DMODE212

Sup guys! im new to the forum, i just bought a silver 05 SL55 AMG today, i got it with 42k miles on it for $45k drive out, it was in great condition overall, not sure if it was the best deal, but i guess there's a premium for "wanting" something. I'm a former C6 corvette owner, loved the speed, but hated the junky interior, so i figured this was the next step up. I have a few "newbie" questions for you guys:

1. what do you think of the price i paid? its fully loaded and includes the k90 radar installed, only thing missing is the bluetooth/ipod adapter, some better wheels, and sadly a warranty.
2. im going get new wheels, it has the factory fat 5 bars... and they just arent for me... im going to stick with a factory look, im torn bw a better 5 bar and the lorinser knocks offs... the turbine looking ones. Any pics if you have some good examples would be helpful.
3. Any recommendations on someone to buy from would be great as well, i found usarim.com they seem to be decently priced, has anyone used them before?
4. what do you guys recommend in terms of aftermarket warranties? do you think its worth it? i've heard a lot of horror stories on these cars, so im thinking its worth getting, anyone have recommendations/feedback on this?
5. where can i get the ipod adapter at a decent price? does it include the handsfree/voicecommand options all together, or is that seperate?

Okay im sure i'll have more questions as i go, but i'd love any advice you can offer...i'm pumped to be a new MB owner.. thanks a ton!

azbenzguy

The price is perfect if you love the car.
There are lots of wheel pics on this forum. Just do a search.
I've never used usarim.com.
GET A WARRANTY!!! Having a SL55 without a warranty is like having a time bomb attached to your wallet.
Sorry, I'm no help on the ipod adapter. Good luck with the car.

sf65

Yeah, everyone says you should have get an after market warranty. My car (knock on wood) had no problems so far.

Price is very reasonable, I saw ppl paying $50K for MY05, though certainly not a steal.

My car had the MB phone so doing an BlueTooth was pretty easy, couple of hundred bucks on eBay.

iPod integration is a bit trickier, depending on what's already in your car.

Check out http://mercupgrades.com/Mercedes+iPh...rticle-52.html, it's a good site overall.

Enjoy the car

SGTzAMG

DAMN another SL owner...Soon ill get my SL55 AMG ^_^ anywho! get dubs, lowering links DROP that beezee, TINT all out, CF front lip, CF trunk lip and be HAPPY!

hooleyboy

I paid 44K for my SL55 with 26k miles on it. I searched and search for one though. I bought a warranty for 3 years 36K miles for just over $3k. IMO thats 3k well spent. The car has some minor issues at can quickly add up $$$.

In all honesty, When I bought my SL55 I had my friends watching the auctions. At that time there were only 2.. yes 2 coming up in the U.S. at auction. I'm sure thats changed now. Not sure if that helped to pop the SL55's price up.

I think the SL55 is a tricky car to price. More so over other AMG's. Prices on these cars can be all over the place.

In the end, you may have paid a touch to much, but if the car brings a smile to your face... Its hard to put a price on that. I hope you enjoy the car in good health

Welcome to the forum
-Mike

azbenzguy

Mike: Where did you get your warranty?

OUTCAST

Welcome to the family.

DMODE212

Thanks for the warm welcome...

ditto on the warranty question, ive been shopping around for diff plans, i hear Easy Care is pretty good... but not sure if there are better options, carchex is quoting me $5k for 3 years...

Gene Gorman

I would also like to know about the warranty.

Congrats on your new ride. I have had mine now for about 3 months and it is alot more car than the supercharged C6 Corvette that I sold. No where near as fast but a much more of a car.

We need to see some pictures.

Eskimo

I have had my 2007 SL55 for 5 months coming off a C6. The SL continues to impress me, I will buy a Chrysler factory plan when the original warranty is done. Go to cartronics to buy the bluetooth adaptor, better options than the factory one.

okbarnett

You can get the factory bluetooth adapters on ebay. You should look at alot of different wheels before you decide. Look on ebay. But dont buy the cheap replica wheels from anybody, because they are inferior quality ; and trouble.

AMGfan

Olin is right to tell you to stay away from Ebay replicas...lower quality and HEAVY. I've had good luck with CCW rims...not only a quality build but fairly priced.

