Glyn M Ruck

Yes for a short period - As you know they had to watch out for skin & nose heating to preserve the life of the aircraft.

Excuse all the replies with quotes - I'm having big trouble with the forum servers from this end. Threads only partially open then hang. Have reported.

LILBENZ230

I am a huge Concorde enthusiast.. always knew "about" it - is there anyone who wouldn't recognize it? - but didn't really get "into" it until far too late. Born too late in the game, I guess. :sad:

Speaking of old machinery.. if it all checks out right I'm going to add a 1994 Honda Accord to my collection. I've come upon a deal I don't want to pass up on an excellent 94 Accord EX sedan with a good maintenance history, 5-speed manual, 136k miles - built in Japan. I've always had a soft spot for the needle-nosed 1994-1997 Gen5 Accords. As you might have read elsewhere, the 2004 Pathfinder addition from last year lasted about a week before a major transmission failure that resulted in its return to Carmax and a refund.

bdgdl08

An accord sounds fun, though it's a bit odd campared to the other two. I hope all goes well.

samaritrey

got to see it in Seattle and go inside. was pretty cool

LILBENZ230

So my C230 recently crossed 75,000 miles and the only defunct thing is the passenger side mirror heater, which I have no plans to fix. Aside from this, the car is failure free. I've put 50,000 miles on it since I bought it. Here are some recent snow photos:



Snow is highly unusual in GA. On this day, we got 4 inches. Down here, this grinds everything to a halt. Armed with snow-rated Continentals and excellent slip-logic with the ESP, the Benz was unafraid and indeed not phased by this. In this photo, the roads are still clear. That changes later - see pics below.



I never get tired of looking at this car. The 2005-2007 Sport sedans with the AMG fascia and body moldings looks so modern and fresh, 5 years later. It's one (admittedly among several) of Benz's great design successes (IMO).



The unmistakable Corona-ring-DRL eyes of the 135i heading for the security of the garage. Worn tires and tons of RWD power don't make the 135 the ideal snow car.



As you can see, the roads turned really bad as darkness fell. Still nothing compared to the northeast, but this is significant for Georgia. The car had no issues in this stuff.



I really liked this photo of the tree. I enjoy snow a lot and haven't seen too much of it in my time. I'm sure all you guys from the places where it snows a lot are really feeling like right now. lol

Tire update (for johnand)

The Continentals are at 5,900 miles today (car is 75,400) and they're aging well. Still quiet, lots of grip in the inclement weather recently. I plan to have them rotated side-to-side, but I have a question.. The ASX's were worn excessively on the outside of both front tires - steer wear he called it. Will this side-to-side really stop this? If I've got it imagined right, it wouldn't help at all.

e24kgold

Matt,

What lights are you running, the look great. Also what Continentals? I've been thinking of changing to the DWS

Thanks!

LILBENZ230

My car runs DDM 55w HIDs and the tires are the Continental DWS - I like them!

LILBENZ230

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zyHrky7W9Y

Here is a movie of me driving the last bit to my house.. the roads were really bad but it was really no trouble. Sorry in advance, but I didn't expect the camera to pick up the music so well - I really love Reba and have since childhood, even though I don't really care for country.

e24kgold

Glad you like the DWS's, about to change mine in another 3 months or so. They seem like a great tire for the money. To think of how many sets of the garbage Pilot Primacys from the dealer I went through, and paid $300 a piece for

LILBENZ230

I was thinking about this and perhaps I've painted too rosy a picture, here. My goal is to give insight on what anyone who might have or might purchase one of these cars could expect as they get older. My car is big-problem free, and always has been. But it is not without quirks, and is not without wear-and-tear.

In addition to the dead passenger mirror heater:

- There is a pop (and sometimes multiple pops) from the front suspension in low speed turning situations. It seems to be worse in the cold and on inclines. It developed around 73,000 miles and is probably worn bushings. No vibrations or steering issues, so I'm not in a hurry to get these replaced.

- The car sometimes decides it had rather be in "C" mode rather than "S" for the transmission. This happens only now and then, but has been a quirk for about 15,000 miles now. It doesn't bother me, I just change it back.

- The right front city light and right rear license plate light both fail sometimes, giving me errors. Especially in the cold. After a restart, they work fine. The bulb contacts probably need cleaning, which is simple but I've been procrastinating. I figure I'll get to this when they go out for good. I'd like to replace the license plate lights with LEDs eventually. I need to do research, though.

