I had a brilliant idea and bought an ML320, now I need to clean it, many, many times.

[W1ghty]

I think you just doubled you cars value buddy

 

[Blobsta]

More progress today, fitted a cheap stereo with Apple CarPlay which of course had to be opened and modified so it works the way I want it to (This really needs a Projects thread, what level to I need to be to do that? Is it post count?).

Anyway, back to the cleaning part. I stripped down the inside of the boot lid to look at fitting reversing camera and the got sidetracked into resolving this number plate mounting issue, there are 4 screws but two are jammed in the riv-nuts behind the plate,

*Eye twitches

Managed to drill into the back of said riv-nut and squirt penetrating oil in and with a 7mm spanner on the back of it and a bit of patience loosened the screws, greased and fitted them properly.

4 screws, that's better. Hmm, really hate that M. R. Auto bit on the plate... NO! Leave it alone!

Removed the "failed drug dealer" purple (well it's not black anymore) window tint from the rear screen too. I hate that cheap rubbish and I am really pleased with how much nicer it looks without it. Heated it well and peeled gently away from the glass so as not to wreck the heated rear screen. Did the glue come with the tint? No, not one single bit! That took a long time with neat IPA, and tissue paper to remove from the glass. *sighs.

 

[mioba]

Fantastic.....
I am waiting for new number plates

 

[Abb]

Fantastic.....
I am waiting for new number plates

complete with plain black wurth number plate holders, with not a screw in sight!

An epic effort and a brilliant transformation. Looking forward to the updates.

 

[Blobsta]

Not helping guys! This is supposed to be a cheap festival wagon!

I have to say that in spite of the grime, current faults and it's insatiable appetite for fuel (*considers the Mustang to be cheaper to run), I actually really like the car. Hopefully MB will have a whole load of parts for me tomorrow/Tuesday and the replacement radiator will arrive this week too so that will be a bunch more jobs to strike off. If MrGreedy gets his way, I'll be re-dying the leather too.

The CLK looks forlorn on the far side of the drive having not turned a wheel in a week, so I better use that as a parts runner to keep it sweet.

I'm still not sure what will happen with the ML in the longer term, after the festival at the end of the month I wonder what will become of it. Anyone fancy a cheap ML320? It's good on fuel... Gets through loads of it

 

[mioba]

I am sure you could sell it and break even on shat you have put into it. Nes number plates will raise the price by 200 notes easily. Go on do it.
As a side you might decide to keep it as a run around.

 

[Blobsta]

I am sure you could sell it and break even on shat you have put into it. Nes number plates will raise the price by 200 notes easily. Go on do it.
As a side you might decide to keep it as a run around.

The front plate isn't quite straight either. Grr.
I really don't need a runaround car, we have 4 now and I hate the shuffling on the driveway when you want the one over to the side (First world problems I suppose). I think once I've got it mechanically spot on as well it will be a nice thing to own and as you say, if I sell it on I won't lose much which is probably no different than renting an estate car for a few days as it happens. I'm sure it will be around for a while whatever happens.

 

[Blobsta]

That's the "Failed drug dealer" or "Stop 'n' Search" tints removed. To say they had faded over time is an understatement.

I don't have anything against privacy glass on the back of a car unless you have:

• Removed the styling effort that a manufacturer went to to make the car pillar-less a la 300CE, CLK etc.
• Done it to a cabriolet!
• Both of the above

However, when it's this faded and purple I feel it looks much better without it.

 

[Blobsta]

Hey mods, is this worthy of a Project Post? I have spent a lot of time locating a radiator for it today and there is a whole bunch more work to be done that isn't detailing as I work through the issues on this. There will be a lot more cleaning and detailing of course.

 

[mioba]

Looks much better with the normal tints. Privacy glass only looks good if its factory and in some models.
Have you replaced the wipers yet.
Great work btw!

 

[fabes]

This is epic. Cheers

I am resisting a much milder case of OCD and tinkering on my daughters cheap Corsa (soon to DA the roof) but a project just gets under your skin.
Thanks to your work I am waiting on a set of Torx bits so I can get the seats out and have at the carpet.
Project thread written all over it this ML has.....

