Hary Gahtoe

After a long, unpleasant process, I had my trans completely revamped and now the car runs great. We can go for any distance trip we want very comfortably but you know, I think its time to sell and move on .
Mercedes is not a welcoming brand if your car is > 6 yrs old. Try calling their customer support. Better yet a service rep with a real r230 technical question not found on the web.
Besides Rudeney and a couple others here I'd say I've got more time and research invested in this car than some techs. The Star DAS system I bought has been invaluable unlocking codes and resets not to mention brake bleeds but maybe its better to let this car go to a good home while it still works well.

Rudeney

I hate to hear you are throwing in the towel, but I do understand. I sort of did the same think with my CLK. After doing a partial transmission rebuild and replacing the canvas on the top, I decided it was time to go. Of course I jumped into the deep end by trading it for the SL, but I suspect someone out there is driving a really nice worry-free CLK now.

Hary Gahtoe

So true. There are ceilings with tech its just not prudent to upgrade to. You can spend way more than cars oem designed and still not attain the level technical perks that are complimentary.
I would lean towards saying I'm consolidating/updating than throwing in the towel. I'd like to go back to a manual trans.

moretech

Hary I hope you'll still stay in the forum. You've been a great commentator. All the best to you!!!

moretech

pfarah77

Wishing you well with your next purchase... I totally understand the thought process. While I absolutely love my SL, I do subconsciously cross my fingers every time the Start button is pressed.

Hary Gahtoe

Thank you for the nice comments.

It's difficult for me to let go after living thru repair solutions and bridging the service repair up to date.
Right now the car is on chargers and getting ready to winterize.

I'm giving our garage a makeover and installing a two post lift. This should give me a couple of weeks to decide if I just keep the SL; Move forward and sell a couple other cars so I can get a different style of car altogether, or just sell the SL and buy something a newer and faster
I'm not sure either choice has a win,win. I need some down time to give this some serious thoughts

Either way I will continue to participate here. There is a need for full disclosure and a better understanding of how MB has a great product but not well understood by owners.

Hary

Nosmo SL55

I installed a small two post lift in my garage a couple of years ago, it gives me about 1500mm clearance under the car. It certainly makes living with an R230 that much easier. I justify it to my wife by telling her that it's paid for itself already with the money I've saved by not having to go to the dealer. Here's a shot from a few weeks ago when I replaced the accumulators.

Hary Gahtoe

I wish I had this Lift when I had all my trans issues.
Went with a Maxjax MX-6 I'ts rated at 6000 lbs and 42" lift, I have 11' ceiling so we're able to go high enough for a bottom side cross member motor install with plenty of room

Heatwave

Thanks for posting the pic of your lift. I envy you that "tool." If I were 20-25 years younger, I'd love having one of those. But if I were 20-25 years younger, I'd still have kids in college, and orthodontists' bills, a mortgage, and ... so I missed my chance for a lift. And so it goes.

pfarah77

Funny that the topic morphed into garages; I'm begining on a design now while waiting on the site plans. I hope to have the frost wall/pad in before the end of the year.

Hary Gahtoe

FWIW I'm north of 60 myself. Motoring is my lifelong passion.
Our last house we built had a 3 car garage and I had a 4 car shop. We had some good times and built several cars but like other parents we wound up alone so we downsized.
Fortunately we found a smaller home with an attached 3 car garage in our neighborhood. We currently have 2 cars with motor swaps that we can definitely benefit using a lift.
I do have some insight on concrete floors, walls and pad pours.
I'd do 6 but have a minimum of at least 4"of concrete floor poured and really consider adding a fiber compound for the floor
Lifts need at least 4" and a fiberglass floor mix does help strength a minimize future cracking

Good Luck
Hary

Hary Gahtoe

It'll reach 42" It's actually portable( has wheels on each pillar) and can be removed when not in use. Has quick disconnect hoses and uses 110v and although I am looking at a C5/C6 Z06 that's not me

alk247

I was not confident in my floor, so I went for a scissor lift. I bought Atlas TDMR. It rises to 53.5". Granted, it doesn't provide unobstructed access like yours two post does, but it is easier to store (just park your car over it) and can be installed on any floor.


P.S. North of 60 as well.

Nosmo SL55

My lift was also designed to be portable much like the Max Jax version above, however I chose to install it as a fixed unit. I was concerned about my concrete floor, although it's reinforced with reinforcing mesh I knew it was only about 100mm thick and so decided to use the extra large base plates you see in the photo above. Solid as a rock.

Hary Gahtoe

A lift needs at least 4” of concrete that has 3000 psi strength. I didn’t qualify so the result is a cut 4’x4’x1’ rebar drilled into the existing pad and a fresh pour.
Not an easy or clean ordeal but it is guaranteed safe. The only bummer is I’m a month out before I can operate the lift due to curing

anothercar

I just sold my 2003 SL500 even though it had only 27,500 miles and had absolutely nothing wrong with it. I grew tired of waiting for the 'shoe to drop' and incur some major $$ repair. I did find a great indy mechanic in Hilton Head area but I'm happy I moved on. Also, had 3 cars and need only 2.

Hary Gahtoe

While doing the repair work on our cars, sometimes you have to realize a service procedure is best done by a tech in a shop who do very specialized repairs. I own a Star II SDS and use it for diagnosis which helped the shop who performed the trans work and keep the time and $$’s from getting out of hand. I trust the shop I had the repairs done at and will use them to do some intake/trans service on our Allroad so I’m happy we found a trustworthy shop but I still have a hard choice in deciding what we keep and what we sell and or replace.

In the meantime this concrete thing for the lift is getting bigger than I anticipated.

Rudeney

Our building codes are that ALL concrete, even sidewalks, are required to be at least four inches thick. If it is to support a "structure" it has to be six inches thick. Of course when a developer is building hundreds of houses in a subdivision, the two city inspectors are not going to check every slab. I've come close several times to buying a lift, but the doubts about my floor stopped me. That, and my garage is just big enough for two cars and a bunch of tools and junk, so I really have no place to store the lift. So, I keep using a floor jack and stands...

Hary Gahtoe

I bought our present home to downsize. I built our last house and I put 6” FR concrete floor
The present home garage floor was 4” in most areas unfortunately spots around the lift location were <3” not safe for weight and stress factors. If it was a consistent depth I could lived with that but we will be using the lift for extended periods on the SL and even heavier vehicles so I had to repour the floor. I have friends with Corvettes I wouldn’t forgive myself if their cars collapsed on our lift