Sensible family daily wagon - Mercedes Benz S211 E500

Sensible family daily wagon - Mercedes Benz S211 E500

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Discussion

Volvolover

2,036 posts

42 months

Wednesday 5th May 2021
quotequote all
Wibble

I really do think this is a high point for elegant performance wagons


I'd love to buy this when you're done

bolidemichael

Original Poster:

13,927 posts

202 months

Wednesday 5th May 2021
quotequote all
swiveleyedgit said:
That really does look rather good!
Thanks SG; it's all downhill from there, but it's a daily!

tobinen said:
Yes, pretty impressive. Nice
I agree too. The issue with black, as we all know, is that it soon looks like rather un-special as it accumulates dirt. However, it's a welcome surprise to uncover the almost flawless finish when I do get around to washing it.

chris116 said:
Very impressive results.
I was surprised at the amount of rectification required. He took and entire week and it cost 'just' £550 for interior and exterior.

Volvolover said:
Wibble

I really do think this is a high point for elegant performance wagons

I'd love to buy this when you're done
I agree but wait... are you not an Ovlovlover?!

The issue is that I have committed myself to a sunk cost fallacy so am already mulling unrealistic valuations in my mind to justify letting it go... currently sat at £10k and even then, I don't think that the incoming M3 Touring would be a suitable replacement due to space and comfort. I think that tobinen still sits ahead of you in the queue, also, unless he's fed up of ageing Mercs by now...

B'stard Child

28,458 posts

247 months

Wednesday 5th May 2021
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bolidemichael said:
chris116 said:
Very impressive results.
I was surprised at the amount of rectification required. He took and entire week and it cost 'just' £550 for interior and exterior.
That seems incredibly reasonable - I have no idea why or even if it is but the results are stunning

bolidemichael

Original Poster:

13,927 posts

202 months

Wednesday 5th May 2021
quotequote all
B'stard Child said:
bolidemichael said:
chris116 said:
Very impressive results.
I was surprised at the amount of rectification required. He took and entire week and it cost 'just' £550 for interior and exterior.
That seems incredibly reasonable - I have no idea why or even if it is but the results are stunning
I was expecting about £800-£1,000 tbh. I think that it is because he is a one-man band, working from home and is successful enough to be booked in advance for weeks at a time. He's also a very nice guy who seems to have a genuine enthusiasm for what he does; it was a top investment, even when I wash the car now in April/May as we write (in real time).

However, I'm slowly catching up with the present day and the relative lack of usage since November should assist with that; we'll be washing the car a couple of times and also re-visiting Ed.

Does anyone know how to single out and quote previous posts, so that I can reference them in my thread?

B'stard Child

28,458 posts

247 months

Wednesday 5th May 2021
quotequote all
bolidemichael said:
Does anyone know how to single out and quote previous posts, so that I can reference them in my thread?
If you are talking about cherry picking question/posts and answering them en mass - I've always Quoted the post concerned and the copied into a word doc - press back and then quote next one paste in to word rinse and repeat etc etc

bolidemichael

Original Poster:

13,927 posts

202 months

Wednesday 5th May 2021
quotequote all
B'stard Child said:
bolidemichael said:
Does anyone know how to single out and quote previous posts, so that I can reference them in my thread?
If you are talking about cherry picking question/posts and answering them en mass - I've always Quoted the post concerned and the copied into a word doc - press back and then quote next one paste in to word rinse and repeat etc etc
Not quite. For what you describe, I just open separate tabs and cut/paste.

I mean referencing a specific post, which is sometimes used in a mean fashion in the NP&E forum... however, it'd be handy to do it without trawling through forum activity history.

B'stard Child

28,458 posts

247 months

Wednesday 5th May 2021
quotequote all
bolidemichael said:
B'stard Child said:
bolidemichael said:
Does anyone know how to single out and quote previous posts, so that I can reference them in my thread?
If you are talking about cherry picking question/posts and answering them en mass - I've always Quoted the post concerned and the copied into a word doc - press back and then quote next one paste in to word rinse and repeat etc etc
Not quite. For what you describe, I just open separate tabs and cut/paste.

