dinman

thanks!


hahaha. i'll be 21 in April, i feel like i'm getting old too fast.

i'm still surprised im in this car, i never would have guessed i could have such a car at this age.

granted i didn't pay much for it in retrospect, but i feel that most my age wouldn't be willing to work on the car themselves, which could be cost prohibitive

i take it as a learning experience/challenge



was playing around with my galaxy note 5 in a friends warehouse. got some pretty decent pics. ignore the dirty car

2MERKS

Dirty? Please point it out to me! Love the background, and pics! Awesome. Keep doing what you do Young man.

dinman

thanks man

So, i need to change my pads soon. Pads+ rotors were done at either 82k or 92k, can't remember. Rotors are still good at the moment. What pads do you guys recommend?

Also, exhaust. I would like to get a little more noise out of the car, but not too obnoxious. I either want to do a resonator delete, secondary cat delete, or both possibly. any suggestions? x pipe, straight pipe, or h pipe?

milepostnate

I had Akebonos on my E55, and they were incredible. I have Porterfield's now, and there is more brake dust than I had with the Akebonos.

As for as exhaust, I would just go with a resonator delete. It's perfect. Any more noise, and I feel like it would sound a little redneck...

homeofstone

I use porterfield.

omega_jeff

I'm using Racing Brake rotors and pads. Almost zero dust. If you're looking for just pads, I'm not sure how the RB pads would interact with the OEM rotors, but I suspect they would be just fine.

10speed

These are what I'm going to use! definitely the best bang for the buck! They also have options for oversized rotors and carbon ceramic discs to work with our calipers , I like that they have everything thing they need

dinman

just pulled the trigger on the porterfields. got a good deal on them

dinman

how do you like them? Since i just ordered some^

homeofstone

Stop great. Less dust than oem. I have Akebono pads on my E500 and virtually no dust with them.

dinman

notice any difference in pad/rotor wear?

RacingBrake

Racing Brake makes me happy
https://mbworld.org/forums/sl-class-...e-happy-2.html

Latest testimonial (6 months ago) on wear resistant:

They are holding up great so far with no squeak, and little dust. I don't drive a lot of miles, but I do a lot of stop start in city driving. In September I had my MB inspection and they rated the pad life at 80% left.

homeofstone

I can't say. They have only been on a few miles. I only drive the car about 5000 miles a year.

dinman

That's wild. I've put 30,000 on mine in the past year and 2 months I've owned it.


Which brings me to another point, I was curious on what I've spent on maintenance over the past 30,000 miles. Around $5,153. That's including the following:

​​​​​​Voltage regulator
New MB Battery
Rear diff fluid change
Transmission​ service
Brake fluid flush
Power steering fluid change
New air filters
New gear shifter assembly/knob
3 pairs of rear tires/2 pairs of front tires
New sway bar end links
New engine mounts
New oil fill cap
Four oil changes
Two 4 wheel alignments
New serpentine belt
New passenger HID bulb
Porterfield R4-S pads on the way


Not including wheels, window tint, ROW airboxes, clear side markers, or any of the LED bulbs I added.

I was able to do all the work minus the alignments, brake fluid flush, rear diff fluid change, and trans service. And obviously mounting new tires on my wheels.

Just thought it may be interesting to some to know the running costs of my 130,000 E63

homeofstone

Well my E63 is my Friday night out car with my wife and sometimes a drive in the mountains (tail of the dragon etc). I use my Yukon Denali XL most days or we use my wife's Genesis and sometimes my E500. My 1965 Mustang is used for very special occasions, parades, and car shows. The 2011 Genesis, which we purchased new, has over 200,000 miles on it, and the Denali has over 120,000 miles on it. So we do drive a lot.

2012 CCB E63

Seems very odd to me you've gone through that many tires for 30k miles.
I've put on 14k miles in 14 months of driving and still on the same set of tires I bought it with. That includes lots of burnouts, donuts, and track days.....

dinman

Got it. Wow that's a lot on the Genesis. Has it been reliable?

What tires do you run?

When i first got the car, i believe the alignment was completely out. Because i ate up the first pair of rear tires within 5,000 miles, and they were damn near new when i got the car, as with the fronts. I did no burnouts or donuts, until one day, and when i did the tire completely came apart within 15 seconds of spinning them. Inside of the tire. So i bought some used 295/25/20's to get an idea of how they would look. Those lasted 2,500 miles.

I mean i know these things have bad camber, but this is beyond that, my car was eating tires more than gas.


Front tire:






Rear tire






So, after being so hardheaded and not listening to anyone recommending getting an alignment at the dealer (and $340 wasted across using 3 different non-MB alignment shops) i brought it to MB of Plano, and they dialed it in perfectly (apparently). I have almost 4,000 miles on my PSS's now, and can safely say i don't see any real wear on them.

They also reset my DISTRONIC (which no one else did) and fixed my car pulling ever so slightly to the right (which no one else could get right)

So fingers crossed for much better tire life in the future, tires were probably my biggest expense on this car

homeofstone

"Got it. Wow that's a lot on the Genesis. Has it been reliable?"

