CitronC230K_03

thats why i got citron!!!

truelove

yo Matt

Matt

thanks truelove, that makes it much easier to understand:

now for the last question, with charcoal (black) leather interior what your you guys recommend? Brown Poplar or the the lighter color?

truelove

do you drive a coupe. if so your only colors are the brown poplar and the charcoal cinnamora, and the poplar IS the lighter one, unless you're talking about something different, then sorry. and i think either one of these would look good with charcoal leather.

brown poplar on top
charcoal cinnamora on bottom

Mercedes

Did you take of the sticker yet, where the ash tray goes

Please don't forget to take pics of the xenons.

I'm envious of your Xenons

Matt

Sorry, yes I do drive a coupe (2002).

Thanks for the pictures. I think that the Charcoal wood will look great with the Charcoal interior. Thanks again for your guys help.

matt

Lynn

I think the other color wood is very dark. Of course the MBUSA site is down again, so we can't check.

truelove

yup, i took off the sticker. and i will try to remember to take pictures of my xenons tonight.

truelove

i just noticed on MBUSA they changed the mudguards to cheap mud-flaps. good thing i got the guards before they were all gone. they really do look nice.

merc-it

that thing is absolutely gorgeous! i love the color

MarkL

I hadn't noticed this post earlier. This is what I meant about the soft German paint. Unfortunately, even if you use 100% cotton towels, etc., you're probably going to get some light scratches on the Capri -- that's my experience. I know most people will say "ech" if I mention GM, but my wife's Regal would never scratch as easily as my C240. It's the one thing that disappoints me.

BlackC230Coupe

that color wood came standard on my CLK430. It is very nice but its very very dark, it also gets dusty very easy. but when its clean its nice.

BlackC230Coupe

what kind of question is that!!! why do u think buell bought the car?:p :p :p

BTW- nice car.

Matt230K

These new paints do scratch really easy, but to actually be able to still read the letters, they probably pressed kinda hard writing that. You should make friends with a good detailer in your area, unless you want to do it yourself. I wouldn't go to the dealer, unless they actually do have a good detailer. Many do not.

Outland

You say its soft, some other posts claim its too hard and chips easy...whatever. Without performing adhesion tests and checking the hardness I tend to discount the numerous takes on the paint. Ive had 3 GM cars, all with dramatic differences in the Paint finish and durability. One wore great...the other two did not. Paint on my Honda absolutely sucked...dry concrete had more shine to it

A few things that I have noticed in general with paint over the years...

1. new cars scratch really easy...the reasons may have to do with the paint still being slightly soft, or just the fact that the finish is so flawless right no, any scratch or scuff is immediately visible.

2. Metallics tend to be thicker than solid colors, and will survive scratches better .

3. Paint can very dramatically from one car to another...go to your local dealer, you'll see what I mean. Even with the powdercoat finishes and clear coat they use today, these processes still are suspect to variablility and each manufacturer will try to use as much of its yields as possible. Consistency is great, but its not allways easy to maintain. The newer paints are more fussy than you can believe, thanks to paint and powdercoat emmission regulation.

4. No finish is indestructable. Keep it clean, wax it often, and don't lean against your car. My nieghbor does it to me everytime she comes over...and it bugs the crap out of me. I'd like to just scream at her to lean on her friggen Camry. So far, the Benz has avoided her butt...my last car was not so lucky.

5. Chips happen. Even with Expel type films...that stuff isn't impenetrable. Learn to fall back in traffic and don't tailgate trucks. Avoid the local gravel pit that's passing itself off as road construction.

Matt230K

The paint is soft compared to older cars. The paint used since like 96 or thereabouts is water-based instead of oil-based (or maybe the other way around). It is safer for the environment and is required on all cars. But it is softer and therefore scratches much easier than older paints. I don't think hard paints chip easier. A rock can pretty much chip any kind of paint.

MarkL

You are right on about the water-based paints, and from my own experience, I will say this affects German cars more than, let's say, GM. I've owned 15 cars since 1970, most American (GM), a couple of Japanese. I bought my first German car in 1999, a VW Passat. It was white so scratches were not easy to see. I've always waxed and washed my cars "appropriately" with no issues. After a while, when sun hit the white Passat right, I was shocked to see the multitude of fine swirls/scratches. I had read about the water-based paints and I believed what I saw.

