Hi everyone. Porsche guy here - brand new to the Mercedes world, and very excited, but also very much a newbie when it comes to the brand. I recently purchased my first 2004 CLK 500 cabriolet which is scheduled to be delivered on Wednesday - Pictures will come soon! It was a toss up between an e46 M3 cabriolet and the CLK500, but after sitting in the M3, it felt pretty cheap, IMO - I was fairly disappointed. CLK just seemed a lot better build and interior is superb (one of my family members purchases a new e550 Merc every few years, so I have experience with the quality of Mercedes).

I cannot believe what an amazing value this class is within the Mercedes line, as it seems to me to be a German muscle car GT cruiser along the lines of the old Porsche 928 (I've owned several) and from all my research, unlike the 928, quite reliable - except for the top mechanism on the cabrios. I own a 911 Turbo coupe, and this should be an excellent compliment to that car, albeit at a much more reasonable price - Probably won't be the case forever, however, as these will probably become collectible, with prices going up accordingly for good examples. I have seen this happen to many cars, including the air-cooled 911s, the 928s, ee39 M5s, e46 M3's, and even the Porsche 951.

Not to brag, but I guessed everyone of those cars would become collectible (at a time when people were bashing on them no less), and the CLK series follows much the same formula as those cars. That said....

The CLK I purchased is quite lovely but there are a couple of issues - top mechanism isn't working, but I've found some YouTube videos on how to manually put it down or up. Also, the interior is nice, but I'd like to freshen it up, as there are a couple of wear spots on the front seats around the bolsters.

Exterior/Interior - Cubanite Silver Metallic (723U) / Amaretta/Leather/Nappa/Semi-Aniline - Black/Anth (831A)

Couple of questions:
Is 831A a true black interior, or is it more charcoal? I've been trying to compare the two, and they look the same to me. I'd like to redye the seats, but on the leathermagic website, I am NOT seeing the difference between the black and this 831A. Can someone explain the difference in colors to me, and whether I can use a straight black dye on these 831A seats?
Is it safe to manually put the top down until I can troubleshoot the issue (It will be garaged and covered)?

I'm sure I'll have a lot more questions as soon as I receive the car and start to dig into it.

Thanks all!

 

You've got the same exterior and interior codes as me and my seats look black rather than charcoal. Only thing I'd double check is that yours is actually leather. Pretty sure no cows were harmed in the covering of my seats.

 

Unless I'm misreading my options- Should be full leather if you have this in your build sheet- Amaretta/Leather/Nappa/Semi-Aniline

 

I find it confusing when I see this on the VIN decoders. I take it to mean "you've got one of these in this colour". My understanding is Amaretta is leather look vinyl. Mine seems to have worn very much like vinyl ie not at all.

 

Yeah. I guess the only way to really know is to have the Maroney/window sticker, or look at the options sticker ( I think it's somewhere in the engine bay). I'll check it out when the car gets here.

 

Welcome aboard!

A couple of quick notes: you will need a MB-specific code reader as all engine diagnostics run on a proprietary system in parallel to OBD. The iCarsoft MBii is what I use and cost is around $150 on Amazon.

Be EXTREMELY conscious of how you disconnect and reconnect the battery. It's a sensitive system and a lot of new owners will inadvertently fry one or all of the 3 fuse boxes.

Choose a parts house to purchase your parts from (I like FCP Euro) as they offer lifetime warranty on parts. If your mileage is above 100K, it will be well worth your time to replace the front control arms and tie rods and bushings to get the ride quality back up to par.

 

Just bought the MBII. Thanks for the tip! How do you disconnect/reconnect the battery? I was always taught to remove the negative lead first, and then when reconnecting, connect the negative lead first.

 

Very nice purchase. A friend of mine had a coupe and it was very underrated. They are nice machines and built well!

 

I highly recommend these guys: https://www.seatdoctors.com
You send them your vin number and they take care of everything from there. A perfect match for me!

 

So what is the proper way to disconnect/reconnect the battery?

 

Can't think it's any more complicated than the usual negative first then positive to disconnect then reverse for reconnecting. But rule of thumb I use is key out and waiting 10 minutes before doing anything. That's from running Volvos years ago where it was actually mentioned in the manual.

Park over a drain too so the electricity has somewhere to run out from under the car. You don't want it all over your drive

 

I agree. That's always been what I was told as well.

HAHAHAHA. Love the electricity comment - After about a week of sitting, I found the battery was discharged and wouldn't even start. Now it's on a tender.