BLT

Have fun man. Don't get tempted to drive too fast. I went on a roadtrip to Reno once in an ML55 and that was... Well, a dangerous combination of v8 + open road (:

moonrkr23

i want my freedom, money, and guns, you can keep the change

LILBENZ230

Hey thanks for whoever merged these threads. Cool!

I'm safely back. 1140 something miles in almost 19 hours. I'll have to post tomorrow after some rest.

LILBENZ230

Here are the observations I said I would post now that I have had some sleep.



This is 315 miles into the trip. The other miles on this tank of fuel were local city miles. Provided there was quite a bit of stop and go in this tank, I was satisfied with the results.



This was upon arrival in Tampa. Do you know how hard it is to average 77mph?



Gotta love the south. This was ridiculous but has been cleaned off today.



This is it back in the garage last night. Given what the car was put through, this gas mileage is excellent. The car was very, very loaded and there were hundreds of those miles traveled at 85mph or better. Oh, and that includes time that the car spent idling in 97F weather, AC full blast, during the funeral services - it idled probably a total of 45 minutes getting 0mpg.

Observations:

1. The brakes are shot. I'm not getting a warning yet, but the rotors are ruined. Lots of vibration. They have 53k on them, though, so I guess that's expected. I already have the new parts and will be doing a brake job next week.

2. A fully loaded C230 Sport isn't capable of absorbing sharp bumps very well.

3. It isn't big enough for 5 adults. The middle seatbelt and headrest are merely formalities.

4. The C230 has a ridiculously strong air conditioner. The new 135i has a much weaker system. Very good for extreme Florida heat and humidity.

5. It doesn't make a great car for sleeping unless you've been up 27 hours.

6. The M271 can get you 80-100mph on the interstate really quickly even fully loaded.

7. The car makes an impression and gets compliments everywhere it goes.

Now I need a t-shirt that says "I survived.." because it was quite an experience. I was up 32 hours straight and the car was put through hell. Both of us made it out okay. This firms up my belief that funerals are sadistic practices. Everyone does the "oh, but she looks so good.." BS.. no, looks like death to me? I also don't care for the euphemisms like "entered into rest" or "passed on". I didn't care for the McFuneral feel of it where everything is standardized. A woman kept appearing to tell people what to do and the staff was devoid of any "feeling". Comments were made like "Please form a single file line to view the body." (I passed) and "Please place your flowers on casket as a final tribute."

Maybe I'm cynical. I am, and have been my entire life, a proud atheist. I believe passionately that we should live good lives while we are living and not be so afraid of dying. I believe death to be an absolute finality, but that a life lived well means no shame in dying and that the best tribute anyone can pay to you once your life is through is to celebrate it. Not to gather around your four-figure casket to gaze at your lifeless body before placing it into yet another expensive grave-liner in a waste-of-space American cemetery. It's a waste of resources and an industry about the dollar and not about the people. I'll take a green burial, please.

Oh well, I digress. I was just thinking a lot on the trip back about the extreme pointlessness of it all.

bdgdl08

I'm glad you made it back safely, Matt. The front of your car looks too much like mine, I find myself washing bugs off every/every other day... it sucks!

MW_ATL

Glad you had a safe trip.

LILBENZ230

I had the rotors and pads replaced on the C230 today. The pads had some life left but the rotors were shot (53k miles on them). I measured them at 12.8" - so they are not 13.6" as the brochures said.

Edit: Total price including all parts, labor, and tax = $348.

Glyn M Ruck

Good for you - Never compromise on brakes. You must be able to stop the darn thing.

LILBENZ230

Yeah I have OEM equipment on it. I had the fluid flushed, as well. The rotors were the factory ones and were scarred and had fatigue cracks around the cross-drilled holes. After the long trip, it was shuddering really bad even at low-speed stops. All is smooth now. But the pedal is softer than before, even though the system was bled during the flush. It's not major, though.

Glyn M Ruck

Nothing wrong with the OE brakes apart from dust. I'm interested about the softer pedal. Did you only do the front brakes? Reason I ask is that caliper over return is one common cause of a soft pedal & the other is not changing rear pads at the same time as front. Does the pedal go down a little & then come up hard? Does 1 pump correct this?

I'm not talking about hose differences because you have not changed them.

LILBENZ230

I'm not sure about the 1 pump thing, I'll have to get back to you. Rear pads are still originals they were not changed.

What is caliper over return? It doesn't go down a little then come up hard, if I understood that correctly. It's very linear.

Glyn M Ruck

I think you have exactly what I have on my car. I did not change the rear pads when changing the front & I find it gives me a slightly soft pedal. The brakes still work fine - I just don't like the feeling. I only have 30,000 miles on my car & original rear pads. I think I must change them as well.

