Car is officially scheduled for pickup tomorrow morning 8am with a journey out to San Diego - trucks have been slow coming out of the east coast I think the fuel delays had some impact too

First stop is my mechanic for a full once over

Purchased this Bluetooth adapter in the meantime.....

 

Yea, My Designo Graphite Green (041U) paint, essentially a dark gray, also hides dirt very well!

 

Oh the tires without a doubt helped the ride on my 420sel. I have Michelin Pilot sport 4s on my s55 and I'm surprised at how hard the tread is honestly. They are a quiet tire though. Wishing you and your car all the best during its transit home to you.

Chris

 

CAR IS ON A TRUCK OMG

Here is an oddly chopped picture of the back seat of the car. I'm still drooling over the 7 if I'm lucky pics I took while I was out looking at the car until I can get my hands on it

 

It's interesting to me how many of these I see with essentially new rear seats...

maw

 

S55 has arrived in San Diego

She is having the once over from my mechanic as we speak sorting a few things

- AC Pump was badly oil contaminated so that is getting done along with other hoses as needed)
- Trans mount was collapsed that's swapping out too
- Drivers door lock audible vacuum leak - NOT having shop do it... maybe a DIY? high price thru mechanic due to shop time on taking door panel off and removing unit.. not URGENT. but on the list

 

I bet you are excited and relieved that she has finally arrived! Funny thing I realized is that I was eyeing this same car on FB Marketplace for awhile. I still have the ad saved except its obviously listed as sold. Good luck with her!

Chris

 

Very excited. Yes, was listed on FB in Florida - my buddy sent me the listing one night and I contacted her straight away. As you know finding sub 100k, single family owned is not as easy these days as perhaps once was. Lots of dealership records (even replacing things like front girll, bumper mesh insert etc thru the dealer) along with lots of pulleys, belts, water pump, front struts, abc lines etc so nice to know it's had regular care

 

You are correct, finding one with low miles, one owner and well taken care of is hard to find. That is why I jumped on mine as it was all the above and at 56k miles, she has alot of life left. Plus I am to be buried in it when I die. If I am not buried in it, the wife will probably be close behind me as she will wrap the 500hp around a tree.

 

Straight off the truck

 

Since we are posting S55s in the pewter color (that is what I call mine to describe it, the official Mercedes name for it is "Cubanite Silver Metallic"), here is the one I got recently, and I do not know what mods it as I could not speak to the previous owner in depth.

It was the general consensus that it does have a modified exhaust, and after hearing others I do agree. I haven't had time to get under it yet to see exactly what, though!




When I first acquired it October 2020 (to do some coding work on actually - but liked the way it drove so well bought it )

 

Nice. I got mine with about 87,XXX. Are those 19" wheels you say?

 

Yes, these are 19's currently on the car 8.5 up front and 9.5 out back

 

Nice, mine is Desert Silver according to the data card. Your exhaust is for sure modified, take a quick bend down on your knee and snap a pic under the rear of the car - sounds like you may have a resonator delete

 

Update on S55 - work currently being wrapped up but she's been shuffling between my trusted mechanics and some other places

AC system gone thru new compressor, lines etc
Trans gone thru inc. new Torque converter solenoid etc
Black series motor mounts
Trans mount
ABC system - OEM front passenger strut, new front valve block, all new accumulators, pulsation damper etc
UPD 3pce pulley and OEM belts
New headlight lenses
New mirror gaskets
Front bumper being repainted currently (had poor touchup done on it)
Lowering links installed
Set of 19" Mercedes wheels refinished in OEM mercedes silver with Michelin Pilot Sport 4S
Bluetooth added to factory stereo
of course all new fluids, filters etc.
Coco mats

 

I did the A/C compressor with my friend (I did give him some cash to help me) a few weekends back and it was a quite trying. I should have taken a picture of the old one, but somehow something managed to blow a hole through the side of it; hence the leak.

 

Yeah, that ABC pump is EXACTLY in the way!!! Well, along with the subframe rail... I had a quote for $2000 to replace mine at an indie shop here, and most was labor.

Thing is, I didn't need a compressor, I only needed the solenoid valve, according to what guy said was happening. System was charged, he just couldn't activate the solenoid. 50-dollar part that goes in to the compressor housing. He didn't find that as a separate part and quoted a new compressor. I was of half a mind to do it myself but had not worked up the courage to go that deep when Hurricane Sally took the car.

