Q-Ship

Just picked up my "new" C43 this Friday night! After about a 1 - 2 month search, I came close to giving up and getting an E55 instead because C43s are so rare and I couldn't find a C43 that was a clean, well-kept, no accident history car that was also reasonably priced. Oh, since I know someone will ask I'll post pics in the next couple of days...

What did I get? It's a '99 model, 48K miles, silver exterior, black interior, CD changer, xenons, rain sensing wipers, with new Pirelli P-Zeros. Overall, I'd say the car is in great mechanical shape, incredible interior condition(looks new), and the exterior is in great shape (except for rock chips on front bumper area).

The torque of this car is just incredible...the very progressive and linear delivery of power is great. I'm a huge fan of small cars with big engines (my other "toy" is a Shelby Cobra replica I hand built myself). Hopefully, you guys can figure out my "Q-Ship" forum name!

Today, I took my wife and 6 year old son out for a drive and after a couple of spirited interstate on-ramp entries my son declared the C43 a "cool car".

This is my first Mercedes and I'm coming over after owning three BMW M3's. This is going to be my daily driver for the next few years and I typically try to do as much of my own maintenance and repairs as time allows.

Can you guys give me some ideas on the following:

- Shop Manual: who makes the best, most descriptive W202 shop manual (with tons of pictures and specific references to the C43) and where is the best place to purchase it?

- Parts Sources: Who are the typical Mercedes "catalog" parts sources? Also, who is a good discounted source of OEM parts? Lastly, who are the major Mercedes salvage operations should I need a good used part at some point down the road.

- Horsepower Mods: While I know this is an AMG and a V-8, what are some of the basic horsepower adding tricks? There were always some mods most every BMW M3 had, such as MAFs off of larger engines, chip tuning, etc. What do you guys recommend? (I'm well aware of the 5.5 conversion...not ready for that just yet. )

- Any hints, tips or factory service manual schematics related to pulling off the front bumper cover?

This information seems a little more elusive for Mercedes than BMW...or maybe I'm just so used to the BMW scene and I haven't looked enough yet at the Mercedes scene.

Immediate plans are to detail the heck out of the exterior of the car, have the front bumper cover and mirrors repainted, and probably make some minor suspension adjustments (just springs for now). From there...who knows...but, I've never owned a completely stock version of anything!

Thanks in advance for the tips and suggestions.

NitrogenBalance

Not sure where to begin...you'll love the car. Getting my front end re-sprayed and some parts color matched. I would look into a clear bra for the front once it's painted. I'm gonna look into getting one.

If your lookin for some info I would just float around here and do some searches.

NICE TASTE!!!

Vardar

I got some paint chipped in front too, and cannot afford a paint job now. Where can I find a clear bra, or regular one?
Thank you

Vardar

You are in for a treat! Lovely, solid, fast, powerful car. You'd love it. I am extremely happy with mine.


People say something about a Harmonic Balancer recall, I'd take it to the local dealer, it is free to replace, SRS light is common problem I heard ( i got that problem). Has 16 sparkplugs, and 2 air filters. More economical than other V8 hotrods out there (18-25mpg) Other than that C43 hauls ***! I did not drive BMW, but I've never driven this solid vehicle before...

Good luck and drive safe

VAamg

Hey Q, what part of NC are you in? I am in Hampton, VA. YOu will love the car, lots of fun. Can't wait to see your pics.

e320newbie

Pics! :d

Teck

Welcome to the boards and don't forget to post some pics

Q-Ship

As promised, pictures...











VAAMG: I'm in the Charlotte area...

Vardar: Thanks for the heads-up, but when I had the car in the M-B dealer for a pre-purchase inspection, the dealer noted the harmonic balancer issie and the previous owner and I agreed to have it replaced while in the shop.

For now, it needs:
- a serious exterior detail (paint cleaner, claybar, and about 5 coats of Zaino)
- hood area rock chips touched up
- several parts re-painted (mirrors, front bumper, center caps)
- one wheel needs refinishing, but I'm thinking about having all re-done so that they match

Since we're breaking out the paint, I'm going to purchase an M-5 style rear lip spoiler and have it color-matched as well.

What's the deal with the spring pads? Can I just remove them for now to get a little bit of lowering, or should I just go straight to a set of lowering springs?

e320newbie

wow i remember when mine looked like that, different seats tho, but damn thats a stock C43 looks good man, cant wait to see the pics after u play around with it
love the color!

