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So that'sd how it's supposed to drive... '04 E500 wagon
Bought my car last December, really straight body, relatively low miles for a near 15 year old car, just a nice clean looking car that was a set of wheels from being perfect IMO. However, my daily driver for the last 2 years after VW bought back my TDI Golf was a 1976 Ford F350 with about 180k-200k on the clock, and needing some new bushings etc., and before that I drove a '00 Mustang GT for about 100k... I am a man of varying tastes, though I lean towards stuff that is underappreciated.
I thought my car drove nice to be honest, but I recently did a overhaul of the front end, save the lower control arms because the rubber looks great still (would not have done the uppers had the ball joins been made replaceable...)
My goodness this thing is smooth now. Even riding on 245/35r19 tires. I didn't realize how much of that wear was being transmitted back to my hands and rear end until I finally took the car to work today after finally finishing the work. Well worth the time and relative pittance of cost, especially when done DIY.
I am honestly surprised by how easy these cars are to work on thus far. I am a pretty experienced DIY guy (necessity to daily drive a '70s Ford truck that while clean-ish had not been kept up all that well by the widow of the long term owner over the past decade).
Anyway, I just want to say I have been trolling through the forum, and found it very helpful. Next on deck is replacing my xenon bulbs and polishing the head lamps because it is pretty sad when a pair of crappy sealed beams on a 1970's truck offer better night vision than an HID headlamp...
After that I am going to get a new front bumper cover I think. I hate the stupid holes from the dorky front plate mount that this car previously wore in CA...also there is a bit of sun damage to the clear coat on one corner of the bumper that was pretty shabbily painted that is the only really less than stellar looking point of the car. Though maybe I will see if a body shop would be just a successful repairing the original bodywork.
Bought my car last December, really straight body, relatively low miles for a near 15 year old car, just a nice clean looking car that was a set of wheels from being perfect IMO. However, my daily driver for the last 2 years after VW bought back my TDI Golf was a 1976 Ford F350 with about 180k-200k on the clock, and needing some new bushings etc., and before that I drove a '00 Mustang GT for about 100k... I am a man of varying tastes, though I lean towards stuff that is underappreciated.
I thought my car drove nice to be honest, but I recently did a overhaul of the front end, save the lower control arms because the rubber looks great still (would not have done the uppers had the ball joins been made replaceable...)
My goodness this thing is smooth now. Even riding on 245/35r19 tires. I didn't realize how much of that wear was being transmitted back to my hands and rear end until I finally took the car to work today after finally finishing the work. Well worth the time and relative pittance of cost, especially when done DIY.
I am honestly surprised by how easy these cars are to work on thus far. I am a pretty experienced DIY guy (necessity to daily drive a '70s Ford truck that while clean-ish had not been kept up all that well by the widow of the long term owner over the past decade).
Anyway, I just want to say I have been trolling through the forum, and found it very helpful. Next on deck is replacing my xenon bulbs and polishing the head lamps because it is pretty sad when a pair of crappy sealed beams on a 1970's truck offer better night vision than an HID headlamp...
After that I am going to get a new front bumper cover I think. I hate the stupid holes from the dorky front plate mount that this car previously wore in CA...also there is a bit of sun damage to the clear coat on one corner of the bumper that was pretty shabbily painted that is the only really less than stellar looking point of the car. Though maybe I will see if a body shop would be just a successful repairing the original bodywork.
Great looking car!
Assuming the house across the street is NOT yours, you may want to let you neighbor know that Christmas is over and the lights on the house may be removed!
Next on deck is replacing my xenon bulbs and polishing the head lamps because it is pretty sad when a pair of crappy sealed beams on a 1970's truck offer better night vision than an HID headlamp...
After that I am going to get a new front bumper cover I think. I hate the stupid holes from the dorky front plate mount that this car previously wore in CA...also there is a bit of sun damage to the clear coat on one corner of the bumper that was pretty shabbily painted that is the only really less than stellar looking point of the car. Though maybe I will see if a body shop would be just a successful repairing the original bodywork.
Don't waste your time polishing the old lenses. Just install new ones when you do the bumper. You'll get far better results with less effort.
lol, definitely not my house. At least they look less trashy than the crashed Impala they had sitting there for half a year...our HOA is a joke. half the houses in the neighborhood have yards covered in weeds.
My E63 bumper and front lip on a wagon. Please email me for more information. gary@suvneer.com
I can't decide if I like the facelift look or not. There is something about the simpler looking pre-facelift I tend to prefer. Maybe it is the lack of the pointed center that seems out of place on the smooth flow of the estate.
Nice work! How are the rear shocks? Any fluid seepage visible on them yet?
Now if we only had a facelift for the rear lights. My son and I were following my wife home the other night when she was driving the Benz E-500 wagon. My son mentioned that it looked like a TURTLE from the back due to the rear lights mounted so low on the body. I had to agree.
The newer W212 & W213 models have the lights mounted up higher on the rear body. I guess the rear upper clear light lenses on these could be double populated with red led bulbs and triggered with the running/ parking light circuit.
Nice work! How are the rear shocks? Any fluid seepage visible on them yet?
Now if we only had a facelift for the rear lights. My son and I were following my wife home the other night when she was driving the Benz E-500 wagon. My son mentioned that it looked like a TURTLE from the back due to the rear lights mounted so low on the body. I had to agree.
The newer W212 & W213 models have the lights mounted up higher on the rear body. I guess the rear upper clear light lenses on these could be double populated with red led bulbs and triggered with the running/ parking light circuit.
they looked clean when I was changing the wheels, but the dust boots are shredded.
i actually bought a brand new pair of Bilstein replacements since at 140k, I assume they might go at any time. I got the special tool for the top just thinking about when I want to gut the rear interior to get at them.
it would be nice if you could extend the tail lights into the rear door. Stupid law ruins the design. Similar to a Ferarri California...
Did you buy your front end bits as a kit or al la cart?
Where did you source them?
thanks
eric
I bought bits n pieces.
1st I bought just the Arnott struts, then I felt the upper ball joint and knew that had to go. Saw inner CV boot had a wee little tear so decided might as well replace the lower ball joint and tie rod end. The end link bushing on the sway bar side was also pretty shredded looking, so that had to go to. Then I just did everything to match on the other side.
Car looks like it got new brakes pretty recently, and the wheel bearings felt good.
Most from Rockauto (the struts, ball joints, tie rod ends, end lonks), a few from Amazon (upper control arms), and I think Pelican parts (CVs, though I'm sure these could have been had a bit cheaper elsewhere).
03-14-2019, 03:57 AM
