Maintaining your car on the cheap.

[SilverSaloon]

Hi

As my two W124 E300D's are "keepers", i wish to keep up the maintenance on these vehicles.

However when I first bought my green W124 I spent ££££ at MB Dealers on parts etc, although I do all the labour work myself.

In recent times, i've decided to go for the cheaper option of non genuine parts from various eBay sellers, Bren at Wunderpartz and EuroCarParts.

I'm writing this thread as I have just posted that I bought 2.5 litres of screen-wash from PoundLand for (guess!) £1.00. This is cheap compared to the more expensive stuff I used to pour into my cars.

As I've just bought another W124 which requires all the fluids to be changed etc I thought I'd compare prices of more premium products compared to cheaper ones and wonder whether there is any real difference in quality.

To begin with I plan to change the ATF (transmission fluid). On my green W124 I replaced this with genuine MB fluid at about £90 + filter + gasket.

This time round on the new car i'm using CarLube Dexron II fluid (from GSF vai ebay) for £30 + OEM cheaper filter and a genuine gasket.

Diff oil last time was Castrol Diff oil at about £13 a litre.... this time round CarLube for about £4 a litre (a guess as I bought it a while ago).

Coolant - Comma Green £30 odd last time round. This time £15.00 for Comma Red from an ebay seller.

Tyres are always purchased (if i can plan in advance - ie not a puncture on a trip etc) as "part worn" for a fraction of the new price via eBay and i get them fitted locally for peanuts per wheel.

Air filters, fuel filters, oil filters come from EuroCarParts for a very good price compared to genuine MB parts and are usually identical and OEM brands anyway.

Engine damper for £26 (febi bilstien) instead of genuine MB for £40.

Thats just off the top of my head.

Engine oil - i usually use Castrol GTX 10w40 as its usually a good price in the supermarkets. I've also used CarLube from Eurocarparts. This time round I've found MB spec oil for £10 for 5 litres locally via ebay.

I'd be interested to hear others opinions on these plans and any other little tips/suppliers/parts people.

In summary, all the parts used meet MB spec but are at a fraction of the price. I do all the work myself. There are some parts worth spending more on, i agree and its not always the cheapest item thats best - i prefer to spend a little more than what the cheapest is if i can get a decent brand, such as Bosch or Febi etc, but it still works out cheaper than a genuine MB part.

Do others do this or is it me just being a tight barstuard?

 

[Mike Walker]

I dont do any stuff myself but sure am impressed with the reduced costs you have quoted and there is a ECP just down the road from where I work as well.

Starting to think ££££££'s

 

[wemorgan]

I mix and match. Tyres are always new and something at least half decent like Falken/Hankook.

Oils and other service parts I'm happy with known names but not necessarily OEM brands.

Whatever makes sense at the time really.

 

[Martyn_n]

Not confirming the national stereotype in any way there then!!
Joking aside I think you have the balance spot on (oem as opposed to cheapo / main dealer)
Personally I don't do the used tyre thing though.

 

[SilverSaloon]

Not confirming the national stereotype in any way there then!!
Joking aside I think you have the balance spot on (oem as opposed to cheapo / main dealer)
Personally I don't do the used tyre thing though.

I'm not originally from Scotland by the way. maybe its living here amongst other tight Scots that has made me tight

I see where you are coming from re the used tyre thing. however when you buy a 2nd hand car do you replace all the 5mm, 6mm tyres with brand new ones? probably not. buying them part used at anything above 4mm seems to me to be the same as buying a car with them on. but the tyres cost £30 instead of £90. I always seek out good ones and my tyre fitter also checks them out for me too before fitting.

Saying all this, some times, for certain things MB dealer can be the cheapest option or only £1 extra etc, in which case I do go for.

