Truu_Ston3r

Long story short: somebody cut me off, and the person that cut me off cut off another car and left the the car in front of him for me to hit. Good amount of damage but fixable (scroll to see pics)
I'm fine just a broken nose but I will live

Anyways I was going to sell the car for parts but I decided I wanted to fix it (fun little project for me)

I need people on this forum to help me out as a go along fixing this car as I will be asking about parts and whatnot

And don't worry guys i wasn't stoned

homeofstone

Parts will cost more than the car is worth. Get it totaled by insurance company and move on to another car.

Truu_Ston3r

I am not worried about that I know that it is going to cost more than what it's worth but I still plan on keeping the car. To me this is going to be a fun project I can now make the car to exactly how I want it to be (I was planning on changing it up anyways lol)

And on top of that I already bought the airbags and the srs restraint system already

rtbrjason

It will never be right in my opinion. Another vote for moving on. Glad you're okay though.

Truu_Ston3r

Just FYI the frame isn't damaged neither is the engine most of what you see is body work

N_Jay

Start pulling it apart, the see where you are.
I'm guessing that unless you have a friend with a body shop you are in for a lot of surprises that you don't even see coming.
How much body and frame work have you done?

Hotsauce55

x2 but sounds like you are set on fixing, so good luck!

Truu_Ston3r

I was going to junk the car but I have family who owns a body shop and I have friends who work at Mercedes dealers and on top of that the amount of donor cars that is in the NY area is uncountable lol. So i am really set on fixing

N_Jay

Get lots of pics to post along the way.


Just did a similar job on my son's Audi A6 last summer.


Looked about 1/10 as bad, was about 1 1/2 times what I expected.


A whole donor car is worth its cost. Find a cheap W211 with a blown engine or transmission, and/or smacked in the back, or maybe a flood car.

Truu_Ston3r

In all honesty I can probably have this whole car fixed for under 7 grand and finished by the end of summer if i get all the parts.

" 7,000?? You might as well go buy another e500"

This car is like my child; it annoys the **** out of you (finding the right ****) but if someone was to take it from you you'd kill them .....

Truu_Ston3r

Dumb question but what are the materials made of to make up the body aluminium, steel, etc

Hood (Bonnet)
Fender
Front and rear bumper

cmriv

You do you man. If you wanna fix it, do so. Don't let other opinions sway you, which clearly you haven't. Most if not all the components you just stated are probably aluminum is my guess. I'm no metal guru though so it could be tin foil for all i know! . You could always ask a body shop specialist. You could probably honestly get a entire front clip from a junk yard. Pre 06 211's are all the same I think, fascia grille bumper ect. However why not facelift it since you'll be rebuilding....

Truu_Ston3r

I was honestly thinking about a facelift; it might happen. And honestly cmriv thank you for your inspirational thinking.

I am buying all the parts right now I want the car to be oem as possible
Which is why I ask what the materials are. After I get the body together I am going to need part numbers so I can start putting everything together.

Jack661199

im currently in the process of fixing my w211 e320 and i got an estimate from the body shop and thought it cant be that hard to fix but the estimate didnt include all the small brackets that you cant see and now i honestly regret getting myself into it and my car is like my child also, i highly recomend you run away from it while you can its not worth it i promise

cmriv

Your best bet is to take it to a Benz dealership body shop, have them do an estimate and get the parts list from them. Are you using epcnet? If so it should be pretty straight forward. Question is what exactly needs to be replaced? radiator, condenser, front core support, headlamps x2, bumper, fenders x2, hood, grille, fog lamps, fender liners, airmatic compressor is probably destroyed, plus airmatic lines, all three encapsulation panels, receiver dryer... And thats just what i can see in picture. Who knows if suspension components are bent or not. You better tighten up, this is going to be some work!

Truu_Ston3r

You basically just summed up about 80% of the things needed and don't worry I am well prepared just waiting on the recovery stage to end then it is straight grinding for me I am just happy the frame wasn't damaged

Edit* btw what is epcnet?

cmriv

well good, your car frame nor body frame were damaged at all. Thats always good. epc net is the software dealers use to locate and find parts on vehicles.... i

N_Jay

Hood on facelift cars is aluminum. I think fenders are steel.
Aluminum is a pain to work. Figure on getting a perfect condition part and just sanding through the clear coat prior to painting. Do not sand it through the primer!

N_Jay

Even if the frame and suspension are not damaged (put it on an alignment rack to check), the most difficult parts will be straitening any parts that are welded and not bolted to the main chassis.


You are going to have some work in the back because the fender can not have wrinkled without the mounting points for the rear impact absorbers being moved.
That front left impact also looks a good bit deeper than the impact absorbers, so you are into whatever frame pieces the front end cosmetic parts mount to.

MB Marko

oh God another thread like this, you know what time it is fellas.

beejAMG

i admire OPs optimism.

i understand your sentiments towards your car but based on experience, you cant...wont...never get it back to how it used to. there's always gonna be a misalignment, rattle, squeak, engine problem that you cant fix etc etc...

goodluck mate, youll need a lot of it.

N_Jay

And
You better make up your mind before you start, or you are going to waste a lot of time.

P.S. Since you have smashed almost everything that is different between a pre-facelift OEM look, and an aftermarket AMG styled car, I would go for the restyle.

There is no value in an original looking E500 that has been crashed.

kajtek1

My whole front is aluminium.
Regardless, front is all bolted, so you just buy replacement. Rear fender needs good bodyman
Don't you have magnets on your refrigerator?
Good luck on the project.

Anemone

Man, looking at it , I wouldn't dare even think about repairing it.
Take that chunk of money you get from the insurance and spend them on a E63 .
Part this one out.

I had a E38 7series with minor front end damage . Bought that car for 1400$ and I thought I'm gonna end up under 4000$ with it. Guess what, it cost me 7500$ to fix it.

When you get into replacing all the front end, suspension, paint it, etc, I don't think it's worth it if you're stuck with a salvage title car.

Tried to sell that 7 series for months, no one was interested. Finally someone hit me and I got more than the car was worth so I said thank you and never looked back.

N_Jay

My son's A6 looks nowhere near as bad, and the mounts where the entire front end were tweaked to the point I had to do some metal surgery to get the new front end on the car.


I would not commit till I had all the bolt on parts off and can see what is bent and broken.