Good point about the UV at the high altitudes - that can really mess up a car’s interior. But you do live in a beautiful part of the country - so I guess there's always a trade off.
Mike

 

Thank you! I absolutely love it here, especially in the lush suburbs with copious greenery and a majestic view of the mountains. More than the sun being a problem, which is still an undeniable issue, it is the rocks and pebbles on the road from the winter months and plows that really chew up the front of your car, more so than many areas in the states surprisingly. But Southern California is also mesmerizing (also where I purchased my Mercedes from); if I had to live anywhere else in the US it would be in SoCal - you're in the right place.

 

I gave my W211 a new rear lip spoiler from JBSpeed.

 

Can you provide the part number and location where you bought your cable. I am interested in extending my Media Interface Plus. I know I can stream Pandora but wanted to control the songs from the command.

Thanks,

 

I don't think I have what you are looking for, I should have really said auxiliary audio cable (3.5mm jack) that is the Griffin Technology flat cable so you can simply close the glove box and have the flat cable run out of the side instead of having to keep it open. http://tinyurl.com/7x9gqg4 is the exact part, and I took two pictures of what I am talking about. I purchased it in-store at Best Buy for $19. It does NOT allow you to control your iPod from the COMAND interface, but rather is just a high quality audio input cable. Here are the poor quality pictures (bad lighting in the garage):

 

Ok, thanks for the quick post.

 

I got the same flat cable. It its nice and easy on the cable when you close the glove box and, still use the Ipod

I tried out some new to me car products today. Made by Surf City Garage. Man the glass cleaner is the best but, to tell you the truth Im liking everything better than the Maguiars products. They freaking smell great too. lol

http://www.surfcitygarage.com/

 

'Name calling' is not really necessary nor appreciated!
But with a handle like yours, what could we expect?

Only trying to help you write better and not appear to be ignorant.
Really, IF you want to write like you do, go ahead. It's entirely up to you!

Regards,



DHG

 

I may be too lax in my care of writing but, you sir might be a touch too ****. Did you really just start a sentence with a conjunction?

Now lets leave this to the OP topic please.

Thanks

 

Only if you say so!

Perhaps I did, but it has been about sixty years since I was at the head of my English classes. Kindly 'plain where I did that?

Nuff said. Carry on!



DHG

 

Looks great! Thats one of the first mods I did to my car and I really like the look.
Mike

 

It's been 6000 miles since my last repair so I took mine to the shop for a new starter.

 

Well...I took my W211 in for some warranty service. It's the first time I've ever used a dealer for warranty service since I'm a dealership technician. Plus, as a dealership technician I always drove cars that I got at a steal price that usually needed some major repair. (my 97 E320 needed a head gasket when I got it)

Anyway, it went fine. I got my passenger side headrest fixed (it was jerky going up and down) and a new center console sliding door handle. (chrome flaked off in a spot) I know right....the inhumanity...not sure how I've managed to drive it with these glaring flaws! I guess I'm just made of some stern stuff.

I was a little surprised how old and run down the dealership was. Not the "Mercedes experience" I was expecting, but the people were nice and my W211 seemed happy with the new parts. LOL!!!!

 

Waiting for the shop to call. Starter drive was making bad bearing sound when it kicked out immediately after the engine fired up.

When engaging the firewheel all was normal with no gear issues only after it kicked and spinning down could you hear the whine.

For the record since new ONE major repair between every oil change and this is just keeping us on track with another major repair at 120,000 miles.

 

It hailed here so my car was inside. I took the liberty of not driving anywhere that day when the skies were getting darker.

On an unrelated note, I went outside and ran in the hail and made a pentagram in my neighbors driveway with the larger pieces. Ironic, because I'm catholic. Lol I can just see my neighbors watching a guy running around outside playing in the hail "Honeyyy, we're moving". Then, I'm selling said hail on eBay but that presents a problem because all the person will receive is a wet envelope. No returns I guess.

 

 

After new starter installed found brake pads at .230" thick and rotors on front at .960 with lower limit of 1.000 so new pads/rotors front/rear on order. Time for brake fluid flush also so Dot4+ for SBC will be ordered.

 

Upgraded my sound system with a new subwoofer set-up. I installed the sub as an infinite baffle system in the factory sub location with a 600 watt Alpine amp. All of it installed in the most "stealth" manner I could. I didn't want an unsightly box in the trunk or the amp and wiring showing at all. If you open the trunk you can hardly see the sub frame and nothing else is visible at all.





The trunk when you open it.....looks like nothing special. When your standing up normally, you can't even see the subwoofer frame.



The trunk floor raised up revealing the amp. The spare is underneath the amp, but it all pivots up and out of the way.



It really does sound amazing. Nice and tight with no boominess. Very balanced.

 

Ive been wanting to do this but, my local shop says i can do what you just did. How was the removal of the old sub and the mounting of the infinity. looks good by the way.

 

Removing the old sub was no big deal. Even with all the stuff under the rear panel, it's a straight forward deal. It's funny you mentioned that your local shops said you can't do this. I had 3 shops tell me the same thing. It's not that they can't......it's that they don't want to. They make more money with a lot less work by just tossing a box in the back and strapping an amp on it. I actually had a guy tell me that they weren't even interested in working on my Mercedes. That they were too well sealed and they couldn't get enough sound through the trunk with a box and an amp. DUH.....No kidding Sherlock! Yet his solution, after I told him what I wanted, was to put more speakers and more power in the trunk! How backwards is that thinking? I told him that seemed like a counter productive way to do it, and he told me I could just find someone else if i didn't like his suggestion. So...I did.

Anyway, this set-up is a great way to go for a stealth install and keeping your trunk free. The bass is nice and tight with no boominess and no rattling. It's a very balanced sound, but it will get loud if you want to feel your stomach buzz and the seats shake. The Harmon Kardon system does a fantastic job with the mids and highs and when you add the subsonic foundation that matches the mids and highs...it's REALLY nice.

An install like this takes a lot more effort and knowledge. My installer said my type of install might be 5% of his customer base. Most people don't care about the "how" they just want the "boom boom" as cheap and as fast as they can get it. He spent an entire day on the install, with most of it being on getting the infinite baffle set-up with the best speaker. He said he used 3 different subs and multiple crossover points before he got the numbers he wanted. He felt like it was one of his best sounding jobs and was going to recommend it to more people looking for a better sounding system that wasn't so intrusive. He enjoyed taking on a different challenge with the Mercedes and said he gets tired of doing the same thing all day to Chevrolet pickups. (it is Texas after all)

I'm really happy with how it turned out. I drove around for a couple of hours after I picked it up. I couldn't quit grinning! LOL!!!

 

Whets this meeting group in South Florida? I would like to be involved.

 

Wow sounds like you like it just a little bit lol. thanks for the info anf congrats on doing what ppl refuse to do. Too many installers just want to do the easy thing and run a few wires and a set of rca with a ugly *** box that steals all your trunk.

 

Luckily it was a joke a bad one but still a joke.

 

 

Hahaha. Anyway, well I did quite a bit for my W211 today. I washed it (by hand as always), waxed it twice with Turtle Wax Black Box, buffed it out with cloth, then used a buffing unit and sheepskin to get a high shine. Tomorrow I am steam-cleaning the carpets and detailing the inside much as I did the outside today. When I was done, I took about 60 pictures of the beauty, and uploaded about half - the adequate ones.