pmjr0987

Hello everyone got a 2002 E430 4Matic last week. has some older 18" rims on it and is very clean, 93k miles on it for $5000.

Here is the car

So far just blacked out the grill and the hood emblem.

First day with it. It was my fathers, i got the car for what BMW offered my father for it on trade in on the 2010 bmw behind it.





close up of the grill. I used plastidip so its durable and removable. plan to plastidip the window sills and all the chrome around the body on the lower cladding and the rear emblems



All cleaned up




Plans now are to finish plastidip spraying the chrome, 20% tints

I also want to spray the rims gunmetal and top it off with a few coats of clear

Pic of my 06 gsxr 1000 i painted gunmetal



any input or opinions on the gunmetal would be appreciated

Also looking to lower the car, i read cutting 1.5 coils off the front and back will give it a nice stance, and the car will still ride similar to stock. Is this true?

Besides that i would like to squeeze out some more power, besides intake what else is a good mod for the drivetrain that does not break the bank? car is an 11 year old DD so i dont want to go crazy

pmjr0987

Got the sub wires in, but need to swap out deck to mount up the sub and run my aux input

Any links to the right harness (ebay i saw one for $10 shipped but idk if it works with Bose)

illest

before you cut your springs find out what size spring pads you have. depending on what you have switching to a smaller size will lower the car a little.

Cutting front springs on a 4matic requires a special spring compressor (or you can remove the cv axles)

I have #1 spring pads all around and cut 1/2 coil in the front

mrbenzes

I think I read in the manual that the e430 4matics ride 1.5 inches higher than the 2wd e430's....it might be easier to source some stock springs from a 2wd car then you can put it back if necessary....not sure what that will do to the camber. etc.
Mike

illest

exactly. for the front cutting is the cheapest easiest option, I think lorinser offers some lowering springs but they run about $600. For the rear you can regular order lowering springs because they are the same as 2wd models (not sure if you can get just the rears). Do a search on 4matic lowering there are several threads on the topic.

Village Idiot

Those rims are ghetto-fabulous. otherwise nice! Is that obsidian black?

pmjr0987

lol i feel like most MB rims (big face chrome) is ghetto, these were sporty, but to each there own! i got the car with the rims and the're, currently looking at swapping them out with AMG split 5 spoke rims...

I do have a rust spot on driver door, small spot on trunk and small spot on driver front fender on the way bottom by seam.

I had a 2000 regal before this, 170k miles and it had zero rust... is this normal for the w210??

im loving the car but the downshift power is bad for a V8 in my opinion.

You come out of a turn and give it almost full throttle and it barely moves till it gets up past 3k rpm. when you floor it into "kickdown" it downshifts very fast and gets up to speed in a hurry. Anything besides that and its a snail. Are there any affordable PCM tunes out there for this car that will help with throttle response at the very least?

pmjr0987

Got windows tinted, plasti dipped the rear emblems to match front, and installed sub with stock bose system

This was mid install of eBay E55 LED tailights





Day time performance is ok, night is amazing. the LED makes the car look completly different especially at night.

Hirnbeiss

On the tranny shifting behavior, S is sportier than W, and moving the shifter to 4 supposedly improves the sportiness too. Sometimes resetting the TCU helps since it will relearn shifting behavior.
Also, restore the headlights - you'll appreciate the effort.

pmjr0987

Thanks, I know S-ummer is what it should be in as W-inter starts in 2nd gear and is more sluggish.

Im talking about engine torque the car generates almost no pull under 3k rpm. just strange to me being a V8, although its a small one. my regal 3.8 had much more available torque and pulled much harder while giving alot less throttle. But oh well, that cars long gone and this is what i will have for at least the winter. i will reset the computer fuel tables etc.

I also took advice and cleaned the headlights, 600 wetsand, meguires headlight restore kit. Could use more wet sanding but looks much better

**this filter was on for a day, stock box is back on the car**



Did a small photo shoot with my dads replacment BMW and my new (his old) MB

I ran him straight line 0-80 and walked him had about two cars on him by 80. his car only has 230 hp 3.0 I-6. im averaging 15 mpg, he is getting 22 lol. go figure. we took the cars around some twisties and forget about is, this MB handles like **** compared to the BMW, or even my old 2001 civic with sticky tires lol. again, oh well. Here are some pictures.

Any suggestions on looks are more than welcome.

mrbenzes

I didnt know these had the driver learning transmission but a reset is awesome if you can do it....Made a world of difference in my S55...Im very satisfied with my E430 at this point...totally smooth and very good power at all times. lemme know if you guys need the TCU reset instructions...
Mike

pmjr0987

If you don't mind a link or copy/paste would be great. I'd like to see what it could do for me

mrbenzes

here are the steps for my 2005 Car, I assume they are the same for the 2002 models:

1. Turn the ignition key to the ON (not start) position.

2. Press the gas pedal to the floor and hold for five seconds....dont release it yet.

3. Turn the key to the "off" position (don't remove the key), then release the gas pedal.

4. Wait at least two minutes for ECU to reset.

You wont get any message saying it was reset...take it for a drive and you should immediately see the difference. I have read it takes about 45 shifts for the transmission to begin "learning" your shift pattern.
Enjoy!
Mike

C280 Sport

Car looks great my friend! Where in NY are you located?

pmjr0987

Thank you! cars in Dutchess County NY (1.5 hours north of Manhattan NYC) where its been its whole life