome) maybe a viable path for you to follow as well. It all depends on what thickness you currently have installed on the front and much you can go further down by.

Edited by nullogik on Friday 16th April 17:56

Edited by nullogik on Friday 16th April 18:12

I hate going back to this topic but the issues of clearance and shims has proven to be fraught - I booked the car in to a Mercedes specialist to fit 8mm shims but his spring compressor lost its thread and he tells me its not worth the money buying a replacement from Mercedes so its now booked in to my original Merc specialist who does have a compressor but seems to be slightly arsey about it all so I want to make sure that the measurement is correct - I have measured the distance between the centre of the wheel and the wheel arch which is 420mm ( see photo)
There are currently 3 grooves so can I be confident on the basis of Tobinen's post that 8mm shims will resolve the issue without the tyres fouling the bodywork (I have fitted M-B OEM springs ..

[honevo]

honevo said:

Anyway, I got the parking sensor fitted by the bodywork guy but the system still doesn’t work - know it was daft asking bodywork guy but he had to take bumper off tr repair a patch of rust ...he told me that there was a fault in relay module(?) so I have it booked in to the garage for them to look at (and rebond the interior mirror which has returned to its floppy state)
The repair of the seat continues to occupy me as it now detracts from the rest of the car - I attach a photo of the base side panel which has well and truly been bodged by a previous owner...

Edited by honevo on Friday 16th April 17:54

At least the seat repair was successful - £850 for re upholstering driver's seat and clour matching passenger seat

[bolidemichael]

Good man. Time to start a thread and give us something to follow!

[honevo]

That way madness lies

[tobinen]

I was camping with friends the weekend before last near Swanage. These are not very good pictures and I lost my phone for a few days.





The flies liked 744



Kimmeridge Bay was nearby and a nice walk





We took the steam train to Swanage and back





Bovington Tank Museum is recommended and pretty big. I was there 4.5 hours and didn't see everything





The abandoned village of Tyneham is worth a nose around

[mercedeslimos]

Impressive looking train that, I'd say that was a lovely day out.

[mercedeslimos]

mercedeslimos said:

Impressive looking train that, I'd say that was a lovely day out.

https://preservedbritishsteamlocomotives.com/34028-eddystone-sr-21c128-br-34028/

Looks a lot nicer now than it did!

[gregorek82]

Hi everyone,
I’m a new owner of c140 (cl420) and would like to say massive thanks for everyone making this post such a great source of information about our lovely cars👍