ddtham

Folks,

I have been lurking in W203 AMG for a long time now. Finally, I am proud to announce that I will be picking up my C32 in Atlanta and driving it back to SLC through Chicago (love that city!) and Denver during Memorial Day next week. Woohoo, I am super excited for the road trip (crossing fingers nothing breaks along the way ).

I am buying the bone stock 02 C32 from my sister who's had it for the last 6 years. The car itself only has 75K miles and she's selling it to me at trade-in value from Carmax

The car just had the stock IC pump replaced with Johnson CM30, new Eagle GS F1-D3s, new battery, Service F completed, etc.

This will be my DD, while the X5 is demoted (or promoted ) to weekend driver to haul the dog or grocery shopping.

Thanks everyone!

Chappy

You're going to have a blast driving home. Have fun and be safe!

TemjinX2

congrats on the new ride.

kchristos

Congrats man, make sure that the VALEO radiator was replaced too! It's great when you buy one of these from an owner that you trust.

ddtham

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone! The Valeo radiator was the first thing that was replaced when she got it. I told her about the possible glycol contamination issue that I read from this very forum before she bought the car years ago. Hahaha, I really am a long time lurker here.

Quick question for wheel experts:
I highly doubt this, but will 18x8.5 and 18x9 ET44 fits our cars? There's a local seller selling an original AMG wheels with that ET. He doesn't know where the wheels came from though (it looks like it came from W211 or R230).

Thank you!

Chazz

Congrats on the purchase!

I bought mine in Scottsdale, Az and drove it back to Ogden, Ut. Not nearly as far as your trip but man, was it fun!

Biscuit

Enjoy the car - you will love it. And you'll love those tires as well. That's the last set I had on mine...very grippy but they also wear very quickly. I went with a set of Hankook Ventus V12 EVO's this time. Dirt cheap and I can't really tell a different in grip. :-)

Also around that age / mileage don't be surprised if your crankshaft position sensor dies. Just replaced mine last weekend and from all the threads I found it seems to go out between 75k-100k. So if you start stalling out or taking a long time to start you know what's up.

Enjoy the car!

Glasgow Gold

Congrats, I love those tires & am on my second set.

Not cheap and wear quickly, but great handling and love the rim protector (not sure why other tires don't have it).

60n5pt1

welcome and congrats. u will have fun. I'm not sure about a 44 ET offset though. It may not clear your caliphers.

hkycoldrct

Would you mind sharing , or PM, what Carmax was quoting your sister at? I can tell you that they offer very nice trade in values. I actually took my Jeep Wrangler in a couple weeks back as I've been thinking about upgrading to a Rubicon. I purchased it one year ago and they were offering a grand less than I paid for it! I must have had a real stumped look on my face as their estimator looked back at me and said "Is that less than what you expected?". I told him I was pleasantly surprised by their number.

ddtham

Thanks a bunch! Did you buy yours stock? if you do, where did you install all of your mods? I'm thinking about going LET/EC as well (185, HE, Tune, Intake and Headers). I've only seen 2 other C32s in SLC and your car sounds really nice!

Thanks man, I've heard great reviews about the GS-D3! Thanks for the CPS tip!

Thanks! I will research more on the offset.

No problem, Carmax offered her $10K and she hates dealing with private buyer and wanted to move to C63 or Cayman S. The 02 C32 itself is a clean, one owner car that she bought in late 2004. The only thing that's broken is the seat modules (shocking)...

So, she asked me if I want it while I actually don't need another car But the X5 is such a gas hog (trying to justify the purchase for sure).

loudandheard

I would see about replacing some of the idler pulleys just in case. I know every thing is stock, but it's better than having to replace the water pump because the pulley sheared off.

ddtham

I finally made it back alive and really hit 2,350 miles right in front of my drive way

Pics of the car taken in Nashville, TN (beautiful place, great BBQ!). The car was completely stock except for Johnson CM30 pump.




Not to take the spotlight away from the C32, but I was driving by Bowling Green, KY and saw signage for National Corvette Museum So, here are some pics before I dropped the camera and broke it:





I have really enjoyed the C32 for the last three weeks! I even started modding (DIY painted sidemarkers and resonator delete). I also clayed, waxed, detailed, removed rock chips and removed engine weather stripping for the sake of SC whine (Thanks JTurkel!). The car just barely hit 80K miles today right after it had tranny fluid change at a local indie. What's amazing is the fact that fluid change only costed me $190 while the same indie is charging $550 for the X5.

I also raced a beautiful E46 M3 with Dinan badge today in Mexico... Had him off the line bad until 60 mph by 2 CLs or so before I let go due to speed limit. I gave the guy thumbs up, he rolled down his window and said he misshifted and complimented the amg. I ask him if he's stock and he said he has additional 30 hp or so, cool car and cool guy!

TemjinX2

nice pics and kill.

ML500K

Nice kill, wait until you get the 185 pulley package...

Chazz

All the mods on my car were done when I purchased it. All the work was done by Dyno-Comp in Scottsdale. ( http://dyno-comp.com/ )

Your car looks great! What shop are you taking it to? I still haven't found one in Ogden that I completely trust.

ddtham

Thank you! It wasn't really a kill as he bogged I guess, but I was excited to say the least! My first kill was actually a 350Z Now, that one is not even close... I am waiting for EC to put a package together (185/181, Dual Intake, Stg2 Tune) for a decent price.

Hi Chazz,

Thanks for the compliments. I've only heard good things about Dyno Comp! For regular maintenance, I brought mine to Werner's Mercedes (the mechanics there don't really talk to you though) because it's closer to home (I live in downtown).

I really like Alex's Auto Haus on 7200 S. and State. Willie, who is the service manager would really go into detail explaining all of the mechanical things associated with your issues, etc. That's where I brought my X5 for service and extended warranty-related repairs.

I hope that helps, thanks!