Just Bought an SLK280 in Red

[Nanoman]

First post so 'Hi Everyone'...

Well... you see... it kind of just... erm... happened... I went out with Mrs Nanoman to celebrate a promotion... we had a couple of hours to kill in town before our table was booked and we thought we'd pop in past MB of Glasgow.

I had seen new SLK 250s advertised on a personal lease at £800 deposit and sub £300 per month. No-one seemed to want to speak to us so we went to leave. I decided to have a quick look at the used car showroom and before we knew it we were the proud owners of a minted 2009 SLK280 with sub 25k, full MB service history with the extras we wanted (airscarf, memory seats, heated leather, bluetooth), all the receipts and one elderly previous owner in RED which is what Mrs Nanoman wanted. It also has some sports pack, remote roof and a few other extras.

The car has clearly been looked after and from looking at the paint it has never seen an automatic carwash although the previous owner obviously wasn't familiar with my standards (I'm a bit **** about things - google detailingworld if you want to know what I'm on about).

My question is... for those of you who have worked on these previously are there any 'intricacies' or 'peculiarities' that I should be aware of before I butcher the lacquer at 6500rpm with my rotary and a some compounding polish ?

Also, if anyone can confirm that 16" rims from the previous (R170?) SLK will fit I would be much obliged. Winter tyres will make a significant contribution to staying on tarmac with this in winter but I don't fancy paying for 18" (or might be 19") winter sticky's.

Some pics:

 

[GP801]

Well done. Lovely looking car. Ours is the same colour scheme but only a humble 200k. So much better than silver or black.
Not sure about the R170 wheels fitting but you are right about the winter tyres. Ours was unusable in the snow on the normal tyres. Transformed with winter tyres. It will now accelerate uphill up our road in the snow. On summer tyres it could not get out of the drive.
Enjoy

 

[st13phil]

Congratulations!

Hope you have as much fun with it as my wife and I do with her SLK350. Here it is at the top of Passo di Monte Giovo in Italy last year:

I can't help on the wheels question, but I can confirm that on the summer tyres in the snow it handles like a tea trolly

 

[trapperjohn]

Welcome aboard. Lovely car. Sorry cant answer your questions. But warm welcome anyway.

 

[pos.k]

Looks fab - enjoy!
we are just looking at exchanging our white 2009 200k for something new, and are considering the red for a new SLK.

 

[Nanoman]

Thanks all...

Managed to get some more pics today. Does anyone have details of the UK spec in 08/09 for these or even better an electronic copy of the manual. I'm trying to work out what features it has as more so around what was included in the sports pack.

 

[After Shock]

Welcome. Enjoy.

You'll get lots of great advice from the. Crowd on here.
I lovvvvve the colour. That front looks fab !!!!

 

[redbaron]

The 16" wheels will not clear the brakes even if they are the right offset.

 

[MartinGB]

Wow the colour looks great on that car, really makes the detail stand out.

Might have to get one of those myself next!

 

[st13phil]

Does anyone have details of the UK spec in 08/09 for these or even better an electronic copy of the manual. I'm trying to work out what features it has as more so around what was included in the sports pack.

I have an electronic copy of the June 2009 pricelist which should aid you in identifying what was standard and what wasn't. As you're new you can't PM me with your email address yet (unless a Mod would be good enough to enable that for you?), but why not ask the dealer to print off the datacard for you which will list all the options fitted?

Just from he pictures and what you've mentioned, the options I can deduce are:

• Sports Package, consisting of: 18" alloy wheels, Sports suspension, perforated front brake discs and brake calipers with ‘Mercedes-Benz’ lettering, rear spoiler, matt grey painted headlamp inlays and sports air filter (for SLK 300 and SLK 350); Black leather seats with red top-stitching; Red top-stitching on steering wheel, door armrest and gear shift gaiter; Red seat belts, velour floor mats with red trim; Black roof lining and carbon-look trim above glove compartment
• Airscarf & heated seats
• Memory Package (seats, steering column and exterior door mirrors - electrically adjustable with memory)
• Remote roof
• Transparent Wind Deflector

 

[Geezer]

Nice car! I searched everywhere for a red SLK but could not find anything to my taste and ended up with Palladium Silver which is definitely second best.

 

[GP801]

Nice car! I searched everywhere for a red SLK but could not find anything to my taste and ended up with Palladium Silver which is definitely second best.

Red is still pretty rare. When we ordered ours in red the dealer was not at all keen. Tried to tell us we would never be able to resell it. Not an issues for us as we keep our cars a long time. Wanted us to have the usual black or silver. I think this was because they had never seen one in the metal. Once it arrived it caused quite a stir and generated a lot of positive comments. Its my wifes car and the only problem is everyone knows where she has been as its the only one locally in red.

 

[GD78]

Nice purchase

 

[tanuie]

Hi,nice car and the colour is great

 

[Dryce]

Not a fan of red cars generally.

But the R171 is definitely an example of a car which suits the colour.

 

[gaz_l]

Hello and welcome. I too am not the biggest fan of red cars (it does work on an Italian sports car) but the red suits the SLK well. V. smart, enjoy!

I'm not sure about the red seat belts though.. to those of us that are old enough to remember I'm just going to say "MG Metro"..

Cheers,

Gaz

 

[martyp87]

Lovely colour, really suits the SLK.

Hello from a fellow DWer too! Look forward to seeing some posts of it once you've worked your magic on her!

 

[st13phil]

Red is still pretty rare. When we ordered ours in red the dealer was not at all keen. Tried to tell us we would never be able to resell it. Not an issues for us as we keep our cars a long time. Wanted us to have the usual black or silver. I think this was because they had never seen one in the metal. Once it arrived it caused quite a stir and generated a lot of positive comments. Its my wifes car and the only problem is everyone knows where she has been as its the only one locally in red.

Similar story when my wife chose her SLK, with the exception that the dealer didn't try to persuade her into a silver or black one. At the time showroom was full of silver and black cars.

When it arrived at the dealers they displayed it in the showroom for a couple of days before we collected it and the sales manager did tell me that it had received lots of interest from both customers and staff alike. Since then, they've taken to having new cars in more interesting colours on display

The car definitely attracts attention. One of the best incidents was when we stopped in Spain to admire the view across the Sierra de Gredos and two guys in a van stopped to admire the car. As they walked around the car one of them, in a state of excitement, repeated over and over, "él es rojo! él es rojo! él es rojo! él es rojo! él es rojo! él es rojo!" (he's red"! he's red"! he's red"! )

 

[Red C220]

I like colourful cars rather than living life in monochrome.

So with MB that limits you to, errr, red and that's it. There are 27 shades of silver, black, grey a token dark blue ....why?

Bring some colour to the road!

 

[LTD]

Very nice !!!