Hi All,

Went to view the E55 (2003 65k miles) yesterday and have to say I was impressed, however I didn't buy it as there were a few things that need sorting first.

Visually the car looked very nice, but on closer inspection I found the the under side of the front bumper (drivers side) was cracked and had started to seperate, you can only notice this when looking underneath but I assume it'll only get worse, the crack was a good 5 inches long. I am not sure whether this can be repaired as its plastic? Or would need full replacement - how much would a front bumper be?

I took a friend along with me and he is a Pro Detailer, so he checked the paint thickness on each panel, all of the panels were about the same apart from the passenger front and rear doors which were double the thickness. The car is HPI clear so I am not suspecting it has had accident damge and there was certainly nothing visual underneath to suggest this, so it appears it may have had some kind of scrape on that side and has had the respray to sort it. That being said the quality of the spray is excellent with perfect colour match and no signs of running etc, my friend believes the respray is not recent and thinks it may have been done early in the cars life. The rest of the exterior was pretty much spot on. Two of the alloys had been refurbed and the other 2 had very minor nicks in them, so ideally all 4 would need doing properly and together for a perfect match.

The interior was in very good condition and all of the electrics worked.

The car drove very well and it actually felt stronger than I expected. There were no noticeable knocks, bangs or clunks. The steering wheel did feel a little "jitterry" though at slow speed (if you lift your hands off momentarily) so I suspect maybe balance or tracking.

The only mechanical noise that worried me was a very short "squeal" when hitting the accelerator pedal, this seemed to be coming from under the bonnet and I suspect it may be one of the bearings around the supercharger, it didn't do it all the time but was more noticeable when putting my foot down from very slow sppeds.

What should the engine sound like under load? It sounded to me like it was almost like a "fluttering" noise under full acceleration, does this sound right for a 55? Performance wise it felt very strong indeed.

Under the bonnet I notice that there was some light oil residue (film) around the coil packs, is this normal, elsewhere was dry. I got as far under the rest of the car as I could and I could see no sign of oil leaks anywhere.

Only other things that I through into the buying equation were that it needs 2 rear tyres, it needs taxing. Positives are that it has full MBSH and was last serviced (major) in May, it has also had recent front discs and pads all round.

Any advice welcome,

Jules.

 

Welcome, that car sounds pretty good, Your description indicates to me you know what to look for on a used car. Front bumper, if the damage is out of sight I would just have it repaired and repainted (the AMG parts are $$$$) then maybe add a front lip spoiler.
Like this,
http://www.euroteckmotorsports.com/i...ct=5&pageid=41
it may help to hide and reinforce the repaired area.
The oil on coil packs is a common thing on the M113 engines just needs valve cover gaskets, there is a sticky in the DIY section on this job.
The jittery feel could be flat spots in the tires due to the car sitting for a long time.
The squeal, pretty sure belts need to be replaced, and check bearing in tensioner.
It is a E55 you will always need new rear tires.
Good luck!

 

If the car has the proper OEM tires, ContiSportContact2's, then my experience with them is that if it sits for a few days the tires tend to get flat spots that go away after the first 10+/- miles of driving.

 

the squeal is most likely the blower clutch. Doesn't appear to be harmful but can be fixed with a new clutch.

rest sounds fine.

 

Hi,

Thanks for the replies.

The tyres were Dunlop SP's and the car has been in regular use so still not sure about that one.

I've been to look at another today and here are my thoughts....


This one is also an 2003 E55 in silver. It has less spec (no Keyless Go, Dynamic Seats, Sunroof, or rear blinds) and has more miles 76k v 65k. It's had the same amount of owners but the current owner has had it for 2 1/2 years, the slight down side is that it has MB SH up to when the current owner bought it, since then he has taken it to a local MB Indie specialist, this is not necessarily a problem as the standard of work and attention may be better than that of an MB Dealer?

This car was much nicer and appeared to have been looked after better than the one I viewed yesterday. It drove better in that it was smoother than the one yesterday and there was no jitteryness in the steering wheel. Driving this car confirmed that the one I drove yesterday might be modified, this one was still very quick, but the one yesterday was brutally quick.

The downsides with this car are that its history shows no evidence of the car ever having its spark plugs changed....and at 76k miles then it's a worry. It also had quite worn rear discs and the pads needed changing all round (maybe another 1.5k miles). It had a D service being indicated in approx 3k miles so pretty soon really. There were no odd noises from under the bonnet and the car felt much more planted. All electrics worked well. This was a cared for example but the owner was not really mechanically minded and seemed unsure about plugs etc, he had his faith in the Indie that services it.

Both cars are up for the same price and while the second car is the nicer example, I feel it'll need more money spending on it initially. I've virtually ruled out the first car now as it might be modified, I don't see this as a bad thing though, but if it has then I'd like to know what has been done, by whom and when.

Jules.

 

the short chirp is the s/c clutch slipping.

 

Are you in northern va? Is this at the infiniti/nissan dealership off pickett street?