Drifter2090

Great thread! I just picked up a 07 CLS63! Your car looks so clean, mine is the same colour but the previous owner wrapped it so that's got to go! He also installed some 20" fast wheels which are going as well, luckily found a set of CLS63 wheels and once I'm done it will hopefully look like your car

MB Knucklehead

I have the same car, same year. Just curious, what color did they wrap it in?

Drifter2090

Wrapped in like a satin grey, its a nice colour but the wrap is old and I prefer the painted silver

nd-photo.nl

Thanks a lot @Drifter2090 ! I do agree, the original Iridium Silver looks very good in real life, I think it will make your CLS "come alive" when you do

But as good as it looks on pictures, it does have a lot of small surface scratches all over the car. Hopefully, somewhere next year, I can have it polished/corrected, as this car really deserves it.

nd-photo.nl

I was able to score an upgrade intercooler for a very good price in the EU. I was looking around, but you will end up almost everytime to the known US shops (Fabtech, PLM, etc), which means extra importing costs. I was able to source it from a German eBay seller for half the price. He only had 1 left, so I needed to act quickly



Also a safety mod, which is probably the first over here. I bought 2x Lifehammer Evolution from the Porsche webshop (as they are half the price, 9 euro compared to +20 euro). I bought 2 for the CLS and 1 for my girlfriends car. Also, normally they are orange. Let hope I will never need them

Bahnstormer

Is that for underwater excursions?

nd-photo.nl

Exactly

In all seriousness, the front punctures a car window with ease (ceramic pin comes shooting out) and the handle holds a razor blade for cutting the seatbelt.

nd-photo.nl

Last week my crank pulley was swapped out for a brand new one. I had some wobble which I didnt feel comfortable about. When you can't/won't drive you car with confidence, you need to solve it...

The most exciting moment was if they were able to get the bolt loose, as they had issues with it in the past. When they cant break it loose initially, they need to invest some extra time to block the engine from moving.

In about 15 mins, they had access to the crank pulley and the bolt





Another 15 minutes later, the car was lowered and I saw the mechanic remove the old pulley from the engine bay (nice!). I inspected the old pulley, and the distance between the 2 parts seemed identical all the way around.



Another 15 minutes later and the new crank pulley was installed.



And after another 15 minutes, the CLS was ready for takeoff. Testdrive went well, and I was on my way back home again. I also asked them to install a new front main seal, as it was accessible off course. They charged me 760 euro, which is really fair price imho

Drifter2090

Nice! Is the wobble gone now?

nd-photo.nl

Thats the funny part, not entirely. But, I know now for 100% that the crank pulley is fine, which is the thing I was worried about.

Drifter2090

Worth it for the peace of mind then
​​​​

nd-photo.nl

Exactly this! I was counting on about 1.000 euros, but they did an excellent job with having only spent 1 hour.

I asked for a quote at the dealership near me for:
-Crank pulley
-New crank bolt
-New front main seal
-New airco condensor (as its leaking)
-And the labor to swap it all
And I was quoted 1.900 euros I recieved this address via a dutch Mercedes forum and I am glad I followed that tip.

Drifter2090

Yeah the dealer is definitely not the way to go! Usually these independent shops do a better job too and for less (gotta be the right shop though).

machild

Is this the larger size they offer or their standard? I scored one of those larger sized units and sorting through how I am going to installed it. At a minimum cutting some of the mounting ears back and drilling new mounting holes while only mounting on one of the two bolt locations on each side. In my case it needs to be as far forward to allow room for another plate type heat exchanger in front of the condenser.

nd-photo.nl

I have no idea to be honest, I can note the measurements here for reference if you need them. I believe the mounting holes are different on a CLS compared to the E-class, so I will have to drill new holes anyway.

I was planning to install it somewhere last week (or this week), but it will be postponed a little.

machild

The standard size is about 63mm thick and the XL is about 76mm. Yes, different bumper crash bars so no matter you will have to drill holes. Where you locate the HE will dictate where you can secure it with the two bolts on each side or just one on each side. I will only be able to secure it with one bolt on each side. You will likely (almost sure) need to have longer bolts. The standard bolts are M10 x 1.5 x 110mm and I upped mine by 10mm. That was the longest I could get locally, but if I had my choice I would have upped it by an addiontal 5 - 10mm. There is 'stuff' that keeps the HE from seating on the bottom side of the bumper crash bar so I used 6-7mm spacers to keep the HE a bit lower and not interferring with that other stuff that is attached to the crash bar. I also replace two small M6 bolts that hold the visible bumper to the crash bar. I used a smaller torx bolt to minimize the stuff in the way of the HE.

I hope this helps.

erikzap

Nice! Really good idea! Where did you get the guage?

nd-photo.nl

It will once I will start working on it, thanks a bunch!

nd-photo.nl

Aliexpress! Example: https://aliexpress.com/item/1005002791337571.html

[edit]
Speaking of which, I replaced it with another one which supports Quickcharge for Android, as this is a lot more functional



End result! The button is the on/off button for the voltage gauge

nd-photo.nl

After waiting for about 2 months, I finally received my new SL65 AMG style grille. This will replace the older 3 louvre style. The SL65 style matches the front better with the bottom mesh and the fog light surrounds. This also solves the gaping hole in my logo



Old & new





Comparison old & new. I see now that the drivers side has a somewhat bigger gap around the headlight. Will see if I can adjust the hood a little.

Very happy with this modification, is a lot more subtle than I thought, but looks way better imho

MB Knucklehead

Looks good, nice mod.
Aftermarket or OEM?
Funny, when I look at your car, your passenger side headlight is a bit "clouded" than the right side
On my car, it is the opposite
So I will trade you my cloudier one, so you can match!
Just kidding.
I wonder what causes one side to do that over the other??

nd-photo.nl

Aftermarket, around 100 euros with shipping.

At this moment, the somewhat cloudy headlights dont bother me. But I might take you up on that offer @MB Knucklehead Maybe using different type of bulbs and not replacing them both?

Or do you mean the bonnet? I think it has hit something in the past, nothing to serious, but enough to unsettle things. The bracket behind the grille is also a little bit bend out of shape.

MB Knucklehead

100 Euros is not bad.
Are you happy with the quality?

nd-photo.nl

I am, very happy with the "new" look

nd-photo.nl

Met up with a friend who runs the dutch website Driveaholic.nl (reviews for all kinds of cars) and he wanted to do a short review of my CLS55. He also brought his Dragy and we were able to do some runs on the German autobahn.
Tank was filled with about 75% RON95 petrol, and off course we were with 2 people in the car. Very happy with this result, it shows I have a "fit" example



We also took some time for some pictures