Just Rollnnn.... evolution of another W203..
#1005
MBWorld Fanatic!
Thread Starter
As i posted earlier I hit 100k miles a couple months ago, so i took my car to Auto Talent http://www.autotalent.com/ in Carson to have it serviced. This was my first time coming here. Ive heard about it but thought they only worked on exotics. When i first got there, there was a couple Ferrari's, a Porsche, Audi R8, Lotus Elyse, Lamborghini, GTR, and an E55 all in the garage. They just moved to this spot in Carson that has a pretty big garage. Kevin who used to work at Status and HKS USA now works here and introduced me to the owner Sam and their tech Zoltie. I've heard really good things about them, so i decided to have my service done.
I did the Transmission fluid change including the torque converter, the Differential service, Service B: oil change, New spark plugs, cabin filter, fuel filter and got another K&N air filter.
While this was being done i purchased a set of Stoptech st-40 brakes from thaichi808. The fronts are 4 piston calipers with 355mm 2 piece cross drilled rotors and the rear are 332mm 2 piece cross drilled. They are painted candy apple red with rasta colored stoptech stickers. HMS will be painting these Orange soon.
These brakes have taken a lot of work to get things right. They were a straight plug and play install for the brakes themselves but what i forgot to consider was wheel fitment. I knew the fronts would fit since i was already running a 20mm spacer, but the rear i never really thought it would be a problem. Big mistake. Once we had the brakes installed, we put the wheels on and the rear wheels would not clear the calipers, we had to run a 10mm spacer. We threw on the spacer, but since i have the lug nut conversion, my rear lug studs were not long enough for the spacer. I had to leave my car at the shop and order longer studs in the AM.
The next day we decide to go back to using lug bolts. After taking the studs out we were able to fit the wheels on. But since the rear were now sticking out 10mm further they were rubbing my rear fenders big time. Zoltie decided to raise the car up a little bit. When i got there after work, we went for a drive. With me and Sam in the car the fenders were rubbing the tires as we were driving, all you could smell was burning tire. I had to leave the car there overnight again.
I decided the best thing to do was to add some negative camber. They took it to Firestone in Carson since i have a lifetime alignment with them. (I normally go to the Firestone in Cerritos, whos alignment tech actually knows what he's doing, he works on a lot of lowered cars) I also decided to take the day off and go over there to check it out. I got to Firestone around 1:30 pm and the car was still sitting there. After asking about it, they finally put it on the alignment machine. After about 30mins the manager comes out to me and says "my tech doesn't feel comfortable adding negative camber" wtf!!?!! are you serious?? He said that he thinks he'll **** it up. By this time it was 3pm and too late to try to bring it to Cerritos since i had another car with me. Kevin picked the car up and brought it back to Auto Talent. We decided to raise the car all the way up.
It was socaleuro the next day, but i decided not to drive it and to keep the car parked all weekend since it was 4x4. On Sunday i took it to Cerritos Firestone and they added 2 degrees negative camber. I brought the car back to Autotalent and they lowered it back down a little bit, but i was still rubbing pretty bad, but at least i could drive it. I decided to try different smaller tires. So i picked up some used 245/35/19 from Atlantis tire in Gardena. I had these mounted at my local tire shop, the rubbing was still there, but only on big dips. I was considering going down to a 235/35 on the rear, but don't really want to. That's too much of a stretch for me, but at this point id settle for it.
This past Saturday i took my car to Status and Dave suggested trying a smaller spacer for the rear. We took off the rear tire and 1st tried a 5mm, but that didn't work, so we stacked a 3mm and a 5mm and what do you know it worked. It gave about a mm caliper clearance and didn't rub. So now is just the waiting game, they are having a 8mm hubcentric spacer custom made for me. Lets hope this finally works so i can lower the car back to where it was before i started this all....
Here are a couple pics of how the car sits now....
![](http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/5099/img0640za.jpg)
![](http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/5255/img0645yb.jpg)
![](http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/4939/img0643em.jpg)
sorry for the crappy pics....
I did the Transmission fluid change including the torque converter, the Differential service, Service B: oil change, New spark plugs, cabin filter, fuel filter and got another K&N air filter.
While this was being done i purchased a set of Stoptech st-40 brakes from thaichi808. The fronts are 4 piston calipers with 355mm 2 piece cross drilled rotors and the rear are 332mm 2 piece cross drilled. They are painted candy apple red with rasta colored stoptech stickers. HMS will be painting these Orange soon.
These brakes have taken a lot of work to get things right. They were a straight plug and play install for the brakes themselves but what i forgot to consider was wheel fitment. I knew the fronts would fit since i was already running a 20mm spacer, but the rear i never really thought it would be a problem. Big mistake. Once we had the brakes installed, we put the wheels on and the rear wheels would not clear the calipers, we had to run a 10mm spacer. We threw on the spacer, but since i have the lug nut conversion, my rear lug studs were not long enough for the spacer. I had to leave my car at the shop and order longer studs in the AM.
The next day we decide to go back to using lug bolts. After taking the studs out we were able to fit the wheels on. But since the rear were now sticking out 10mm further they were rubbing my rear fenders big time. Zoltie decided to raise the car up a little bit. When i got there after work, we went for a drive. With me and Sam in the car the fenders were rubbing the tires as we were driving, all you could smell was burning tire. I had to leave the car there overnight again.
