A long time ago in a galaxy far away (Well Caterham!) was a nice nearly new W203 C Class for sale. The deal was done and then the fun started. This is the story of a few of my mods and the successes and perhaps as importantly the failures of my modding!
First of all a couple of photos of my unmolested C Class.
The first mod had to be wheels. OEM is best and I discovered why even the C32 AMG "only" has 17 inch wheels. You can only fit upto 225 tyres on the front of a W203. I chose AMG IV s and ordered them from Germany and after a months nervous wait they eventually arrived.
The side view of the car showed that the car looked too high and this set me on the way to starting suspension mods. Oh dear!
I decided that I needed to lower the car and fortunately a set of C32 AMG springs came available. I got a local garage to fit them for £40, however I wasnt happy as the car had uneven ride height. I went to a friendly MB friend who diagnosed badly seated springs. Off they came and were refitted and the handling was fantastic, however, whilst the rear of the car was sitting nicely, I still thought the front too high.
Eventually my friendly MB man rebuilt the front suspension with Sport Edition springs and new standard shocks. The end result with C32 rear and Sport edition front springs succeeded in getting the drop I wanted whilst retaining a good ride. I'm now happy with the wheels and suspension!
After sorting the wheels and suspension I felt that the standard downturned exhaust pipes were lacking in visual appeal! First of all I tried some custom make chrome pipes which were horrible, then I fitted the Diesel Sport Edition Chrome pipes which looked nice until one fell off. Next I tried an AMG system but my wife thought it too loud. Next came the best looking system, The Brabus one! Sadly it was still too deep sounding for our likely so off it came. (My exhaust fitter loved me!). Then I had a great bit of fortune, a friend tipped me off to a new MB sport pack full system going for a song I bought it and because it was made for my car it sounded right and fitted perfectly....there is a lesson here!
Having sorted the exhaust I became trouble by the look of my brakes through my lovely AMG iv's!! I found a firm who made crossdrilled brakes of standard size and had them fitted and the calipers painted black. I like them and they are wearing very well...
Having sorted the exterior I wanted to do some more amg stuff to go with my wheels and suspension. The F1 Medical wheel was the wheel that was used on C32 AMG F1 cars and is also featured in the car in the MB Stuttgart museum. It feels lovely and add about 20bhp
Having completed the Big mods I started attending to minor mods. First of all I had active cornering lights enabled. Later I had them turned off again as a waste of time-everyone just thought one of your foglights was broken
First of all a couple of photos of my unmolested C Class.
The first mod had to be wheels. OEM is best and I discovered why even the C32 AMG "only" has 17 inch wheels. You can only fit upto 225 tyres on the front of a W203. I chose AMG IV s and ordered them from Germany and after a months nervous wait they eventually arrived.
The side view of the car showed that the car looked too high and this set me on the way to starting suspension mods. Oh dear!
I decided that I needed to lower the car and fortunately a set of C32 AMG springs came available. I got a local garage to fit them for £40, however I wasnt happy as the car had uneven ride height. I went to a friendly MB friend who diagnosed badly seated springs. Off they came and were refitted and the handling was fantastic, however, whilst the rear of the car was sitting nicely, I still thought the front too high.
Eventually my friendly MB man rebuilt the front suspension with Sport Edition springs and new standard shocks. The end result with C32 rear and Sport edition front springs succeeded in getting the drop I wanted whilst retaining a good ride. I'm now happy with the wheels and suspension!
After sorting the wheels and suspension I felt that the standard downturned exhaust pipes were lacking in visual appeal! First of all I tried some custom make chrome pipes which were horrible, then I fitted the Diesel Sport Edition Chrome pipes which looked nice until one fell off. Next I tried an AMG system but my wife thought it too loud. Next came the best looking system, The Brabus one! Sadly it was still too deep sounding for our likely so off it came. (My exhaust fitter loved me!). Then I had a great bit of fortune, a friend tipped me off to a new MB sport pack full system going for a song I bought it and because it was made for my car it sounded right and fitted perfectly....there is a lesson here!
Having sorted the exhaust I became trouble by the look of my brakes through my lovely AMG iv's!! I found a firm who made crossdrilled brakes of standard size and had them fitted and the calipers painted black. I like them and they are wearing very well...
Having sorted the exterior I wanted to do some more amg stuff to go with my wheels and suspension. The F1 Medical wheel was the wheel that was used on C32 AMG F1 cars and is also featured in the car in the MB Stuttgart museum. It feels lovely and add about 20bhp
Having completed the Big mods I started attending to minor mods. First of all I had active cornering lights enabled. Later I had them turned off again as a waste of time-everyone just thought one of your foglights was broken
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