Hey guys, I hope to become a real member of MBworld by thursday when I plan on pulling the trigger on a high milage 2002 Silver(is there a specific name for the color?) C32 AMG. Its got over 130K miles but only one owner. Its a private seller, but is now at an independent Euro dealer/servicer getting a thorough PPO. So pending a clean bill of health (Carfax was good) Ill be driving it home to Chester County (South East), PA. Ive been trying to read as much on here as possible but figured I'd register and introduce myself. I had a Brilliant Black (bi-turbo) 2000 Audi S4. It was chipped good for ~ 320 hp and about 330-340 Lb/ft to the crank. It literally caught fire on the side of the road and burned to the ground. Ill post pics when I get a chance. I'm getting the AMG for such a good deal ill have enough money for an Aftemarket warranty, some deep dish black rims, and probably a pulley kit and exhaust. Couple specific questions for the MB community.
1. I had an aftermarket warranty on my S4. I paid $4K for it but they paid out $6k before my car was toast (still had a year and a half). They off er the same warranty for the AMG but its more money. Please tell me if this seems worth it: $5400 for four years, covers everything suspension, electronics. engine, supercharger. Zero dollar deductible so I would literally only have to pay routine maintenance for the next four years. Especially important on such a high mileage car.
2. People who use their AMG as a Daily driver, what do you use for winter wheels? What size, width (narrower?) wheels do you run, and type and spec tires. I see some snow, do most people run snow tires for winter and UHP summers the rest of the time?
3. What kind of power ceilings are on the c32? How much money, and is it realistic, to achieve 500hp? I know the Evosport Stage 2 kit is good for about 450, but is this pretty much maxed, or are there still un-addressed areas that can net higher horsepower?
Any other info, advice, and AMG-ness much appreciated,
Thanks so much, this place is a wealth of Information

 

Welcome to the forum. You're going to really like the C32!

1. Depends, but with a car like this at that mileage it'll probably be worth it especially if you don't do the work yourself.

2. I just run all season goodwrench g-force sport. Best tires I've had...

3. 500HP is possible with some nitrous, but you're looking at full exhaust, 185MM pulley, tune, cooling, intake, etc, and risk the possibility of blowing the engine. Why do you need 500HP?

 

1. Ditto with gt4awd, if you're a diy-er, save the money. These cars are easy to work on.
2. To my surprise, the C32 is an ok car in the snow. Throw in some good winter tires on the stock rims (Blizzaks, Ice Bear, etc), if you're planning to get another set of wheels.
3. I'll say do a compression test to make sure everything is okay prior to mods, especially with higher mileage. I would also focus on performance consistencies like cooling mods (IC pump, Heat Exchanger, Intercooler Separation), prior to power mods.

Good luck and enjoy it!

 

500 HP?? No way!!

The highest ever I've seen is well short of that with Loungin14 and his was mid 400s. That was a totally prepped Eurocharged vehicle with every imaginable mod cept for twin turbos (another failed project from Texas was a TT 3.2 C32??)

You can see high 3s or low 400; 500 NO WAY!!!

 

Newz, I think he meant 500 crank HP instead of wheels unless stated otherwise. But then 500 crank or 420ish wheel is very difficult to achieve without nitrous and better fuel delivery.

Jake's old C32 hit 400 plus whp he said and has a dyno to proof it. I haven't seen it yet though. But it is likely that it's around that ballpark by looking at the numbers.

 

I've seen Jake's old car, driven it, dragged it and saw the dyno. It was nowhere near 500 HP......................His E Cinco Cinco, thats a whole other story..........

 

Yeah I was totally talkin about 500 crank. The reason I picked that number was because its only 150 hp over stock. Its a good indication of a cars tuning abilities to have people regularly gettin 150-200 hp over stock, espcially with factory forced induction. Also in the world of bi-turbo s4s I'm comin from, you can slap on new turbos and some fueling and see 500 crank, with proper build 600 DD whp is totallly doable. With room for more. Anyway thanks for the tire advice. I'm gonna look for some cheap 17s to throw snow tires onto. I'm still not sure on the warranty. Id love a couple more opinions. I have mid grade mechanical skills. I did alll my work on my integra and none of the work on my audi (except installing. Some cars are best left to the pros. If your sayin c32s aren't hard to work on maybe I will. I'm thinkin with 141k miles, warranty might pay for itself even if I do minor repairs myself. Thanks for any thoughts gentlemen (and ladies if you even exist on message boards)

 

Unfortunately the C32 doesnt have the heavy mod potential of the old twin turbo S4.
There are a few members here that have had the first S4.
There was one guy here (long time ago) who had one who was running high 9's in the 1/4.

