My W211 E55
 

Hello all...

I've wanted a W211 E55 for a few years now and never got around to pulling the trigger. Recently the bug hit me hard enough to get serious.

I perused for quite a while waiting for a really nice one, and my patience paid off.

I ended up finding a gem...2005 with 33K miles.

I'm in Florida and I searched nationwide realizing that finding one with low miles wouldn't be easy and ended up purchasing mine sight-unseen from Colorado.

I did pay to have it pre-inspected and with no major issues noted I bought it and had it shipped to me.

I was a bit nervous because you never know how well someone else will inspect your car or even if their standards are the same as yours, so mentally I prepared myself to be a little disappointed.

When it finally arrived...it was better than I could have hoped. The car was pristine, aside from an oddly disfigured rear door lock that appeared to have been chewed on by a small dog near as I could tell...This car was obviously garage kept, and very well maintained. You could tell by the fact the calipers were spotless this car had been taken care of.

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Unfortunately the car did not have a lot of options that I would have liked…but when you are searching for a car with very low miles, beggars can’t be choosers.

The positives (other than the low miles and pristine condition of course): It did come with a couple of tasteful items that I would’ve liked to have gotten anyway such as a carbon fiber diffuser, rear spoiler, and roof spoiler. It also is clear bra wrapped in the front including the headlights which protects it from road chips.

The negative…it has a red/green/red PAINTED pinstripe…ugh…again, beggars can’t be choosers…I’m researching a solution for that.

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I had been compiling my list of to-do’s while searching for the right car and as soon as mine arrived I got to work…

My list got sidetracked one step because the car arrived with snow tires (brand new at that)…which obviously don’t come in very handy here in Miami…So a new set of high performance summer tires took precedence…

I went with the factory 245/40/18 F and 265/35/18 R setup…and to my dismay, when all were installed…the front tires were much fatter profile than the rears…so I ordered a set of 235/35/18’s instead.

The result was an equal profile front and back….however…

The gap with the original tires was bad enough…but for some reason with the new lower profile tires, now there was a significant, very unsightly gap in the front wheel well…almost as if the suspension from factory was designed for fatter tires in the front than the rear…

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I had been researching on here the various methods for lowering and was leaning towards the links…but really wanted to STAR preferably.

However I called local dealerships and none of them would do it…in the meantime I had this ridiculous looking gap that made me not want to even drive the car until I solved it.

A little more research on here yielded me a great stop-gap (pun intended) solution…washers.

I found a post of guy on here who had a similar problem and put four ¼ “ washers in the front link and it gave him even gap with the rear...I did the same and problem solved!

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Equal gap front and rear…but still more than I preferred all the way around.

While trying to decide on wheels…and not having any luck finding a set of 19” SL65 wheels…I decided to make the best of what I had and took measurements for some H&R spacers to fill out the fenders a little nicer until I got a custom set. I ended up going with 10mm F and 12mm R, which ended up perfect.

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Meanwhile, I kept searching for a set of 19” SL65 wheels with no luck. I saw a set posted for sale on the marketplace but I was just a little late as someone had already spoken for them.

I told the seller mertd93 (Mike) to keep me in mind in case they fell through. Mike and I began corresponding as I asked him for advice…the guy could not have been more friendly or helpful. He took the time to walk me through all of the various standard mods and answered my barrage of newbie questions to help bring me up to speed, and he is very knowledgeable…in my experience, not many people would take the time to do that…

During my pre-purchase research I read up on here about STAR and all of the things it can do, aside from lowering the car. Since I wanted to lower the car anyway, I figured getting a STAR would be the way to go and I would then have the system for future use.

I asked mertd93 what he thought and he highly recommended it. A little research left me bewildered with the array of setups, hardware, sellers, software versions, etc…

Mike came through again and actually took the time to look up a good system for me and sent me the link, and I purchased the system...he really made things easy for me.