- The electronic ignition noise is much louder when its cold, as are the door locks.

- The center armrest is faded/discolored. Not bad, but I notice it. Common issue.

johnand

Sorry Matt, been a crazy last few weeks and I missed this question.

If your tires have the sawtooth heal-to-toe type of feathering, then yes, it will even out that feathering by running the tires in the opposite direction. This will greatly reduce the noise this type of wear makes. That type of wear is normal on most European cars that run large amounts of caster. If your wear is just plain old shoulder wear, then no, if probably won't help. It is normal on these cars, and much more pronounced with spirited driving.

Glyn M Ruck

Matt - Also try running your front tyres a little harder. While Benz run large castor angles they also run variable camber with turn. You might notice that the outer wheel at full lock developes substantial negative camber while the inner wheel goes heavily positive. That outer wheel negative camber is intended to achieve flat tread on the road with hard cornering with a car that inherently understeers. It can't maintain flat tread on the road in these conditions if the tyre is underinflated & will feather the outer edge of the tread. Give it a bash & follow John's good advice.

Norwichdelta06

i always definitely love the styling of the 07 c230. Honestly i think it looks nicer then the C55.

johnand

+1 Absolutely. Seems opposite of what your used to, but it definitely improves shoulder wear, and only slightly increases center wear. As usual Glyn's explaination was spot on of how the suspension is set up, and how that relates to tire wear. I run my fronts at 32psi. Your Conti's are known for having a fairly soft sidewall, so may need to go higher.

Glyn M Ruck

I run my Michelins at 33/34 psi all round - utterly comfortable with my tyre selection - my car does 99% of it's mileage one person up. I do have the pleasure of corner to corner rotation because I'm not running staggered. I also have an enthusiastic driving style that attempts to force the car into oversteer. I never normally drive in a fashion that promotes pushing the nose out. Anyone that has driven a Porsche 911 in any of it's forms will understand what I mean.

I enjoy close to absolutely flat tyre wear using Michelin Exalto PE2's in the past, & now PS2's. In fairness both of these tyres use Michelin's Variable Contact Patch technology that widens & triangulates contact under heavy cornering.

I should also note that my (anti tramlining/anti following the camber of the road) alignment is run 1 deg more positive castor on the LHS than RHS - typically 10.6deg - 9.6deg. Opposite applies for US cars.

LILBENZ230

I am running them at 34psi all around. Think I will just do the side to side rotation, as well.. can't hurt.

Glyn M Ruck

Try 36 psi

LILBENZ230

I will up it to 36psi cold. Isn't this a bit high, though? I'll take your word for it. I thought the Benz recommended 28F 32R was pretty low. The tire guys set my car to this perfectly and it felt a bit sluggish and the steering was heavy, which was why I upped it. I'm gonna have the tires directionally rotated today.

johnand

Matt, it really depends on the tires/sidewall stiffness. I ran the OEM Michelin Primacy's at 28F and 32R and they wore perfectly. The Goodyear Eagles needed 30psi in the rear to wear even. The current Michelin Pilot A/S +'s, are running at 34F and 36R to wear even. Use of chalk line, pyrometer, and/or tread depth gauge helps monitor what is the correct PSI for the tires.

LILBENZ230

The sidewalls of the DWS tires are soft in Conti tradition.

Glyn M Ruck

+1 It's all a matter of tyre construction, load, pressure & operating temperature for a given circumstance. At operating temp you need even temp across the tread of the tyre. I notice you seem to do long runs intercity with load. Do you increase pressures before doing this? If you don't the tyre can get hotter than desired thereby increasing pressure over ideal. Had you started at a higher pressure you would not suffer the same level of pressure build up. Lessened by nitrogen inflation that I don't buy for normal road use.

Anyway - there is no standard pressure for a given size. Benz recommendations are a rough guide & vary by market.

If 36 psi gives you even wear then that's correct for your tyre choice & circumstances.

LILBENZ230

I had them rotated today from side-to-side, no charge.

Glyn M Ruck

Great - the joys of not running directional tyres.

johnand

Any change in noise or feel?

LILBENZ230

A little bit, but that might have to do with the 36psi now.