Ford9498

Hello, I have recently sold my 2002 WS6 TransAm and I’m looking to buy a Cl55 amg. I need some help in knowing what to look at other than the normal mechanical stuff. I only know to check out the hydraulic suspension. The help is greatly appreciated! Thanks

RonCL55

Do yourself a favor and have a good mechanic check out whatever you come up with before you buy it. I had a CL55 and it was the best car I ever owned. However, this is a very complicated car that has a lot of stuff that can go wrong (not a bad thing because the complicated stuff is what makes it a great car). At the present age a lot of the plastic and rubber items are breaking. None of it a big cost other than the ABC suspension system. The key is to look for a well maintained car with all of the service records and then have someone check it out.

If you find something that does not have all the service records or has a “few” existing problems then I would quickly run away. That likely means that someone has not maintained it and that could be big bucks. Yes, you might be able to save a few thousand dollars in initial cost but repair costs will quickly make the savings disappear.

I had a 05 CL55 with 100K miles on it, every service record since new, owned it for 10 years and had one mechanic that serviced it for its entire life and he had a blank check to fix anything that he thought might need replacing. There was not a nick dent or scratch on the car and it looked brand new. If you opened the hood you could eat your lunch off of the engine. That is the kind of car you want to find. This is a high end enough car that there are **** owners out there like me and you should be able to find one. Sure maybe you would have to pay $10K or so more for it but well worth it IMHO.

Ford9498

Thanks Ron! I was going to look at one out of town a couple of weeks ago but things didn’t pan out for that one. I found me another one to look at on Saturday. It’s got all the records from start. Seems like a good car from pics and talking to the owner. He’s an older gent and has always used the dealer for service.

RonCL55

Sounds like a good car. Probably an owner as **** as i was. Do yourself a favor and have it inspected to make sure nothing is wrong with it. If everything checks out then it is probably a good buy.

I will tell you the CL55 is a blast to own. With the supercharger it is a rocket ship off the line. I owned mine for 10 years and I never got tired of blasting off the stop lights. Also with the ABC suspension system there is nothing like it in terms of how it handles in the corners.

Good luck with it.

Ford9498

So I got me a 2005 Cl55 amg with 117000 on it. I’ve had it for 3 weeks now and am loving it. Such a beautiful car and fun to drive. I’ve already had comments about the pillar les windows and how good it looks. Thanks for the help on what things to look for!

RonCL55

Nice! So post some pictures! With 117K on it, it is just a baby. Mine had 100K and it was like brand new. So you should have a great time with it.

I would recommend just enjoying it and driving it for a while before doing anything to personalize it. But if you ever want to tweak the handling to make it even better, here is a link to a thread that I posted on that:

https://mbworld.org/forums/cl-class-...g-project.html

Personally I am not a big fan of any engine or body modifications. I think that the car is extremely well balanced and looks great. But there are others on here who really like to change it up. So that is a matter of personal preference. If you want to just tweak it a little, the absolute least costly thing to do is a $100 for lowering links. In my humble opinion the car looks even better 1.5 inches lower and there is massive room in the wheel wheels and you can easily raise it with the lift button if you need to for speed bumps etc. Also lowering it improves handling in the corners. Lastly it is totally adjustable so you can go back to the factory height in minutes and has absolutely no adverse effects on the ride or the suspension systems.

Also, another low cost thing I did was I had all of the interior wood wrapped in carbon fiber. Really updates the interior from the burlewood look and makes it look current. Depending on the interior color there are also a lot of wrap colors. I did mine in black because I had an ash interior. However I saw a guy who had a black interior do black wrap with a thread of red in it. I thought it looked spectacular. I had a guy do mine for $500.

Good luck with it!

Ford9498

No pics yet. I should’ve taken some when I cleaned it up but I didn’t have the time. I’ll get some soon.

I don’t plan on doing a lot of mods to it but your car looks good lowered! I might look into that. I lowered my TA 1 1/2” as well and it was just enough to fill up the wheel wells and handled superbly. The wood wrap looks good also! I have the same interior except my steering wheel doesn’t have the wood on it.

Thanks for the ideas! I’ll look into those for sure.

Amgfan80

I own a 2003 CL 55 amg and love it had for 5 years now has 98 thounsand on it and I love driving it in 5 years I have had no major issues just had the trunk wire harnes replaced and just regular service and change out the abc fluid every 15k miles

RonCL55

Sounds like a great car. Nice you are taking care of the ABC. IMHO the ABC makes the CL a SPECTACULAR driver. I had my 05 for 10 years and loved every minute of it. I lost it in an accident and replaced it with a 16 S550 coupe. While the S is great in a straight line, it totally sucks in the corners (which was the CL’s strong suit). Last week I had enough and dumped the S after a year of ownership. So cherish the CL. It is a very unique car not to come along again soon.

Also, while I had the CL I also had a Ferrari. Believe it or not the CL with a few tire, wheel and suspension tweaks could definitely keep up with the Ferrari in the corners, was a nicer ride and was just as fast. So enjoy the CL and know that there are not many in the world that are better than what you are driving.

A car geeks dream!

Ford9498

AMGFAN sounds like a good car you got there. I’m going to get to learn about the abc system already since I had a old hose give up on me. Might as well change the filter and get some new fluid in there. Just waiting on parts now.

Amgfan80

Yes change the abc fluid and abc filters every 15k miles you wont ever have any problems with the system if you do that

Ford9498

i know of the filter in the reservoir. Is there another one that I’m missing?

Amgfan80

yes both in abc and power stering atleast i think there is one in the power stering thats what my mechanic told me

Ford9498

Cool I’ll check that when I’m doing the flush. Thanks

bonspy

I have a 2003 CL 55 AMG and it is by far the best car I have ever owned and I have owned a lot of cars. My wife has a CLK 550 cabriolet, which is no slouch in the horsepower and torque departments, but with 493 horsepower and 516 pound feet of torque, the car seems to always have something left over to give whenever it's called upon.

The CLK 550 is a lot of fun to drive around town, but the CL 55 AMG is the car to drive when you have miles to go before you sleep.

My first car was 1956 1/2 Mercedes Benz 190 sedan and that car is still on the road with over 750,000 miles on it.

Ather

Holy crap! thats amazing
Even back then MB had the mechanical know how to build cars that last. They definitely don't build them like they used to.

rafymon98

I have a CL55 now for about two years now, and every time I drive it, it makes me smile, it is a blast to drive. I do all of the repairs and maintenance on my car, so the first thing id did was; I went thru the whole ABC system, rebuilding the front and back ABC valves, replaced the spheres, rebuilt the ABC pump, and replaced some of the hoses that seemed kind of ify, flushed the ABC fluid and replaced the filter. The reality is that is not life crushing expensive if you stay on time of your maintenance plan. The key here is not to short change it on maintenance. The CL will repay you with countless hours of driving pleasure and especially the ABC suspension is an experience for its self. Enjoy the experience of owning a piece of art, I know I do.

RonCL55

Good for you! I had my CL55 for 10 years and never had any significant problems. As you said the key maintenance. It is great that you are maintaining the ABC system. That is what makes the car so special. It handles like no other big coupe with that system. Keep it up and enjoy.

ctravis595

the power steering doesn't really have a filter on these cars but the power steering fluid resevoir should have some "screens" in it to catch most debris

ctravis595

i largely agree. new mercedes look very cheap to me. interior of the c63 for example looks more like a new honda than a mercedes to me

Amgfan80

2003 to 2006 cl55 and 65 body styles are rhe best period the new ones look like crap to me