starbrite

Looking good Scott ! When you say painting now, don't they close at 1pm on Sat ?

I was almost going to take a drive over there but thought it was too late (11a.m.) and that they wouldn't be working on the car again until Mon.

sdg1871

I actually took the pics on Sat morning at about noon. Yes they close at 1. They were dismantling the brakes to do the painting. Lots of labor.

starbrite

I'll say !!

vdubpower

wow tint laws iN Ny seem to be as bad as Cali...

I had 17% put all around (except front) on my denali, wow that made it really dark in the rear...wife hates it...no rear view camera.....but luckily no issues from the cops

and i just put 20 all around on my old benz, its tint was 25 yrs old and purpled

xpel is great way to go, had my E front end done , not as extensive as yours but yeah its pricey

have them slap a rectangle on your cell phone too

how is clearplex different than xpel?

sdg1871

ClearPlex is to protect the windshield. It can also be applied to the side windows but DD did not recommend that

Jshinone

I would reconsider doing the downpipes. I installed them on my car but the Renntech catted downpipes LOST power. I changed the downpipes to another brand so that was the last thing I will ever buy from Renntech. I never tried their mufflers but I never will either.

sdg1871

Well that is the first negative thing I have heard about a Renntech product. Which car did you put them on? What DPs did you get to replace them?

Lenin

Didn't you at the time blamed your Renntech tune for the loss of power? Something about running rich?

Jshinone

That was on my 2wd car and that was with the off-road downpipes. I don't think I blamed the Renntech tune for anything as much as I was able to find more power in the car by taking some fuel away because it was running too rich with the Renntech tune. Off-road downpipes are the same no matter who you buy them from. As long as they fit right and the bends are smooth what difference can there be from company to company.

The catted downpipes are very different because their is a large difference in the quality of the cats from company to company.

I am referring to my E63S which I have the catted pipes on. I lost power with the catted pipes on the car. The cats that they use are not very high quality cats and can be purchased for around $100.00 each. The premium they charge for them is just ridiculous. It is the last thing that I ever bought from them, they will probably never get any of my money again.

Lenin

"blaming is how it came across but that is not the point of your post. I agree that the off-road downpipes are basically just pipes cut to size and then TIG welded in a jig. I'm not sure what the deal is with the catted downpipes. You are basically going from 2.75" to 3" pipe and using a sports cat. Let's even assume it is a good quality cat. It is still a lot of money and effort for maybe less than 2% gain in power.

Lenin

Scott, when you say full wrap, do you mean the entire car? Also, other than the door handles, what other parts were removed before the warp?

sdg1871

The entire car is now wrapped in XPEL. They removed all of the exterior pieces including the door handles all of the badging and all of the lights.

sdg1871

Remote controlled hideaway license plate has been installed.

Lenin

Got it. I'm not looking to wrap the entire wagon. The front for sure, rocker panels and A-pillars. And maybe the doors. Collecting estimates now. Just talked to a sedan owner today and he pointed to some paint issues that he has with the rear doors, specifically the areas closer to the rear wheel well.

sdg1871

At a minimum I would wrap the hood, front bumper, front fenders, A pillars, mirrors, rocker panels and rear wheel arches. Top shops in the greater NYC area include Detailing Dynamics in Mineola, Detailers' Domain in Norwood, NJ and Mr Sparkle on Long Island. There are others.

If you add the doors you are getting closer to the price of a full wrap.

This morning my 911 TTS got hit very hard by salt from a salt spreader trunk which was about a foot away. Peppered the entire side of my car. Boy was I glad I got the full wrap as otherwise car might've gotten chipped.

