What do you guys think? - Trying to decide what else to do / Build Thread

[Maurauth]

Hi all, I know SLKs in general, and most likely especially the look I've gone with with mine aren't everyone's cup of tea. That's fair enough, everyone's entitled to their opinion.

But, what does everyone think?

My thoughts for next steps are:

• 
  "Duck-tail" spoiler off the SLK55 AMG
  [*]Add to my Piecha system by replacing the downpipe with a de-cat pipe that continues straight to the Y pipe section that's part of the Piecha. All in stainless steel so the entire system is replaced (relocate O2 sensor).
  [*]Maybe 12mm spacers on the front wheels and MAYBE 5mm or so on the rear wheels to even out the offset / staggered wheel widths.
  [*]Relocate / fit a better cold air intake
  [*]Remap/tuning box- there's a few companies now that offer these. Brabus, Carlsson and Kleeman offer plug-in solutions but they're all massively expensive and despite large promised gains they are simple 2-wire affairs. A few other places are offering better boxes, Burger Motorsports from the USA offer a box which is based on the W204 one (same engine), Rebellion offer one and they're making good progress with the A45 AMG and seem trustworthy, also it's only £499 all in from them and is cam / boost and MAP. Not sure of anywhere that offers remaps specifically for the R172.
  [*]Going lower on the suspension. There's still a fair bit of clearance between tyre and arch, but I don't really want to mess about with camber, rolling arches etc.
  [*]SLK55 big brake kit.

Any other ideas? What do you guys think of these plans?

Thoughts for vinyl wrapping:

• 
  Vinyl wrapping the rear AMG diffuser in carbon fibre (C/F) vinyl or match the obsidian black paint with gloss vinyl (just something to take away the plastic-y look of the diffuser inserts, same as with the W204)
  [*]Wrapping the front grille in black or C/F (probably black tbh) apart from the Mercedes star.
  [*]The little chrome+plastic vent inserts on the wings in C/F or gloss black.
  [*]If I go for the C/F look, maybe the little vents on the sides of the front bumper.
  [*]Wrap chrome window strips in C/F or gloss black (this looks good on my W204).
  [*]Wrap silver headrest covers in C/F or gloss black.
  [*]Maybe a few interior bits, apart from the piano black ash wood trim, maybe a few of the other bits- steering wheel inserts etc?
  [*]If I go C/F then maybe the ducktail spoiler off the AMG in C/F?
  [*]What about the rear Mercedes star?

What do you guys think, C/F or gloss black? How much wrapping is too much?

Here are a few pics of the car over the few months I've had it for a bit of inspiration and an idea of where I'm thinking of going with it Opinions would be great! Thanks!

I only went and spent 2 hours resizing photos to then find they now are a worse resolution but were thumbnailed anyway so no point scaling them down in quality

 

[John]

It's sometimes difficult to know without trying the cosmetic mods you are interested in doing.

If you can do it yourself - I'd just do them and see what you think.

I have CF effect wrap on my interior trim and I love it. However, I am not sure I've ever liked seeing CF effect externally - so I would opt for body colour personally.

I'd certainly do the mods to the exhaust - worth every penny when you have a V8. Cooling and performance mods are also worth doing IMO.
I would get a proper remap done with your ECU - try MSL Performance for the R172 - they may be able to help.

Lowering works although I personally wouldn't lower my car again. I enjoy the standard look with blistering performance - surprises a few things now and again...

If you mess around with lowering, you will adjust the camber at the very least -

I don't like spacers personally but each to their own! Unless you get ones that mean the wheels are still within profile, you may end up causing wheel arch scuffing.

I'd look in to the price of replacement brake pads for the upgrade kit to be sure you are happy with it when it comes to replacement.

 

[automaniaman]

I'd go for C/F.....

 

[Maurauth]

It's sometimes difficult to know without trying the cosmetic mods you are interested in doing.

If you can do it yourself - I'd just do them and see what you think.

I have CF effect wrap on my interior trim and I love it. However, I am not sure I've ever liked seeing CF effect externally - so I would opt for body colour personally.

I'd certainly do the mods to the exhaust - worth every penny when you have a V8. Cooling and performance mods are also worth doing IMO.
I would get a proper remap done with your ECU - try MSL Performance for the R172 - they may be able to help.

Lowering works although I personally wouldn't lower my car again. I enjoy the standard look with blistering performance - surprises a few things now and again...

If you mess around with lowering, you will adjust the camber at the very least -

I don't like spacers personally but each to their own! Unless you get ones that mean the wheels are still within profile, you may end up causing wheel arch scuffing.

I'd look in to the price of replacement brake pads for the upgrade kit to be sure you are happy with it when it comes to replacement.

I'm going to have a go, I've only had a little bit of practice with vinyl so trying to wrap a spoiler insert etc seems like a bit of a challenge, but there's only one way to learn I guess!

I've seen a few bits of C/F exterior that I hate, e.g. I drove one of those F30 M3s in a sky blue colour and it's roof was C/F and it looked horrible, but I saw a diamond white SLK55 AMG and it had a lot of C/F and looked great. Not sure how well that will translate to a black car though.

I'm hopefully going to get the exhaust done at the end of the month as I was quoted about £60 if it's not that hard to get to on a ramp.

I've been trying to get hold of Acid at MSL for the last month after I went there before with my W204 but he seems a lot harder to pin down since last year, it was a mission to get him on the phone before but now the secretaries won't even take the details of the car or what I'm looking for and I can't get him to answer PMs or posts on any of the Merc forums. Shame, because I'm sure they don't get too many SLKs and repeat business is always good!

The wheels are sitting pretty tight in the arches so I think if I went lower then I'd have to either spent a LOT for a little gain which at the moment is lower priority than the other bits, but yeah I think that's a fair point about looks vs performance.

The spacers are probably more for the front as the staggered wheels with slightly different offsets have left the rears sitting really nicely but the fronts are still properly inside the arches, I used one of those calculators using the previous wheel offset etc and added in the new wheels and they suggest that I could go 12mm.

Very fair point, and one I hadn't really considered, seeing as the kit has an eyewatering price tag already!

I'd go for C/F.....

I seem to be getting quite a few saying do the C/F and a few saying they don't like C/F on here and on the SLK forum so now I'm really stuck haha!

 

[Maurauth]

Some good news, just got a call back from MSL and they're gonna look into some tuning

 

[John]

I seem to be getting quite a few saying do the C/F and a few saying they don't like C/F on here and on the SLK forum so now I'm really stuck haha!

If you like the idea - have a go. At the end of the day, it's what you think that counts. I don't give a rat's ass whether people like my car or not - I do and that is all that matters to me. You can always take the wrap off if you don't like it.

Some good news, just got a call back from MSL and they're gonna look into some tuning

MSL are relentlessly busy. If you've ever been to Armoury Road, you will have seen this first-hand. Acid has his mobile stuck to his ear pretty much most of the day but he finds time throughout the day to speak to people and gets there in the end... Worth holding out for IMO - and they are bleedin' miles away from me unfortunately!