 

[Martyn_n]

Main dealers do throw you the odd curve ball when it comes to pricing. A recent example for me was the grommet and cover for the aerial, half the price of e-bay copies. All my brakes pads are from them as well because, as you say, the difference was a few ££s

 

[wemorgan]

I see where you are coming from re the used tyre thing. however when you buy a 2nd hand car do you replace all the 5mm, 6mm tyres with brand new ones? probably not. buying them part used at anything above 4mm seems to me to be the same as buying a car with them on. but the tyres cost £30 instead of £90. I always seek out good ones and my tyre fitter also checks them out for me too before fitting.

If a new 10mm tyre costs £90 and its value at 2mm is £0, then it costs £11.25/mm.
So if you buy a 4mm tyre (worst case in your example) for £30 that will cost you £15/mm
Plus you’ll be paying for tyre fitting more often.

I see where you’re coming from, but I feel the money to be saved is too marginal in this example.

 

[corned]

I see where you are coming from re the used tyre thing. however when you buy a 2nd hand car do you replace all the 5mm, 6mm tyres with brand new ones? probably not.

My initial reaction to the thought of buying used tyres was 'NO!!!', but you are quite right, very few people (I'm guessing at precisely 0%) buying a used car would immediately scrap the tyres which came with it (*caveat - see below).

You just wouldn't really give it a second thought, unless you bought the car knowing that a) the tyres were just about shot anyway or were showing signs of damage, or b) the tyres were a really poor quality brand that you wouldn't trust.

Being a Yorkshireman, I'm not convinced of the 'main dealer for everything' approach to wallet-hoovering, but I do want my car to be safe, trustworthy and reliable. So, many things I would not want to scrimp on. I will not buy cheap crappy tyres, new or used, but I would (and did) draw the line at £180 for a whole new front hub assembly just because the wheel bearing was getting a little noisy. £30 for a new bearing kit, including new ABS sensor ring, pressed into place in 10 mins was definitely the way to go there. Problem solved. And so on...

 

[SilverSaloon]

If a new 10mm tyre costs £90 and its value at 2mm is £0, then it costs £11.25/mm.
So if you buy a 4mm tyre (worst case in your example) for £30 that will cost you £15/mm
Plus you’ll be paying for tyre fitting more often.

I see where you’re coming from, but I feel the money to be saved is too marginal in this example.

I can see what you mean but this assumes you will buy a brand new tyre and use it until its at 2mm. In reality you dont as they get worn on edges, you sell the car before you've had full use of it, or usually end up getting a puncture sometime in its life.

In my case i find i end up getting a flat tyre due to a screw in it or something well before the tyre is worn enough to replace and typically said screw is in the side so unrepairable.

Usually, the 2nd hand tyres i get are at about 5mm to 6mm and die about 3 to 4mm due to a screw or something.

due to the tyre size on my W124 the difference is quite small if you look at the lifetime of the tyre, like you say. However on my 7 series when i had it a decent tyre was £250. I got a 6mm same branded tyre (perrelli IIRC) for about £70 used.

Like others have said, i'd rather try a part worn good-brand tyre than a new cheapo.

 

[Dieselman]

New car tyres are generally 7mm of tread, occasionally 8mm. This gives 5mm of usable tread for the cost.
Say £100 for 5mm, gives £20 per mm.

Proper off road tyres are generally 8mm-10mm tread when new.

 

[Bellow]

Secondhand tyres. Ask, where is the car they came off? Written off? Have those tyres been in an accident and are carrying damage you can't see?
Possibly and probably not, but sooner or later....

 

[Will]

Just to add to the mix - I'd rather have 5/6mm worn premium tyres (Michelin, Continental etc) than 7/8mm budget tyres.

For me - the justification of spending money, depends on the car. I think SilverSaloon is looking at the 'bangernomics' end of the spectrum, and is doing things correctly.

If you had a newish/more valuable car - service history and genuine parts are probably more important.

I recently bought another 190E as a project - saved it from the scrap man basically. There's no way you can justify spending £££s on a car of this value - it's just not viable.

