fusion2007

I am going to be moving to california for the fall semester and I need everyones help in preparing the car for the long drive. from Misssouri to Califronia. I could ship it but.. eveyone i know has had a bad experience, plus it seems like a good bonding time with my car.

i was thinking about getting in-car cameras to video-tape the drive.

its nearly 2000 miles. so i will be stopping somewhere. im thinking albuquerque, new mexico

what other things should i do to prep it?

Black_CLK

Wow where you going for fall semester? just bring food, drinks and a good CD haha

fusion2007

UC Irvine...hopefully the girls are amazing.haha

JHouse

Well congrats on the school. I'm about to try a measly 600 mile drive (alone). Hope I get there.

mis3

A long drive like this is probably good for the car.

The old school would tell you that this would clean the "system" like spark plugs and etc...

fusion2007

thanks jhouse, where are u driving to? O.C?

mis3, should i put cleaner in the fuel tank, for the fuel injectors? or anything

dopeclk

Irvine has plenty of hot chicks there. Congrats in getting admission there

mis3

You can put in injector cleaner if you like. It does not hurt.
However, the mere fact that you will be driving @100-120 KMH for a long distance will somehow "clean" the system. Stop-and-go driving in the city is not good for the car.

I am not sure on the specifics but after your long drive, you will probably feel the difference. The car will be smoother and quieter.

MNBenzFan

I drove from Omaha to Lake Tahoe nonstop about a month ago. I took my car in for an inspection and had the service department check all the fluids before I left. I was averaging 28-30 mpg on I-80 and the car was running perfectly. Just watch the roadkill and make sure you don't run over any antlers.

The drive was awesome. Utah has become one of my favorite states to drive through since the scenery is amazing.

EuroTra$H

your car was built for that type of drive, just check air pressure and alignment so you don't ruin a set of tires.
perhaps an oil change and top off the washer fluid

good tunes
pack a cooler
enjoy the drive...

then once you settle in to CA a good detail and another oil change and you will be loving life.

enjoy

Mka77

A man with the plan!

MB Dave

A carton of smokes a a carton of redbull great tunes and a great copilot

ahmadk

This is very important

2150john

Did 2000 miiles last summer to New York and back to Nashville in my clk350 cab. I loved the drive. As others have said the car was made for this type of trip.

Be sure tire pressure is correct. Unless the car is pulling, I wouldn't think an alignment necessary. However, getting all four tires balanced can really make a difference in comfort and control on the interstates. Have fun!

fusion2007

good to know thanks dopeclk

thats interesting, im curious to see how it improves, maybe a massive increase in torque.haha.
-mis3

mnbenzfan how were u averaging that/ is that 60mpg?

eurotrash thats exactly what i plan on doing, im kinda thinking if i should have gotten a convertible for this drive

now all i need a is a hott copilot, and isnt affraid to experiment on the drive...haha


thankx john, iv made an appointment a week before i leave.


thanks everyone,
i am going to video tape the drive and youtube it,

anything else?

MNBenzFan

It was almost exclusively on I-80 and I was averaging 75-80 miles per hour while driving. The speed limit varied from 70-75 on I-80. I was getting around 28-30 miles per gallon of gasoline. I'm not sure how else to explain it.

bheng

congrats on getting into UCI. plenty of good looking girls in socal. have fun, enjoy the weather. get a ton of red bull if you are driving alone cuz **** can get boring. load up the ipod and get to know the car well =) maybe tape up your front bumper for the occasional rock chips. oh and measure out tire pressure. you should be good to go

i'll be heading down to LA in a couple of weeks to meet up some friends and get my roof wrapped by don (if i have time). then vegas with the friends and back up to norcal.

CLK5OO

Red Bull
Proper tire inflation
Fill your fuel tank
Sirius/XM radio
I drove to Toronto and back for a hockey tournament and then to Charlotte NC a couple weeks later. Car got 27mpg to/from Toronto and was at 30mpg going to Charlotte when I hit a huge wreck which stopped traffic for 2 hours and killed my mileage. Got close to 27mpg coming back with a couple triple figure blasts. This in a 500. Mine gets great mileage at about a 74mph avg.

supacrazykev

Cools hit me up. I'm doing my last year at UC Irvine.

Kevin

supacrazykev

I would do an oil change before the trip. Check coolant levels too.

I drive up to norcal a lot(380 some miles). When I usually do it, I inflate the tires +2 psi on all tires just for better MPG.

If you care about MPG, make sure you have 0w-40 oil. On my recent trip up to norcal, I was on 5w-40 and I got significantly lower MPG. AVG around 24mpg vs. 26-28 MPG.

Kevin

JHouse

Oh no, no Orange County for me. Northwest Arkansas. Yeah, I know.

To prepare I bought a gizmo that holds my Droid 2 horizontally and powers it and I use the cassette adapter to plug it into my sound system. So GPS I can see that breaks in to the Pandora smoothly. It also has a built in app that makes the controls huge so you don't run off the road. I removed the suction mount and used the hole in the arm to screw it into the left side of that deep pocket between the A/C and the Stereo. Sure not factory, but reasonably slick and only cost $27 for a quality piece.

Can't wait.

fusion2007

mnbenzfan thats pretty good, but i have a 550, so hopefully i;m somewhere in that range

thanks bheng, i am going to tape up the bumper for sure. my car is only 2 yrs old and has 23k miles on it, Ill be heading down there between august 10-15,

haha, must have been fun drive clk500, iv gotten close to 27 but that was when i first got the car and didnt drive enthusiastically. now that i do, ill be lucky to get anything in the 20s

supacrazykev
for sure man, ill pm u my number, doesnt inflating the tires above the recommended cause the tread to wear faster? i have 5w-40 i think rite now, i need to double check, if i could score 24mpg that would be ideal....while driving enthusiastically lol

jhouse, i think i now what your talking about, i have something similar for my iphone actually. but i plug the phone into the aux port

so far iv got

1.oil change
2.tire pressure
3. good co-pilot
4.tunes
5. redbull
6. radar-detector+laser jammer
7. video camera to record the journey.
8. tape the front bumper to avoid chips,what about the hood?
9.
....anything else i missed?

MB Dave

cigarettes
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fusion2007

haha, i dont smoke though, maybe e-cigs..lol

MNBenzFan

I used e-cigs on my drive. Bring a car charger and extra batteries.