Mercedes Benz C32 AMG
Discussion
Got the car back from Dartford Transmissions on Friday. Took a time for them to fix it, but the bits took a while and I asked them to get it MOT'd plus regass the AC. I took advantage of the one day lull in train strikes, and successfully made it to Dartford 4 trains later for a substantial wallet lightening.
2 miles into its first drive with a freshly rebuilt gearbox - stuck in Friday afternoon M25 traffic was quite daunting - but it got home 85 miles away just fine. I've now done 200 miles in it since then, and all is well.
Spent a little time yesterday removing the bonnet liner for some more supercharger whine and test fitting some 18" wheels.
Here's a before and after. I'll get the 18''s refurbished in the coming weeks.
SL55 intake system going on next week.
2 miles into its first drive with a freshly rebuilt gearbox - stuck in Friday afternoon M25 traffic was quite daunting - but it got home 85 miles away just fine. I've now done 200 miles in it since then, and all is well.
Spent a little time yesterday removing the bonnet liner for some more supercharger whine and test fitting some 18" wheels.
Here's a before and after. I'll get the 18''s refurbished in the coming weeks.
SL55 intake system going on next week.
80quattro said:
Got the car back from Dartford Transmissions on Friday. Took a time for them to fix it, but the bits took a while and I asked them to get it MOT'd plus regass the AC. I took advantage of the one day lull in train strikes, and successfully made it to Dartford 4 trains later for a substantial wallet lightening.
2 miles into its first drive with a freshly rebuilt gearbox - stuck in Friday afternoon M25 traffic was quite daunting - but it got home 85 miles away just fine. I've now done 200 miles in it since then, and all is well.
Spent a little time yesterday removing the bonnet liner for some more supercharger whine and test fitting some 18" wheels.
Here's a before and after. I'll get the 18''s refurbished in the coming weeks.
SL55 intake system going on next week.
What was the work required on the transmission?2 miles into its first drive with a freshly rebuilt gearbox - stuck in Friday afternoon M25 traffic was quite daunting - but it got home 85 miles away just fine. I've now done 200 miles in it since then, and all is well.
Spent a little time yesterday removing the bonnet liner for some more supercharger whine and test fitting some 18" wheels.
Here's a before and after. I'll get the 18''s refurbished in the coming weeks.
SL55 intake system going on next week.
i ran one of these in estate form for 10 year selling it only last year having covered about 50k in my ownership
Never broke down.
Dex 6 will transform the box, worth servicing the super charger (i still have some of the correct jet oil i think if you need it?) h and changing the charger belt is a very effective performance mod + greasing the idle bearing on the charger improves off boost ecconomy.
My old shed
Never broke down.
Dex 6 will transform the box, worth servicing the super charger (i still have some of the correct jet oil i think if you need it?) h and changing the charger belt is a very effective performance mod + greasing the idle bearing on the charger improves off boost ecconomy.
My old shed
I understand the wagons are quite rare. I hope the car you replaced it with is one that provides similar reliability and performance ! I would have loved one, but it would've entirely justified the sale of one of my other cars, which I can't bear to part with yet haha
I have a bunch of mods for the car, including a can of jet oil. Thank you for your kind offer
I have a bunch of mods for the car, including a can of jet oil. Thank you for your kind offer
IainWhy said:
i ran one of these in estate form for 10 year selling it only last year having covered about 50k in my ownership
Never broke down.
Dex 6 will transform the box, worth servicing the super charger (i still have some of the correct jet oil i think if you need it?) h and changing the charger belt is a very effective performance mod + greasing the idle bearing on the charger improves off boost ecconomy.
My old shed
Never broke down.
Dex 6 will transform the box, worth servicing the super charger (i still have some of the correct jet oil i think if you need it?) h and changing the charger belt is a very effective performance mod + greasing the idle bearing on the charger improves off boost ecconomy.
My old shed
80quattro said:
I actually owned the c32 for 11 years and it was a 2001 so a pretty early example.
In all that time i can write the list of repairs very easily
radiator
crank sensor
Front hubs (these are bad for corroding so if you get any brake wobble its likely the cause)
prop flex disc
Had to weld the exhaust back box back on as it has broken through fatigue
Replaced all the front and rear suspension links (all standard c class stuff so very cheap)
TCC solenoid in the gearbox
Replace the rear brake line as it rotted through under the fuel tank (that was a faff).
Replaced the lambda's, didn't make it any better of fuel
That's it. I bought it on 70k ish and sold it at about 120k
Really the only downside was the the economy, on a 300 mile run going steady i would see 21ish with out normal average being more like 14mpg. My car prior tp the c32 was an e46 m3, and i recall post change i was convinced for a month or so that it had a fuel leak
A fine choice indeed! I bought mine last October at 134k miles. Just passed 139k and no notable issues so far, but looking at some of the bills in the history I'm (pretending to be) ready to face the worst!