Caliper over-return is caused by pushing back the pistons in the caliper further than necessary when changing pads. The pistons have a D shaped cross section seal. When braking the seal sticks to the wall of the bore of the caliper & distorts to allow the piston to move forward against the pad. All that returns the piston with brakes off is the seal going back to it's normal shape. If the pistons are pushed back too far into the caliper when changing pads - i.e. by more than the thickness of the new pads - the seal sticks to the bore - distorts more than normally required - and thus returns further than it should. This gives you a low pedal because you have to displace more brake fluid to bring the pad in contact with the disc. The only fix is to strip & dry the entire braking system. Assemble the calipers, pads & all dry. Use compressed air to blow the pistons, seals & pads hard up against the disc & then bleed the brakes. I have done it many times in racing & it's a right royal PITA. It's frequently the cause of a slighly low or spongy pedal on Mercs & other cars. People frequently go changing flexible pipes etc to try & cure it. Frequently they are partially fixing a symptom without understanding the real, underlying problem.

LILBENZ230

But is caliper over-return harmful? Or just annoying? My pedal isn't "that" soft. It's not mushy a-la-GM brakes just softer than it was.

Glyn M Ruck

Not harmful - just irritating & not what you want in a racing situation. I don't think you & I are suffering over return - just partially worn back pads - I'm convinced both need to be replaced at the same time for as new brake feel.

LILBENZ230

This is an important milestone. This marks 30,000 miles that I've put on the car. Okay, technically, this is mile 29,875 but it's so close. The car had 25,125 on July 19, 2008 when I bought it.

The only issue I have with it is that after the gas runs low and I fill up, the fuel gauge needle moves quickly to 3/4 and then slower from that point till the full mark. It only does this on the first start after a fill-up, never does it any other time. It shoots to the proper place every other time. This may be normal but I don't recall this trait.. I'm not too concerned. My left HID has flickered a few times in the past few days, but it's an AEM DDM kit - not the car's fault.

This is the best car I've ever owned, by a mile. It had its share of little issues when the warranty was still intact but it has been extremely reliable. Maintenance is performed by the book and it's well cared for, so maybe that has something to do with it. It spends time on highways, backroads, and in the city grind all pretty much equally.

Babied, it isn't. Just last night it was driven on a rather long dirt trail(trail, not road) through a cornfield to reach a campsite of a friend. It looked way out of place in the midst of large 4x4 SUVs and trucks, and it came out pretty dirty but I washed it today and it's good as new.

I love this car. I could not have picked a better travel companion. Here's to another year and another 30,000.

bdgdl08

Congrats Matt! Glad to hear all is good.

LILBENZ230

The left HID is out for good at this point. Lifetime warranty FTW!

LILBENZ230

Year One Ends!

Mileage Start: 25,125
Mileage End: 56,362
Total: 31,237

I can't believe how little my car has aged given that the miles have more than doubled in the past year. The final warranty issue was taken care of it March (a collapsed engine mount). I'm up to date on all maintenance and hope to post a similar story in this thread on this date next year at about 85,000 miles. Since 2001 five Honda Accords, one Nissan Altima, one Acura TL, one Civic Si, one Infiniti G37, and one Mustang GT have came and gone through this garage and none have been missed. The C230 can't match the TL for gadgets, the Si for handling, or the G37 or Mustang GT for speed but this is by far the best all-around car I've owned. Cars rarely stay around here for more than a year or two but this C230 is here to stay.

LILBENZ230

This is my car tonight at our hotel after a (not so long) road trip. We're in Greenville, SC for a concert.

234 Miles
Time: 2hr 32mins
Avg. Fuel Econ: 31.4mpg
Avg. Speed: 74mph

I love this car.

LILBENZ230

This is a cool photo I took of the 55w HIDs I have in my car. The performance is awesome!

omg its nate

Looks great!

LILBENZ230

Happy Birthday to it, Happy Birthday to it..

My car's production date is 1-25-2005. It's 5 years old today and has 73,307 miles. On its 4th birthday it had just 40,100 - so it leads a fast paced life!

I was racking my brain for some "news" to update this thread with about the car but there's really nothing to say. It has never given me any problem. I'm thinking of making a cross-country drive in it this summer to SoCal (no, not just to see Karo.. lol) so that may be a fun adventure.

nlpamg

33k miles in a year?! wow!

let me know when you're in SoCal, Matt. we'll set up a meet for ya!

W203E35

+1

When you come down we'll have a get together and a photoshoot too.

It'll probably be a good excuse for me to meet Phil too since he always tries to ignore the Zankou Chicken meet we were going to have looool

j/k Phil

Phil, did you ever install EPC/WIS? If you need help I can walk you through it online.

I still owe Glyn a EPC/WIS Tutorial.

nlpamg

lol, I'm definitely not ignoring you, bro! things have just gotten really hectic lately.

I haven't installed it yet, but I received it. I've been meaning to pm you about it. Thanks again for sending it to me.

Hope all your things are getting better.