I mean referencing a specific post, which is sometimes used in a mean fashion in the NP&E forum... however, it'd be handy to do it without trawling through forum activity history.
Seems you already have a method then - Not sure it's possible without trawling back tho

I'm doing my best to stay out of NP&E biggrin

bolidemichael

Original Poster:

13,927 posts

202 months

Wednesday 5th May 2021
quotequote all
B'stard Child said:
bolidemichael said:
B'stard Child said:
bolidemichael said:
Does anyone know how to single out and quote previous posts, so that I can reference them in my thread?
If you are talking about cherry picking question/posts and answering them en mass - I've always Quoted the post concerned and the copied into a word doc - press back and then quote next one paste in to word rinse and repeat etc etc
Not quite. For what you describe, I just open separate tabs and cut/paste.

I mean referencing a specific post, which is sometimes used in a mean fashion in the NP&E forum... however, it'd be handy to do it without trawling through forum activity history.
Seems you already have a method then - Not sure it's possible without trawling back tho

I'm doing my best to stay out of NP&E biggrin
Reader's Cars and Food & Drink is where it's at biggrin

Gallons Per Mile

1,915 posts

108 months

Wednesday 5th May 2021
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That detailing job looks very good, the pic of the car on your drive looks like you've gone back in time to 2004 when it was brand new. I'll have to have a go at detailing my latest Golf and of course the BMW too to achieve the same sort of effect. I bet you're over the moon with that biggrin

bolidemichael

Original Poster:

13,927 posts

202 months

Wednesday 5th May 2021
quotequote all
I wouldn't have been able to achieve the same effects myself, so yeah, I'm really pleased with the result.

It's fair to say that I was loving the beading, for a while smile


tog

4,552 posts

229 months

Thursday 6th May 2021
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That looks like an amazing improvement. I'm not versed in detailing costs, but it seems very reasonable given the evident amount of work done and time taken.

Magikarp

796 posts

49 months

Thursday 20th May 2021
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This is an inspiration for my journey with a similar barge.

Looking forward to getting stuck in.

bolidemichael

Original Poster:

13,927 posts

202 months

Thursday 20th May 2021
quotequote all
tog said:
That looks like an amazing improvement. I'm not versed in detailing costs, but it seems very reasonable given the evident amount of work done and time taken.
I think so too, Tog. A nice guy to boot!

bolidemichael

Original Poster:

13,927 posts

202 months

Thursday 20th May 2021
quotequote all
Magikarp said:
This is an inspiration for my journey with a similar barge.

Looking forward to getting stuck in.
It's great that there's another on here with the same model. We can exchange a mutual feeling of schadenfreude smile

bolidemichael

Original Poster:

13,927 posts

202 months

Friday 16th July 2021
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November 2020 involved a trip to Brooklands



in which I bizarrely managed to reverse into a post in the car park. It must have been knocked many times, due to its awkward positioning and just lopped over without marking the rear bumper. I just popped it back and walked away...

This Wellington Bomber was recovered from Loch Ness and painstakingly rebuilt.



Senna's MP-something



The 24L Napier Railton, forever holder of the track record at Brooklands at over 143mph.









The place is steeped in history and the luminaries of the past still inhabit the buildings, it's an amazing place.

Here is the bouncing bomb, 'Upkeep', designed by Barnes Wallis. Being an engineer, he believed in disabling the enemy through infrastructure damage, rather than via the design of weapons that directly led to loss of life on a mass scale. This is one such example.



Another example is 'Grand Slam'. Basically, it's a fk-off huge bomb that weighs over 10,000kg and would penetrate the ground near railway bridges and simulate an earthquake which would damage the foundations.





EDIT: Further to my posting this, one of the pilots of 617 Squadron recently passed away at the age of 100. You can read about how Barnes Wallis' explosives technology was deployed in obituary of Benny Goodman.

Also an incredible atmospheric chamber designed by Wallis, the only kind in the world, which could simulate extreme weather conditions in addition to altitude.



So deeply scarred by the experience of losing good men to prototypes in the second world war, that the God-fearing Wallis refused to ever subject pilots to the risk of loss of life. This probably cost him the opportunity to shape history with a supersonic jet concept that was more revolutionary than Concorde, as he would only prove the concept with models and was essentially put out to roost for the remainder of his career... perhaps one day, history with remember him with the reverence that he is due. He is up there with Lawrence of Arabia, Alan Turing and Isambard Kingdom Brunel, in my view.

The back end of November saw a visit to a largely deserted City of London on a Sunday in order to visit the monument to the Great Fire of London, as my daughter was studying the topic that term.





and there is the little one standing on the spot in which the bakery was located, identified as the spot on which the Great Fire originated.



