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Hello all. I am a Mercedes virgin. I have just bought a 2002 Mercedes Benz CLK 430 Coupe and I don't know a thing about it! As far as I can tell...it is a V8 with an automatic transmission! The car is super rough and I will be trying to fix it up so sorry in advance for any dumb/newbie questions....
anyway...
So is what I have considered a W208? Is the spoiler on the back an aftermarket add on?
The rear brakes are literally steel on steel right now and most of the front fascia is missing, one of the headlight washers is sticking up, drivers side mirror was replaced with a pretty cappy dimming mirror etc.....this car is a mess!
Yes, an '02 CLK 430 is a W208. The 430's have a 4.3 liter V8, and were only offered with an automatic trans. The drivers side mirror is supposed to dim. The spoiler/wing is aftermarket, never seen one come with that. The V8 badge on the side is aftermarket as well. Sucks about the brakes, hopefully you can find a decent deal on rotors+pads and there's nothing else ****ed up back there. If it's been treated bad enough to have 0 pad left, I'd change all fluids. Transmission fluid is a little tricky, it's a sealed system with no drain on the torque converter (M/B was convinced they'd invented lifetime transmission fluid) There's a DIY somewhere around here, you'll need to purchase a dipstick and a cap (you'll break the cap when removing it) and then you'll drain whats in the pan, refill, and repeat several times until you've flushed the whole system. Other fluids are much easier, but a true coolant flush is similar.
oh okay! I didn't know about the badges. I thought they were a bit tacky for MB. The spoiler has to stay unfortunately becasue I'm sure there are holes in the trunk for it. The rear pads are incredibly cheap! I just called a parts place locally and $55 is all they want!
If its really steel-on-steel, your rotors are probably toast. Possible damage to the calipers as well, but far less likely. The missing lower valence on the front bumper is common (mine's missing as well) it gets cracked of on curbs super easily. AFAIK, no W208 came with the star grill stock. They had the raised hood ornament and a plain grill. That will make sourcing the star a little tricky, without knowing exactly where that grill came from. Relatively common mod, I'm not a fan personally. It just doesn't have an aggressive enough nose to pull it off-I prefer the hood ornament. You should be able to remove the V8 badge with a hair dryer and some dental floss. Mercedes does use V8/V8 Biturbo badges on some cars, just not this one. It doesn't look that out of place IMHO, perhaps a tad tacky. Nice rims, by the way.
Thanks! I didn't know the grille wasn't OEM. I'm kinda neutral about it but perhaps in time I'll either seek a replacement star or try to find an original grille. The rims are in okay shape...a little curb rash, a little corrosion. Not entirely sure what make they are but they are stock 17" and have MB center caps. I know it sounds odd, but I've never been a fan of aftermarket wheels though the OE ones are a tad boring. Aftermarket ones always seem to lack the quality next to OEM wheels.
rear brakes are a fairly easy and straight forward job. Probably the toughest part is getting it off the ground and the wheel off.
here is a decent video, I'd use a torque wrench to tighten the caliper bolts and the set screw I wouldn't tighten as much and use locktite. A mallet is better than a carpenters hammer. A punch set is better too.
otherwise the procedure is good
Lol....It's not that bad. Willing to bet the previous owner more than likely ran over the concrete barrier and just torn it to bits. The front grill isn't in that bad condition, looks nice. Headlamp definitely need a polish
but overall she decent.
Yeah, I've spent some time cleaning it up, repairing/ replacing broken parts. I'm pretty happy thus far with it.
Yeah, headlights were pretty bad. I did a quick wet sand and clear coat to clear them up a bit. The wheels were so bad that I had to paint them. Big gouges out of them. The rear brakes weren't to hard to do.
Originally Posted by 2MERKS
Lol....It's not that bad. Willing to bet the previous owner more than likely ran over the concrete barrier and just torn it to bits. The front grill isn't in that bad condition, looks nice. Headlamp definitely need a polish
but overall she decent.
Yeah, not a big fan of the wing either. It's a little "rice" for my liking but there are srew holes where the wing is mounted. I do have the ability to weld them up but I want to find a new front bumper first before I mix up a bunch of paint. The front bumper still isn't fixed. I actually took a portion of a Honda Del Sol bumper and cut it up to use as a "patch". Looks okay from far away and gives it a vaguely aftermarket look but I really would prefer just to find a porper replacement. Speaking of rice, the wheels were a bit of an experiment in color. Certainly stands out in a crowd but a tad boy racer for my tastes. I'm hoping to find a set of AMG Monoblocks. I only paid $1000 for this car so it's not like I'm into it for a whole lot of money. Like everybody, I have a limited budget and have to be resourceful in fixing this car up.
Previous owner replaced the side mirror with a mismatched one. A bit of paint and it's now matched! The radio quit shortly after buying my Benz. I wanted to be able to plug in my iPod so an aftermarket stereo was purchased. Also removed the OEM six disk in the trunk.
Test fit of the deck. The telephone mic is temporary until I figure out how to tap into the oem mic. Cigarette burn in the storage tray is now covered up by a rubber pad. 16" winter tires and wheels installed. Painted the same color as my summer wheels. Not sure what they are, aftermarket reps.
It gets pretty cold here in winter. Although this car has never had one it's entire life, I wanted to install a coolant heater just so it's a little easier on the engine in extreme cold starts. I found a housing from a c320 in the salvage yard and fit it to my 430.
High mileage! I've literally put on 11000 KM on this car since I've owned it in 4 months. I work 300 km away from home and drive a lot!
Even though my Benz is rear wheel driven, I've driven it all over my province in all sorts of awful driving conditions and haven't had major issues! Common sense and a healthy respect for winter driving conditions have kept me out of trouble!
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