I haven't decided how to badge it. As of now, there is only the Mercede's triple star in the circle in its OEM location center of the trunk and in the grill. The grill was blackened so only the star and circle is chrome.

The fenders came with polished stainless steel plates cut to fit the center middle of the fender vents, with those seeming absolutely pointless. The cheap black plastic grating in the vents was also deleted.

The Mrs. wants "CL65" back on the rear. Otherwise she doesn't care. She sees it as "status." Around here, no one even knows what a CL65 is and I suspect even few Mercedes owners really do either as they aren't on showroom floors in this area.

I have all new OEM badging plus the side and rear Renntech metal emblems (which are becoming rare), but I haven't decided what I'm going to do with them either. I do want to show of "V12 BiTurbo," but do not like it where the body shop put it and had it removed. I also have various stickers (AMG/Mercedes, Nurenburg, Renntech).

I'm tempted to eliminate CL65 and put V12 BiTurbo at it's place as the only place for the mention of it. On the AMG side to eliminate the triple bar chrome piece as it seems pointless and just have AMG and adding the larger Renntech rear badge there together. The two side Renntech badges are smaller and I have no idea where to put them. Or I could put AMG and CL65 together on the rear right side of the trunk.



Until I decide I won't do anything.

I am speculating some of you wouldn't like it if I added yellow and red hotrod flames coming from the fender vents.

 

You actually think your fleabay ricer fenders are like the SLRs?

I've exchanged far too many words with you, enjoy your super rare colored CL65.

 

Rare color for sure. I'm not a fan of the new fenders. Seems tho for the rare color, warranty and renntech mods you got a good deal

 

The fenders were not off ebay, although there is nothing wrong with ebay. McLarens and Veyrons show up on ebay. Reviewing some of you messages it is easy to see your envy of others that you exhibit in your messages. I gather criticism from you should be taken as a compliment. You also seem disinterested in functionality too.

The engine bay of the CL65 is extremely crowded. Turbo motors run hot, particular at 21.8 psi. The escape for the heat is under the car, piling high pressure air under the car, exactly opposite where it should go given all also cars inherently have an undesirable wing shape. The vents allow some engine bay heat out the side of the car both increasing air flow and a bit reducing the high pressure zone under the car.

 

I just found some vented fenders similar to yours on ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MERCEDES-CL-...-/171060985340

 

^ Those are made by Prior Design and I think they look pretty good. At first was going to use those, however I was informed by I would have wait basically an indefinite length of time for the company to actually make them. As the car was already in the paint & body shop, waiting for months or whenever was not an option. If a company is offering something they do not actually have and there will weeks or months of manufacturing time they should state so in their listing or on their website - rather than sell it and then days later inform they don't have it and it is on back order for an undefined period of time. However, the ebay seller may not have been Prior Design itself, just someone trying to be a middleman seller who buys what he is selling only after he has sold it. This is common on ebay.

My goal for the fender vents was in part for the venting, but moreso to give the car ANYTHING other than the words V12 BiTurbo to indicate it is more than a lumbering big luxury car. While they may look cheesy to some people, the attitude of the ordinary person seeing it with those fenders is notably different than when it did not have them. Prior, no one so much as glanced at it. That minor change now has people looking, walking around it, asking about it.

There are a lot of little parking lot car shows around here every weekend. The old guys do beautiful work on their restorations, resto-mods, hotrods, collectables and old muscle cars. I often stop to walk around. Prior to those fenders, my car didn't exist. After, even just parked over to the side, it draws people. The same question: "How fast does it go?" I tell them "228 or until a tire blows, whichever comes first" (). And comment that only 194 were made, it was the most expensive product model car Mercedes made, and the body is unique to it. To which they ask "how much did it cost?" Answer: A little less than a quarter million if I count the upgrades.

Suddenly my CL65 that cost less than a low level new Cadillac became a super car. That also a goal - the most bang for the buck including the perception of it. In a small community that matters. Wouldn't mean anything in a large urban setting of course. Everyone is invisible in big cities.

A car being fast and looking fast are two different matters. CL65s are fast. But they don't look like it. Very few people have any clue what "CL65" means, even Mercedes owners. Outside of Mercedes owners, virtual no one does. The vented fenders, though certainly less than ideal in appearance, serve the exact function I wanted from them. As far as looking down at "rice burners," only a foolish person laughs at a GTR. While most rice burners are just stuck on body parts and usually badly, others are very fast and agile.

Mercedes Benz itself came to recognize their performance models look dull and have been adding vents, flairs, and increasingly dramatic appearing ground effects body parts. On a performance oriented cars, understated refinement doesn't sell. Glitz sells .

 

What didn't turn out as well as I though would be was putting the V12 Biturbo letters in the center slot. However, that person didn't even put them on even. I'm not sure what to do in that regards at this point. I'd like to redo that area of the fender, but after it laid up FOUR MONTHS for that paint and body work, I'm not eager to taking them off and laying it up again. But I do want the V12 BiTurbo somewhere on it.

Subtle differences make a big difference. When I had a Deep green Jaguar XKR with beautiful custom wheels, it looked good, but lacked curb "wow" appeal. I found tasteful medal badges with rounded ends about 4 inches long and half an inch wide that simply said "Supercharged" and added this to the fenders. That minor change redefined the car to people in a very positive way. When I put it up for sale (ebay) it sold immediately. Someone flew across the country from California to Florida and drove it back.

I will rebadge the back and the Mrs wants CL65 back on it. Of course I will put AMG back on the right rear again, but I will not include the 3-bar piece as it is pointless and a distraction. I have the old collectable metal Renntach badges, but am not sure if I will use them or where. I would not replace AMG with Renntech as few people even know what Renntech is. But subtly using the 2 small side badges somewhere, or maybe 1 on the back, has value to those who do. These little details matter in my opinion in terms of curb appeal.

 

It is back from Renntech and they reset the height module in a very functional manner. When parked and up to 35 mph, it has the car level and just a few mmillimeters above bottomed out. At 35 mph it raises it up and objects, bumps and dips can come up fast.

Who looks at a car traveling down the highway to that detail to avoid front damage and bottoming out it raised up at traveling speed? At a stop light it will automatically drop down giving it that low sleek look and stay there until 35mph when it will raise up (but not 100%). However, it still can be manually taken all the way down or all the way up by overriding with the dash button. Looks good and very functional.

Cool. At least that outrageously expensive to repair ABC system has some value to it.

 

I'm surprised you say the fender vents help to cool the engine compartment. My car is in lots of bits at the moment, and I just went to take a look. The vents just open into the wheel arch cavity. This is enclosed by the wheel arch liners and the undertrays. Its sealed quite effectively from the engine compartment.