SRQLAW

Congrats on the car. Enjoy it. I smile everytime I hit the "start" button.

poker_emperor

Good choice on the car! I have the exact same color, year, and model, but bought it in November 2008 for my B-Day . I got mine with 34K miles and paid $43K drive out with new floor mats and a car cover. Added a warranty for $2,600, tires, rims, spoiler, ecu tune, lowering links, air filters, led bulbs, one slant grill, vario roof module, all new rotors, and all ceramic brakes pads around. I also bought a STAR Diagnostic to play around with too Probably 7K+ in upgrades, but well worth it. I'm also from Houston. I'll be on the look out for you buddy BTW, Get the aftermarket warranty from Chrysler!!! You'll thank me when something goes wrong. Within the first week of buying the warranty my ABC pump failed. Paid the $200 deductible, but save a few grand in repairs!!! My warranty expires in 2014 or 108,000 miles, so I'm going to enjoy driving the heck out of this car!

roberthechter

Hi all, My wife and I have had our 2006 SL55 AMG for a year and a half now, since I bought it for her for Valentines Day 2009. I say ours because I drive it more than she does, but only because she lets me.
I would like to share my thoughts on this car. First, a little history on this car. It was leased to its original owner on 8-25-2005 from the Mercedes Benz Dealership on Ventura Blvd. in Southern California. In Jan. 2009 the original owner turned it in to the Las Vegas, NV Mercedes Benz Dealership as the lease was up. Sounds like it was a 39 month lease. The mileage was 32,000 miles in 39 months. Mercedes Benz Lease Company wanted way too much for the car and so the dealer that it was turned in to declined to purchase it and MB leasing Co. paid that LV dealer to detail it and drop it off at the Manheim Auction in Las Vegas. It went through the auction in Jan. 09 and sold to a local independant dealer for $43,500. If Mercedes Benz Leasing, who owned the car when it was turned in to the LV MB dealer would have sold it to that dealer for this price, they would of bought it, but Mercedes Benz Leasing Co. wanted alot more, so because of that, this car ended up with a wholesaler, who sold it to me for $47,000.00 with 32,300 miles on it. Because this car was so loaded with options and had 6 months of factory warranty left on it, and the price sounded right, I bought it. I found out this info when I went to the LV Mercedes Benz dealership in Feb 09 to purchase an extended warranty on this car. I did purchase the 6 year 60,000 mile 0 ded. warranty for $4,500 so this car is now under warranty till Feb 2015 or 92,000 miles, (60,000 miles + 32,000 miles) Now, with that out of the way. Our thoughts.
This car is Awesome. The pewter metallic is very beautiful. This car is flawless inside and out and the power is out of this world! we now have 55,000 miles on it and it just feels faster today as it ever has. Along with that we love the options on this car, If you have never driven a car with Distronic, your in for a treat. Its cool how it puts the brakes on when you come up to a slower car and accelerates when the road opens up. The parktronic is nice because its front and rear. The pano roof is awesome and looks good to. Keyless-Go is a must, Bi-Xenon headlights, also a must. We enjoy the voice control for the phone, it's great and we have the blue tooth adapter installed. It was nice to get $10,000 in options with this car. It runs great and the power delivery is awesome. I have no dislikes and plan to keep the car until 2015. We always get compliments and I never see another SL55 in this color. Its been great putting 23,000 miles on this car in the last 17 months, current milage is 55,000 Thanks for listening, bob

DMODE212

okay some newbie questions:
1. how on earth do you change the presets on the radio, mine has the comand system if that makes a difference, im pretty tech savy but cant figure out what on earth to press?
2. the dealer had aftermarket wheels on the car but put back on the factory wheels, and now the TPMS lights are on, how do i turn those off or reset it?

thanks for any help, sorry i got stuck with no owners manual, i figured you guys would know best!

Sunir

congrats on the car...SL55 is a fun ride indeed. As for wheels do some looking around...COR, DPE, HRE are some popular ones. I've had good luck w CCW as well

Do some searches for some of you other questions - the topics you've listed are fairly common for new owners and have been covered extensively on other threads that you'll find a lot more info on.

hope this helps

sf65

@dmode, as Sunir said you can do a little bit searching before asking obvious questions.

You can download the manual from MB's website, it took me 10 seconds to find it
http://www.mbusa.com/vcm/MB/DigitalA..._sl5565amg.pdf

As for TPMS, I've have spent a lot of time on mine in the past couple of months, and will be posting a full report next week.

The short version is

1) You can't disable the warning unless you have access to Star Diagnostics
2) Most dealers won't do the latter b/c they claim it's "against the law"
3) The dealers would charge you 4 x $250 + labour -> $1200 to fix your TPMS
4) TireRack is your friend.

If it's a US model you probably need a 315MHZ sensor. My car (and I believe most MY'05) needs the sensor made by Beru. (p/n 0055422418). TireRack originally sent me the other one (made by Siemens/VDO p/n 0025406817) but it didn't work. You will need a valve stem for the Beru sensor.

5) Once you get them installed you'll need to follow the instructions in the manual, to activate the TPMS system AND then drive 10-20 miles till the receiver detects them

6) Overall it cost me ~$500, where $100 was labour.

0025406817 Tire Pressure Sensor 315MHZ 4per VDO/Siemens 002 540 68 17

0055422418 Tire Pressure Sensor 315Mhz 4 per Genuine Mercedes 005-542-24-18