 

It was nice getting it done before I even took delivery of the car - it was not cheap so imagine it is quite the job

I think I was about $2k deep on all the AC fixes (new lines, and blah blah blah) but I already had the radiator out so that helped bring the labor down on the AC

 

Wheels are back from refinish and Michelin PS4S are on, lowered to "PARKING" height with lowering links

Yes, there is spacers, 12mm.

I wanted a fitted look, and to be able to get the car low. So this was my path. If it's not for you, THAT'S OK too. To each their own

 

Indeed it certainly has a modified exhaust. When that video was taken, that was honestly the first time I had heard the car from the outside, and it being cold weather at the time I always drove with the windows up. Now that it is warm, I drive often with the front windows down and the sunroof open, and when the transmission program is in “C” and the torque converter flashes when the throttle is blipped from takeoff, it is rather loud! When driven easily, however, and with the windows up, it is as quiet as a luxury car.

I do have a very small leak in my radiator below the top radiator hose that I need to address soon. It is currently so minimal I just monitor it before leaving the house and most of the time it does not need to be topped off. I do intend on changing it very soon however. Did you determine the job was challenging or pretty straightforward? My A/C is fortunately very cold, and the ABC works properly (thankfully) with the exception of the driver side rear lowering a little after a couple of weeks sitting. I am going to do a complete flush of the ABC system to remove any contamination at the dealer (they are nice enough to let me use their bay) and when it is on the lift I will see what exhaust modifications have been done.

I think it has at least one set of converters on it as they have not been disabled in DAS and I get no MIL. The DTC could I suppose have been deleted in the ECU maps though.

I still have a long list of things I intend on doing over time, but I bought it with the intent of it being a daily driver. I have an S600 W221 I have had since around 2012 with close to 40k on it, and the S55 just rolled over to 273k, so I have no reservations about getting in it and going anywhere. Especially after I address any needs and maintenance issues it needs.

With that said, I absolutely love driving the car every time I get in it. The sound of the engine, the torque, the ride, etc. I have had many vehicles and it reminds me of the pleasure I had in high school getting in my Grand National after school and driving it. I also had a Corvette which I got first, and got the Buick so I would not have to drive the Corvette to school. It wasn’t long when I realized I enjoyed the Buick more than the Corvette!

 

Pics please of the stance and wheels + coco mats… you did the color correction already, correct? She must look like a golden ghost out in SoCal.

maw

 

S55 is back and all but complete, just need to do 3 step paint correction as final step





Natural/Tan Coco mats, if you haven't had cocos you just need to do it, lots of color combos, made in the USA, look clean when dirty and cheap like 270 for a set custom made




New headlight lenses installed and front bumper repainted to correct some bad touch up paint/repair work from curb damage





19" S600 w221 Wheels 8.5 x 9.5" freshly refinished





At San Diego Airport on its lowest suspension setting






255/35/19 in the rear on Michelin PS4S
225/40/19 up front

I wanted a quality tire, in a size that gave a little stretch which also helps with clearance

There is no rubbing on any of the levels shown in all of these pictures, even with 3 adults and 2 suitcases








We used 15mm spacers on the rear and 12mm I believe on the front, left a little extra clearance for turning up front as I really don't want to deal with rubbing




Driving down the 5 - this shows it on its lowest setting (3 total, this is all the way down)






A full day of fettling with the suspension to get the front to rear heights dialled just how I wanted, pretty even wheel to fender gap that gives the car a slight rake forward (perfect for euro in my opinion)




The gold pops in the sun



Big thanks to Clifton Mercedes for some of the heavy lifting mechanical work and the real superstar Adam from SoCal Tires Studio in San Diego (look him up on instragram) who partnered with me to execute all the details many of which we have not been described, we have probably 50 line items of things we did to this car to get it dialed from small details to big component rebuilds.

If you have a mid 00's AMG he is your man

It came out exactly how I wanted it and I love it.

Grandpa Gold
m113k
big body S class for hauling my little boy/wife/luggage on roadtrips
one of my favorite benz wheels that retains the somewhat full face look I think is synonomous with 80's-00's MB

 

Looks great. The repainted bumper is going to get tore up again though; esp when you are driving around that low.

 

I would imagine those wheels will be rubbing the paint off the fenders when turning or hitting a bump.

 

The paint correction is going to transform the car. I couldn't believe the difference in mine. It took a couple weeks to get used to, and I'd owned it forever at the time. +1 on the Cocomats though... I've been through 2 sets of OEM mats and Coco are next. I'll keep the OEM for posterity. All of my other cars wear factory all weathers, which is more my style. These aren't robust enough.

Cheers,

maw