SL55/63/65/R230 AMG: 04 SL55 original owner with questions

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Jun 12, 2018 | 11:59 AM

amgnut

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From: Boston

04 SL55, 16 GTs, 17 GLS 63

04 SL55 original owner with questions

Hello All,

As the title states, I have an 04 SL55 that I bought brand new back in 2004. In the 14 years that I have owned it I have only managed to accumulate 13,000 miles on it! It has been serviced annually either by the dealer or a very competent local shop. Only mods are renntech lowering module, renntech camber bushings, renntech toe links, and 20 in HRE wheels. The car hasn't been used much in the past couple of years because I have a few others and I moved so it was in storage for a bit. This past weekend I took it on a little road trip and noticed a couple of things:
1) Suspension feels really "floaty", not well planted
2) Straight line acceleration, *** end is all over the place like kind of scary
3)Brakes are feeling mushy and while it was parked got a brake failure message on the dash, drained the consumers battery.

Where do I start? Its an awesome car, soo comfortable to cruise in ( I have a 2016 gtS that makes me feel like I need to see a chiropractor after a drive) so I want to get this stuff sorted out.

Thanks in advance!

Jun 12, 2018 | 06:45 PM

skylolow

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2005 SL55 Completely Built Motor

*** end all over and feeling very uneasy my first thing I'd say is the tires are probably dry rotted and hard as a rock since chances are the tires are 4+ years old if your not driving it much. That will make the car feel very uneasy over any unsmooth pavement and when you get on it the back end will feel very wobbly and uneasy.

Consumer battery probably needs replacing also.

Start there and good chance it solves all your problems.

Jun 12, 2018 | 07:40 PM

amgnut

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04 SL55, 16 GTs, 17 GLS 63

Thanks for the reply! Tires are 2 yrs old, consumer battery as well. I keep it on a tender and that fixes the issue. The strange part was car was parked outside and had a red error message saying “brake failure”, dash was lit up like a Xmas tree...never saw that before

Jun 12, 2018 | 07:43 PM

amgnut

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From: Boston

04 SL55, 16 GTs, 17 GLS 63

Lost some air from sitting in this pic

Jun 12, 2018 | 07:44 PM

skylolow

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2005 SL55 Completely Built Motor

Have a shop check the tires. They might only be two years old but they might of been a year plus old when you bought them. Summer High Performance tires can get hard quickly.

What errors is the car saying now?

Jun 12, 2018 | 07:48 PM

amgnut

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04 SL55, 16 GTs, 17 GLS 63

No errors now, but the brakes feel mushy. Maybe there’s some moisture build up in the fluid. Car just doesn’t drive like it used to-plenty of power but no stability. I read somewhere that this could happen with the toe links if not aligned perfectly, but if i let go of the wheel on the highway she goes perfectly straight.

Jun 12, 2018 | 07:53 PM

skylolow

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2005 SL55 Completely Built Motor

Could definitely have moisture build up.

I think I have a shop check the alignment and tires. I have very similar issue not long ago. Turned out alignment and tires were hard. World of difference after that.