Hiya Guys,

a friend of me is Working for Mercedes Benz (Daimler Chrysler) in Rastatt (The Town where they produce the A-Class)

He told me that the SL55 is full of Bugs.

I'm wondering if anybody of you had problems with his Car so far ?

.....

Here a little example.

My father was driving a E500 (the old Model) as a Company Car.
Some colleges and bosses were mad on him cause they had to drive Audi A4 or VW Passat as Company Cars, so he had to buy a "smaller" Car.

But he is driving so much that he wanted a Car with enough Power and enough comfort.
(Side Note: He sold his E500 after 3 years with 350.000 km, he was really driving a lot)

So he bought a C36 AMG. A wounderfull car. Fast, small and i had a lot of fun with it.
But this car was a (we call that so in Germany..) "Monday Morning" car. It was full of Bugs.

On the Highway with 250km/h Speed the Fuel Lamp started to blink.. wtf.. i was just at the gas station... the sensor was damaged..
etc etc. nearly every sensor was damaged or defect or not working properly. So my father contacted the Mercedes Benz Company and explained that he need a Car where he can be sure that it is running perfectly.

After two weeks Mercedes contacted my father and they offerd him following:

They take back the actual Car, they give him the same one (a checked and working perfectly car) again for nothing... thats i call service

Long story.... short question... any bugs yet at your SL's ?

Sorry to disappoint you but my car is working perfectly. Everything is 100%

no no wait

i'm not disapointed when i hear that... in some german car magazins they are calling the SL the "beautifullest Bug" ever...

sad to hear THAT...

my car had squeaking brakes, that were taken care of. After 5000 Km, everything is fine

No problems in the first 3000km - except trying to get hold of a set of mats - I can not belive they sell a 90,000 UK pound car without mats!

I put 13000 trouble free miles on my 03 SL500 Sport

My brakes squeal badly. Davidegai: what is the fix?

SL500 has been great, two minor issues but fixed by dealer.

sillydriver,

My dealer first tried the cheap way out, and spray silicone on the discs: the only result was brake performance worsening without taking care of the squeaking. After a lot of haggling, and some threats from my side to cancel a 2003 TE 500 order, they finally replaced the discs and now everything seems to be OK.

Did U get mats. I have the standard Mercedes grey mats, and a set of anthracite AMG mats. - My dealer told me the mats were standard on the SL, and (a) didnt charge me for the grey set, then let me keep them when the anthracite ones arrived.

- they were told that there werent AMG grey mats - although I was thinking about having AMG make them

- I now have a grey leather AMG steering wheel ...

R

I am having keyless-go problems - sometimes it just doesnt work - all is fine again when you use the normal key.

Dealer is replacing some component shortly (its on back order) -
(front passenger side SAM which includes fusebox)
but has heard of other cases where this has occured once. On mine its happening more often

Also had sort of squelch noise from the brakes, went away when dealer cleaned the brakes

R

After 3000 miles the only problem has been a non-functional button which moves the driver's seat forward automatically for access to the CD changer. It took a short reprogramming at the dealer to correct. Everything else is exactly as it should be.
JG

Richard - did you have to pay for the grey AMG wheel in the end? If so dare I ask how much? My car is due in December (although I wont register it until January) and dealer is tryng to sharge me for mats.

Yes. I had AMG make it for me. The wheel was 400 Euros, the airbag was 800 euros (ish) ouch. Then you add german VAT at
16% (ish)
In fact, AMG messed up, they were meant to make a grey leather wheel with a alcantara insert. The manafacturer didnt put the alcantara insert in as they didnt have dark grey alcantara, but didnt tell AMG - so they are now sending me one with light grey alcantara and leather, which is fine by me. Once I decide which I prefer I will have a spare wheel (but not airbag) ..

Also, its much softer than the standard wheel, so I presume its Nappa.

I.e it was not cheap, but on a £97k car it was not significant

The dealer may just have been nice to me about mats, since they
were having hastle with the car before it was delivered, so were
being extra nice to me. In fact they fitted the steering wheel foc because of the keyless go problem

R

Still waiting for my mats - I have ordered a set of blue AMG mats - not as nice as the red AMG SL55 customised items viewed on this forum but my Dealer states these must be left hand drive only and he can not get them.

Not sure if these are standard - they were not listed as an option but the car came without mats. Dealer has thrown a set in anyhow.

Once you have yours, can U find out how the dealer is ordering blue ones. I want grey ones !

I wonder how many other people buying an alpaca interior are surprised to get a black steering wheel? I'm amazed they expect you to pay for it, especially a second air-bag. What do they expect to do with the old one, put it on your office wall or sell it on ebay?

So far as the mats are concerned, seems to me you've hit the same lack of product knowledge which I have looking for the wiring harness connection point.

I couldnt be bothered to hastle my dealer, and therefor ordered direct from AMG. Ive kept the black alcantara cluster cover and the black alcantara on the geat stick for now. You need a dark
cover on the cluster or it reflects on the windscreen

All the AMG SL55's have black - and to be honest, the black wheel was beginning to grow on me !

R

Should they ever arrive I will do :o

Cheers


Paul

It sounds like the brakes weren't broken in properly.

Hard braking would cause high temperatures and result in a glaze and squealing in any new pad.

Geting new pads would do it. Slotted rotors help too by shaving a little bit off the pad at each brake application, but change them out when they are out of spec or warped.

I had my 2003 SL 500 for less than 24 hours, 260 miles on the clock and the brakes failed. It's been in the shop for two weeks now and the dealer can only tell me that they don't know what's wrong with the brakes. How's that for 90 large? Anyone else have this problem with failed brakes?

How did they fail?

When the brakes fail the system reverts to a back up master cylinder that apparently works only on the front brakes. At a standstill the pedal goes easily to the floor but when moving the car will slow down and stop but not in the kind of way that inspires confidence. The brakes went out without warning, fortunately I was in a parking lot at the time. The dash lights up like a Christmas tree with lights, script and sound... pretty hard to ignore.

24 hours?!?! As I understand it, you were away from your home dealer. I'd tell them to come and pick the car up and loan you their dealer demonstrator until they get their act together. Also ask them what compensation they are going to give you for failing to carry out the pre-delivery inspection properly and ruining the whole purchasing/acquisition experience for you. You might also write a letter to every auto magazine in the country and copy the US Sales Directors for BMW, Lexus, Jaguar (plus Mercedes, JD Power) and anyone else you care to think of.

I think what they should be replacing is not the pump, that just creates a reservoir of pressure but instead the SBC control unit which is the metal block on the front left of the engine bay. I've posted pictures of it a couple of times. This is the unit which uses the pressure reservoir and actually activates the brakes using solenoid valves to distribute the pressure to the braking circuits.

I am not familiar with the SBC control unit, but that sounds like the dispatching point for the distribution of hydraulic pressure to the individual brakes and that the "brake pump" merely provides the source for hydraulic pressure as in the old Rolls Royce mechanical pumps and accumulators. I wonder if the dealer knows (or is accurate in telling me) that it is the pump OR the SBC control unit that they are replacing. Time to get on the phone... Thank you for your assistance.
jeff