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Am I alone in this or do you guys do the same thing?

Sam87

Active Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2010
Messages
990
Location
UK
Car
S65AMG V12 BiTurbo & S63AMG V8 BiTurbo Designo
Hello everyone,

I need some reassurance that I’m not alone in this and you guys also do this sort of thing?

It seems like I just can’t help myself when it comes to cars and end up buying something I don’t need!

I never thought I’d own a car that I recently bought as it’s never been the sort of car I have been interested in buying before but somehow I ended up with one!

Recently I met my friends father in law and as we started chatting next to his car, I thought I’d be nice and compliment the car he came with which was a Mercedes SLK. I said nice car and this is where I should have stopped but the sentence seemed too short so I said, “ Nice car, you want to sell it to me? “ Why I asked if he would sell the car to me, I don’t know. It just seemed like the right thing to say at that moment :rolleyes:

He replied by saying he’s actually thinking of selling the car as he doesn’t drive it much.

I couldn’t back down now so I said I’m happy to make him an offer once I actually see what they sell for as I had no idea what these cars are worth 😂

On that same day, I ended up buying an SLK280. A car that I have no need for but as days have gone by I seem to like the car more and more. Now I really like the body shape and the lines of this car.
The front end reminds me of the SLR ( just a slightly cheaper car the SLK 😂 )

The V6 sounds nice and for a car that is this small, the 3.0l is good size engine with a good amount of power.
I can only imagine how much fun the SLK55 AMG must be!

The car has had just two owners and it’s done only 60k miles.

I was told that it’s a 10th anniversary car?
It’s got the AMG body kit. Nice looking 18’s with new Continental tyres all around.
It has red seatbelts and red stitching on the seats, steering wheel and the gear stick.


After buying the car, I booked in at Mercedes in Beaconsfield for a health check as there’s a recall for the car ( drivers air bag ). Mercedes called me later on that day to say that the car is in excellent condition apart from having a cracked rear subframe and they said they would be changing the subframe as a goodwill gesture. Who can say no to such an offer!!

I’ve always had good experience with this dealership as I’ve been going there a lot of times buying parts for the S classes starting with my first one the S600.

I was told I will need to pay for bolts, washers and the maximum it would cost me would be around £260. I told them I was happy with that.

A few days later the car was ready and when I went to pick the car up, they showed me that the total price was just over £4400 😳. Nice of Mercedes to cover that!

They also said I wouldn’t need to pay for the bolts, washers as the car has such good service records and it’s been looked after so well that Mercedes covered all the cost.

Here is the car parked outside Mercedes when I went to drop it off for the health check.







Some other pic’s














While I was there, I ordered a service kit, engine oil, air filters, oil filter, spark plugs, coolant levelling sensor. The only thing I didn’t get from Mercedes was the pollen filter.





It’s a very clean car underneath.








Spark plugs torqued to the correct spec




Service, MOT, road tax and insurance were done this week and now I need to find some time to start driving it.
 
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Even though the headlamps look like the cars with Xenons, they are just normal h7 bulbs which look like candles. I ordered some HID’s, led side lights and now I can actually see at night. In case anyone is wondering if the HID kit would be a mot failer….. It shouldn’t be an mot failer as cars with xenons need to have headlamp washers from 2009 onwards so it doesn’t effect this car and the image is perfectly clear unlike halogen headlamps with hid kits that blind other road users.

I had to do some cutting as the bulb holder had to be cut so I could run through the hid bulb wires and I’d like to think I done a good job with the installation.











What’s the plans with this car? Me and my wife will be driving to Europe this year and we will visit a few places. I had decided to take the S65AMG instead of the S63 but now I’ve changed my mind. We’ll be going with the SLK unless I change my mind again 😄



I got a bit carried away with polishing the exhaust tips, I done the back boxes too 😁



 
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Technically just putting HID in a headlight designed for halogens is a failure....good beam shape or not.... and in my experience halogen projector headlamps never focus HID light that well. In the real world they probably won't notice if the beam pattern sits below the line on the tester. I'd like to see the headlight pattern on a white wall at night to see how much light bleeds over the cutoff.

