digital

I was going around a turn aggressively when the rear tires cut loose. As I was coming out of the turn, still in full control, I heard some sort of "cracking" (I dont think this accurately describes the sound, but it was close, Definately not normal) from the rear passenger side. I pulled over to check what happened, tried to take the roof down, but the car wouldnt allow me. I tried to move the rollbar, but it was stuck. After holding the rollbar button to move down (note: the rollbar was up during this incident) it made a sound like it "popped" back in. Now everything works fine, roof goes up and down as well as the roll bar.


Anyone care to speculate on what could have happened, and if it led to any permenant damage?

GCalo

Based upon what you indicated, it sounds like your photostatic muffler valve may have come unattached from the flux capacitor for a short period.

You are lucky there was no smoke or fire associated with the incident!

digital

what should i do?

GCalo

I would definitely have the dealer check this out ASAP, because it sounds like something is definitely amiss with your top assembly.

You could indicate the scenario I stated, and they might understand the situation a little better.

Good luck and don't wait!

awiner

vraa

That is exactly what I was thinking! Wow, hope your car's okay digital!

blueSL

Are you saying the roll bar deployed? You say it was up but not whether it deployed as part of this incident. If so, there's nothing to worry about. In the previous 129, you can get the roll bar to deploy just by braking hard and the fuzzy logic in the R230 to determine when to deploy has been improved but there are still situations when it will say "err...this cound be messy, better deploy..."

The roll bar uses the same hydraulic system as the roof, so again no surprise the two are connected.

digital

what do you mean by deploy?

What series of events would be typical while a roll ball deploys?

blueSL

OK, I assume you were driving with the roll bar manually raised? If so, the buzzing you heard was the mechanism which deploys it anyway if there is an accident threat which is independent of the manual raise/lower. That mechanism, which is designed to be able to hold the weight of the car on its roof, effectively just reinforces the support for the roll bar and it therefore deploys even if you have the roll bar raised manually.

The roll bar will deploy if there is extreme deceleration or the inclination of the body suggests a roll over is imminent. Sensors monitoring the movement of the car and attitude of the body are used to trigger the deployment which takes 0.3 seconds and is accomplished by pre-loaded hydraulic cylinders. In the older car, heavy straight line braking will deploy it.

Once the danger is past, the mechanism has to reset which takes a few seconds.

So, you don't have a problem, it's just the unique safety features of the SL working to protect you.

BTW, the SL roof has vitually no strength to support the car if it rolls, which is why there's the roll over bar and why it deploys even if the roof is up. Structurally, the roof is quite weak though there are some locks on the hinge line ahead of the rear window to stop it flapping about in the breeze.

digital

It never really reset itself. I had to hold the rollbar button down for a few seconds before it began to operate correctly again.
Im guessing that according to you, this is normal?



Thanks a lot for the help.

blueSL

Completely normal - the reset is manual by pressing the roll bar down button and takes a few seconds.

bonte

well , turns out normal after all DIGITAl, but seems you kind of abused the car in that corner... Maybe not the car to do that stuff in ... ?

(lol... get a M3 to do stuff like that. Not trying to make a discussion about M vs AMG !)

digital

so next time I should probably drive with the roll bar down....

JackStraw

I suspect it would have deployed.