I think there is truth to people wanting to pay more. You may be so cheap that it impacts your credibility…

 

I'm starting to test that actually, I've 100% noticed that when I ask for more with people who own higher end cars they are more confident for whatever reason....

Just feels odd, I don't need to charge more than I do. It would feel like I'm scalping to some degree even if I'm one of the few in the area who can do a lot of this type of stuff.

 

The way I look at it is- I Don't Set My Prices, the market does. lol

If I want to be a little cheaper that's ok but my time costs money $$$.

And trust me, the difficult jobs are hard to make any real money and I always loose -but- the gravy jobs balances everything out.

PS- I don't do free gravy either, that's extra. lolol

 

This is totally the truth. Pricing a service or product is tough, something can actually be too cheap. When something is too cheap they question your competency and legitimacy, when its a more market price they don't.

 

So Striker, just curious, how do you work on Mercedes cars? A guy I know works at an indy Mercedes place and has to buy certain software from Mercedes to work on them (not maintenance stuff but more complex fixes) and even then he says it doesn’t include everything. Just curious if that is true and what you do if you work on Mercedes.

 

Yes that is absolutely true, you need a lot of software to be able to interface properly. I do work on them and I'm actually one of the few in the area who is able to fix the hydraulic convertible top systems. However MANY things you can cheat/get around not having software if you know what you are doing, not always the case but if you really know the systems you can. Plus it helps being able to made special tool stand ins if you don't want to drop several $100 on them, I made two for my W12 to perform the trans fill procedure actually.

Main issue moving forward is software vin locking and coding lockdowns from the manufactures, EVs are horrid about this. You can't get around it and are forced to bring it back to them in many cases or pay $7k a year subscription for access and that killshots any small shops or owners. You can't own something you are locked out of working on.

For all three German brands you need special tools, software, skills, measuring tools, and mindset. VW/Audi/Porsche/Bentley/Lambo is actually very very nice since software, methods, tools, and honestly lots of the low level/parts that don't differentiate the cars are shared so if you for example lose a fuse box in your R8 it's right out of an A4. None of the important bits on the higher end cars are cheapened by this, only the bits that don't matter are all shared resulting in easy mode for ownership.

Even for the W12 I had to send a software command to the active diff to cycle, prime, and bleed three separate times while refilling to ensure both control chambers were filled evenly. For the trans fill I had to command the passenger side cylinder bank off so that the exhaust on that side didn't burn the hell out of me when filling. Also sent commands to open coolers run pumps etc.....it's not exactly something that can be done at home due to the active systems. However a lot of that applies to any car with these active systems down to the "lowly" golf R.



Sport diff charging/purging sequence

Software controlled engine partial shutdown

\"Special tool" for the trans fill plug I made

Fill neck I made out of piping to allow me to fill the stupid thing without buying the W12 only filling jig.

Old trans fluid, it's supposed to be green

Boom, all that just to get to the pan.....

Lord have mercy \"lifetime fill" is some total bull$#!% lol!

This is why ZF themselves say change every 60k miles, not the nonsense that the car makers tell you. I listen to the makers of the actual trans and this is why


Freaking crazy amount of crap, oh this is also why I say to NEVER flush or change fluid without replacing the filter. You will kill the trans.


Yeah.....tell me how lifetime fill works again?

This is a better picture from before I took stuff apart all the way showing where the fill port is and how much access is an issue.

You can't even get this tool on there normally, the rear mount carrier frame totally gets in the way so that's why I needed to made that small stub of a 10mm drive. I combined it with a flex head long reach ratchet to emulate the effect of the Audi special tool.

Tool in question I emulated. This not the most severe example but this is what I mean when I mentioned you need to be able to figure out how to make stuff to get the job done without forking over $$$$

This is why exhaust needs to come off, rear carrier totally obscured the pan back half.

All this and then some needed removed

 

Finally getting around to this....super easy bag removal

Wheel off, really quite a clever system of indexing and connection vs others I've worked on

Old vs new

Got it treated.....


Looks SO nice and was totally worth $1000

Had to break out the tap set since the new wheel didn't have threads to accept the lane keep reminder motor/buzzer

Drilled and tapped....

Installed!



I really like it, funny enough I think I'm going to run a piano black shifter and grab handles. All the points you touch are piano black so might as well keep it on theme I guess....

Should have came this way factory IMO

Due to the extremely poor air quality today thanks to Canadas fires I didn't work long at the shop and instead stayed home. Gave me an excuse to finally swap my wheel on though!

 

Looks great! I agree, the wood on the wheel is very nice

 

The new wheel does add a touch of class.

it wouldn't look right in a Honda Civic but looks at home in a luxury car.

 

Custom plates are here! I ordered two so I have one to display at the inbuilt trophy cabinet thing in my house.

The question now is do I pull all the rear badges off like I did the LS460 since technically the plate denotes both engine type and car type?

 

I'd leave the badges, personally.

 

The W12 must stay

 

I was at the MB showroom when we were test driving the GLS, and there was a 2021 W223 there on the floor, debadged. I said to the salesman, "Let me guess, its a 500?" yup, it was lol.

 

Right, got it the badges should stay lol!

You guys really don't think it looks too cluttered?

 

The A8L should go. Too cluttered. Just the W12 should stay. But you have them on the side or front. So maybe they go too