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I generally do this on my cars and the forums I participate in. Since this forum is on the light side at the moment it will provide some insight to those that follow I hope.
So I just got a 2020 CLA45. The MSRP was 75k, I did not order or build this, a fraternity brother is a GM at South Bay Mercedes and he he hooked me up with a tremendous deal and I just bought it. I have 5 other cars so this will not be
driven much and I am disappointed in the long break-in as I get bored quickly and the running joke is I will get rid of it before I break it in. The evidence points to that as my RS3 didn't break 1700 miles before I sold it this year.
I mainly bought this as my only other Mercedes was the first production AMG car, the C36 and I absolutely loved it. I kept it 5 years and it was flawless.
This car will not be my daily, I have a 2020 Volvo Polestar T8 V60 which I really love for many reasons. This will be more of change of pace without having to "load" myself into my GT3 or Supra car. The GT3 has cup seats as its a track car and if any of you have sat in a Supra GR you would understand what I mean by that statement.
I like the tech in this car and the look.
So, this car sat on the lot for 5 months because of Covid19 and the paint showed it. Micro scratches and bird drop residue, without a doubt the worst new paint I've ever bought, my friend is giving me two free services because of it and the huge discount ( basically first year depreciation) My go to place here in OC is PFS, they have done all my cars and are amazing. The completely paint corrected the car. We then used XPEL Ultimate as clear bra and window tint ( 35%) with a full ceramic coat. The door handles were removed and wrapped in gloss black. They offered to perform two other services 1) paint my emblems 2) paint my calipers.
I declined both at this point but may change my mind. I may just de-badge the car, I know what I have and have no need for more badges. Since the wheels and interior have lots of silver it doesn't bother me as much as those door handles did. The calipers on the 45 are actually painted with a glossy finish unlike the 35 and I prefer the understated look. My Polestar has GOLD calipers, seatbelts etc etc and my GT3 has yellow so subdued is good.
I just went with 15mm Spacers squared and I think that will be all with the suspension. Compared to the RS3 which had to get lowered and new wheels as the factory settings and wheels sucked this isn't too bad.
I have my eyes on a range of future projects including some dyne mat and possible speaker improvements. The speakers in the passenger door buzz at certain settings.
I want to get the 45S exhaust tips, I found them but they won't ship to the US. I will figure that out.
I will add to this as I build it along. I will include where my RS3 ended so you can see where my tastes generally lie.
i have the same exact car , same color and specs, how much did the xpel , paint correction, door handle wrapped cost u? I was thinking of getting the calipers painted in gloss red
12-23-2020, 12:31 PM
