cl_kruisin

Do you have a pic of britney is black g-string? If so, can you do us a favor and post it on the forum? lol

SoCalCLK

She's like the Scissor Doors....Hot and Ready to Go!!

WHITEMYST

damn, i just want these doors for my CLK, but then again these red doors will also do on my seat, ....i will surely use the red doors more often than my CLK doors

W208&203

My friend just completed the lambo door conversion on his 99 430. I am going to take some pictures tomorrow. I will post asap.

WHITEMYST

see guys that wasn't so hard, why mix up all these worthless civic's into this??? just post some pics, i'll love it and get a set for my CLK

dronellis

hurry dude..where is the pics??Im so excited to see that doors on CLK

ViKTORiOUS

TAKE PICS ASAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

nuttertmf

lol the suspense is killin me I have been here all day hitting refresh

calboy

I think the lambo doors is a great idea, in fact i want to do it to my car despite the fact some think it looks rice. Can't wait to see yours done!

newguy2008

Okay, now that I've read most of the pages in this post, can someone tell me WTF "Rice" or "Ricers" means? I feel like calling for Chinese Food-All this talk about rice is making me hungry!!!

Seriously, what does this mean???

ViKTORiOUS

Rice is a term used with mostly Japanese cars. Rice is a term that is used to emphesize things like big wings, huge loud exhausts, stickers of mods that arent even on the car, pretty much things that "look fast" but dont serve a purpose, just something for eye candy. Its hard to explain rice.

Go here, this should give you an example of what rice truely is.
http://www.riceboypage.com/

Brian_I.

Still no pics?

TresX

nuttertmf

I consider rice to be any mod done tastelessley or half assedly (is that a word) so even clks can be rice

ktm

Exactly. That has been my experience as well. I am one of the 8, so I must be a "hater". I absolutely agree that this board is NOT representative of the typical MB owner. The overwhelming majority of MB owners have an appreciation for their vehicles as sold. A very high percentage of them also spend most of their money on things that will appreciate in value, not depreciate to near zero upon purchase or detract from the intended design of the vehicle.

There are many people today who will not buy Honda Civics because of what's happened to them. I don't want to see the same thing happen to CLKs. Even though there's a specific section on this forum for mods, if you look at the last page of current threads, about 4 out of 5 are about mods. Fortunately for the rest of us, there are some very helpful people here who can help with "check engine light" probs and the kinds of everyday things that happen with most CLK owners.

Since every third thread is titled "What do you think of these wheels" - or the equivalent, I think it's pretty obvious that this crowd is much younger and more urban than the typical MB owner. The comments here reflect that.

cl_kruisin

That's a good, intelligent representation of those who appreciate a stock CLK for what it is.

Your right, the typical MB owner is of the older generation and likely does not share the same viewpoints as some of us younger ones.

I find the argument of depreciating value due to mods, to be very redicules. A vehicle in it's self is a TERRIBLE TERRIBLE "investment" in terms of re-selling it for what you paid. Mods are worse. Probably the only good investment of a vehicle is a classic car that is already worth 10x what it sold for 40 years ago.

A CLK will not follow the path of the Civic, for the simple reason that it's in a different class in terms of price. Every "joe" working part time a McDonalds can afford a Civic so it's more main stream and a large number of companies have produced dirt cheap mods to tap into this large marketplace. Not everyone can afford a CLK. It is my opinion that everything CLK related is 5x more expensive than the average vehicle. So every "joe" scraping by with his fast food job, adding bolt on mods to his door dinged civic, will need to pick up 4 more fast food jobs if he wants to buy a CLK.


The largest group of users on this forum will contribute the majority of the posts, which as you pointed out are those interested in mods. So there is nothing wrong with "what wheels should I get", that's just an example of one group of forum users. There is of course plenty of room for all different groups. And what it boils down to is we all are in the same overall group in that we own CLK's. So if we all like mods or not, atleast we all agree that a CLK is a kickass car!

Sleestack

The typical MB owner borders on being a geriatric patient and barely uses the power a 230K puts out, let alone the power that the MB V8s and V12s put out. The world of modding can range from light bulb swaps to high performance tuning. While lambo doors might not be for everyone (including me), you don't need to be "younger and more urban" to be interested in modifying your car. MB offers a variety of wheels, so I don't see how aftermarket wheels or so different. MB tunes there suspensions very soft. Given that MBs are capable of much better handling, I'm not surprised that alot of automobile enthusiasts choose to modify their suspensions. MB engine tuning is an expensive hobby and definitely not generally for the "younger more urban" crowd. I think your statment that an "overwhelming majority of MB owners have an appreciation for their vehicles as sold, " is a reflection of the fact that most MB owners don't know very much about what they are buying other than the price tag and the 3 pointed star. The growth of the MB tuning market is progress IMO. Not everyone is going to be interested in it, but hey, not everyone is ready for it either.