Teck

lol same here....some memories came up

Nice pics btw

Vardar

Nothing like a beautiful STOCK C43! I love it. I love the way it looks (Sleeper)till someone **** with you . With mods, it's predictable... I got a Black one same as this pictures. Black on Black!

Now... Would you please tell me about I need to learn some tricks to protect the paint, and keep it in good shape. Dirt and dust looks worse on Black I believe... Also anyone knows about a decent/nice bra that doesn't look too cheesy maybe? I got little paint chipped off on the hood, I want to prevent more chips.

Thank you

C43AMG

........what do you want to know ?

StapleGun

Just for your 411 - Center caps aren't worth repainting they're dirt cheap anywhere you look, i.e. performance products, autohausaz, $tealership, ebay

Q-Ship

Vardar:

You can get a vinyl padded car bra or I'd suggest getting the 3-M clear strips applied to the front as you can't really see it and you won't look so '80s!

Regarding what wax or polish to use, everyone has their favorites and mine is ZAINO. It wasn't until I had my white M3 that I became a "believer" in Zaino. It took a nice white finish that probably most people would have thought looked good and turned into a super glossy almost wet looking finish.

To make sure I wasn't dreaming, I used it on my Cobra that has dark metallic royal/navy blue paint...it had 24" of paint "depth" (how far you can read the numbers on a tape measure looking into the paint)...after 5 coats of Zaino I had minimum 30" of paint depth and in some places 36" of paint depth!!

Spend some time on Zaino's website - especially in the tips and tricks section - reading and studying their suggestions on getting the best results. On a black car like you have, it is hard to find the right products that don't leave swirl marks...both Zaino and another product called "Sonax" (German made) are the only two that I've had success with on dark cars. Other people will probably chime in with their recommendations...just try some out and use what works best for you.

StapleGun: Thanks for the heads-up on the center caps...those are cheap at ~$6 each at autohaus. I was going to purchase some Wurth brand wheel spray paint but at that price I may pass and just get new caps. Also thanks for the names of those catalog & internet parts sites.

SDR

Just wanted to raise my hand as another Zaino convert. I'd tried a number of products and this is by far the best I've found. It's certainly no easy product to use initially, but once you see the difference you too will be a convert. It was actually my neighbor that got me to try it after I saw what it did for his black Expedition that sat outside for four years. There are some days I swear I can see my soul in the reflection off his doors

Q-Ship

By the way, in 5 days of ownership this car gets more attention than I thought it would...

Was on a trip over to South Carolina and stopped in the middle of no-where to gas up...we're talking the boonies...an hour's drive from the nearest large city. While pumping gas this guy walks up and wants to know if that is my C43...told him he MUST know something about cars to even know about a C43! Turns out he was a high-line auto dealer from Atlanta and had owned a C43. Said he really missed his C43 and wanted to know if I'd be interested in selling it. Told him I just bought it!

This evening on the way home this guy in a big Hemi Charger is passing me, so I start to speed up a little and he obviously felt the need to teach me a lesson. He apparently floors it as the Charger engine roars from a downshift and starts to pull away. I pull back to 3rd and floor it and quickly start to overtake the Charger. The look astonished look on his face as I passed him was priceless! As I exited the interstate a mile or so later the kid in the VW who was behind me and had seen the whole thing go down drives by blowing his horn and giving me the thumbs-up!

No doubt, I'm going to have fun with this car!

Teck

Haha great story congrats man

C43's are hell of fun but take care of police traps

Ashkan's C43

as for looks there are always the avantgrade grill and clear corners, Lorsiner has a nice rear spoiler with a clear 3rd break light, performance wise, there are kleeman headers, high flow cats, res delete and better muff, I hear good things about remus, evosport makes pullies for the car, a ram air intake would help, and even little things like ngk irdum plugs and mag core wires help out a bit, suspension wise, I am a big fan of your wheels in 18s 18x8 front 18x9 back, H&R springs and bilstein sport shocks, lpd makes lower conrol arm bushings, could also upgrade the breaks from thebreakman, lower thermo stat and fan switch, and mech fan delete, rear camber arms, everything except wheels and break kits would be under 2k, which is not bad, also a nice tint would do wonders... so I guess for under 2k those would be the mods I have done and would do to that car when I get one, pm me if you want more ideas?

VAamg

If you are ever road tripping up through VA, let me know, we'll have to introduce our girls