Lenin

Thanks for the info. Detailers' Domain in Norwood is actually on my list. They are less than 15 min away from my house. Adding the doors will add to the cost for sure. And then I will need ELW and radar and lasers. The costs are adding up.

sdg1871

I swear by Detailing Dynamics. Their work is just fantastic. But in all fairness, clients of Detailers Domain sing the praises of that shop. And yes if you are doing doors it is not that bi a leap to wrap the whole car. I was SO glad I did after what happened to my Porsche today. I did a nationwide search for the 7/100 ELW (the longest term). Lowest quote I got waa $6400 which my dealer matched. Freaking prices for ELW doubled in September. Prices for wheel and tire and PPM also shot up then. I got all three. Wheel and tire for 5 years with cosmetic damage and 4 years/40k mile PPM -- the longest available term.

And top notch laser/radar install is pricey. (AL Priority and Belltronics STIR Plus). Detailing Dynamics does all of that work. Loved my install on those. Did not get it for E63 S but did for 991 TTS as that car is going with me on Goldrush Rally 7.

vdubpower

do u haVe guns that pop out of the lights too

sdg1871

Sure. And an on demand oil slick that pours out of the back. LOL

PeterUbers

So I was about to install that remote control hideaway license plate bracket... several are easily available online including amazon and ebay.. from $100 to $300

That being said, the horror stories include driving with this thing retracted (hidden) at highway speeds... the wind/turbulence of air under the car rips the bracket off and caused one driver over $3000.00 in under body damage.

Another driver commented that it ripped off while in the "display" position and destroyed the paint on his bumper and hood.

Hope you're luckier than those guys... the one in your video looks identical for all intents and purposes to the ones available online. I know a guy with a CLA45 who installed one (local to me) and got rid of it for the same reasons....

sdg1871

Now that would suck. DD does use the best stuff.

sdg1871

Well yesterday I picked up my E63 Sfrom Detailing Dynamics and this morning at 7 AM I dropped it off at Mercedes of Rockville Centre for the Renntech mods. I decided to pass on the downpipesnfor the time being to see with the sound and power is like with the Renntech full tune and Renntech sport mufflers. The power difference between the car with my Mods and with the downpipes is only 10 hp and 15 foot pounds of torque and the extra cost for the downpipes is $4700 plus a considerable amount of labor. So as modded the car should have 716 bhp and 859 lbs ft. Will post videos of the car's exhaust sounds.

I will be getting it back either late tomorrow or Friday.

otakki

What's the purpose of removing the rotors?

sdg1871

Because I had the rotor hats painted to preserve them longer. In stock form they are essentially uncoated and will, over time, develop a rusted look especially if left outside like my car is. Painting them enables them to stay looking new for many many many years. With my summer wheels especially, which show a lot of the brakes, I wanted to have pristine looking rotor hats.

sdg1871

As an update the car is sitting at Rockville Centre MB with the Renntech sport mufflers on but without its ECU. Although I arrived at the dealership at 7 am yesterday to expedite the ECU removal and shipment to Renntech in Florida somehow the ECU has still not arrived at Renntech.

After assuring me earlier today that Renntech had the ECU the dealership later told me that, in fact, the ECU was not at Renntech and that Fed Ex had failed to ship it and that it would arrive at Renntech tomorrow and would not be back to the dealership until Saturday or Monday. I already had found out about the undelivered ECU because I called Renntech directly to track it. I then tried to call the dealership SA for hours to follow up without getting the SA or getting my messages returned. In a word, grrrrrrrrrrrr

Boy do I wish someone could figure out how to a do plug in tune of the ECU via OBDII port flash as GIAC does with the 991 Turbo and Turbo S tunes.

Keeping fingers crossed for no more snafus and no more dealer miscommunications. I am sure in a few months I will not care about this little delay. The dealership did give me their best loaner -- a loaded brand new 2015 E350 with like 100 miles on it (P1, pano roof, HK stereo, etc).

Also decided that I wanted a radar detector in my E63 S. Taking it back to Detailing Dynamics next week and doing a hardwire Passport Max2 with the power wire hidden in the headliner as well as a hardwired iPhone 6 holder with black leather exterior that mounts to the top of the dash. Don't want to do the considerable expense of the integrated/hidden radar detector/laser jammers/rearview mirror display that I did in my 2014 991 TTS but want some protection as speed camera have sprouted all over New York City.