 

[zipdip]

I like the car without tints,I always thought the Range Rover Vouge which used to come without rear tints looked great,you have taken on a project with this car but it is looking great,I would like to see how you fitted the new stereo,with regard the seats there are people who can do a job on them,a guy I know wanted his seats done and found that he had to wait 3 months to get the guy round the top people have loads of work on.

 

[Blobsta]

I like the car without tints,I always thought the Range Rover Vouge which used to come without rear tints looked great,you have taken on a project with this car but it is looking great,I would like to see how you fitted the new stereo,with regard the seats there are people who can do a job on them,a guy I know wanted his seats done and found that he had to wait 3 months to get the guy round the top people have loads of work on.

There is far too much peer pressure on here to repair these seats, I feel I will soon buckle! Almost certainly I will do them as people have suggested for the cost of some dye to do it, it's a great value for money exercise. One kind member offered me some to try, I must take them up on that. The only slight spanner in the works is where I think these cars were US built, the colour codes don't translate as the interior is simply "GRAY" on the build sheet. It's not a huge problem as I won't be trying to match it perfectly because all the leather will need to be done so if the shade is subtly off, I doubt you'd be able to tell as long as its all a match.

The stereo install was horrible! It's really easy to remove the old one and Mercedes very kindly fitted ISO plugs to the factory harness so it is a simple plug and play job with an aerial adapter. I was going it on the cheap so I bought something cheap and you get what you pay for. It didn't come with a fitting kit and would have been useless anyway so I had to buy a generic cage which I then cut up so as not to cut the car where there are moulded supports for the single DIN stereo. I did a video on it for a friend here and you can see how it looks and listen to me drone on about it.

Cheap Chinese CarPlay Stereo

 

[ChipChop]

What a lovely honest looking old ML. Well bought sir.

 

[Blobsta]

Well, I need a lie down after that trip to MB Maidstone!
I have collected a few of the parts I need for the next stage of the work on the ML which isn't really detailing related but tenuously, what did I spy in the car park? A well known and exceptionally clean C63 looking equally inconspicuous as my parts-runner today.

Looks stunning in the metal @LeeJV

OEM Parts
1x Throttle cable,
1x pollen filter
1x oil filter
1x air filter
5l oil ( I have the remainder of a lube cube to use up)
12x Spark plugs? (I want to cry!)

Aftermarket Parts
Radiator (very hard to source currently)
Wiper blades (to keep @mioba happy)

Supposed to rain most of the weekend and I have this lot plus a headlight polish/refresh planned while they're out and a brake fluid change but it seems I can't get the guide pins and bushings any longer for this car so that will be another topic of how to fix the annoying rattly front callipers.

 

[mioba]

Happy dance wrt the wipers

 

[Blobsta]

Happy dance wrt the wipers

The exotic dancer tassel look wasn't really working for me let alone clearing the rear screen anyway.

 

[Rpp999]

Great post, well done.

 

[Blobsta]

Had a go at polishing up the headlights yesterday, the O/S one just won't come up as well. This of course led to more cleaning in that area and the removal of the washer bottle to clean the back mould out of it, an airline up the washer hose has cleared the blockages from that too so another fix there.

And a new pollen filter.

 

[LeeJV]

Well, I need a lie down after that trip to MB Maidstone!
I have collected a few of the parts I need for the next stage of the work on the ML which isn't really detailing related but tenuously, what did I spy in the car park? A well known and exceptionally clean C63 looking equally inconspicuous as my parts-runner today.

Looks stunning in the metal @LeeJV

OEM Parts
1x Throttle cable,
1x pollen filter
1x oil filter
1x air filter
5l oil ( I have the remainder of a lube cube to use up)
12x Spark plugs? (I want to cry!)

Aftermarket Parts
Radiator (very hard to source currently)
Wiper blades (to keep @mioba happy)

Supposed to rain most of the weekend and I have this lot plus a headlight polish/refresh planned while they're out and a brake fluid change but it seems I can't get the guide pins and bushings any longer for this car so that will be another topic of how to fix the annoying rattly front callipers.

Hey buddy, I live 2 miles away from MB, it was dropped off for a little service, and won't park it in the tiny bayshaha, as for clean, I thought it was filthy lol

Love the Mustang dude, much prefer them to the new model