General Questions regarding a C208 320 V6

[V8Darren]

The exhaust note is in the ear of the beholder. Personally I think the 320 is too quiet. Fair enough on the elegance, but the sport should have a more aggressive sound. This is why I'm removing the centre silencer on mine and will be going for sports cats when they need replacing.

 

[mbenz1]

Its like a ringing rather than a rattle you cant mistake it, metallic sounding.

I went to staggered 18's and its hardened the ride well past any BMW sport, in fact if I'm honest its too hard, it handles as though its on rails but you do feel the bumps and potholes. The reps will be fine but it will be very hard and can be twitchy on uneven roads

You have just confirmed my fear of a too hard ride with the 18s on the Sport. I was speaking to my brother about the possibility of getting a too firm ride by putting the 18s on a C208 or W202 Sport model. He thought that it wouldn't make the ride too hard but I always was in doubt that it will... In that case I would rather look out for a Elegance model then... that will allow a good balance of a smooth and a firm ride (although there will be a higher factor of smooth ride )

How do you manage with the ride on the staggered 18s then??? You must be wishing the roads were made out of rubber??

The exhaust note is in the ear of the beholder. Personally I think the 320 is too quiet. Fair enough on the elegance, but the sport should have a more aggressive sound. This is why I'm removing the centre silencer on mine and will be going for sports cats when they need replacing.

Agreed, if the exhuast on the V6 is quiet then the Sport model would definitely need a sportier exhuast note. Good luck in your mod

 

[jotter22]

I run staggered 18's on my 209 Ag and would not describe the ride as harsh in any way.

Tony.

 

[flango]

I run staggered 18's on my 209 Ag and would not describe the ride as harsh in any way. Tony.

I would agree on a 209 but my W208 sits on Brabus suspension which is 37mm lower than the already lower sport model and it's too harsh

If it were my daily driver I would be changing the set up for sure

 

[mbenz1]

I would agree on a 209 but my W208 sits on Brabus suspension which is 37mm lower than the already lower sport model and it's too harsh

If it were my daily driver I would be changing the set up for sure

Ahh got it! No wonder you have a very hard ride then. Wouldn't those Replicas mentioned in.post #1 cause a slightly more harder ride than the Sport on the standard 16s then? Assuming there is no Brabus suspension fitted?

 

[HB]

We have a 320 from new in 1999. It's done well over 150k. Best Merc we ever had apart from the rust. Fitted with AMG kit and wheels, staggered 17" and the ride is lush. Also had rattly heat plates which we pulled off with no issues. Fitted it with an alpine head unit with no issues either.
The v6 feels unburstable. Great car with a great engine.

 

[crisc204]

We have a 320 from new in 1999. It's done well over 150k. Best Merc we ever had apart from the rust. Fitted with AMG kit and wheels, staggered 17" and the ride is lush. Also had rattly heat plates which we pulled off with no issues. Fitted it with an alpine head unit with no issues either. The v6 feels unburstable. Great car with a great engine.

I love them to!
My is about to collect 200,000 miles

I borrowed my car off a friend in the motor trade to drive from London to Leeds 10 years ago and we agreed the sale on the return journey by phone.

OP If your proposed CLK is in good order and everything works it sounds like a good shout

This car is from the same type as mine.
It has a one piece twin Cat basically a Y shaped pipe with left and right Cats joining to one pipe. You could replace this with one sport cat from any custom exhaust place like Longlife etc
I bought a genuine Cat off this forum as new old stock 6 or 7 years ago and fitted it in Feb14
Very easy job

Also I would say it has the wrong wheels, Sporty CLKs have width staggered wheels and the tyre size is normally a difference profile to counter the width difference
I run AMG 1 18" S class wheels and -40mm so mine rides hard but really does handle !

 

[mbenz1]

We have a 320 from new in 1999. It's done well over 150k. Best Merc we ever had apart from the rust. Fitted with AMG kit and wheels, staggered 17" and the ride is lush. Also had rattly heat plates which we pulled off with no issues. Fitted it with an alpine head unit with no issues either.
The v6 feels unburstable. Great car with a great engine.

I must say that the C208 320 must be a really good car then...since you have kept it for such a long time! I'm even.more tempted now! That's good to hear that you managed to fit an alpine headunit without any probs. I have seen some C208s for sale with aftermarket head units and in the pictures they seem to be sticking out a little.... I have absolutely no clue why they are not flush into the centre console.

 

[mbenz1]

I love them to!
My is about to collect 200,000 miles

I borrowed my car off a friend in the motor trade to drive from London to Leeds 10 years ago and we agreed the sale on the return journey by phone.

OP If your proposed CLK is in good order and everything works it sounds like a good shout

This car is from the same type as mine.
It has a one piece twin Cat basically a Y shaped pipe with left and right Cats joining to one pipe. You could replace this with one sport cat from any custom exhaust place like Longlife etc
I bought a genuine Cat off this forum as new old stock 6 or 7 years ago and fitted it in Feb14
Very easy job

Also I would say it has the wrong wheels, Sporty CLKs have width staggered wheels and the tyre size is normally a difference profile to counter the width difference
I run AMG 1 18" S class wheels and -40mm so mine rides hard but really does handle !

