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I guess you could call this a build thread but there's nothing crazy going on with the car right now. I just want to chronicle online the things I'm doing or want to do to the Beast.
She's not a pristine example but she's in excellent mechanical condition. The body's got some rock chippage in the front and there's a ding in the rear door. These will get attended to when I do an E63 bumper in the future. I don't mind applying some elbow grease to get it looking and eventually running how I want.
It all started last month when it was delivered in the rain. Black on black with graphite painted wheels.
I thought it was plastidip, but nooooo. It was paint. It had to go immediately.
2 breaks in 1 wheel! I'm a fan of AMG cars but not a fan of the wheels. I'm thinking Vorsteiners or flow formed TSWs are in my future. Anyway, back to wheel refurb. I HATE the gray wheels so I decided to paint them silver. I got a little help from my friend Duplicolor.
Ok drivers side done.
So I'm rolling like Twoface right now...one side silver, one side grey, graphite, whatever. Gotta go. I'll be back with more updates to the story.
Finished up the wheels but that 'll be another update.
I decided to clean up my headlights. They were a bit foggy. I used Meguiars Headlight Restoration kit because it comes with a UV protectant.
Tapped them off and got to sanding. My only gripe with this kit is the sanding discs seem a little light. I guess thats to keep heavy handed people from messing up and blaming Meguiars. The 1st disc is 1000 grit. It did ok but I had to do multiple passes. I ended up using some 800 grit which made light work of the headlights.
Oh, I had a helper too...
So it goes 1000 grit, 3000 grit, buff with Plastx cutter and wipe with Headlight UV protectant. here's the finished product of the headlight.
Drivers side is really bad.
Gets worse before it gets better.
Thats it for now. I need to find another hosting site because Photobucket SUCKS!
Its raining and the E is sitting in the garage. Not much picture worthy. Yesterday was nice so I gave our Honda Pilot some love. Gave it a nice wash and vacuum. Since I had it out, I vacuumed the E and my Hoop Deville(daily driver Sentra). The E is pretty clean inside. I also did the AMG mod to the COMAND screen. Wish it stayed on that screen just a bit longer now.
So after a couple weeks with different color wheels on each side of the car, I finally painted the passenger side wheels. In the process I got this wonderful gift.....
Lugbolt was broken off in the rotor. That hole in the middle is from me drilling it out. The messed up part is I didnt even realize it until I was trying to put the wheel back on.
Ordered a replacement on EBAY. Too bad it was the wrong size. So I made that trip to the dealer and he gave me the wrong one too...and thats after checking my VIN. "Luckily" I drove the the car there and pulled one of the bolts out right there on the lot so he could get me the right one. So I'm $10 poorer but rolling on a complete set of lugbolts. Thats happiness
Dog poo? No way. But not like an enthusiast either. The car is mechanically sound with pretty good service records up to 2013. All of my electronics work. Most of the stuff I'm doing is aesthetic or maintenance for a 100k car. I've seen more expensive cars with all kinds of faults. This stuff is nothing.
You can't really say it's mechanically sound. You may find all kinds of surprises down the road with it. You all ready found the welded wheels that were hiding from you. Ide imagine they don't ride very smooth, could be wrong there though. And those headlights were pretty bad for 100k miles. It just "looks" like the car was mistreated a bit judging by your pics.
I can totally appreciate what you're doing. I recently bought an '08 E63 and I'm going down a similar path. The worst aspect of my car, cosmetically, is the curb rash on the two front wheels. 84,200 miles and from 5' away you'd almost think it's new (minus the curb rash).
I made sure that the example that I would buy would be well documented and PPI'd. I'm quickly bringing it back to 100%. Sir, you and I are on the same page! Keep up the good work!
You can't really say it's mechanically sound. You may find all kinds of surprises down the road with it. You all ready found the welded wheels that were hiding from you. Ide imagine they don't ride very smooth, could be wrong there though. And those headlights were pretty bad for 100k miles. It just "looks" like the car was mistreated a bit judging by your pics.
Point well taken.
Originally Posted by HeissRod
I use Tinypic
Thanks, I'll check that out.
Originally Posted by WideLowandFast
I can totally appreciate what you're doing. I recently bought an '08 E63 and I'm going down a similar path. The worst aspect of my car, cosmetically, is the curb rash on the two front wheels. 84,200 miles and from 5' away you'd almost think it's new (minus the curb rash).
I made sure that the example that I would buy would be well documented and PPI'd. I'm quickly bringing it back to 100%. Sir, you and I are on the same page! Keep up the good work!
Quick update. The E took a test last week. It passed; Got an A.
I went through MD state inspection and all was good. But in order to pass I had to do 1 thing... remove the tint. Here it is in tintless glory.
There are still a couple maintenance things I want to do like change some fluids and the plugs but the car is running great. I also found out I have K & N air filters. Cool.
Thats it for now.
Did a little work on the paint. I used some Meguiars Ultimate compound after claybar. Topped it with some Turtle wax. I need better wax....or a sealant. The paint is shiny but has some scratches. It is over ten years old after all. Heres a couple shots of the hood after the vent near the windshield. I know its really hard to capture the blemishes on black paint in pics.
And then of course it started raining. Its rained every day this week since I started on the paint. One time I put the car in the garage, it stopped raining, took the car back out and it started raining again. Oh well, I'll wipe it down again tomorrow and leave it in the garage until I'm off again.
Always cool to see someone breathing new life into an awesome car. I've been working on a non-MB project (a Porsche 914) and have been using Motoroso for photo documentation. There's some cool features for putting in elements on top of pictures to add more info. Check it out if you want. There's some cool E55s there.
looks nice
the older the car gets the more closer to stock looks the best
Originally Posted by briby37
Always cool to see someone breathing new life into an awesome car. I've been working on a non-MB project (a Porsche 914) and have been using Motoroso for photo documentation. There's some cool features for putting in elements on top of pictures to add more info. Check it out if you want. There's some cool E55s there.
A couple of small updates...
Its summer time and I've been enjoying the car whenever I can. Between work and summer trips with the family, theres not much leftover time.
I had a little chip in the drivers side mirror turn signal. Stuff got in there and made cloudy. It bothered me so I go another one and replaced it.
Old one
New one
Nice and clear
Passenger side seat control... that top button was broken like so may others Ive seen. Found a good deal on one and swapped it out.
05-18-2015, 08:49 PM
"Luckily" I drove the the car there and pulled one of the bolts out right there on the lot so he could get me the right one. So I'm $10 poorer but rolling on a complete set of lugbolts. Thats happiness
.
