Hey guys, i'm from Australia and i'm about to buy a CLK500 with all options.

AMG Bodykit
Keyless Go
Heated Seats
Coil Over Suspension
All Log Books & History
The list is endless.

What i'm tossing up is whether to get the CLK500 and do some mods to it such as quad exhaust and stuff, or.. Buy a Porsche Cayenne S 4wd.

I know this is a mercedes forum, but any input from CLK500 owners would be awesome. How do you rate your cars, etc.

I know they are both 2 different cars, but any input would be great. Such as how reliable the CLK would be compared to the Porsche, etc.

I know the CLK would be more fun, RWD and a big V8.

Would love to hear what you guys think.

 

Well, the CLK certainly isn't a sports car, rather a touring car but that has significant advantages if it's going to be used as a daily driver. Lots of leg and head room, roomie interior, large boot space, great bottom end torque ala V8 and very comfortable for long drives. I have zero regrets buying mine.

 

Same here ...no complaints and i agreed with Kev on large boot space and end torque V8.

 

Nice.. What about reliability, are there many issues with the first models 02/03 ?

 

02 ? Only 03 and up. I never had any problem with my car except for cleaning my MAF sometimes and just replaced the valve cover gasket a few months ago ( i have warranty for this). Those problem are normal for CLK500.

 

https://mbworld.org/forums/clk-class...ms-clk500.html

 

Ok i had a read of that link.. It's kinda scary!

Does anyone know if you can install an AMG cluster in a CLK500? Would it need to be tuned to the ecu?

 

Kev and Wes can help you on this ... They will chime in when they see this .

 

Awesome. I've found a Km/h cluster which i can buy (i love the white amg look) but i just want to know if it's worth doing it. You have to remember everything in Aus is so much more expensive than where you guys are

Our cars here brand new are 30-40k more than yours lol. It's rediculous!!

 

I changed out my black gauges w/black bezel in my '05 to the '06 white gauges w/ silver bezel - I didn't go with AMG gauges because, well, I don't drive an AMG. I had MB install the cluster then code it for me - no issues or gremlins whatsoever.

 

I love my 2003 CLK 500 ( sports coupe).You get a lot for the money now these days on pre- owned one's with the 5.0-liter V-8's thrust; 0 to 60 in 5.7 seconds will get you the last word in most exchanges. I highly recommend !!!

 

Kevwood they look hot! The avantgarde i seen had those guages. If i knew where to get those guages i would! The only reason i'd go with AMG guages is because i have a friend wrecking an AMG and he has the cluster. And i love the dials and stuff on the AMG with the 320km/h guage.

I'm seriously considering buying this car in the next week or two.

It has 115 000km's on it. Looks to be in good condition, has all the options, everything, including push button start on the gear lever, keyless entry, heated seats, etc.

I'm just worried as most people would be with pre-owned cars, especially a merc!

What would be involved in changing over the clusters from a CLK500 cluster to an AMG cluster?

Also, does anyone know where i can source Brushed Aluminium kit for my interior to replace the wood grain? I'd order it instantly but needs to be a Right Hand Drive kit as most i've found are LHD.

The other alternative was giving the trim shop my woodgrain inserts to have them customised and made into brushed aluminium.

 

If the price is reasonable for the AMG gauges then jump on them, I wish I had a 320km/h speedo now that the car actually could make use of it I bought my gauges direct from MB, the whole cluster came as a unit and believe me, the prices here in Dubai are not cheap either...

As for your interior trim, instead for replacing it with MB aluminum trim, just have it covered, I changed mine over from wood to satin metalic silver to match my gauge bezel and AMG shift paddles, looks like it came that way from the factory. No great interior pics yet, just this one but it gives you an idea;



You can easily have it finished in brushed aluminum as well.

 

Take ur interior out and wrap it .

 

Mercedes quoted me $3000AU for a cluster, but i can get one for $500 from a CLK63 AMG that a friend is wrecking. I just need to know if it's worth doing it or not?

What do you mean by having the interior covered? That silver looks amazing for the interior! That's the same silver finish i want. Looks amazing in that picture. My car has the complete wood grain from doors to steering wheel etc. I just want it in that same finish.

I can take it to a place but they said they need to pull the woodgrain off and make it into brushed aluminium, i don't know how they do it but they said they need it for about 2 weeks

 

Check with MB before buy that cluster because the tach redline is different than the 500.

 

Ok, i'll ring them tomorrow. Worst comes to worst, i'll just keep mine and try and hunt down some dials like yours.

What other mods are worth doing??

I'm going to get some straight pipe's done leading to quad mufflers (amg style)

What other power mods can be done for reasonable price, maybe just to increase a bit of torque or something.

 

Same as every other car, basic power mods are air intake, exhaust and tune.

 

 

Does the tune make a huge difference?

immabesmug2, i have decided against the cayenne lol

 

An off the shelf tune? In reality, no, not really. You will pick up a mpg and the throttle response will 'feel' far better but a 5-10WHP gain (1.6-3.3%) on a 300HP car is maybe at absolute best .1 seconds in the quarter mile, it's impossible to feel any difference at all. I (and a few others) have had custom dyno tunes done (when I was still NA) and I picked up about 30WHP - That was with crappy shorty headers, full exhaust w/ OEM primary cats, E55K airbox, BMC filters and a GPT crank pulley. The car put down 277WHP IIRC.

I've got a dyno gains vs mods threat out there somewhere.

That being said, air intake, exhaust and standard tune together will add up and give you some noticable gains like it has for several other members.

 

I think i might stick with just customising the exhaust to let it breathe better and off course for the sound.

Maybe later down the track i'll get it dyno tuned at a performance shop. I'm not really after a monster of a car, just after something with class, luxury and some overtaking power.

 

Quick question guys.

Can CLK63 Mufflers fit on CLK500? Can the exhaust shop customise pipes to fit onto the mufflers? Reason i ask is because i have found a good cheap set of CLK63 Quad Mufflers.

 

FYI, on swapping clusters, you can't mix pre-facelift (prior to MY2005) and facelift (MY2005+) clusters - they use a different CAN bus protocol. Also, if the mileage on the cluster differs from the mileage in the ECU, the cluster's odometer will forever display "------".

 

Yeah.. I might stick with the cluster i have. Thanks for the info.

The only thing i might do for now is do the exhaust.

What do i need to do, to make the CLK sound like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPeBKnpAHaM