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as others have said, the cf is getting pretty heavy for my taste.
The mirrors and spoiler I can live with. Even the console and steering wheel could pass. Steering wheel borderline. But to start doing every trim panel is a bit much IMO. The engine cover looks good for sure. I would do that wrap. I am not a big fan of the red either.
Nice work overall, at the end of the day if you like it that is all that matters. Ive learned you cant please everyone and you shouldnt try to. Do it for yourself.
If you plan to keep the car for a long while then go for it. If you are planning to sell it, I know i wouldnt buy your car. Its been modded too much.
as others have said, the cf is getting pretty heavy for my taste.
The mirrors and spoiler I can live with. Even the console and steering wheel could pass. Steering wheel borderline. But to start doing every trim panel is a bit much IMO. The engine cover looks good for sure. I would do that wrap. I am not a big fan of the red either.
Nice work overall, at the end of the day if you like it that is all that matters. Ive learned you cant please everyone and you shouldnt try to. Do it for yourself.
If you plan to keep the car for a long while then go for it. If you are planning to sell it, I know i wouldnt buy your car. Its been modded too much.
Keep up the good work
The problem with the vinyl wrap is that it hasn't held up as I expected. Wrapping anything under the hood is out of the question. The heat generated lifts the vinyl.
I actually removed the carbon fiber vinyl wrap from the door handles and anywhere on outside/inside of car.
I decided the carbon fiber on the sides of the dash was too much and actually removed these and wrapped them in black alcantara so they look stock stock now.
I didn't buy this car and modify it with the intention of reselling it in the near future, as you always take a hit and people generally like to buy cars that have not been modified. This is just a toy for me and not my daily. Part of the passion I share for cars is modifying them to make them my own. I know the typical Mercedes buyer leases, or resells within 5 years and doesn't modify, which is why its so hard for us to get aftermarket support. I'm hoping there's a shift with more "younger" buyers like myself gravitating towards the brand.
The problem with the vinyl wrap is that it hasn't held up as I expected. Wrapping anything under the hood is out of the question. The heat generated lifts the vinyl.
I actually removed the carbon fiber vinyl wrap from the door handles and anywhere on outside/inside of car.
I decided the carbon fiber on the sides of the dash was too much and actually removed these and wrapped them in black alcantara so they look stock stock now.
I didn't buy this car and modify it with the intention of reselling it in the near future, as you always take a hit and people generally like to buy cars that have not been modified. This is just a toy for me and not my daily. Part of the passion I share for cars is modifying them to make them my own. I know the typical Mercedes buyer leases, or resells within 5 years and doesn't modify, which is why its so hard for us to get aftermarket support. I'm hoping there's a shift with more "younger" buyers like myself gravitating towards the brand.
good to know. So how much do you charge for a cf engine cover lol.
and removing those items would increasing my like on the cf wraps. The door handles and those sides of the dash pieces just looked tacky IMO. the interior cf, thats personal. It looks good. I prefer the wood but it looks good cf as well.
I am all about modding cars in a tasteful manner. As a younger buyer of my car as well, i do support aftermarket options, mainly tuning and performance, most of the visual mods i like for me can be bought from OEM now which is good, just at ridiculous prices.
but i think this car's sale price pushes a lot of younger buyers out of the market. Not many sub 30s somethings can afford a 55k+ car. i think it will take a few years for these to be sold out of the leases to get that huge volume for aftermarket growth. This w205 already has much more tuning attention than any other c class to date so its a step in the right direction. Honestly, if you want anything more than the stage 2 from any of the tuning companies, you should really just have bought the c63. with a 10 grand difference in price, the stage 2 cost is already at 2500+. the next step would most likely be turbo modification which I would bet would run somewhere around $3-5k. so now at $7500 for stage 3 you may as well get a c63 tune it and really break hearts.
good to know. So how much do you charge for a cf engine cover lol.
and removing those items would increasing my like on the cf wraps. The door handles and those sides of the dash pieces just looked tacky IMO. the interior cf, thats personal. It looks good. I prefer the wood but it looks good cf as well.
I am all about modding cars in a tasteful manner. As a younger buyer of my car as well, i do support aftermarket options, mainly tuning and performance, most of the visual mods i like for me can be bought from OEM now which is good, just at ridiculous prices.
but i think this car's sale price pushes a lot of younger buyers out of the market. Not many sub 30s somethings can afford a 55k+ car. i think it will take a few years for these to be sold out of the leases to get that huge volume for aftermarket growth. This w205 already has much more tuning attention than any other c class to date so its a step in the right direction. Honestly, if you want anything more than the stage 2 from any of the tuning companies, you should really just have bought the c63. with a 10 grand difference in price, the stage 2 cost is already at 2500+. the next step would most likely be turbo modification which I would bet would run somewhere around $3-5k. so now at $7500 for stage 3 you may as well get a c63 tune it and really break hearts.