I do like the decorative cladding on the adjacent building which resembles smoke.

Edited by bolidemichael on Saturday 17th July 00:36


Edited by bolidemichael on Wednesday 21st July 09:17

bolidemichael

Original Poster:

13,927 posts

202 months

Saturday 17th July 2021
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December came along and Mrs Bolide forced my hand into getting a Christmas tree a week early, whereas I'm usually a stickler for 'twelve days before Christmas, or the nearest weekend to such time'. Damn those puppy dog eyes.



It was around this time too that I had noticed the o/s/r sitting rather low. Fearing the worst, I rang around and was quoted for dropping the subframe and replacing the air shocks in a pair, with OEM units. Three quotes ranging from about £1,700 to £2,300. That is, with the exception of Wayne Gates in Harrow, who told me that the lip on the reservoir bubbles over time and breaks the seal to the tube that connects the reservoir to the air shock. Sanding it, metal-weld and re-seating the hose, should see it good and only cost a few hundred quid! It was worth a punt, so I drove up with my winter tyres in tow for swapping over.

Said hose connecting to the reservoir



Said summer tyres after exchange



I stayed there for a few hours, did some work on the laptop and took a stroll around the block a number of times whilst on a conf call. I also discovered an awesome ethnic bakery which offered freshly made spinach and potato stuffed flatbreads for about £2 or something.

Assured that the job was done, I paid up and drove home.

bolidemichael

Original Poster:

13,927 posts

202 months

Saturday 17th July 2021
quotequote all
The next stop was at Wheels-In-Motion in Chesham. They have a good reputation amongst MB owners and I was fed up with my man that had run out of ideas and was increasingly pointing to 'airmatic' set up specialists.

This carbon clad beauty was in the car park



and Magnus went onto the ramp, on time as usual, since a slot is booked.



based on the readings, he wanted to straighten the castor which required the introduction of eccentric bolts, for which the adjustment is engineered into the vehicle but not fitted as standard.





Whilst under the car, I had a look around and spotted some glistening oil



also irritatingly, some over-run on the o/s/f missed by the bodyshop. It's a video, so click on the pic.


So we were done



and I hit a minor milestone on the way home



Irritatingly, the steering wheel wasn't straight, but I'd have to wait until the new year to re-visit and get that sorted with nothing much happening due to the lockdown.



Before the month was out, we squeezed in a long overdue wash since the detail



and I enjoyed the beading from the hydrophobic combo of zipang and miyabe (vid)

I also had an opportunity to check out how effective the Tuf Shine lacquer had worked since application in the summer... the results on the sidewalls are self-evident, I think.



The 'load cover skirt' was refusing to retract more recently, so I gave it a spruce up with Aerospace 303 and a lubrication with a dedicated Wurth product.









The next day, the walkaround in the morning was very satisfying and the results quite remarkable. It's exactly what I wanted... great results from a maintenance wash (click for vid).



I did spot another bit of rust that had seemingly been missed off the o/s/r door... grrr. The bodyshop assured me that this would be dealt with and I evidently overlooked it.



Another niggle that I had was that the o/s/r suspension appeared rather low when on the uneven surface that I had been using for washing the previous day. I usually put the suspension in the raised position, so the gap appeared lower than usual.



Shirley, it couldn't be air leaking from the repaired hose on the rear shock? spin

Edited by bolidemichael on Sunday 18th July 00:14

Northbrook

1,440 posts

64 months

Saturday 17th July 2021
quotequote all
Ooh, a cliffhanger....

Interestingly, my S124 is at WG. I'd be interested to know where the food you mentioned came from :-)

B'stard Child

28,458 posts

247 months

Saturday 17th July 2021
quotequote all
bolidemichael said:
and there is the little one standing on the spot in which the bakery was located, identified as the spot on which the Great Fire originated.



I do like the decorative cladding on the adjacent building which resembles smoke.
If I've got my Buildings and streets right your daughter is standing where I did in the late afternoon several days running as a teenager on few weekends in the summer holidays waiting for my work-a-holic dad to look out of the window and let me into the office (he would be trying to finish whatever project he was working on in the office ringed in red)

Edited by B'stard Child on Saturday 17th July 09:15

bolidemichael

Original Poster:

13,927 posts

202 months

Saturday 17th July 2021
quotequote all
Pudding lane was there and has now been subsequently shortened.