mercedesbenzs55

I'm on it Dave!

DaveW68

Actually, an S600 is much closer related to an S65 than an S550. Biggest differences between the S600 and S65 are the brakes, suspension tuning, 20 inch standard wheels, AMG gauges, and slightly larger turbos and displacement. Otherwise they are almost identical.

DaveW68

It sounded like that car had some trouble codes that needed to be looked at.

mercedesbenzs55

How much it would cost for parts to put the S65 turbos on the S600. Get the best of both worlds.

DaveW68

SMH

Mike5215

The 600 is a more desirable car to me than an S65. First class interior, loads of amenities but still a luxury ride and gobs of smooth power. The 600 is the thinking man's AMG 221. Easier to warranty and insure too.

DaveW68

Well that certainly disqualifies Benzs55 from ever owning one.

mercedesbenzs55

Mike5215

Never go Full Retard!

mercedesbenzs55

Autowerks Certified MB will not do the work unless they do all the work. Just the like Abra auto body chain. Autowerks is the only Certified body shop in the PDX area.

Mike must have a very good relationship with the MB shop he goes to because they wouldn't do piece work for me.

nycphotography

Well there is nothing the CANNOT do.... at least be real and say they WILL NOT.

mercedesbenzs55

The body shop that MB said could help me does not do aluminum work.

Theres a shop here in Vancouver that can. Going to get an estimate there atm.

Didn't think finding a shop that works with aluminum would be so difficult.

Mike5215

They just have done all of my work on all of my cars for the past twenty years so they'll do what I ask. Granted I don't ask for crazy stuff. They'd do your car for me, but I guess if you walked in off the street cold as a cash customer (not insurance) with the car half torn down they'd probably pass too.

Did the shop give you an estimate for the whole job? Basically any shop that is certified to work on any make that uses aluminum, and I know Jaguar, Land Rover and probably BMW do.

You're running into the reason it totaled I'm afraid. Tough, expensive repair methodology and not worth the headache as far as SF was concerned. My guy saw your pics and said it looked repairable. Ship it down here

mercedesbenzs55

I replaced everything. So its all buttoned up, save for the plastic rear lip panel. lol ship it 1.8k each way plus the 6k your guy would charge?

Mike5215

I don't know for sure what he'd charge but if I gave him the car partially torn down and asked him to just to do the pull and repair the quarters and rear panel he'd take care of it and not rape me on price. But it's never going to be a cheap fix. Honestly if I could get it fixed for $6k and afterward it looked like it had never been hit that's a bargain.

There's always MAACO. They're too stupid to know its aluminum, and they'll figure out a way to beat it back into some sort of shape, bondo the hell out of it and paint it over. It's non metallic black so they can't screw up the color.

What did the MB shop up there give you as far as price to do all the work?

Mike5215

Ok I got some clarification from Brad. The 222 has aluminum sheet metal and steel unibody structure. The 221 is all steel unibody and exterior sheet metal except the front hood and fenders (which bolt on) and are aluminum.

So back to Vlad. It's conventional all steel construction where your car is damaged.

DaveW68

"Vlad" is a figment of my imagination. I made up that name probably around 30-40 pages ago....and Benzs55 keeps rolling with it. I don't know that there is really any truth to his story. But he has certainly kept us entertained with his wealth of knowledge on the W221 chassis and drive train.

just1time

LMAO..man oh man...benz55 must have nightmares about Dave taunting, haunting and hunting him.
We need to register you two on celebrity grudge match...duke it out in the ring...lol

MrRat

I would think the first body guy you contacted could secure the car to the frame puller, and come up with some plate steel about the width of the back panel, bent at a 90 degree angle, wide enough so it spreads the load across the panel and pull it back into the approximate original position.


I think Maaco could definitely prep poorly, use some low quality supplies and get a noticeably bad result. Most body work is done to a pretty basic standard. In their defense, there's lots of ways to screw it up.

Mike5215

No aluminum, glue or rivets in the 221 rear. Any shop can handle the work.

MrRat

oops already re-edited that. By the time I posted there was new info.

I'm actually busy with work, this is entertainment.

mercedesbenzs55

I mentioned his name was Nick, but you kept using Vlad(which sounds funningly Russian) so I rolled with it.

I didn't bother MB giving me an estimate as I was not going to go through them.

Been to nearly all the Auto body shops in my area that are reputable. 3 of them do not work on Salvage cars even if the cars first damage is what salvaged it. A number of shops did not have the experience/tools to work on the aluminum.

MAACO and Vlad are what I'm left with. Mike, how sure was Brad that rear lip is sheet metal? Because I put multiple magnets to that lip and it didnt stick. Though the quarter panels stuck.

DaveW68

He'd probably hit me with his thick skull and I'd be done.

That actually gives me an idea: He can use his thick skull to bang some of those panels straight instead of relying on a bouncy rubber mallet. Probably wouldn't even phase him. Then he could drill some big bolts into that skull, hook up some chains, and try to pull that frame straight. Big time money saver and could get him closer to budget without having to fork over a bunch of money to the fictional Vlad.

DaveW68

That's because you didn't use reverse polarity magnets. Go pick up some of those at your hardware store and report back.

Mike5215

Well he owns that MB shop so I'd be reasonably confident. Even in the 222 it's the quarters that would be aluminum and the inner trunk structure including the rear panel would be steel, but yeah magnets should stick to it. I wouldn't advertise to the shops that it's a salvage car, because from a repair standpoint it's irrelevant.

Just tell them it got rear ended, the other guy was uninsured and you didn't carry full coverage on it because it's an 08 and you paid cash.

Have you looked into whether it's insurable after its fixed? I changed carriers this weekend and every one I got a quote from made a point to state they won't insure rebuilt salvage cars. Might want to get ahead of that before spending more money.