Cross Country trip in a E55? Sure why not...
 

Well a few weeks ago i purchased a 2001 E55 from a dealer in Arizona (sight unseen).. after beeing for sale for 5 months and lowering the price from the original asking price of $8000 to $6000 i was able to pick the car up for $5000. Now being that the car had 181K miles was alot however it had 2 very important things that i was looking for in a W210 E55, it was Silver/Red and it had ZERO Rust which is almost impossible to find on any W210 now a days (but being that this car spent its entire life in California and Arizona this was perfect)

Since i have always wanted to do a cross country trip this was the perfect time (since i had some time off as well) it just had to be done. However being that i purchased a 17 year old car with almost 200k miles sight unseen i felt very hesitant to put a ton of miles without any knowledge to the mechanical condition of the car. Now according to the dealer he would trust this car to make it no problem however the rear tires were shot so that's the only thing i would need to have changed before driving almost 4000 miles. I was very hesitant to that so i had the car shipped to a buddy of mine who is a BMW Tech in Costa Mesa California (350 miles away) and boy was i glad i did that. The car was in no way shape or form going to make it more then a few hundred miles. Now being that im very anal about my cars and when i do something i do it the right way i knew i was going to lower the car so i anticipated changing most of the suspension components. Well sure enough i had to literally change everything (lower ball joints were shot bushing completely cracked, upper control arms had a ton of play) engine mounts were completely collapsed, spark plugs looked original and one of the plug wires broke off as soon as my friend touched them. The car was sitting for at least a year and that had shown as most of the plastic/rubber pieces have begun to fall apart. Well sure enough i changed everything (complete suspension with the exception of shocks as i did not know what brand to use but i decided to go with Koni Adjustable) Engine and Trans mounts complete tune up (filters plugs wires) changed the Engine oil and Crank sensor also since the rear tires were toast and front tires dry rotted i needed 4 new tires but the car had disgusting chrome wheels that were all pitted so those had to go as well so 4 new wheels/tires were installed a nice alignment performed and those nasty scratched black tints were fully removed as well and i was ready to hit the road. The plan was to drive from Costa Mesa California to Clearwater Florida and i was going to stay there for 10 days and then drive back north to Boston

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So here is the way my route went just a tad over 4000 miles 4022 to be exact
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Before i hit the road i stopped by a local Porsche show in Newport Beach (let me just say i have never ever in my life seen that many exotics cars driving around) felt like Dubai or Monaco

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I used a Snapchat Filter to simulate the sky (LoL i had at least 10 people text me to tell me what an amazing picture i captured)


The car was finally done now and ready to hit the road

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Left California and an hour into the drive i have regretted removing those dark tints as it was super HOT

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On the California-Arizona border

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Entering Arizona

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And the first Pit Stop happened after a 3hr drive

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Reached Phoenix where i spent the rest of the day and night (enjoyed Scottsdale a bit) and decided to take a break before heading out the next day.

Day 2 was going to be the longest day for me as i tried to do Phoenix to San Antonio which was 1000 miles but i felt an hour short of San Antonio as i got tired around 9 p.m and decided to find a hotel near by

Somewhere in Arizona on an empty I-10

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Soon after i had hit New Mexico where the scenery started to get a bit dull compared to California and Arizona and the road was still pretty empty

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New Mexico was pretty relaxed to drive and not much happened until about an hour into it (im so pissed i did not take a picture) as i was driving i noticed in the distance what seemed to be a bike (motorcycle) cruising very slowly in the break down lane, but once i got real close it was actually a bicycle that was stuffed with so much stuff and he had a sticker that said "Cross Country trip" which was quite amazing to see.

After a few hours it was time to say Goodbye to New Mexico as i approached the last city in that state Las Cruces

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I had finally reached Texas which was the longest of states on this road trip (almost 900 miles)

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El Paso was quite a big city surprisingly and once i left it completely for the first time on my trip i had seen a 80 MPH Speed Limit which would stay with me for the next 500 miles and sure enough that was helpful as this part of Texas was pretty boring and not much scenery going on, i drove an hour from San Antonio (so 900 miles) before i decided to call it a night.

Day 3 i woke up early and got back on the road, since i left at a bad time i actually hit morning traffic in San Antonio, but was able to get by it and continued towards Houston where i got off the highway and got some lunch. After getting back on I-10 the speed limit had dropped to 65MPH for a while and this portion of the highway was infested with cops (i have never in my life seen so many) there were so many that i thought my WAZE had frozen but after checking my phone i indeed was correct

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so i had to the car on cruise control for an hour untill the speed limit went up to 75 and i was able to reach Louisiana, which was quite boring ugly infested with traffic and very poor road quality, i had planned to maybe go to New Orleans but somewhere mid state i had found myself in a 2 hour delay (im assuming the highway was closed as it was bumper to bumper traffic) and i was forced to exit and go local for 35 minutes before getting back on I-10 so i just decided to hit the gas and keep on going, and i did that until i reached Gulfport, Mississippi where i spent the night

The last day was the shortest drive as my final destination was Clearwater FL. I did have some nice pictures that i took when crossing from Alabama into Florida but i cannot find them at the moment. I reached my destination at 6p.m. and the car was dropped off to my buddy's detail shop in Largo where the car received a much needed TLC (the nose had so many bugs this picture does it very little justice)

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It was at this time where the car got a much deserved rest after a 2600 miles road trip that took 3.5 days i had decided to have the car fully detailed the headlights (which were fading out) fully cleaned, my radar detector was hardwired so i did not have to look at the charger wire anymore and decided to have the car tinted all around (including windshield) 75% Ceramic as the Sun was kicking my ass the entire time.