My Capri blue 2002 C240 exhibits the same tendency to scratch at the slightest touch, and I don't think it's just my car. I think because it's dark, almost black, it's more noticeable. Now, I'm not saying it's scratched bad enough that you get that satin look in the sun, but when the light is right, the surface is covered with fine scratches, and I don't believe it's caused by what some would call inappropriate cleaning techniques. Like Truelove has said, you can literally scratch the surface by simply wiping your finger across the surface, even when clean. My wife's Regal is a 2000 model, and acts like all other GM products I've ever owned -- much harder to scratch than my two German cars while it is maintained the same way.

schwarz c230

I love the color, I would have ordered it instead of black, but on the 2002 it was alot extra.My black car scratches very easily, you should try the Zaino products, since you live in Illinois like I do you probably know wax does not last through the winter, btw find out how the dealer washes their cars, some dealers scratch the hell out of them .Do you plan on driving in the snow, just curious

truelove

yup, i will be driving on the snow so i'll need snow tires. but guess what, i absolutely CAN'T afford them right now at all. i'll try to get through the winter and hopefully the city will keep the roads clear enough and if not, my wife will have to drive me around. i'll have to get snow tires next year after i save up some money.

sorry guys, i was gonna take pictures of my xenons last night but my stupid camera ran out of batteries so i'll have to do it tonight.

i have a loaner today. my glovebox is getting fixed cause the service guys snapped the door off when prepping the car before i picked it up. the loaner is a cheap little Jetta. looks nice on the outside but pretty gross on the inside.

taylor192

Steel 15" rims from almost any C-class will fit the C230K. I couldn't afford brand new either, so I found a set of 1 season used winter tires on steel rims from a 1999 C-class, $500 CND (that's like $300 USD). When pricing my car I added $1000 cause I knew snow tires were a must where I live, but ended up finding a deal and bought the Audio 10 for under $400 CND with the leftover $$$.

Don't even dare take your car out in the snow with the C7 tires. Look at the tires, there's virtually no tread, only huge grooves, and you'll end up crashing your new baby. I had my C7s on for a slightly icy day, with only a small dusting of snow, and I'll never do that again, next year I will not wait so long to put the winter wheels on.

truelove

hmmm, i'll have to come up with something then. anyone know of any cheap winter tires that will fit on the 17 inch C7 rims.

i'll probably just end up having my wife drive me to work everyday there is snow on the ground and go for new tires next year. i can't even afford an extra 300 bucks for tires and then pay to have them put on.

taylor192

I have a small question then, the illuminated door sills are not available as an option on the car, they must be ordered seperately and then installed at the dealer, thus did you have to pay for them up front or are they included in the financed/leased price of the car?

One more question: why so many options if you can't even afford an extra $300? Your payments will be about $50-100 more a month with all those options.

I think this is why SoCal and others have a problem with the C230K, people over-extending themselves just to get into a MB. Truelove I'm not saying I'm any better, I lived off almost $0 the whole month after I got mine as the only cash I had was the money saved for snow tires.

Once again, sorry to criticize, but you sound like me, so in love with the car, but now you won't even beable to drive it and enjoy it cause you can't afford to put proper tires on it.

Check your local newsgroups and newspaper, I'm sure you'll beable to track down a set of used steel rims and tires from a C-class for under $500 USD. If you love your car as much as you've been saying then don't put your C7 rims through the winter, you'll ruin them.

Also, new mats are a must, I've already started to ruin my mats from the evolution package (covered under 2 year warrantee... I hope!) and I have the charcoal leather with dark mats, not the light colour you have.

truelove

i guess it does sound like i'm strapped for cash but believe me, this is absolutely not the case. i just have a hard time spending money on anything that i'm not sure i absolutely need (like new tires when i just got the car, but i guess i need them ). i got that habit from my dad. i'm a little bit of a tight wad, but not too bad.

and this C230 is not stretching me thin at all, not even close. i don't wanna tell you how much i make or anything but it's enough believe me, and my wife works too.

as for the door sills. they were ordered and installed before i even picked up the car so they were included in the price (when i picked up the car and not before) just like anything else so yes the price and installation was all included in the financing. but i had a hefty down payment saved up anyway so i pretty much just paid cash for a portion of the car anyway. the sills are an accessory and can be included on the price list when you buy the car just like heated seats or xenons (they just have to be ordered and installed by the dealer) or they can be ordered and installed years after you buy the car. just talk to the dealer about them. they will tell you what's up.

truelove

and why does the winter ruin the rims?

this car will get washed every week and it's garaged.

mctwin2kman

After I get mine I am ordering a set of alloy wheels and tires from tirerack for the winter months. Since I will be ordering in January I guess I have time to get the wheels and tires. 16's for the winter because the narrow tire is better in the snow than the wider. It will cost you about $1000 to get the extra wheels and save you nice C7's the assault from the curbs if you accidentally hit one.