Hi all,

I currently have a CLK 350 W209 convertible and live in Cape Town South Africa, Im having big issues when it comes to getting parts as the CLK seems to be a very rare car for some reason over here.. When it comes to buying parts I can pretty much forget it. Sure I can always go to Mercedes and they are always happy to help but comes at a very high price! Quite possible twice what you would expect in the states.. Being one that likes a deal and always feels better for not paying over the odds and being ripped of that happens a lot over here I always have to be very careful. Also being 31 and rolling up in CLK convertible always triggers greed in the others eyes that I'm looking to do a deal with.. So for example I can't seem to find a set of brakes here and best quote recently came just under $700 only for front disks and pads excluding fitting?! Looking around its possible to get a very nice set online in the US for as little as $250 or $400 top spec front and rear. So with this I have got to check out and purchase only to find shipping is in some cases is another $500 on top!! I do love my Merc and only try to replace with the best parts but find it hard to justify paying nearly $1000 for a set of new front brakes and pads alone! Sure the package weighs in excess of 50kg however there must be a better solution?! Its fairly upsetting that even Merc here cant do much better and out source stateside. My first question would be how can I go about getting a decent set of drilled and slotted front disks and set of nice ceramic pads that won't with fitting cost over $1300? Any company or website or even individual that has from an AMG would be greatly appreciated?? Next comes down to styling... Again having the same problem here however I have managed to find covered in dust right at the back of a warehouse a breaking CLK 63 AMG Convertable like mine but in white.. Mine is black so that first of course brings up spraying issues!.. So after choosing the rear bumper, twin exhaust pipes, side skirts and one front fender and expecting a good price the guy them says to me that he wants $1500 and of course he does not own them so comes up with the I will have to speak to the owner line when i try to bring him down but sure he owns them and thats pretty much all that left after everyone else got to it first. Could anyone tell me what I should expect to pay for such old second hand parts? Also I would need to spray in black so is it really worth it?? Now its all looking quite expensive and he owns a spray shop so would expect a better deal. Again any help would be appreciated???
Many thanks for taking the time to reply

 

I just glimpsed at an article from Motor Authority about police driving supercars and public closing the streets on occasion.
I can not imagine someone willing to pay that kind of finn for a brake job. Never been to SA but engineered in a factory for a SA owner. (Great People) and a benz man.
The cost of brake parts start from almost nothing to as much exotic as you want to have. The AMG chassis is a preferred car to enhance for racing only.
I bet the C63 owner has it aside for a collector kind of keep. These cars are not part out friendly unless the front or rear has severe damage.
I would shoot for the whole car price, maybe he forgot about it.

Cheers, Gator