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I am new to the forum. Just bought a 1999 E55 and will begin the restoration process. It is a California car with 128,000 miles. No rust whatsoever. Last owner was a kid who spun it out and slammed a curb. Really buggered up two of the rims and deployed the front passenger airbag. I will probably find that some of the suspension components are badly bent. I will take my time and fix everything. This sort of car is just too special to allow it to rot away. I am an engineering professor and I use vehicles like this to illustrate design choices to my students. We crawl around and wrench them, and I use parts replacement as items of discussion for determining part lifetimes. We do calculations and learn quite a bit. In my opinion, this is a design gem! I have already found a lot of excellent archived info on this site!
I am new to the forum. Just bought a 1999 E55 and will begin the restoration process. It is a California car with 128,000 miles. No rust whatsoever. Last owner was a kid who spun it out and slammed a curb. Really buggered up two of the rims and deployed the front passenger airbag. I will probably find that some of the suspension components are badly bent. I will take my time and fix everything. This sort of car is just too special to allow it to rot away. I am an engineering professor and I use vehicles like this to illustrate design choices to my students. We crawl around and wrench them, and I use parts replacement as items of discussion for determining part lifetimes. We do calculations and learn quite a bit. In my opinion, this is a design gem! I have already found a lot of excellent archived info on this site!
You will find significant amounts of DIY info on the other site (benzworld) in the W210 stickies. Pelican Parts also has some great DIY posts in the tech section. Lots of technical info on this site but you have to use the advanced search and dig for awhile....
'07 SL550 80m miles, '98 e430 350k miles - 02 E55 AMG 165k miles - 07 SL550 72k mile
typo yes - it is a 98, silver - 17" monoblocks - just got some 18' - it will look like the amg actually - except for the subtle differences - love those monoblocks !
original drive train - 0-40 mobil
i'll sell the 17" later - maybe $900 for the set/ good shape
Gratuitous photo of my Canadian spec E55 that somehow ended up in Texas. About to roll 220,000 kilometers. When I first bought it I didn't realize the odometer was in kilometers; first fill up of gasoline and I was going "WTF? 36 miles per gallon on this V8 engine?" Finally figured it out when my normal 30-mile commute showed as 48...
Good looking machine! I just changed the oil filter canister gaskets as well as the oil pressure port gasket. Cleaned up the front of the engine bay since it was flinging oil all around. Changed belt and cleaned up as much of the oil as I could get. Next job is breather and valve cover gaskets as well as plugs, wires and coil packs. Im in search of a good set of mono blocks since the previous street-rodder jammed the right side into a curb. Never seen such curb-rash damage in my life...but a high speed side-slip may well do that. Here is a photo from the day I bought it. Very filthy, but the heritage does show through! I'll post progress photos as I move forward.
If your headlight lens covers are too degraded to polish clean, you can order replacement lenses from Latvia via Ebay. Be sure to get the lenses for the Xenon and not the HID (I'm assuming your car has Xenon standard). I posted a DIY for lens replacement in the W210 stickies on the other site. While you have the headlights out, plan on rebuilding the harness inside as the insulation will have hardened and fallen off the wires. Replacement harnesses are generally for the HID and do not include the connector/wiring for the headlight beam level control stepper motors.
Also, the plastic surrounding the socket for the running light on the inboard lights will harden and break off; those sockets with wires are available via some of the parts suppliers.
If you don't have current access to the EPC, post your VIN and I'll download your vehicle data card for you (PM me your email address so I can email it to you). Heck, PM me your email address and I can send you some additional info such as electrical schematics.
Oil canister and oil pressure port leaks are fixed. Now I've got to tackle the leaky valve cover and breather gaskets. Also just received the plugs, wires and a transmission kit today. It will be mechanically sound very soon....then I will tackle the suspension and tires...and at the end of all that, I will go VERY FAST.
Hello all! I am a new active member driving a new to me 2001 tektite on black/ruby. There are a few things wrong that I plan to tackle like suspension, interior bits, and the front of the car could use some TLC. But, I plan on taking care of all maintenance first i.e. plugs/wires, conductor plate/trans service, belts, etc. I’ve had a couple w124s but have always dreamed of owning a W210 e55. I’m very excited.
Hello all! I am a new active member driving a new to me 2001 tektite on black/ruby. There are a few things wrong that I plan to tackle like suspension, interior bits, and the front of the car could use some TLC. But, I plan on taking care of all maintenance first i.e. plugs/wires, conductor plate/trans service, belts, etc. I’ve had a couple w124s but have always dreamed of owning a W210 e55. I’m very excited.
Nice. You don't see many in that color anymore. It's the best color on them IMO.
Sand/polish those headlights. It will make it look a lot better.
Fun car to have for the past ten years. Still driving my 99 E55. Bought at 2009, 42K miles. Now it is 148K. Regular, even though not DD, driver. Getting newer cars for my kids, might need to get rid of it soon.
Still DD mine, and now have close to 200k. She does need a lil cosmetic work, and has been recently kicked out of the garaged. However during the weekday she's in covered garage.
DD as much as one can living in Tokyo. 127,000km motor and transmission strong enough to hold back a new 7series BMW and a newer Audi RS7 on the highway. I was startled by awful clank and grind noise at full steering lock. Thankfully it was dry steering stops.
It need lots of cosmetics, paint scratches, dash cracks, curb rash...
252k and back to daily driving after a 3 year make over.
Looks great! Did you repaint it? Mine has close to 200K now and the paint is looking pretty poor, although mechanically it's excellent and the interior is holding up.
Just rolled over to 200,000 miles tonight... Celebrated by giving her a wash earlier today, and then a huge, smokey, figure-eight burnout at exactly 200k.
I’ve done so much work bringing this thing back to life, it’s not even funny ($$$$) and I do 95% of the work myself.
Just about to complete a full front suspension rebuild with upper & lower control arm bushings, as soon as I find someone who can loan me a Mercedes spring compressor and/or someone who has the ***** to remove those springs with a generic spring tool.
I love every moment driving this car, I hope I’ll never get rid of it. It’s rust-free (Arizona car) so that’s a huge plus.
I’m going through the rear suspension next year, then probably going to do a full obsidion black exterior repaint (have some rough spots - my dad does autobody and is an exceptional painter so I’ll only spend for materials).
Other than that, she doesn’t need much. I’m probably going to throw some valve cover gaskets on her next week. All the major and most expensive repairs and maintenance have already been done. I’ve spend $7k getting her back into like-new shape.
I’m in Chicago but spend most of my time overseas so the car gets garaged all winter and has never seen snow/salt.
Take note, most American cars would be toasted before hitting 200,000 miles.. This car still runs hard, fast and strong and feels like 80% new. Best of all, it hangs with much newer cars. I don’t street race a lot but I’ve put quite a few newer cars in their place. For 18 years old, it’s still a beast.
Long time lurker. Had my 2002 E55 for a couple years (58k miles and counting). On the fence about selling it because it still puts a huge smile on my face. One day time and night time shot.
12-02-2018, 12:08 PM
