davidhung78

I just picked up an '03 E55 from Caliber Motors last week with only 6,700 miles and the car looks and feels as if brand new. However, being that I'm super detail oriented I did notice a couple of things that makes me wonder if I should be concerned.

1. When parked and on the low ride height setting I measured the wheel well gap with my fingers and noticed that the driver side is not exactly even with the passenger side. This is also with the Airmatic dampening set at sport 2 and parked on level ground (or atleast assuming the parking garage is level). The passenger side I feel has a smaller gap by I would say in the millimeters- given I fit 2 fingers snug on the passeneger side but 2 fingers loosely on the driver side.
Should I be concerned?

2. Also from a complete stop when I press on the accelerator at a steady gentle pace I feel that first gear is very jumpy and sometimes I hear a chirp like sound as it switches quite abruptly to second gear. This is also on the sport driving mode.

Ofcourse I'm going to take it into the stealership this week and have it checked out since I'm still under warranty, but I just wanted to see if anyone else on the board has experienced similar issues. Your feedback is much appreciated!

jangy

Damn, another '03. Vic is gonna kick my *** for asking, but why would you buy an '03??

Your problems are both "real", but extremely minor.

OzE55

My '03 is the same.
I understand the ride height from wheel to wheel and at different times does vary by mm.
The squeek is called the "supercharger chirp". Its the supercharger belt slipping. I think many people have that noise. You can search the forum - there is no permanent fix and MB believes its non-deleterious.

Enjoy the rush.

vuquach

Hi there,

To answer your question about the “supercharger chirp” I have the same issue with my 03’ with about 22,000 miles.. It’s been to the shop 3 times for this reason because I just can not get use to way it accelerates with the jerk into second gear… Most people will tell you it’s unfixable and something you will have to live with being a E55 owner… My dealership in California has order a 2006 supercharger clutch pack from Germany and has stated that should either help or cure the issue… The part is expected in May… At this point I still I have no clues if this will ever get fixed.

On a personal opinion I like to run my head into the wall everytime this happens because it’s super annoying for a AMG car no being able to shift correctly… One last point, every attempt to fix this issue has only been temporary and only last for 1-2 weeks and should come right back from my experience.. Good Luck with yours if you have the patience. I'm sure losing mine!!!!

davidhung78

Yeah I've had many ppl ask me why an '03, especially with the $999 lease that MB was pushing for an '06. But my main reason if I ever leased a vehicle would only be the tax write-off advantage if I had my own business. I no longer have a business to write off the payments. So since I wanted to purchase and pay off in a few months so that I don't have to incur interest I decided to find the best bargain for purchase. And since $80-90k is a bit hefty to pay off right away I found a practically new '03 with 6000 miles for low $60k at a dealership. I personally feel that it's a pretty good deal. But now I'm finding these problems and wondering if it's quite normal for these cars to incur minor problems like this or did I get ripped off? I mean I bought from a friend who works for the dealership and said the previous owner was an old chinese guy who probably never took it past 60mph...what a shame. The sticker on it was obviously inflated at $69,900 but I was able to bargain heavily since my good friend worked there.

Anyways, all said and done I have an '03 and am still absolutely blown away! This car is insane! Now I just want to put all my worries to bed and know that these issues are shared by others. So if many of these issues have occured with others on the board then I feel a bit relieved. Just more trips to the stealership to take advantage of my warranty and get these kinks taken care of.

By the way thanks for the feedback guys! Keep them comin!!

stevebez

In terms of ride height - may seem obvious but need to check are the tires in the same condition ... I.e. have same tread depth left? Also are tire pressures the same. This may explain 1-2mm difference. But get your MB guys to check your cars ride height all round at next service. It may just need recalibration.

Rgds Steve.

rbc55

the height on any car will never be exactly the same from side to side,all surfaces are'nt as flat as they appear and this is why the heights vary most often.

tommaey

This is true...
Besides, I'd be more 'concerned' if the car was riding lower on the driver side... But the case is it is lower on the passenger side... So when u put ur weight in the driver's seat, along with slight correction from the auto-levelling suspension, it should be a little more even

dragonAMG

My height is never the same either. It's always a couple mm off.

davidhung78

Believe it or not I didn't even know I had tire pressure sensors on my car until I played with the dash menu today. I was able to bring up the tire sensor menu and my tire pressure was in fact uneven. It showed 33 and 34 for my rears, but then for the fronts showed a 28 and 29? Is the differential suppose to be this much? I can understand that the variance in the passenger and driver ride height being off now with the different tire pressures. But is the rear suppose to be at that much higher of a psi than the fronts?

I guess I can trust the manual and look it up, but what do you guys think the right tire pressures should be?

medici78

The supercharger chirp is a normal occurrence, so don't worry about that. Some are willing to live with it and some aren't. Personally, I think its so minor I am fine with it. It serves to remind me that a great swell of torque is coming on
As for the ride height, it sounds like your car is compensating for your weight and didnt have enough time to readjust when you take the key out. This is normal. If you get out and leave the engine running the car should automatically adjust itself.

toro4me

a "normal" lease deal, is good for biz write-off. you probably should pay cash if you can not write it off.
however, on "special" lease deal, like this E55 $999 deal, it is CHEAPER regardless than buying it out right or finance it, so IF you will keep the car for 39 months, you should have leased. the deal was good because the low money factor, which transfer to under 3% of APR interest rate. you can go to most financial institutions today, and drop your money for a 5+% APR 1 yr CD. so i don't understand at all why you would want to pay off a lower interest rate debt when your money can earn a higher rate of return.

the total ownership cost for the 39 month lease, is low 40G's. if you pay 85G+tax and buy it out right, the car needs to be worth 50k to make purchase a better choice than lease. i dont think the car will be worth that much 39 months from now. AND, thats NOT considering you can invest the 85G+tax during the 39 months, just simply buying a 5%CD you can have about 15k at the end of 39 months.

thus, IF anyone is to keep the car for 39 months, YOU MUST lease, its a better deal than buy/finance, its a no brainer.

Mad TKD

davidhung78:

Open your drivers side door and look at the VIN plate there on the pillar. It will have the tire pressure recommendations for front and rear.

I think one is 36psi for both front and rear and another is 42psi for heavy load. (dont quote me on it just going by memory)

For me I put 38psi in front and rear. I think 28 is way to low. Remember the more air you put in the less rolling resistance you have and thus the more gas you save.