From the testers manual...

Section 4.1. 4 of the current MOT inspection manuals for both motorcycles and cars and passenger vehicles states 'Existing halogen headlamp units should not be converted to be used with high intensity discharge (HID) or light emitting diode (LED) bulbs. If such a conversion has been done, you must fail the headlamp. '
 
Technically just putting HID in a headlight designed for halogens is a failure....good beam shape or not.... and in my experience halogen projector headlamps never focus HID light that well. In the real world they probably won't notice if the beam pattern sits below the line on the tester. I'd like to see the headlight pattern on a white wall at night to see how much light bleeds over the cutoff.

From the testers manual...

Section 4.1. 4 of the current MOT inspection manuals for both motorcycles and cars and passenger vehicles states 'Existing halogen headlamp units should not be converted to be used with high intensity discharge (HID) or light emitting diode (LED) bulbs. If such a conversion has been done, you must fail the headlamp. '

I understand what you're saying and I have read the manual as well but looking at the headlamps on the SLK, one with factory Xenons and one without Xenons, what is the difference just by looking at it?

For example, this headlamp is genuine Xenon



The one below is a non Xenon headlamp



They both look exactly the same. The difference is the xenon one has the ballast, ignitor and a different bulb. By adding the HID kit, it's technically the same headlamp now.

photo up load

If the headlamp looked like one above, the light output would be all over the place and the beam pattern would be wrong. If a normal headlamp has the round glass inside like the SLK then by adding the HID kit, the beam and kick image should be exactly the same.

I will take a pic and post it here so you can see the image and the light pattern is perfect

:)
 
If is is exactly the same with the same part number you might be good to go.....but usually the projector or reflector are different in design....the reason is that the light from an H7 or whatever halogen leaves the bulb in a different pattern to the light from an HID....so they need different ways of accurately focusing it. Most of the dazzling headlight you see on the road are LEd/HID in halogen housing IMO....

A good sharp HID pattern in the correct housing..

3_61ecfc19-5a2e-4c9f-8cf8-701451ddeca7.jpg

A typical HID in halogen projector housing....on first glance is looks pretty good....but look how much light is bleeding over the line.....thats what dazzles oncoming drivers. Not saying yours are doing that....but its something to be aware of.

20181116_182123.jpg
 
Car looks very nice, and good result on the subframe! My father-in-law had an SLK280 for a number of years.

If you haven't already done so, check the engine number against the ranges given in post #2 of this thread:


Given the low mileage it would be good to know if it's in one of the ranges affected by balance shaft issues.
 
Beautiful looking car and so well cared for.... Enjoy! And yes i have purchased cars in the same scenario ( Daimler Double Six LWB and a Pontiac Firebird immediately spring to mind!! )
 
It seems like I just can’t help myself when it comes to cars and end up buying something I don’t need!
What are you like??? You just can't stop yourself. You need some restraint like me;)
Of course I really need an S63, Range Rover & a Porsche
I can see another major detailing thread coming from you soon:rolleyes:
Keep it up. I love what you do & can't wait till the next episode:)
 
If is is exactly the same with the same part number you might be good to go.....but usually the projector or reflector are different in design....the reason is that the light from an H7 or whatever halogen leaves the bulb in a different pattern to the light from an HID....so they need different ways of accurately focusing it. Most of the dazzling headlight you see on the road are LEd/HID in halogen housing IMO....

A good sharp HID pattern in the correct housing..

View attachment 156415

A typical HID in halogen projector housing....on first glance is looks pretty good....but look how much light is bleeding over the line.....thats what dazzles oncoming drivers. Not saying yours are doing that....but its something to be aware of.

View attachment 156417

I have seen that and you're right, halogen light the pattern is all over the place. I wouldn't have fitted the HID's to the SLK if the pattern was the same
:)

Car looks very nice, and good result on the subframe! My father-in-law had an SLK280 for a number of years.

If you haven't already done so, check the engine number against the ranges given in post #2 of this thread:


Given the low mileage it would be good to know if it's in one of the ranges affected by balance shaft issues.