Thanks for letting me know about the CAT setup, I can.now look for the correct CAT prices. Unfortunately that car has been removed from ebay (it was only on sale there) so I think the car has been sold Due to going abroad in a few weeks, I will wait till I come back and then re-continue the search....

Do you mean to say that the standard wheels on the Sport C208 are wrong or the wheels that I have mentioned in post #1 are wrong? Thanks

 

[mbenz1]

Hi Guys

Just went to view a 98 CLK 320 with 75000 miles. I got a few questions to ask, please if someone can help...

1. The car has Amg bodykit, inc the 17" AMG wheels. The front wheels are 225 and rear are 205?!? This makes no sense to me, but is that the proper setup for a Clk 320 Elegance with AMG body kit?

2. At idle the rpm needle fluctuates a little up and down...is this due to a new MAF requirement or is it normal?

3. When putting the gear on P or D with brake on, idle drops to ~500 rpm and slight shaking/vibration can be felt in car. Is this normal?

4. The dash has a 1".crack at the corner of front passenger dash airbag and the airbag seal is also broken at some areas. Apparently this is common in the w208 model...Would the crack propogate further and is it worth getting the 1" crack filled?

Thanks guys

 

[A-AvantGarde]

Hi Guys Just went to view a 98 CLK 320 with 75000 miles. I got a few questions to ask, please if someone can help... 1. The car has Amg bodykit, inc the 17" AMG wheels. The front wheels are 225 and rear are 205?!? This makes no sense to me, but is that the proper setup for a Clk 320 Elegance with AMG body kit?

The rears should be 245 or 255 section assuming it has the original staggered setup. If not then the rears should also be 225.

 

[mbenz1]

The rears should be 245 or 255 section assuming it has the original staggered setup. If not then the rears should also be 225.

That's what I thought also. I can't understand why the wheel set-up is different on this car... The only reason i could think of is that because it is a Elegance trim model... But regatdless of the trim, the tyre size should either be the same all around or smaller at front. I have never seen a car with a bigger tyre size at front than rear...

 

[A-AvantGarde]

That's what I thought also. I can't understand why the wheel set-up is different on this car... The only reason i could think of is that because it is a Elegance trim model... But regatdless of the trim, the tyre size should either be the same all around or smaller at front. I have never seen a car with a bigger tyre size at front than rear...

Trim level wouldn't have anything to do with it.

Maybe the seller needed to replace some tyres and bought some cheap part worns to get through the MOT / prepare for sale. The owner may have also rotated the tyres not knowing that they're staggered so the 205s should be on the front and the 225s at the rear. Still the wrong size, I don't think you'd have anything narrower than 215 on the front.

The only sure way to check would be to remove the wheels and check the markings on the rim itself.

 

[Deane x]

I have a 208 CAB, this has CC so I cannot see why a sunroof would pose a bigger issue than a full roof down.

Rattle could be heat shield, but could also be the lower cats.

Those wheels/tyres will fit fine, I have 225x40x18 front and 255x35x18 rears

can you post the Vin so I can do a quick lookup of the build spec for inclusion of AC. Failing that, I can try and get the Vin from the REG

Just asking but why would you have bigger tires on front ?

 

[Howard]

He hasn't ?

 

[V12]

They shouldn't.

 

[mbenz1]

Trim level wouldn't have anything to do with it.

Maybe the seller needed to replace some tyres and bought some cheap part worns to get through the MOT / prepare for sale. The owner may have also rotated the tyres not knowing that they're staggered so the 205s should be on the front and the 225s at the rear. Still the wrong size, I don't think you'd have anything narrower than 215 on the front.

The only sure way to check would be to remove the wheels and check the markings on the rim itself.

Yes, I'm also thinking that there has been a confusion case with the person who fitted the tyres to the car.... He/she has put the bigger ones (225) at the front and the smaller ones (205) at the rear. BUT...

I also noticed that in the rear wheels, there was a 1/2" gap between the rim edge and the tyre...normally the rim edge should be flushed to the tyre....so according to this, the person may have fitted a 205 size tyre to a 225 size wheel. However, if this is true then that would mean that the tyre size for all 4 wheels is 225.

But for genuine AMG wheels of that era, they never had the same tyre size all around...correct? Therefore, this may suggest that the wheels are replicas (although they do have the AMG logo)??

 

[Howard]

Correct size for staggered setup from the factory is 225/45/17 front , 245/40/17 rear.

 

[V12]

Best thing to do to be sure is take the wheels off and you'll find the sizes stamped or cast on the inside of the wheel.
It would be a very dense tyre fitter to fit front tyres to rear wheels or vice versa.

 

[Deane x]

He hasn't ?

225x40x18 front and 255x35x18 rears .... 40s on front and 35s on rear