ChrisSL

hello, i'm pretty new on this forum, waiting for my car to be delivered - i'd like to change the wheels/tires but i have 2 questions

1. 19" wheels - what will be the best setup in order not to disrupt the stock configuration 17" with 255 and not to change the navigation / gps settings regarding the vehicle speed

2. stock tire pressure monitor - do i have to look for "special" rims to accomodate those sensors ?

Thanks for your anticipated answers

Chris 45971

Welcome Chris. I don't have any suggestions to your questions, but I wanted to warn you that some dealers will not honor your warrantee if you mess with the the stock items. If that matters to you, I suggest consulting with the dealer you plan to have service your car before making any modifications. I've heard SBC problems have not been fixed under warrantee as a result of changing to non-MB approved tires. Just a heads up.

How long do you got. About a year ago, I had to wait 8-weeks for mine. Very tough time.

vraa

If you keep a very similair rolling diamter, no change to the navi/gps or speedo will be needed.

You'll notice that the SL65 has 19" rims, and there are many R230's with 20" rims!

Paddy

Hi Chris,
Take my advice and get another car. If you encounter problems in the future then all I can say is may God help you. MB are having difficulties and the customer relations difficulties within the company are legend. So bad I believe that even their own political leaders in Germany are not buying MB cars anymore. I saw an article about this in a German paper when I was in hoildays there this year. Even the EU Commissioners have abandoned them and are now using Audi A8`s. In a recent survey in Britain run by Top Gear (an outspoken car programme) the MB featured towards the bottom half of the list of satisfied customers and Lexus featured 3 cars in the top 5. As you can gather from this email I am one of those unhappy customers and have had to go so far as suing them. They are unreally arrogant even with the weight of evidence against them. Be wise Chris. I havent sen my SL since last March - what a disappointment! Hope you make awise decision.
Regards, Paddy

So Cal Sam

Just wanted to put in my two cents in response to Paddys post. I've had my 2006 SL 500 for three months now and it is perfect. I know thats not a long time at all but so far so good - it is a wonderful car to drive and experience and also one of the best looking. Chris, you will find people who are passionate on both sides of the quality issue but from what I can discern in my 9 months or so of checking this BB and others is that most of the problems with the current run of SL 500's occured in the early model years but primarily 2003. Paddy, hope you get your problems with MB resolved in your favor.

AStuart52

Thanks Sam..
I have a new Sl500 coming in about a week.
Nice to hear a positive.

LovinMercedes

This is simply not true.
.

tiggerfink

He forgot about 2004 and 2005.

So Cal Sam

I based my comment on ancedotal evidence from this forum and others where the 2003 model seemed to have been the source of more complaints than in years following. I did not say there were no complaints about 2004, 2005 models just that it seemed complaints were fewer. I am only speaking about the cars themselves not dealer reactions to customer problems. It would be interesting if there were any official records of complaints per model year compiled by MB or other official sources that might assist in this discussion. Anybody know if this exists? Again, my car in the short period I have owned it has been a champ.

LovinMercedes

With no disrespect meant, again simply not true.

The "evidence" is there, you just need to find it. I not sure 2004 was not worse.

Statistically, I also believe while Mercedes is working hard at fixing this there seems to be no improvement in customer satisfaction yet. In terms of the "worst customer" satisfaction ratings in the company's history you will find that 2004/2005 was a banner year.

So Cal Sam

No disrespect taken and I mean none either. All of my posts on this thread have concerned the R230 SL500 (may be redundant I suspect). MB customer satisfaction ratings overall deal with the entire model line and also factor in dealership issues regarding sales and service. The SL series of cars make up such a small percentage of units sold (source: German Car Fans web site) that I could not imagine that they would account for low overall customer satisfaction ratings. What we need are the J.D. Power customer satisfaction ratings for SL model years 2003-2006. They sent me one recently for my 2006 SL 500 and it received an A+.