As for your comments regarding MBs becoming like Civics... fear of not trusting your own taste shouldn't prevent you from being a little creative. Sure, some modded MBs look tacky, but the last time I saw a bone stock green (aqua?) CLK, it wasn't looking that great either.

sajecw

Just a stupid question. Isn't the CLK door way too heavy for this?

I had it off my last car and it took to people to set the door. I had a civic and the door had to be at least 75 lbs lighter.

Ted Baldwin

Exactly. That has been my experience as well. I am one of the 8, so I must be a "hater". I absolutely agree that this board is NOT representative of the typical MB owner. The overwhelming majority of MB owners have an appreciation for their vehicles as sold. A very high percentage of them also spend most of their money on things that will appreciate in value, not depreciate to near zero upon purchase or detract from the intended design of the vehicle.
There are many people today who will not buy Honda Civics because of what's happened to them. I don't want to see the same thing happen to CLKs. Even though there's a specific section on this forum for mods, if you look at the last page of current threads, about 4 out of 5 are about mods. Fortunately for the rest of us, there are some very helpful people here who can help with "check engine light" probs and the kinds of everyday things that happen with most CLK owners.

................Wellcome to the new world! MB specifically redesigned their cars and bought the AMG division in order to attract younger and hipper customers. The world today is different. The top rapper is a white guy and the top golfer is a black guy. The top female tennis players are black girls. The world is different. The "typical" mercedes owner is no longer 60 years old. Dealerships are recognizing this. I was at the new Atlanta Classic Cars's location today and saw on the showroom floor a brand new W211 E500 with Lorinser DTM kit. The dealerships that do not recognize that they have a younger hipper clientele will fall by the wayside. I myself think that this is progress.


Ted

ktm

I think you are confusing "investment" with "appreciation". Will this car appreciate? Absolutely not. Is it an investment? If you spent money on it, then yes, it is.

It's more about true cost of ownership of any vehicle. If I can buy a stock CLK for 50K and sell it 4 years later for 20K, my (gross) cost of ownership is 30K or about $625 a month. If I maintain the vehicle in top shape, have all warranty work done and otherwise take excellent care of the vehicle, this is a reasonable assumption - maybe even 25K or more.

All things considered the same for a Cadillac, I may only get 15K. If I fail to maintain the vehicle, get it dinged up and run the **** out of it, I may only get 10K for it. The "investment" is not the return on your invested capital, it's the difference between what you receive for the car when you sell it vs. what you would have gotten had you not maintained the vehicle as well. In other words, "investing" in this case is lowering your overall cost of ownership - driving the best car available for as long as you can for as cheap as possible.

I bought a POS 1989 Taurus for $1500 in '96 with 105K miles on it. The book on it was $5500 but it had transmission slippage in OD. I've had accidents, hail damage and numerous other incidents that have resulted in about 8K in insurance payments. The tranny still slips in OD (I use D). The repairs and other maint on the vehicle have only run about $3500. All other things being equal, I have MADE $3,000 on the car and put over 100,000 more miles on it. That's a good cost of ownership IMO.

clarkspark

Here here!!

I personally like the idea to be able to make your car different from the other guy. Whether its expensive or not. You stop by at the beach and park, everybody looks, (I'm saying this from experience. I never used to get this kind of attention. ) Now imagine opening your doors vertically! You know how many people are gonna look and drool!? I have been considering these doors for a while now and hope to find someone reliable to do it. Just the MB name goes a long way, with the added mods all the ricers are gonna sweat the ride! Obviously not everybody can afford this type of car to mod. But its nice to know that you have the option.Peace

redbrick

Can I get them to open backwards? Like flip open the other direction?

sajecw

Why not put an A on the trunk and a H on the hood, put a 6 inch opening on your tailpipe, put blue neon all over the car and drop the suspension by cutting your coils.

You will truely have accomplished what this thread is talking about.

Although, I do think gull-wing doors would be cool.

ViKTORiOUS

Where are the pix? Im not going to order the kit until i see an actual kit installed... I wanna get a feel of what it CAN look like.

W208&203

Sorry for the delay guys.
Please see new thread
https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...threadid=47862