Of course, getting the system is the easy part…learning to navigate and use it was a whole different ballgame…

I was also afraid of perhaps messing something up and so I asked mertd93 for some pointers. He was again immensely helpful. Seeing that he knew this thing inside and out, and noting that the STAR computer came with Team Viewer, I asked if he would lower the car for me remotely for a fee. I found this to be a very appealing option as I hate leaving my car with anyone, and even more so hate having them touch it.

Mike agreed and a few nights ago, we logged on and he went to work…

He walked me through what I needed to do on my end step by step in a very detailed manner via text…once the system was setup and connected, he had me take measurements and lo and behold while I sat in my garage I watched my car start making noises and moving as if possessed…

Measurements, texts, adjustments…measurements, texts, pictures, adjustments…we were at it for a quite a while as he painstakingly fine tuned it to make sure it fell within parameters acceptable by the STAR while still getting the look I was after…Watching him work remotely step by step, flying through the various screens involved, I realized It would have taken me a significant amount of time of trial and error, to be able to figure it out...This guy is a wizard on STAR...

And I am not the most patient of persons so it made the fee I paid WELL worth it…especially because when all was said and done…the car looks perfect…exactly the look I wanted.

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Big thanks to mertd93...as I mentioned he was an enormous help. He sent me some pics of his projects and he does some very nice work.

And thanks also to all on this board which has been an amazing resource for me. The hard work of those who came before me has made my projects far less arduous.

I've already completed the split cooling and HE/water pump upgrade...I'll post shortly in the future.

Next on the to-do list: SC Pulley and Tune, Wheels...and perhaps some sort of exhaust modification though I must admit I like the quietness of the power...I'm not looking to build a track monster, I just want a nice cruiser with some oomph.

Looks awesome. Looking forward to seeing more of the build.

Love the blue and the stance. Beautiful E class no doubt. Please figure out that pin-stripe though, I wonder what the original owner was thinking -- red and green?? Was it Santa Claus??

If I get back in the market, that is what i will be looking for. Looks great

LOL...maybe he was a big Gucci fan.

Edit: Saw you went with Star and not washers. **** man, make one post. 10 posts that could have been 1 make it harder to follow.

I told the story in chronological order so I didn't think it would be hard to follow...


Perhaps I should have titled it better...it's more of a build thread than just an anecdote about STAR...apologies if it confused you...

There doesn't seem to be a slam dunk solution for painted pin stripes from what I've found so far...I've seen some using laquer thinner but I'm not positive what effect that might have on the clear coat...

I asked at a local paint correction shop and their first instinct was wet sand, but also with little conviction about the end result and possible damage to the clear coat...

Anyone have any suggestions?

Roof spoiler looks good, might have to get one. Congrats on purchase!

Nice car and very nice color. What did you end up paying, if you don't mind me asking?

Nice car, Did you get it aligned after lowering? It changes the toe in dramatically. you will chew the inside edges quick if it's not dealt with already.

Good tip...I haven't yet, but it is on the top of the to-do list.

So...yes, I did...thank you sir :)

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More pre-purchase research on here made me aware of the importance of modifying the water to air intercooler system. I know this has been posted ad nausea on this site…but here was my experience:

I purchased a kit that came with an upgraded HE, water pump, and split cooling kit. I have to admit I was disappointed the minute I noticed that it came with no instructions at all, just a box with parts. I emailed the vendor and he said they did not provide instructions…huh? Only after I inquired did he email some instructions, which were a hodge-podge of pdfs, pictures that had been drawn on by hand, and written instructions that had been modified by hand …I found that very odd. Like...so there obviously were instructions...but they are only provided after request?

I also discovered after inspection that it didn’t have all of the necessary hardware to complete the install, when I emailed the vendor to ask, I was told I had to provide my own hardware for the reservoir and water pump…I also found this odd that, 1.) for the price I was paying they could not include a few more fasteners to make the kit complete and save me the time and trip to Home Depot to put together the right pieces, and 2.) If this was the case why it would not be mentioned up front (“batteries not included”).

The HE, for its part, was a very nice piece, and an obvious serious upgrade from factory.

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With some more helpful advice from mertd93, and some instructional vids from youtube, I took the front bumper cover off and went to work.

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