LovinMercedes

I understand and we know they exist. Wonder where to find them?

craiglieberman

Here's my real world experience with my 05 SL600:

A/C stops working every so often...four times thus far, each time for about 5 minutes. Comes back on mysteriously, will follow up with dealer.

Transmission: Valve body replaced at 4,000 miles. Still feels like it's shifting abnormally.

Power windows: With auto roll up, about 10% of the time, the window is "rejected" and rolls back down about 50% of the way. 2 visits to the dealer, they cannot repeat the condition.

Stereo: So so at best. No bass....from a $140K car, they ought to be embarassed. And no I-Pod interface???? WTF???

Volume knob: Seized solid...couldn't budge it. I sprayed some WD40 in it, worked fine. Could only surmise that Coca Cola from the cupholder got into it and the sugary syrup seized the knob.

Alignment: 3 visits to the dealer, car still pulls to the right. No abnormal tire wear though, so I have no hard evidence.

I've owned 43 cars in my life. This car is no better than the Nissans or Lexuses I've owned in some regards. However, fit, finish, materials, power, comfort and convenience is unsurpassed. The panel gap is 3mm everywhere, the car hauls ***, brakes like an F1 car and rides like a dream.

My score = B+ overall.

markbsl

Hey -

My 2003 was built in May of 2003 so it was not the launch edition. I have 18K miles on it now. The ABC active body controller did fail, but the dealer replaced it at no cost.

I had a controller fail for the passenger seat, which was fixed. Other then that I've had nothing but a very pleasent ownership experience over the last two years.

I"m sure there have been lots of problems with other people's cars but the dealership in Bellevue WA ( Barrier ) was always there for me when I needed them to handle mechanical problems. I still think it's a great car.

tiggerfink

I just have to say owing my 2004 SL500 was an epic saga of tragedy.

D2-AUTOSPORT

To address the original questions, you can cetainly use a 19" wheel / tire package and not adversely "disrupt" the OEM vehicle software components.

The stock sensors can be retrofitted to the new wheels.

Good luck with the wheel search!

AStuart52

I'm very new here. I have been reading and reading with my mouth and eyes wide open.
In about 2 weeks my car will be in.


SL500, Black, Sport, Panorama Roof, Keyless go, Option pkg seats
@ $1,000 over invoice.
Thank goodness I leased it and can give it back in 39 months if most of you guys are correct.
I sure wish there were more positive posts.

sillydriver

Lovin’s experience was clearly different from mine, but anecdotally (and therefore of no statistical significance) my experience is consistent with your statement. My 03 SL55 had grabby brakes and an engine that quit running at highway speeds. I had to get rid of the car after nine months. My 04 Renntech SL600 now has 20,000 miles on the clock with no problems at all. (I put it into storage the day before the big snow storm hit Boston last Friday.)

ToonArmy

This is a design issue, I believe - I have this problem, as does a colleague at work. It will reproduce if the car is parked with the windows down for an extended period of time (overnight, say - I don't know exatly how long, but it may be the same interval that resets the "mileage since start" display). Holding the window up button will reset it to work normally.

No fix that I know of, I just live with it. It's one of those minor annoyance bugs that reflect sloppy programming. The one that drives me nuts is the intermittent windshield wiper - if you have it on intermittent wipe when you switch the car on, it will always wipe once even if dry. Since I often have light rain on my morning drive, I usually have the auto-wipe on. When I hit the parking garage, the wipers stop, so I don't always remember to turn off the knob. Come in the evning, start up, and get a loud dry scrape.

I had alignment problems after my first tire replacement. Three dealer visits, I finally managed to convince myself it wasn't bad enough to pursue further.

Sigh. A great car, marred by really irritating little things that should be easy to fix.

ChrisSL

hey guys, thx for answers - now - can i install 19 x 9.5 with 275x30 in the front and rear ? or better go staggered 245x35 on 19"x8.5 front and 275x30 on 19"x9.5 rear ?

D2-AUTOSPORT

275 will certainly rub and not clear up front. We can assist you with a package and specifications to mount with no issues. SEND A EMAIL , and we can review all the parameters.