Mine is one of the last on a 53 plate, so does have the same galvanised body that is on the later 55's. Little bit of rust around the rear arches, and I'm trying to drum up the bravery for a look under the arch liners. No rust mentioned in the MOT history so far, and subframes looked pretty tidy.
Performance is hilarious, gearbox aside it feels as quick as my Dad's M140i was. It certainly shocked a MK3 Focus RS on a stretch of motorway in a brief moment of sillyness!
Wonderful car on long journeys too, aside from the poor fuel economy (reasonably good for the type of car and age, but mid-high 20's in today's fuel prices is not ideal).
I really need to put a thread together for mine. Pic is from when I picked it up. Gangsta tints have since been removed!
Mine is one of the last on a 53 plate, so does have the same galvanised body that is on the later 55's. Little bit of rust around the rear arches, and I'm trying to drum up the bravery for a look under the arch liners. No rust mentioned in the MOT history so far, and subframes looked pretty tidy.
Performance is hilarious, gearbox aside it feels as quick as my Dad's M140i was. It certainly shocked a MK3 Focus RS on a stretch of motorway in a brief moment of sillyness!
Wonderful car on long journeys too, aside from the poor fuel economy (reasonably good for the type of car and age, but mid-high 20's in today's fuel prices is not ideal).
I really need to put a thread together for mine. Pic is from when I picked it up. Gangsta tints have since been removed!
I love the way the car looks so subtle - but, like you said - can show a clean pair of heels to a lot of cars that are certainly less so. It's quite a bit quicker than my friends' E36 M3 Evo as a C32 has a lot more torque. I was tempted to buy a C55, but prefer the single exhaust and tunability of a supercharger. To be completely honest, the wing badges are off mine, the 18's are more generic AMG wheels, and I'll be downbadging the bootlid. My rear tints are staying, just to compound the 'pizza delivery' C220 look.
Fuel economy is rubbish, and super unleaded too. Fortunately, I have a couple of sensible cars additionally, one with a fuel card.
Fuel economy is rubbish, and super unleaded too. Fortunately, I have a couple of sensible cars additionally, one with a fuel card.
TheFinners said:
A fine choice indeed! I bought mine last October at 134k miles. Just passed 139k and no notable issues so far, but looking at some of the bills in the history I'm (pretending to be) ready to face the worst!
Mine is one of the last on a 53 plate, so does have the same galvanised body that is on the later 55's. Little bit of rust around the rear arches, and I'm trying to drum up the bravery for a look under the arch liners. No rust mentioned in the MOT history so far, and subframes looked pretty tidy.
Performance is hilarious, gearbox aside it feels as quick as my Dad's M140i was. It certainly shocked a MK3 Focus RS on a stretch of motorway in a brief moment of sillyness!
Wonderful car on long journeys too, aside from the poor fuel economy (reasonably good for the type of car and age, but mid-high 20's in today's fuel prices is not ideal).
I really need to put a thread together for mine. Pic is from when I picked it up. Gangsta tints have since been removed!
Mine is one of the last on a 53 plate, so does have the same galvanised body that is on the later 55's. Little bit of rust around the rear arches, and I'm trying to drum up the bravery for a look under the arch liners. No rust mentioned in the MOT history so far, and subframes looked pretty tidy.
Performance is hilarious, gearbox aside it feels as quick as my Dad's M140i was. It certainly shocked a MK3 Focus RS on a stretch of motorway in a brief moment of sillyness!
Wonderful car on long journeys too, aside from the poor fuel economy (reasonably good for the type of car and age, but mid-high 20's in today's fuel prices is not ideal).
I really need to put a thread together for mine. Pic is from when I picked it up. Gangsta tints have since been removed!
on the fuel point, and of course take your own view on this, but i ran mine for the entirety of my 11 years on whatever i felt like at the time, mostly regular unleaded, infrequently super if it was cheap. i could make out little if any difference other than the fuel economy was marginally better on super (still of course, suicidal, but marginally better)
Its been a while since I updated my thread, so here goes... however, not much to report. Here's a current photo with it on the CLK55/E55 wheels off the jacks and actually cleanish.
I also now have a new prop shaft bearing and donuts fitted at each end due to a vibration through the drivers seat.
Now done almost 2,000 miles since gearbox rebuild, and its running well.
A couple of small jobs up next, down badge the bootlid, machine polish one of the headlight lenses and get the pass side electric seat working. I'll probably then store it over winter and exhume my Audi A4 Avant as its substantially less likely to end up sliding around in wet weather being 4wd.
I also now have a new prop shaft bearing and donuts fitted at each end due to a vibration through the drivers seat.
Now done almost 2,000 miles since gearbox rebuild, and its running well.
A couple of small jobs up next, down badge the bootlid, machine polish one of the headlight lenses and get the pass side electric seat working. I'll probably then store it over winter and exhume my Audi A4 Avant as its substantially less likely to end up sliding around in wet weather being 4wd.