Yes, even with 200,000+ miles it has been near perfect. No worn out suspension parts. Only has had to have brakes once at 130,000 miles. No oil use, No electrical problems. No drive train issues. Everything runs and works like it did driving off the dealers' lot when it had 8 miles on it. Only one repair needed and that was the fuel gauge sending unit in the gas tank quit and it was replaced at about 175,000 miles. My wife wants to keep it until 300,000 miles. The transmission is silky smooth. And the 4.6 V8 385hp is fast. But of course it does not handle as well and is not as fast as the E63. The best riding car we have is the 2005 Mercedes E500 but the Genesis is quieter.

dinman

That's awesome. Can't believe Hyundai is where they are now, compared to 15 years ago. Kia as well

dinman

picked up a new daily/project car two days ago. 1983 300d. 242,000 miles.












runs and drives great, has a long list of issues

no a/c
no heat
no windows work
no blinkers
no tail light/brake light
no gauges work other than speedometer
bad front wheel bearing (i think)
needs belts
needs pads/rotors up front
primered passenger fender
trashed dash and driver seat

etc etc.

pros: straight body, super smooth drivetrain, new tires, new battery

it obviously needs other work done, but for <$500 with a clear title i can't complain. a good friend of mine had his dad look at it, he had some spare fuses, popped them in, now all of the windows work, all of the taillight/brake lights/ blinkers work, and the gauges work. blower motor blows but pops the fuse every 30 seconds or so.

so far i've done that^ and fixed the door striker bolt, along with tightening some loose hose clamps here and there.

Today, i'll change the oil, filter, both fuel filters, and try to get the brake fluid flushed out.

plan on getting it running and driving it daily. aiming to have the following fixed in the upcoming weeks:

brake rotors/pads
wheel bearing
oil change
fuel filters
all 3 belts
vacuum leak
missing corner light
probably forgetting something else

Chuck77083

I myself am looking to buy a 2011 e63.

The engine was produced after the head bolt upgrade by MB.

im wondering how the story unfolded in the end with this one after all these years?

dinman

Do it! Sitting in it as I type. 186,821 miles. Coming up on 6 years of ownership. I don't drive it as much any more because of other cars and also I work out of state half of the year. Knock on wood, the biggest issue has been the cam adjusters wearing out. I rebuilt them for ~$600 with a plate replacement set I bought from 63everything on Instagram. ~10k miles on those. I replaced the fuel injectors as preventative maintenance a while back. The radiator cracked at the driver side hose neck on a road trip to Colorado. Overall it's been solid. I contemplate selling it at times, but the mileage would scare most people, and I don't know what could replace it for the money. Plus, I've owned it for 6 years and know it's history. Still feels like a very special car after all these years. Mod wise, I've just installed a set of SL63/65 factory staggered 19/20" wheels, a 2014 C63 steering wheel, and a 2014 E63 gear selector.

Chuck77083

Thanks a million for the quick reply.

I’ve done a lot of research, and that was one thing I saw mentioned. The Cam adjusters at about $700 each for a total of 4

and the head bolt issue.

seeing how the vehicle I’m looking was produced after the issue it fixed, I’m clear on that one……

the cam adjusters don’t worry me because my shop gets them for $600 each at MB and I only have to pay $30 an hour for repairs with my company. Job quoted less than 6 hours of labor for all 4.

good to hear that you have only had minor issues.

how is that transmission holding up?

dinman

I think cam adjusters will "fail" on most m156s at some point. Good thing is, I've never heard of them causing catastrophic damage. You hear them rattle on start up, and you replace/rebuild them. I went the rebuild route since the only real wear components are the plate that the pin locks into, and the pin itself. Here's my terrible video of when I rebuilt mine

Knock on wood, transmission is fine. It's about due for a fluid change. Actually did a "race start" for the first time in a long time last night. Felt just as strong as I remembered.

I'm still on original 2010 headbolts, and have debated on replacing them at some point when I get some time.


​​​​​​I will say, since getting this car ~6 years ago, I've messed around with some other "fun" cars, such as some more w126 and w123 diesels, a 6spd Porsche 996 N/a 3.4, and a 6spd Porsche 996 Turbo. I still am impressed by how well the E63 does "everything". The w126 300SD I have, it's in very nice original condition, it's comfortable, but for long road trips the E63 just barely beats it in the comfort department. Then both of the 996 Porsches, yes they will do way, way more in terms of back road flogging, but how often can you use that? The E63 is always a blast to click over to Sport+ or Manual, and rip down empty twisty 2 lanes listening to the M156 snarl, then just click back over to "C", set your Distronic cruise to the flow of traffic, turn your massage seat on, and you forget you're in a 500hp AMG sedan. It does everything so well, that I occasionally forget how special of a car it is, that we probably won't see anymore. Big, loud, naturally aspirated V8's crammed into RWD luxury German sedans. I love my 996 Turbo, it was a long time dream car of mine and I don't see myself ever parting with it. It's extremely rewarding to drive. But if you told me I had to choose one car to drive forever, from my small list of cars I've driven in my life, I'd say the E63.