 

Getting the warranty is a tough choice. I chose not too because I had already had a major repair bill and it seemed stupid to spend another 5k on top of the 2k I had just spent. I wish I had done it when I bought the car. One of the problems for me was how much I drive. The warranty I looked into was good for X amount of years but also X amount of miles and it was far less than I drive. Since then I haven't had too much stuff that I couldn't just do myself. Of course, if I had a warranty theres a lot of things I'd fix that I just live with now. Anyway, I have a 130k C32 and I actually live in Chester County. By now I'm pretty familiar with the car and I'd be happy to help you out with anything.

 

Oh yeah, I use the stock wheels in the winter and right now I'm running the Dunlop SP Winter Sport M3's. They've been awesome. I haven't had any problems getting around with all this snow we've had. Haven't even had to put it in winter mode.

 

Hello! 500hp or not, you will still love the car! It still moves!!! I live in DelCo PA.. Keep us posted here on your purchase! Good luck.

 

that's crazy!

 

OK Mike, Austin and I want to know, "who's the chick??"

 

If you want a list of things to watch out for, just click my for sale link below and look at all the crap i had to fix.

 

Black beauty in the back or blue mistress up front?

 

What is the name of this company? I never would have guessed you could get such a comprehensive warranty for a 9-year-old AMG with over 130K miles.

My 2002 came with the Valeo transmission, which is known to leak coolant (glycol) into the integrated transmission cooler. This glycol contamination destroys the friction materials in the transmission and torque converter. My transmission is toast and my dealership quoted me $5600 to replace it. They also charged me $900 to replace the bad radiator.

I am investigating options to replace my own transmission with a $2200 rebuilt one, but I would have been sitting pretty had I purchased a warranty. My COMAND navigation/stereo has stopped accepting discs so the nav no longer works and the dealer quoted me over $1K to replace, my seat heaters no longer work and are over $600 EACH to replace at the dealer and my tilt wheel stopped tilting and requires several hundred dollars to repair due to labor removing all the trim (the part is only $4). I recently paid nearly $400 to diagnose, replace and relearn the sensor that makes the xenon headlamps auto-level (can't do that DIY).

If you want to wrench on your car, you can save a lot of money by staying active here. If you are going to have all the work done for you, the warranty is well worth it even at the price you were quoted. And I really want the name of that company!

P.S. Check your radiator to see whether you have the Valeo or the replacement Behr unit. If you have the Valeo, pay the $75 at a Mercedes dealer to have them perform a glycol test of the transmission fluid. If there is any contamination, negotiate the price of the car to account for changing the radiator, transmission and torque converter. If there is no contamination, plan to buy a Behr radiator from eBay for $125 and spend a couple hours changing it yourself (it's not difficult).

 

No one cares about the car!!!

 

i would get the warranty. MOst people are hitting around 370-380whp on a dynojet with bolt ons, so around 450hp crank without nitrous.

I think the main difference you will notice is the power delivery between the c32 and s4. With the c32, you get the instant tq of a large American v8 but you can turn like a european car.

If your into highway racing, obviously Turbo > supercharger.

 

fine then! lol she was at a targa rally meeting point/car show in the summer working for NOS drinks called "nor cal vs. so cal" best auto meet/show in the world IMO. "GermanCarsRule" on here has a pic with her in front of his e46 m3 too. nice girls, very nice girls

 

GT4awd: Thanks for the welcome, this seems one of the better car forums Ive been on. So, you run UHP all-seasons even through the worst parts of the winte?. Id prefer this over a dedicated snow tire but Id be scared running them in the snow in a high hp RWD. I dont need 500 hp but I want the option to have it. As I mentioned else where in the thread its only 150 crank hp over stock.

ddtham: the comp test is a great idea but the mechanic (independeant chosen by me) said he doubt I needed to spend the $200 on it because it was in grat running condition and he happens to know the car and the only owner of this c32. hes not a speed freak

King320: thanks, thats a perfect list of common failures to look for.
Mountain stone: Name of the company is AAAutowarranty. Ill Pm to you in case you dont check this thread again. Anyway they are great! theyll warranty a c32 with up to 150K miles. Also theyll warranty a carrerra with at least 100K miles, prob more. I originaly bought it for my s4 for 400 grand. Since I paid for the no deductible option, any little thing that was wrong with the carwas fixed for free. They were $6k down when I destoyed my car. The turbos were even covered so I had been waiting for them to blow so I could take the warranty manoey and bbuy Rs4 turbos! Obviously Im not affiliated withthem since I'm taking their money.

 

you CAN go into the 500+hp if you change out the block to the 3.7L from the ML/S350. however that will involve replacing the pistons by using the M113 supercharged V8's forged pistons, change the cams probably shrick cams, and you can either replace the IHI supercharger with a larger one like a whipple charger or just keep the IHI for a little less power and of course a custom tune. there are at least 3 C32's in Taiwan that has done this. doing this in Taiwan is heck of a lot cheaper tho since the 3.7L M112 is common and labors are cheap.

as far as warranty thing goes...I think $5400 is a little bit too much, but I don't know if you have any trusting local MB specialist around your area that doesn't cost you arm and leg if you don't have the warranty.