Small update - had new front suspension arms fitted today, and a new front wheel bearing.
The arms were an MOT advisory from earlier this year so were always part of the plan. MB genuine parts are Lemforder, so I just ordered from Euros. Them plus the bearing were £199 so I'm not overly upset by that.
Next up is a wheel alignment and then I think I'll park it up for a few months as I have an A4 Avant quattro that's been sat unused since Easter, so will be a winter switcheroo.
The arms were an MOT advisory from earlier this year so were always part of the plan. MB genuine parts are Lemforder, so I just ordered from Euros. Them plus the bearing were £199 so I'm not overly upset by that.
Next up is a wheel alignment and then I think I'll park it up for a few months as I have an A4 Avant quattro that's been sat unused since Easter, so will be a winter switcheroo.
Its been a good 6 months since I updated on here, mainly due to the car not being used much.
The car has been back to Dartford Transmissions as I experienced a vibration through the floor that I had looked at by a local garage. Their diagnosis was 'gearbox', which seemed unlikely as its 3,000 miles into a fully rebuild one. However, it was still under guarantee, so off it went to be checked.
One of the MOT advisories for last years' MOT was a rear subframe mount worn, which has got worse through the year, so it was in the back of my mind that this could have caused the vibration. Dartford Transmissions confirmed this was the case, and enlisted the next door neighbour Martyn Scott at Biddenham Motor Racing - a BMW M Power specialist - who have done many E46 boot floor repairs over the years. They dropped the subframe and replaced all the mountings with genuine MB parts. Dartford did a wheel alignment, road tested it, MOT'd it (just a rear tyre and a cloudy headlight advised).
Now the car is back, I've had the AC regassed, and I'm all good to go for the rest of the summer. There's a few minor details I'll sort along the way.
The car has been back to Dartford Transmissions as I experienced a vibration through the floor that I had looked at by a local garage. Their diagnosis was 'gearbox', which seemed unlikely as its 3,000 miles into a fully rebuild one. However, it was still under guarantee, so off it went to be checked.
One of the MOT advisories for last years' MOT was a rear subframe mount worn, which has got worse through the year, so it was in the back of my mind that this could have caused the vibration. Dartford Transmissions confirmed this was the case, and enlisted the next door neighbour Martyn Scott at Biddenham Motor Racing - a BMW M Power specialist - who have done many E46 boot floor repairs over the years. They dropped the subframe and replaced all the mountings with genuine MB parts. Dartford did a wheel alignment, road tested it, MOT'd it (just a rear tyre and a cloudy headlight advised).
Now the car is back, I've had the AC regassed, and I'm all good to go for the rest of the summer. There's a few minor details I'll sort along the way.
Thought I might get a final 2023 update in of my car, and its been circa 6 months since my last post.
I took it in to a local MB specialist a few weeks ago for a health check to see if there are any areas of impending doom to anticipate for the winter, and its all quite encouraging. Needs a pair of rear springs due to what I suspect are the originals showing corrosion, and ideally a couple of engine mountings. They also did an oil service with Mobil 1 and checked the quality of the rustproofing after the subframe mounts were previously replaced.
Rear springs from MB were £65 each, and £60 to fit the pair by a local mechanic, so they've just been done. Its booked in for the mounts and also the sunroof to be looked at in the New Year, as I think it needs adjustment (it tilts but doesn't slide).
I've also ordered a new supercharger gasket as I've found out that the underside of the supercharger contains a baffle, which quietens it. Obviously this is outrageous and needs removing as swiftly as possible.
I took it in to a local MB specialist a few weeks ago for a health check to see if there are any areas of impending doom to anticipate for the winter, and its all quite encouraging. Needs a pair of rear springs due to what I suspect are the originals showing corrosion, and ideally a couple of engine mountings. They also did an oil service with Mobil 1 and checked the quality of the rustproofing after the subframe mounts were previously replaced.
Rear springs from MB were £65 each, and £60 to fit the pair by a local mechanic, so they've just been done. Its booked in for the mounts and also the sunroof to be looked at in the New Year, as I think it needs adjustment (it tilts but doesn't slide).
I've also ordered a new supercharger gasket as I've found out that the underside of the supercharger contains a baffle, which quietens it. Obviously this is outrageous and needs removing as swiftly as possible.
I’ve just found and mini-binged this thread. All good work that you’ve done to it and it sounds as though, corrosion excepted, it’ll prove a good servant to you. The only potential issue in running it may be the availability of parts, which I’m finding with both my 2003 E500 and 2008 R500!
TheDoggingFather said:
I thought these had all vanished years ago, great to see it still on the road. Have you done the mods yet?
I've been gradually prepping the car so its 100%. MSL in Brum have quoted me for the fitting and map, which I will probably book in for March/April next year. Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff