mgmoreau

New to the MB World forum. I posted on here about my search for a pre-owned MB SL or CLS 550. I settled on a 2016 certified pre-owned CLS 550 with 17,500 miles. It has Premium package, park assist and lane assist package, wheel package, black leather with white contrast stitching, rear spoiler, heated steering wheel, active multicontour drivers seat, and 18" AMG wheels. I was able to purchase two additional years from MB on the certified warranty for $3 K so the car is covered bumper to bumper until March 31, 2023 with unlimited mileage.

I test drove another CLS 550 with the 19" AMG wheels and felt the road noise while driving the car was way too loud. I read on this forum that other owners are saying the 18" wheels are a better compromise between ride quality, road noise and looks. So my car has the 18" wheels. I have only had it two days and I love the engine and the response and driving feel. My only disappointment is still with the amount of road noise I am hearing while driving. Please note my question below about the tires and Carplay:

Question on the tires: The car currently has Continental ContiProcontacts 255/40 R18 99H in front and same ContiProcontacts in back size 285/35 R18 97H. Since the car only has 17,500 miles and was leased 4 years by a little old lady who traded it in for a new GT, I assume these are the original tires that came with the car. Can anyone tell me if these were the OEM brand tires MB used in 2016? Why would my tires have 40 99H in front and 35 97H in back? Are these the correct tire sizes? Are there other brand tires that would handle well but have less road noise?

Question on Appleplay. I figured out how to connect my phone via USB cable. Each time I shut the car off is seems to loose the pairing and I need to reconnect through interface the next time I start the car. Am I doing anything wrong or do you have to manually connect each time you start the car?

Anyways excited to finally be driving a nice MB. Previous ride was a 2009 Infiniti M35 S with RWD and 302 HP twin intake V6 shown along side the CLS in pics. That Infiniti was a fast car but the CLS 550 is a f$!#%&g fast car I think I am going to love the performance of the bi-turbo V8!!

My new goal in life is to increase my carbon footprint!

Look forward to learning a lot about my new car from this awesome forum

chassis

Welcome, and nice looking CLS!

Using the mbusa.com tire shopper, your sizes appear original. https://www.mbusatirecenter.com/app/...18,285%2F35R18

The road noise is for sure related to the 40 series and 35 series tires. Vehicle manufacturers have completely lost the plot these days when it comes to road noise and harshness as they relate to wheel and tire selection.

Regarding the pairing, sometimes it takes my 2017 GLE350 longer than I think it should to regain pairing via bluetooth. USB cable should be near instant.

mgmoreau

Chassis thanks for the reply. Are you aware if anyone on this forum tried installing higher sidewall tires on this car?

I still need to read up on the owners manuals and figure all this technology out.

MBpippo

Your CLS is awesome. Congratulations!

mgmoreau

Thank you for the kind words.

mgmoreau

The more I drive the car, the more I become addicted to the abundant power and torque. How do folks keep the addiction in check? I am worried about the tickets I will start to accumulate.

ghlkal

Yeah, the V8 bi-turbo is fast. I guess you'll have to learn to restrain yourself.

There are times I wish I could "downgrade" from 18" to 17" wheels ...

Congratulations, and enjoy the ride.

dbldpr

You will not get rid of all the road noise since Mercedes benz was cheap on insulating the wheel well and trunk area. You can get rid of most of road noise coming from trunk area by installing sound deading material and from the trunk area and you can get part of the wheel well but that is about it. I even sprayed sound deading on the underside protection panels but it only helps a little. When car was being built if Mercedes benz had spent a few more cents it would be a quiet ride but they are really cheap builders.

hyperion667

Congrats on getting out of that UGLY infinity! MB's are expensive to maintain but worth it IMO. You could always increase your carbon fiber footprint too and get lots of CF parts for your car

mgmoreau

Update on my new ride after 2 weeks of ownership.

The dealer delivered the car to house because I was out of state. The salesman brought me a dirty car because it had been in the body shop to fix an issue with rear passenger door. He did not even wash the car. I was BS to say the least. Spent the last 10 days cleaning it with cleaner wax, a coat of 3M Glaze, and a final coat of Mother's Brazilian Carnauba wax. The car finally looks nice to my standards.

Took the car to my body shop and they pointed out the driver front fender, front and rear bumper and hood had been painted even though the car is CPO and had a clean car fax. They say it does not look like any parts were replaced so I am hoping it was minor dents and they had to do a large blend due to the metallic white paint being hard to match. The car only has 17,500 miles on it.

After sitting in my heated garage for 4 days the battery was dead when I tried to start it last Thursday! Had to put the battery charger on the car all night. Took the car to work next day and stopped by the dealer on the way home. At least they agreed to replace the battery at no charge since it must have been the original and the car is 4 years old. With all these issues I have dealt with, I hope I don't regret buying this car.

Drove the car to work today (100 miles round trip). The more I drive the car the more it is growing on me! I just hope it proves to be a reliable car.