Thank you! :)
I haven't checked the engine number but I'll do that now, thank you for the link.

Give it a few weeks it probably will be :cool:

🤣

Beautiful looking car and so well cared for.... Enjoy! And yes i have purchased cars in the same scenario ( Daimler Double Six LWB and a Pontiac Firebird immediately spring to mind!! )

Thank you! :)

It makes me feel better knowing I'm not alone and there are others that do the same thing 😆

What are you like??? You just can't stop yourself. You need some restraint like me;)
Of course I really need an S63, Range Rover & a Porsche
I can see another major detailing thread coming from you soon:rolleyes:
Keep it up. I love what you do & can't wait till the next episode:)

I know right! 😁 I'm working on it but sometimes I just can't help myself
Porsche is a dream car for me. I'd love to get a GT3 one day!
I don't think I'll be going too crazy with the detailing on this one. Maybe a two stage machine polish. I've already washed the underside. Maybe paint the brakes.
The wheels have been refurbished not long ago but I was thinking to get them done again and this time go for diamond cut spokes as I believe that was the original finish?
Thank you! :)

Don't fancy picking up my Maserati aswell whilst your buying new toys? 🤣

🤣
If it was an e92 M3, I probably would have sent you a pm now 🤭
I miss the V8 M3 badly and it's a car I would love to own again

I do silly things like buying a Kawasaki zx6r ninja at the age of 63 its not the sort of bike an old git should have but can't bring myself to buy a Harley

😁
63 is not old! You're the same age as my father and in my eyes he's still a young man :)
I've never owned a motorbike even though I do love the look of them [ like the one you own ]. I never got into bikes because I wouldn't be able to have self control knowing how fast you can go on a bike :D
 
I have seen that and you're right, halogen light the pattern is all over the place. I wouldn't have fitted the HID's to the SLK if the pattern was the same
:)



Thank you! :)
I haven't checked the engine number but I'll do that now, thank you for the link.



🤣



Thank you! :)

It makes me feel better knowing I'm not alone and there are others that do the same thing 😆



I know right! 😁 I'm working on it but sometimes I just can't help myself
Porsche is a dream car for me. I'd love to get a GT3 one day!
I don't think I'll be going too crazy with the detailing on this one. Maybe a two stage machine polish. I've already washed the underside. Maybe paint the brakes.
The wheels have been refurbished not long ago but I was thinking to get them done again and this time go for diamond cut spokes as I believe that was the original finish?
Thank you! :)



🤣
If it was an e92 M3, I probably would have sent you a pm now 🤭
I miss the V8 M3 badly and it's a car I would love to own again



😁
63 is not old! You're the same age as my father and in my eyes he's still a young man :)
I've never owned a motorbike even though I do love the look of them [ like the one you own ]. I never got into bikes because I wouldn't be able to have self control knowing how fast you can go on a bike :D
Lol 😆

Ferrari F136 V8 vs BMW S65 .... hmmmm

Tell you what, I'll get some M badges and plaster them all over it for you and I'll try to make it as reliable as a BMW V8 😉

(Before anyone says HA HA Maserati reliable?! The F136 is bomb proof 😁)
 
Lol 😆

Ferrari F136 V8 vs BMW S65 .... hmmmm

Tell you what, I'll get some M badges and plaster them all over it for you and I'll try to make it as reliable as a BMW V8 😉

(Before anyone says HA HA Maserati reliable?! The F136 is bomb proof 😁)

Lets just say the BMW S65 engine is not one of the strongest engines BMW has made 😁 but the V8 M3 is my fav M3 that BMW has made. The last one I had, I didn't drive it much that's why I would love to own another one. There are other V8 engines out there that are better but I will admit, I'm a bit of a BMW fanboy 😆
 
Lets just say the BMW S65 engine is not one of the strongest engines BMW has made 😁 but the V8 M3 is my fav M3 that BMW has made. The last one I had, I didn't drive it much that's why I would love to own another one. There are other V8 engines out there that are better but I will admit, I'm a bit of a BMW fanboy 😆
They make an awesome straight 6, but I'd never be brave enough to buy a V8 or V10 😈
 

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