SL55/63/65/R230 AMG: 5000 mile SL55. Few niggles
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Joined: Jan 2017
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SL55 AMG 2003
5000 mile SL55. Few niggles
Hey all.¨
This is my first post on this forum, so I hope I don't break any rules...
My name is Daniel, I live in the south eastern part of Sweden. I have just managed to aquire a one owner SL 55 AMG, my first Mercedes. I had to px my Boxster S and my Z3 M-coupe to get it. The car in question is Silver over red interior, panorama roof and the turbine wheels. The main reason I got it is the fact that it has 5000 miles or 8000 kilometers on the clock and has never been driven in bad weather and has never seen a winter road surface, so the car is in mint condition apart from 2 things, and those are the things that you lot may be able to help me with.
First. TPMS. Can this be de-coded? Seems a right faff replacing these every 5 years when the batteries conks out, and they are expensive for what they are. Are there reliable aftermarket parts to be had? I have figured out that the U.S sold cars seem to operate on a different radio frequency that the Euro cars.
Second. The big one. The only imperfection on the car is a small stone chip in the distronic grille, right on the edge which has managed to de-laminate itself somewhat, I can live with the visual, but I'd rather have it fixed. So I called my local Merc dealer and they qouted me a simply silly $4500 since the whole distronic unit apparently needs to be replaced, the small bit with just the 3-pointed star was not possible to change on it's own. I call BS on that, does anyone have a clear answer?
Many thanks in advance.
/Danny
This is my first post on this forum, so I hope I don't break any rules...
My name is Daniel, I live in the south eastern part of Sweden. I have just managed to aquire a one owner SL 55 AMG, my first Mercedes. I had to px my Boxster S and my Z3 M-coupe to get it. The car in question is Silver over red interior, panorama roof and the turbine wheels. The main reason I got it is the fact that it has 5000 miles or 8000 kilometers on the clock and has never been driven in bad weather and has never seen a winter road surface, so the car is in mint condition apart from 2 things, and those are the things that you lot may be able to help me with.
First. TPMS. Can this be de-coded? Seems a right faff replacing these every 5 years when the batteries conks out, and they are expensive for what they are. Are there reliable aftermarket parts to be had? I have figured out that the U.S sold cars seem to operate on a different radio frequency that the Euro cars.
Second. The big one. The only imperfection on the car is a small stone chip in the distronic grille, right on the edge which has managed to de-laminate itself somewhat, I can live with the visual, but I'd rather have it fixed. So I called my local Merc dealer and they qouted me a simply silly $4500 since the whole distronic unit apparently needs to be replaced, the small bit with just the 3-pointed star was not possible to change on it's own. I call BS on that, does anyone have a clear answer?
Many thanks in advance.
/Danny
Member
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 212
Likes: 77
From: Arizona
2003 SL55 AMG, 1989 348 Challenge, 1987 Testarossa, 1992 F40, 1989 Mondial t cab, 2001 X5 4.4 Sport
Hey all.¨
This is my first post on this forum, so I hope I don't break any rules...
My name is Daniel, I live in the south eastern part of Sweden. I have just managed to aquire a one owner SL 55 AMG, my first Mercedes. I had to px my Boxster S and my Z3 M-coupe to get it. The car in question is Silver over red interior, panorama roof and the turbine wheels. The main reason I got it is the fact that it has 5000 miles or 8000 kilometers on the clock and has never been driven in bad weather and has never seen a winter road surface, so the car is in mint condition apart from 2 things, and those are the things that you lot may be able to help me with.
First. TPMS. Can this be de-coded? Seems a right faff replacing these every 5 years when the batteries conks out, and they are expensive for what they are. Are there reliable aftermarket parts to be had? I have figured out that the U.S sold cars seem to operate on a different radio frequency that the Euro cars.
