Stroock639

i hear where you're coming from lol, but i can do much of the work myself or at the dealership i work at. depending on how you approach it, these don't need to be THAT expensive to keep running. i'd be kidding myself to say it's a cheap car to own, but considering how affordable the initial cost is it definitely works itself out. but yes, if you were to just go to the dealership and say "fix it" you'll get quite a bill...

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Awesome car. And yes, for only $11k even if you put $10k into it over a few years, WHO CARES, you're driving an epic legendary beaast

SW17LS

You're at the right stage of your life to deal with it that's for sure lol. Enjoy!

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

buddy of mind has a 04 SL55 AMG, if you fix the common issues its actually quite reliable. Change out the fluid in the ABC suspension (does E have it?) quick or it will become an expensive repair, despite Benz saying there is no change interval. Replace bearing like you have mentioned with metal one, plastic one thats on it now can fail catastrophically. Can change the supercharger fluid also for extra peace of mind also

RX469

iTrader: (1)

Congrats on a great car. As I read your post I got high off of you excitement for this car. Enjoy it.

yardie876

Excellent pick up! One of the YouTube channels i enjoy just picked up an '03 SL55 so it'll be fun seeing both of your experiences with these beasts.

Stroock639

luckily the E class didn't have the ABC so i'm saved from that inevitable nightmare... the only really irritating thing is how little room there is to work at the front of the engine but people have found ways

bagwell

Awesome car!!! classic Mercedes color too!

I would just worry about the $electronic$ side of it.

AJT123

Beautiful car and congrats! She looks mean, and man I bet she turns heads and sounds great. Plus there's always the clout of that 3 pointed star.

The packaging you mention is part of what makes these cars so hard to work on, and therefore expensive for people who aren't DIY inclined. And they also run hottt because they're so crammed in there. I'm glad you are DIY inclined, lol that will mitigate a chunk of the ownership cost. But still, be a little weary. If a Mercedes is expensive to keep running an AMG is INSANE to keep running. Have you followed the blog where the guy had an R55 and the engine went due to a bolt and the bill was like $57k (IIRC)?

All in all congrats though and look forward to seeing updates! She's a beauty!!

Aron9000

Does this car have air suspension???? If it does, how much of a PITA is it to convert it to steel springs and conventional shocks? As I've owned a couple Cadillacs with the rear load leveling suspension(mafia guys love it, stuff the trunk with 3 bodies, the rear doesn't sag and give you away to the cops), it wasn't that hard to or expensive to switch to regular shocks/springs(take your pick of other GM RWD springs/shocks, they bolt right in)

I know on some luxury cars it isn't the engine/trans that gets you on the repair bills, its the overly complex suspension bits that make your hair turn grey.

Stroock639

well i definitely wouldn't (couldn't) pay like 5 times what the car is worth for a new engine, but i've seen an E55 with over 400,000 miles, and my mechanic has a 2003 E55 with all the various pulley upgrades, headers, etc... and it has 175,000 "abused" miles (his own words) and the thing still runs great. this 5-speed is also what they use in the twin-turbo V12 "65" AMGs so everything in the drivetrain is super beefed up. there's also a very large support community for these cars and pretty much all known faults have been worked out and have a fix for them so there's a lot of help out there.

Stroock639

yes it has the air shocks, and yes people readily swap them out for coilovers or other setups. the shocks just bolt in like regular shocks only there's an air line that connects to them.

Aron9000

Can you switch them out to conventional shocks and just use the same steel springs(I assume it has steel springs)? I know on Cadillacs with the auto-ride feature, you had to swap both the steel rear springs and air shocks(convert them to conventional shocks). The rear springs were super soft, as the air in the shocks provided some of the stiffness to hold up the rear.

I'm just asking, because I've thought about buying one of these cars. I'd like to get back into the "hotrod" scene, last fast car I had was a 1998 Camaro Z28 drop top, and that was 7 years ago. I want something a bit nicer/more refined than a 4th gen Fbody, but at my price point(15kish), I really don't like the GM options, which are a C5 Vette, a GTO, a slow RCSB truck that would need a turbo build to be fast, or a junky POS 1st gen CTS-V. Been maybe thinking about a 2nd gen Charger or Challenger, but at that price I'm hard pressed to get the big 6.1 or 6.4 Hemi V8 that I'd want.

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

you get the whole spring/strut conversion as a full assembly. I helped do a friends S430

Stroock639

*slight update*

last night i replaced that idler pulley bearing i mentioned earlier that was going clackity clackity, had to borrow my mechanic friend's snap ring pliers and T50 torx bit but all in all saved about $470 in parts alone by replacing just the bearing and not the entire pulley assembly and no more clackity clackity! only the intercooler pump remains and i'll probably get the chance to put that in tuesday... so far things have been good with the car (knock on wood) and i'm happy with it