floridadriver

Vic, thanks for the pics and review. With your knowledge, you're a huge asset to this board. Enjoy your new ride!

joshg1001

just kidding of course, but its one audio source that is probably the least used

vic viper

I want to bet that CD.s are used way less


I think it is great to have 64 gigs worth of music always accessable, no need to bring out your phone.

mihaelb

it IS great...but I think that USB drives are just more prevalent. Then again, if you have several SD cards that you switch between, they'll take up less space than the USB drives. Either way, this car has both, and choice is good

vic viper

I can be wrong but it feels like an SD card is faster than a USB flash drive, I also have a SD card slot in my computer and that makes it a lot easier.

Jonobigblind

The annoying thing is that the SD card slot is used by my Garmin nav on my W205. I've gone out and purchased an 8GB USB stick to dump some tunes on to save me hooking my iPhone up each time.

eaglehorn

@Vic

When you get your car up and running with plates, and when you get your winter wheels mounted, can you please test something for me?

I just got 17" continental TS830 fitted to my car, and when I am driving on the motorway (around 130 km/h) I get a lot of vibration in the car - It's not so much from the steering wheel itself, its more from the whole car as such.

I usually drive with 1 arm on the middle-console, and 1 arm in the door arm rest, and when I do this, I can feel the car vibrate a fair bit.

Do you get any of this in your car?

The car is completely silent and quiet when driving normal highway speeds (0-90ish)

One thing I am wondering is if the fact that the airmatic will lower itself 10mm at high speed may play a role here?

(and yeah, I did take the car to the workshop 4 times now to get the wheels in balance, and they say now, that they will do nothing more) - Even though the vibrations persist.

vic viper

I have no vibrations, not with summer wheels nor the winters. You mentioned that you cannot feel the vibrations in the steering wheel, this indicates that the problem is located to the rear axle, the airmatic system cannot cause the problems you are describing, most likely it is a balancing issue with the wheels, I have noticed that wheels with TPMS sensors can be tricky to balance right. Also what kind of rim are you using? Cheaper non OE rims are prone to have more problems than OE.

eaglehorn

I run original 17" R48 as winter wheels - I never intended to have 17" for winter use, but that was the only solution since there was a shortage of alu-rims at the time my car was made.





First set of tires was Bridgestone Blizzak, which was then replaced with Continental because of the vibrations.

The MB dealership tried to re-balance the Bridgestone tires 3 times before they gave up, and then agreed to fit Continental on the car - When the vibrations did not stop, they gave up and said this is the best they could / would do.

I then took initiative to visit a non-MB tire workshop, and they found respectively 50, 35, 25, and 15 grams of imbalance on my continental wheels - They re-balanced all wheels, and made a comment when I picked up the car that they thought that maybe 1 of the tires was not entirely "round" - 80% of the vibrations are gone, but there's still some left at 130km/h.

The guy at the tire workshop said he would like to try and put on some Michelin Alpin A5 on there, so that is what we're trying next week.

Do you have any tips, tricks, hints that I can tell the guy at the tire-workshop as how to achieve perfect balance on wheels with TPMS sensors?

I am going insane over here - There's 2 things I can't handle in my cars 1) interior squeaky noises and 2) a bumpy ride

vic viper

I feel you, I would have been crazy as well.


Strange that the second tire shop found so much imbalance on recently balanced wheels, 50 and 35 grams are horrible and should cause some serious vibrations,
It would seem that there are either problems with the people carrying out the procedure or the equipment itself, it could very well also be the second workshop that has a faulty balancing machine.


If the new Alpins doesnt work, you could always take a trip here and I will do my best to help you out.

Glyn M Ruck

Find someone with a Hunter machine that can do Road Force balancing & then do a final run with a finishing balancer on the car.

eaglehorn

Thanks a lot Vic, I might just take you up on that offer! - Did you balance your own wheels to perfection yourself?

I'll go for a visit at the second workship next week, get those Alpines fitted and see how that works out, and make a judgement call from there.

eaglehorn

I am of the impression from what the MB dealership said, that they did do such a road force test on the tires when I came back the 3rd time - They were talking about how they also have tire equipment used in F1-Racing (not that it did me much good ) - maybe it's faulty or wasn't operated properly.

But I don't know if they have an actual Hunter machine.

In any event, it seems I have to pay more attention to tires in the future, and who I let do work on them.

Thanks for your advice

mihaelb

Well, at least you know your car is ready to hit the track.

What's happening to all the tires that are coming off? Are they taking responsibility and taking them back?

eaglehorn

Hehe I gotta remember that one, if I ever go back to that MB dealership - Funny!

I am not sure what the normal procedure is - In this specific case I did already in the ordering process request that the car got delivered with Continental winter tires - When the car finally arrived it was fitted with Bridgestone (for some odd reason) - So when they after 3 tries failed to make the Bridgestones run properly I asked them to fit Continental on there - Not that it helped a whole lot! - So yeah, they took the Bridgestone's back, and I didn't pay for the miles i put into them.

vic viper

My latest "mod" for the 205, no biggie, but it was something I forgot to order and it was a pretty easy retrofit



free image host

megaoctane

Is this mod folding side mirrors?

DBOC205

Nice... I gather thats some more luscious S Class switch-gear in metal?
Hey Vic, seeing that you're an MB Tech, can you share how you receive your training on the W205? Do you have to attend a course or is it all done through reading the service manuals?

vic viper

Its foldable mirrors, the main reason being I wanted the mirror illumination
The swtch unit looks the same its just that extra button on top of the mirror adjustment pad.


I attend training at the Global Training Centre in Malmoe to each new model, first a more basic overview and later a far more in depth training.
Then you always get way more knowledge by working on the cars in real life.

vic viper

Only one part missing now



click image upload

Capt Slo

Vic, I've got a question for you that I hope you don't mind answering in your thread.

I'm looking to black out some of my chrome trim (not all, just some) and to go along with the theme I've located a set of OEM black mirror caps (my car is Iridium silver)...how difficult is it to remove the current ones and install the new ones?

Thanks for your help.

vic viper

Its pretty straight forward


Pull the upper edge of the glass out manually so you can access the hook tabs holding the glass to the setting motor, use a screwdriver to slightly pry them upwards as you pull the glass towards you, once loose, unplug the connectors.
Then you can see a bunch of hook catches inside the mirror housing, I think there are six of them if I remember correctly, pull each tab gently and pull the housing cover forward to release it.

Capt Slo

Cool, thanks for the quick reply! I'm thinking I'll probably order them and give it a shot.

vic viper

Or you could just paint your own covers gloss black, guessing it would be cheaper?

vic viper

Finally got time to fit the mirrors I had lying around, a pretty easy mod where the job itself took just above an hour and the programming 40 minutes.
The 205 is a joy to work with, you can tell that they designed and assembled it with disassembly in mind.


This is proof of how disturbed I am, retrofitting folding mirrors just so I could get those small LED-lights under the mirrors