My wife had flown down to Florida to spend a few days in the sun and keep me company on the drive back to Boston.

Well Friday we decided to pack up and head back north

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So we hit the road and our first stop was Savannah GA where we stopped for a quick lunch before getting back on the road

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We then proceeded with our trip and ended up in Columbia SC where we spent the night.

The next day we woke up a bit late and left at 10AM on what was going to be the second day of our trip back, so since i got off 95 in South Carolina as i wanted to Avoid Washington D.C (horrible traffic) Maryland and NYC i took the truckers route 77N to 81N which just took me into Virginia for 6 long boring hours however the scenery was very nice and you constantly go up and down the mountains

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After leaving Virginia we reached West Virginia which was 15 miles long and Maryland which was 10 miles and got into Pennsylvania which last a couple of hours. After a quick lunch break it was now time to hit the road again

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So after hitting Bethlehem PA at 9pm and some traffic jam we decided to call it a night however we could not find a hotel room under $200 which was insane, and as we crossed into NJ the prices just got higher, so at this point we decided to just continue with the trip untill we got home. I stopped in NJ on the Garden State Pkwy around 11pm for the last fill up of the trip

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and after 3 more hours of driving we were finally home at 2 AM and took a nice long nap

I will calculate how much Gas i had spent and post here as well, it is very interesting that the entire trip was done in sunny weather i did not have even 1 minute of rain or bad weather along the way

This morning i washed the car in and out and decided to test fit my "summer wheels" so i confirmed the front 9.5" wide fit with no issues but will have to wait for another day to see if the 11.5" in back will fit

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Also 2 quick shots of the interior

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The next step for the car will be visiting the body shop as the nose is all pitted (not from me but before me so i did not care at all about rock chips on this trip) and the front bumper was repainted with a paintbrush :smash:

Hopefully you guys enjoyed my story

Good story, especially with the photos and trials and travails prior to departure. It's always nice to go on an adventure.

I've taken the W210 E55 on multiple journeys to Tucson and the Texas Panhandle from San Antonio. My longest journey was in a Miata from San Antonio to Crater Lake, Oregon, and back; 5300 miles in 10 days. Good times.

Again, your addition of the photos made the story a fun read; especially for those of us with short attention spans. ;)

If you buy wheels keep the Monoblocks. Ones in good shape sell for a nice chunk of change. I wanted some for my wagon but couldn't justify spending well over half of what I paid for the car for a set of wheels.

Car looks good. Are those lm reps 18s or 19s?

Nice trip ...I have all black interior in my 2002 so if you ever want to swap out the interior with the black one, let me know.

The car is gorgeous and what a nice road trip.


Next time a dealer tell you a 20 year old car will make a cross county no problem....lupi mu samar.

Thanks for the post. I have a 2002 here in Tucson, it is the best car I have ever owned. What did you do to lower yours? It looks great.

Sorry guys forgot about this thread

That is amazing i don't even fit in a miata (i'm 6"6) so that in itself is amazing that you did 5300 miles

Thanks man im not sure but in Instagram my name is BGMangup

I wish in the first pic you will see the garbage wheels that came with the car (they were all peeled off and tires shot) so i bought the LM Reps as a decent replacement for it

Thanks they are 19" LM Reps and will be for sale really soon

haha thanks the 2 reason i bought this car .. ZERO rust and the Red Interior so that's not going anywhere

haha i know brate its my fault i should have def done a PPI but its ok my buddy in Cali bailed my ass out he made the car road worthy for me

Thanks car is lowered on Vogtland Springs and now KONI Adjustable shocks (it is a bit stiff but they are adjusted more toward stiff then soft so i will play with that a bit once the car gets out of the body shop)

And this is the Wifey driving the car to the body shop 2 weeks ago for a full nose respray and some other goodies as well :)

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...4da61cd797.jpg

might be interested in those wheels.

Yes, I second Illest response... If you look to sell those I am interested as well here in NorCal :y

Thanks guys wheels are OFF the car and are for sale i will post a FS ad soon.

here are the replacements

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https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...37da9072f7.jpg

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...b55ab0fe3a.jpg

very clean , what are the specs on those new wheels im looking for a similar look on my Carlsson 3/6 . thanks

the wheels are 19x9.5" front and 19x11.5" rear

Looks nice. What are the offsets?

Current wheels are ET20

BTW my LM Reps are for sale if you guys are interested

https://mbworld.org/forums/market/719510

Were those bbs lm wheels you had on there at one point? 19s I presume?

Great story and pics. Thanks for sharing.

👌 😎 great story
 

Well done my man well done.
Enjoyable read.