Second. The big one. The only imperfection on the car is a small stone chip in the distronic grille, right on the edge which has managed to de-laminate itself somewhat, I can live with the visual, but I'd rather have it fixed. So I called my local Merc dealer and they qouted me a simply silly $4500 since the whole distronic unit apparently needs to be replaced, the small bit with just the 3-pointed star was not possible to change on it's own. I call BS on that, does anyone have a clear answer?
Many thanks in advance.
/Danny
This is my first post on this forum, so I hope I don't break any rules...
My name is Daniel, I live in the south eastern part of Sweden. I have just managed to aquire a one owner SL 55 AMG, my first Mercedes. I had to px my Boxster S and my Z3 M-coupe to get it. The car in question is Silver over red interior, panorama roof and the turbine wheels. The main reason I got it is the fact that it has 5000 miles or 8000 kilometers on the clock and has never been driven in bad weather and has never seen a winter road surface, so the car is in mint condition apart from 2 things, and those are the things that you lot may be able to help me with.
First. TPMS. Can this be de-coded? Seems a right faff replacing these every 5 years when the batteries conks out, and they are expensive for what they are. Are there reliable aftermarket parts to be had? I have figured out that the U.S sold cars seem to operate on a different radio frequency that the Euro cars.
Second. The big one. The only imperfection on the car is a small stone chip in the distronic grille, right on the edge which has managed to de-laminate itself somewhat, I can live with the visual, but I'd rather have it fixed. So I called my local Merc dealer and they qouted me a simply silly $4500 since the whole distronic unit apparently needs to be replaced, the small bit with just the 3-pointed star was not possible to change on it's own. I call BS on that, does anyone have a clear answer?
Many thanks in advance.
/Danny
As far as the histrionic goes....... it is what it is. Have the color touched up, live with it or spend the money.
Member
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 212
Likes: 77
From: Arizona
2003 SL55 AMG, 1989 348 Challenge, 1987 Testarossa, 1992 F40, 1989 Mondial t cab, 2001 X5 4.4 Sport
Here's a shot of the F40...
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Joined: Jan 2017
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SL55 AMG 2003
Oh, I'm under no illusions it's gonna be a cheap ride 
But its 45 hundred, not 4 hundred. I can live with that, I just though it's strange that the bit of the grille can't be changed, thats all.
As for the F40. It doesn't come better that that. Just sublime.
But its 45 hundred, not 4 hundred. I can live with that, I just though it's strange that the bit of the grille can't be changed, thats all.
As for the F40. It doesn't come better that that. Just sublime.
Member
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 212
Likes: 77
From: Arizona
2003 SL55 AMG, 1989 348 Challenge, 1987 Testarossa, 1992 F40, 1989 Mondial t cab, 2001 X5 4.4 Sport
If it were me and there was just a cosmetic nick in the distrionic and it worked fine...... leave it alone!
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Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 955
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From: Kansas
2003 E55, 2003 SL55, 2014 CLS63, 2018 q50 Redsport, 1968 Camaro SS, 1999 Trans am Firehawk
you can code out the TPMS in the dash using a STAR tool pretty easily. I found the cheapest place to get the sensors is http://www.oewheelsllc.com/TPMS. You do NOT have to replace the entire distronic unit (the sensor is behind the star and isn't even attached in any way to the grill). Both just the black star emblem and the entire grill are available separately. You can also buy and fit an aftermarket one from ebay.
The cheapest place I've found for OEM merc parts is mbpartsdirect.com.
The cheapest place I've found for OEM merc parts is mbpartsdirect.com.
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Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: Jan 2017
Posts: 4
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SL55 AMG 2003
you can code out the TPMS in the dash using a STAR tool pretty easily. I found the cheapest place to get the sensors is http://www.oewheelsllc.com/TPMS. You do NOT have to replace the entire distronic unit (the sensor is behind the star and isn't even attached in any way to the grill). Both just the black star emblem and the entire grill are available separately. You can also buy and fit an aftermarket one from ebay.
The cheapest place I've found for OEM merc parts is mbpartsdirect.com.
The cheapest place I've found for OEM merc parts is mbpartsdirect.com.
