kjarboe

Hello! I am considering picking up a 99 E55 for my daily driver (133k) assuming it passes the PPI from my local trusted BMW/Benz indie. This is not a "hey, is my car going to break and cost me a **** load of money?" question but rather I am trying to figure out realistic part costs because I am quite surprised how cheap some of these parts are (all german OEM brands no ebay bull****) for such a beast...especially one with the AMG badge.

I should mention, I am not new to German car ownership. I have an 87 BMW M6 right now and I also have owned an E39 540 6spd and an 03 CLK500. I used to go through Partsgeek.com for my E39, i put 100K miles on that car and had zero problems with any of the parts from partsgeek. I am careful to only buy german brands like Meyle, Mahn, Lemodorfer, etc. For my CLK500, quite frankly the only thing that broke was a sway bar link and I did the spark plugs and valve cover gasket, brakes and oil changes. So I never really had to source the more $$ parts for it fortunately (that was such a nice car.......until it got massive water damage that was just bad luck and its gone now).

My question is where do you folks get most of your parts from? Often with this particular car I see a cheaper part listed and then the same brand but a much more expensive part with a one off part number.

For example I looked up the following parts knowing I would have to deal with them at some point between now(133k) and 200k miles:

Tell me if any of this sounds wrong or if I am mistaken but:

Brakes: OK front rotors are def a lot $200/each. Rears and pads are no more $$ than they were on my Acura TL. About $700 for me to do front/rear pads, rotors, and SS lines myself.

Calipers: Do these AMGs use special calipers? Because they seem like they are only ~$100 a piece. My M6 will fit 635 calipers which cost $89 each but the M ones are $600 each

Fan Clutch - I see a Behr with matching part # for $68. I also see a one off part # for $268.

Motor Mounts: $30-50 each.

Shocks: No nonsense airmatic stuff just good old springs/struts. Bilsteins about $150/pair.

Water pump: $100

Thermostat: $30 ($120 on my E39 because it was electric)

Control arms: Parts alone it looks like I could do them all for $300 in parts (Lemodorfer, probably spelling that wrong).

This is just off the top of my head so far but this seems very reasonable to me (with the exception of the front rotors).

I love how these cars done have all those modern sensors, tire, parking, GPS blah. Really annoyed I didnt take advantage of the depreciation of the W210s sooner if what I am reading is true.

I would like to end this by saying the most high maintenance car I have ever owned was a 2004 Acura TL. It was super hard to work on, went through 3 transmissions, 3 sets of motor mounts, 6 calipers (the rears are so small it seemed I would break them with my gorilla hands while trying to pry them open), MAF, window regulator, 2 idler pullys, power steering pump. All that work with no driving reward over only 50K miles and a lot of those jobs I found to be much harder on that car than these german beasts. So the bar is set pretty low on my expectation of reliability so long as I dont need a tow!

Overheated

I can only suggest what i know from owning my '99 for less than a year, but also an '03 e500 with 208k. I've so fare only changed fluids, a steering rack, Michelìn Pilots all around. @$1600. Its a rock. It was in very good 74k shape. Most of what it needs is minor cosmetic, plastic, rubber. Parts all oem from rmeuropean.com. because I'm in L.A. I get everything next day included.

I don't drive this car every day. I love this car, so why does it try to kill me?

illest

I get most of my parts from FCP or autohausaz. You can sometimes find them cheaper from other vendors but I like the FCP return policy.

SleepersRock

I had a 02 E55 and my wife has a 07 TL Type S.

I can confidently say that the TL is significantly cheaper to maintain as most of the parts are readily available Honda bits.

I just did the TL 105k timing belt, water pump, oil change, plugs, wires, and a bunch of other things and the parts were maybe $1100.

Another example: just replaced the alternator and battery on the TL for $400. The same on 210 E55 was about $1k.

All that same **** on W210 would easily be 2 to 3x the cost of a TL. If you are doing the labor yourself then no prob, but I gotta imagine that an indie German shop is also more expensive than and indie Japanese shop.

I derived significantly more than 2x to 3x the driving pleasure in the E55 vs the TL so to me it was worth it. The Type S handling is ****ing fantastic though. I thinks its even better handling than the 08 E63 I currently have.

NAFT1

I find my '99 to be very easy and affordable to maintain, but I do all of my own work. Most parts are common to the W210 range and many are shared with other lines like the W163, 203, 203, etc. Front rotors and pads are unique to the car but rears are standard E class. The engine bay and chassis are pretty easy to work on, for the most part. If you do not do your own work or are obsessed with using MB-braded parts it can get really expensive really quickly. I just replaced an engine mount this afternoon with an OE quality Lemfoerder piece, for a total of about $70. Replacing the tramission conductor plate, a not uncommon problem, was about $300 last year. About 18 months ago I replaced the cam position sensor with a Bosch unit, which ran me about $60 total.

takeiteasy

! thing do not be cheap about motor/tranny mounts get originals worth every penny .....

NAFT1

I personally haven't found a difference between Lemfoerder and OE; both last 2-3 years before they break on me. I'm a scientist, though; if something can quantifiably show that they are better quality or have a longer lifespan I am all ears.

bbirdwell

Pelican Parts (great how-to section so I purchase often from them just for hosting the instructions), ECS Tuning, FCP, Autohausaz, Partsgeek, FactoryMoparparts. Don't go for the cheapest parts; you'll just end up doing it twice.

Be sure to purchase a subscription to the Electronic Parts Catalog; you can look up the latest part numbers for the car and then perform an internet search.

Bushings, ball joints, tie rod ends, replace/rebuild the multi-link rear suspension (not very expensive, can be done in a day) as the rubber isolators begin to collapse and you end up with very negative camber (or just build a set of adjustable camber arms for about $110 or so). Pelican Parts has a great "how-to" on the multi-link rear suspension.

Replace all coolant hoses if not done previously. Someone on the assembly line has a sick sense of humor as one hose clamp on a hose required me to drill a hole through the radiator bracket to get a screw/nut driver to the hose clamp. :-P

Check inside the headlight housings and check the insulation on wires; the older bio-degradable insulation may have made it into your headlights. If so, rebuild the harness (will take a couple of hours).

If the headlight lenses are crazed/cloudy, you can order replacement lenses from Latvia via Ebay. I've got a DIY on it. Note: these replacement lenses only fit the pre-facelift models; i.e. the '99.

A standard OBD2 code reader will only read the ECU; you'll need a DAS to connect to the 38-pin connector under the hood to read the TCU and other modules.

I prefer my W210 E55 for long road trips as it is more comfortable compared to the W211 E55 I have. The W210, although slower and less agile, is significantly less maintenance-intensive compared to its sibling.

PM me your email address and I'll send you a copy of the electrical schematics.

Strigoi

Lemfoerder are OEM.

PelicanParts.com

I am here if you have any parts questions so please don't hesitate to shoot me a PM.