I liked the black ash myself, but the model i was able to get my hands on didn't have it. I purchased the coupe in December 16 so there weren't a lot of coupes on lots at that point. The gloss black is brutal with scratches and fingerprints and i couldn't enjoy the carbon fiber vinyl on it, next to the real carbon fiber pieces I did. I'll do the rest of the center console in real carbon fiber over the winter when i can have the car apart for a few weeks.
Honestly man the raw material to do carbon fiber work isn't awfully expensive-its the time. To skin parts by hand really takes hours. I probably took me a week of work to do just that engine cover between sanding and cure times of the resin. Its a lot of fine detail work by hand and i'm not even close to being a professional at it yet.
I agree with you. Sub 30's no. But I'm seeing young professionals in the 30-35 range gaining more traction with the brand. I was cross shopping the M2 and used caymans. I coudn't get my hands on an M2 (waiting list was absurd) the cayman's power didn't impress me for the price and The C63 was just more than I wanted to spend before any aftermarket modifications. Also, the interior quality in the MB over the M2 was not even close. So for me the c43 coupe in particular checked a lot of boxes. I only wish it had a manual tranny, launch control, and wasn't so heavy!
You have proven yourself to be the DIY king. I'm curious to see what other projects you worked on. You had the brass ***** to cut up your bumper which still blows my mind. Nice work.
You have proven yourself to be the DIY king. I'm curious to see what other projects you worked on. You had the brass ***** to cut up your bumper which still blows my mind. Nice work.
LOL. Thanks man. Trust me I would prefer to not do a lot of this stuff on mine own and wish more aftermarket options were available, but when something doesn't exist I ask myself if "I can do that." Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't. One thing is certain, every part I work on or modify I look up the price of ahead of time. The rear lower bumper I modified is only like $200 and you can find them on eBay. I could have also thrown a C63 rear difuser and tips on there, but they're still fake exhaust tips in that case.
Indeed. Have ordered a used center console off eBay to do in full carbon. Didn't want to leave the car without a center console while I'm working on the carbon fiber lamination. Will take me a few weeks to do that piece because of its size.
Boost tap to get vacuum and boost right from the manifold under stock boost sensor. Had to mill out the hole in the original adaptor to fit the stock sensor diameter.
Boost tap to get vacuum and boost right from the manifold under stock boost sensor. Had to mill out the hole in the original adaptor to fit the stock sensor diameter.
did you machine this adapter yourself? or did you buy it?
did you machine this adapter yourself? or did you buy it?
I purchased the adaptor and then realized that the diameter of the hole was slightly too small for the stock boost pressure sensor to properly seat into. So I then machined out the hole diameter to be slightly larger (2mm maybe) so that the stock adaptor would seat properly. I've been running this via a vacuum line to a speedhut made boost/ vac gauge with no issues. I think the adaptor was purchased from 034 motorsports for volkswagen.
New modifications to front grill. Painted the grille satin black and made the chrome center pieces out of carbon fiber. Painted the star with a black paint containing a slight silver flake in the sun.
The grill looks great. I'm not a fan of just blacking out everything, but the complimentary shades of grey/black that you chose made it look really good. And the carbon fiber helps a lot.
I'm surprised people are responding to this with their disapproval of all the carbon fiber. I think this is done pretty tastefully and the car looks great. Nice job OP.
Been quiet for a while... new updates. New Grille installed. Might sell the old one if any forum members are interested? I still think the old grille is really nice but wanted something similar to the E63 style. I had to remove the entire bumper to change the grill.
Update: I shipped out my ECU to AMR Performance for their most recent Software tune for the C43AMG. The entire experience was fantastic. There was great communication from them throughout the process and my ECU was flashed and overnighted back to me within 24 hours. I was provided a tracking number same day the ECU was flashed and it was at my door 10am next day.
Now on to the the good stuff- how does it drive? In one word WOW! The car pulls so much more, even above 50mph. There is better response from engine and the transmission shift points seem smoother to me in sport plus. I'm running with the non AMG perf exhaust and no other bolt ons...for now. This thing now feels like a proper sports coupe! I highly recommend the AMR tune for anyone looking at the various options in the marketplace.
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren
Slideshow: A one-of-one U.S.-spec Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster became even rarer after a factory-backed transformation at McLaren's headquarters.