It's amazing how cheap you can run cars when you really need to

 

[NOMONEYBUTAMERC]

Tyres aside , i agree with Silver Saloon . I usually ring around several tyre dealers and ask for prices on "mid-range" tyres. Since MB do not make lubricants/fluids it makes sense to use well known brands. Brake and suspension parts i use O.E.M. quality parts ( again M.B. do not , as far as i am aware make their own ) . Since my SL is only used for fun i am able to work on it at my own pace , so labour is not an issue , although i do appreciate that some may consider it worthwhile to pay workshop rates.
Again , if i was unable to fix something myself i would rather use an independent over main dealer .

 

[BlackC55]

Some non-MB parts are fine and some are absolutely awful. Just be careful what you buy. Some of the Q-drive products are ok, some are terrible.

 

[Dieselman]

Just to add to the mix - I'd rather have 5/6mm worn premium tyres (Michelin, Continental etc) than 7/8mm budget tyres.

For me - the justification of spending money, depends on the car. I think SilverSaloon is looking at the 'bangernomics' end of the spectrum, and is doing things correctly.

To add to that, it depends on annual mileage. If one's mileage is low then part worn tyres make sense, if higher then go for new.

I also agree regarding the branded tyres. I have two other cars exactly the same, one on Michelins, the other on slipmasters. There is a definite difference in grip in wet conditions.

 

[BlackC55]

To add to that, it depends on annual mileage. If one's mileage is low then part worn tyres make sense, if higher then go for new.

I also agree regarding the branded tyres. I have two other cars exactly the same, one on Michelins, the other on slipmasters. There is a definite difference in grip in wet conditions.

Slipmasters? Is that a brand name?

Remember too that tyres should only be on a car for 5 years. Tyres are date stamped too.

 

[Dieselman]

Remember too that tyres should only be on a car for 5 years. Tyres are date stamped too.

That is a storage advisory, not either a legality or necessary.

 

[SilverSaloon]

I run the cars on veg oil so cost me hardly anything in fuel so i'd always spent over that of what someone else would pay to keep them on the road..... plus i'm in it for the long haul and the value of multivalve 124 estates can only go up.

i wouldnt say its bangeromics though; just buying wise and not spending more than you have to on parts/labour. bangeromics to me is spending as little as possible, not servicing, not maintaining and then throwing away the car when it breaks and buying another. this isnt my intention. I'll maintain the cars and keep them in great condition (next year i plan to replace the wings on the green one and fix other underside rust for example) and it will be back to "charles ironside" standard again - with a bit of a clay and clean inside of course! The cars always get whatever they need but i'd prefer to buy the pattern-part rather than going to the dealer. of course sometimes dealer parts are the only ones you can get. (clips, interior trim parts etc), just spent £100 odd on interior/exterier bits for the new estate from MB.

wanting to try to get back to the original reason for posting, and getting away from the used tyre issue, does anyone have any links/tips etc to saving a little bit on motoring? an example could be taking the car to kwikfit for an oil change as it actually works out cheaper than you can buy the oil yourself for. for me, i prefer to do the change myself and i'll use a cheaper but MB spec oil instead. (i dont generally like KF).

cheers

Derek

 

[grober]

For people with a]the facility to do it - driveway or garage and b]daily "commuters" and c] petrol engine I have always thought an electric engine coolant preheater might be a good idea. Closest you might get to the "fuel tax" efficiency of an electric powered car for little money ?

 

[4n0y-merc]

I have ran my fair share of bangers over the years, like I am sure most people and I agree with a lot of comments already mentioned, a part worn good branded tyre is better than a new remold (well it always used to be but even remolds are good quality now)

If you only paid a couple of grand (couple of hundred £'s in my days) you are not going to pay main dealer prices for your parts. Half of the fun of owning a classic cars is the tinkering around and the reason so many classic cars are still with us is because guys and girls lavish time and effort and not cash on their rides.

If you can keep it going for little money, good on you, you get my vote.