I decided the best thing to do was to add some negative camber. They took it to Firestone in Carson since i have a lifetime alignment with them. (I normally go to the Firestone in Cerritos, whos alignment tech actually knows what he's doing, he works on a lot of lowered cars) I also decided to take the day off and go over there to check it out. I got to Firestone around 1:30 pm and the car was still sitting there. After asking about it, they finally put it on the alignment machine. After about 30mins the manager comes out to me and says "my tech doesn't feel comfortable adding negative camber" wtf!!?!! are you serious?? He said that he thinks he'll **** it up. By this time it was 3pm and too late to try to bring it to Cerritos since i had another car with me. Kevin picked the car up and brought it back to Auto Talent. We decided to raise the car all the way up.
It was socaleuro the next day, but i decided not to drive it and to keep the car parked all weekend since it was 4x4. On Sunday i took it to Cerritos Firestone and they added 2 degrees negative camber. I brought the car back to Autotalent and they lowered it back down a little bit, but i was still rubbing pretty bad, but at least i could drive it. I decided to try different smaller tires. So i picked up some used 245/35/19 from Atlantis tire in Gardena. I had these mounted at my local tire shop, the rubbing was still there, but only on big dips. I was considering going down to a 235/35 on the rear, but don't really want to. That's too much of a stretch for me, but at this point id settle for it.
This past Saturday i took my car to Status and Dave suggested trying a smaller spacer for the rear. We took off the rear tire and 1st tried a 5mm, but that didn't work, so we stacked a 3mm and a 5mm and what do you know it worked. It gave about a mm caliper clearance and didn't rub. So now is just the waiting game, they are having a 8mm hubcentric spacer custom made for me. Lets hope this finally works so i can lower the car back to where it was before i started this all....
Here are a couple pics of how the car sits now....
![](http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/5099/img0640za.jpg)
![](http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/5255/img0645yb.jpg)
![](http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/4939/img0643em.jpg)
sorry for the crappy pics....
#1007
MBWorld Fanatic!
Thread Starter
#1008
MBWorld Fanatic!
Sorry to hear about the difficulty, but with your modding experience you know this is just how the game is played. Not a fan of the total lack of tire thickness on the rear, but you do what you have to do.
#1009
Member
Nice whip rollnnn lol. I did a one shot kill. But I realized I wasnt done yet with my w203. I was just getting started. Yours look fresh. Loving it. Nyc guys hate the effed up roads out here. Wish we had smooth roads.
#1010
Member
Thanks guys!
this is my current mod list:
Performance:
Kleeman Header
Renntech Pulley Kit
K&N air filter
Custom Intake
Custom Intercooler kit (thanks to Mikessw203)
OE Tune
Wheels, Brakes & Suspension:
WORK VS-XX: Burning black 19x8F +32 225/35, 19x9.5R +34 255/30
20mm spacer front, 10mm rear (lots of fender work)
Tein Basic coilovers
H&R Sway Bars
Custom front strut bar
Color matched front and rear Calipers
Brembo front and rear drilled and slotted rotors
Akebono ceramic pads
Body:
Clear Bra
Euro Impact Strips
CF Euroteck Front Lip
CF Front Grill
CF Salvatore Replica trunk spoiler, custom paint
CF rear diffuser
CF roof spoiler
CF double din faceplate
Custom Dual exhaust setup (magnaflow muffler)
Gloss Vinyl roof wrap
CF Sideview mirrors
Euro Folding side mirrors
Huper Optik Ceramic tint, 30% around & sunroof, 60% windshield
Bixenon
Audio:
Kenwood Excelon DNX8120(w/steering controls-thanks to JreC230)
2 JL 10w3
Custom sealed box
JL HD600.1 sub amp
I think that's it....
probably do some interior work next...
this is my current mod list:
Performance:
Kleeman Header
Renntech Pulley Kit
K&N air filter
Custom Intake
Custom Intercooler kit (thanks to Mikessw203)
OE Tune
Wheels, Brakes & Suspension:
WORK VS-XX: Burning black 19x8F +32 225/35, 19x9.5R +34 255/30
20mm spacer front, 10mm rear (lots of fender work)
Tein Basic coilovers
H&R Sway Bars
Custom front strut bar
Color matched front and rear Calipers
Brembo front and rear drilled and slotted rotors
Akebono ceramic pads
Body:
Clear Bra
Euro Impact Strips
CF Euroteck Front Lip
CF Front Grill
CF Salvatore Replica trunk spoiler, custom paint
CF rear diffuser
CF roof spoiler
CF double din faceplate
Custom Dual exhaust setup (magnaflow muffler)
Gloss Vinyl roof wrap
CF Sideview mirrors
Euro Folding side mirrors
Huper Optik Ceramic tint, 30% around & sunroof, 60% windshield
Bixenon
Audio:
Kenwood Excelon DNX8120(w/steering controls-thanks to JreC230)
2 JL 10w3
Custom sealed box
JL HD600.1 sub amp
I think that's it....
probably do some interior work next...
CF Salvatore Replica trunk
I want this! Where could I get this! help
Help! Help!
#1011
Super Member
#1013
MBWorld Fanatic!
Thread Starter
its the extreme dimension carbon morello spoiler, you can check their site or find it on ebay..
#1014
MBWorld Fanatic!
Thread Starter
thanks man, yours too. i know what you mean, streets out in LA are pretty bad too...
#1016
MBWorld Fanatic!
Thread Starter
#1017
MBWorld Fanatic!
Thread Starter
#1019
MBWorld Fanatic!
Thread Starter
#1024
MBWorld Fanatic!
Thread Starter