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2024 AMG EQE SUV , 2021 E63S Wagon - gone, 2018 E63S Sedan - gone
I talked to my shop foreman today about the lack of guards for the intercoolers and the risk of sustaining damage to them in normal driving. His first statement was to stay off of gravel roads. The trajectory of stones being flung off of the tires from a car in front would have to be almost flat to do anything. Also, all of the mesh examples that people have shown so far would let small rocks penetrate the grill. The intercoolers are made of heavy duty aluminum and are not easily damaged in his experience. Just my 5 cents here.
Was you cooler damaged by driving on a gravel road?
If not, then I'd say there's at least one case to disprove his theory. Also, glass is much harder than aluminum, while it does crack rather than bend, I've lost enough windshields to know there's enough energy in a pebble striking something at 75 mph do so some damage.
2024 AMG EQE SUV , 2021 E63S Wagon - gone, 2018 E63S Sedan - gone
Originally Posted by E634Me
Was you cooler damaged by driving on a gravel road?
If not, then I'd say there's at least one case to disprove his theory. Also, glass is much harder than aluminum, while it does crack rather than bend, I've lost enough windshields to know there's enough energy in a pebble striking something at 75 mph do so some damage.
I understand your point. However, aluminum is malleable while anealed glass is under extreme surface tension. As a result, a windshield will crack from a small impact while a metal surface will just deform. I was not disputing that it was possible to sustain damage on regular roads from debris from a construction truck only that your windshield is far more likely to be damaged than the intercoolers. Hopefully,.I will not have any damage to the intercoolers during my ownership of my E63S.
I have great news for people waiting on a mesh grille for the w213 E63. I contacted the guys over at Zunsports who make excellent clip on protection for (mainly) 911s and they've already got their hands on a E63 and are developing a solution that should be ready to ship at the end of may. They do excellent work and I had no issues with the 911 grilles I've bought from them. Here's a pic of my 911 GTS after I installed the Zunsport grille last year.
After reading this entry, got the Zunsport for my '15 GTS (just like yours). Very well made and easy to install. I received them in 3 business days from the UK with lots of communication from Zunsport to ensure I got them and was happy.
I will be putting these on the E63 whenever it shows up.
I understand your point. However, aluminum is malleable while anealed glass is under extreme surface tension. As a result, a windshield will crack from a small impact while a metal surface will just deform. I was not disputing that it was possible to sustain damage on regular roads from debris from a construction truck only that your windshield is far more likely to be damaged than the intercoolers. Hopefully,.I will not have any damage to the intercoolers during my ownership of my E63S.
Sorry, thought I was responding to the OP who's intercooler was damaged. Not sure why, but I had gotten the impression the damage occurred on a normal paved road. But given the shop foreman's response about gravel roads thought maybe I was mistaken.
Likewise I'm hopeful for no intercooler damage. I was hopeful for no windshield damage either, but I'm on my third one in the E63, so one of these days when I find some extra time and finish my other projects I will go ahead and mount some screens to provide a little extra margin against damage.
This is just one of the reason I went with the MY17 S63 and not MY18 S63. Just thought I might be of help as I just went out to look at my mesh cover and although they like similar in dimensions, but maybe it can be fabricated to fit the W213 E63?
Here is photo of a My18 S63 from forum member on the W222 side.
Last edited by S63AMG888; Apr 27, 2018 at 12:04 AM.
Reason: Adding photo
Y'all got me paranoid about the 2016 W212 - has the wide mesh grille like S63AMG888's MY17 S above. Seems like a big enough mesh to let through plenty big pebbles or rocks that could puncture the intercoolers.
FWIW, I'm picking up my '18 E63 Wagon next week and not sweating this at all. It's good to have the peace of mind of a smaller mesh but there are a million different things that can damage you or your car that you pass without incident on a daily basis. This will be the 3rd or 4th car I've owned with similar relatively open vents that I've cumulatively driven for over 100k miles without any mechanical problems.
Also, going back through the pictures on here, it appears so if the people on here making custom meshes already have the update and didn’t notice. The original pictures on here don’t have the plastic grid over the intercooler surface which was the original design.
Guys, I’d just contact AMG in Affalterbach. When I was there at the Factory Tour, I saw an AMG Safety car that had exactly this kind of protection you are trying to figure out yourself. I asked about it and they said it is to protect the intercooler from debris (stones and slicks’ rubber) on the track.
Send them an email or write to AMG Lounge forum.
I’m sure they’ll be happy to help.
2024 AMG EQE SUV , 2021 E63S Wagon - gone, 2018 E63S Sedan - gone
Originally Posted by Carac
Also, going back through the pictures on here, it appears so if the people on here making custom meshes already have the update and didn’t notice. The original pictures on here don’t have the plastic grid over the intercooler surface which was the original design.
Originally Posted by Carac
Just picked up my 18 E63S wagon and it appears they’ve made an update to the grilles over the intercoolers.
I just looked at my intercoolers and they ARE protected by a plastic grid. Almost looks like nothing is there and is not too apparent until you get up close or feel the surface. My production date was Nov 2017 second decade. Leaves still accumulate occasionally at the bottom of the opening, but the smaller stuff falls out through the opening at the bottom of the bumper. A mesh would be a good addition to stop the leaves.
Good deal that they made this update on the newer production cars. Probably because so many of us here complained about it. Nice of them though not to acknowledge our complaints and just update the newer cars and not let the owners of the older unprotected cars know what was going on. Obviously they are just trying to avoid the expense of recalling the older cars without these new shields and of course will still gladly charge those who did not take matters into their own hands like me and build their own custom shields. It's not a good feeling MB doing things like this when most are paying over 120K for their cars. And yes, unprotected intercoolers like mine was before my modification are very vulnerable and also its a nuisance to be constantly pulling leaves and debris out of the intercooler compartments. Since I put my guards over my intercoolers I'm not getting any debris in there.
Last edited by 2012 merc amg; May 13, 2018 at 01:26 AM.
the grid does not appear to provide much protection at all, well, at least it's better than totally exposed, I supposed.
I believe the idea is that anything small enough to pass through the grid isn't likely big enough to cause damage to the fins while anything larger than the space of the grid has most of its energy absorbed and and hopefully deflected. There's always the chance something big enough or fast enough is going to enter the area but the grid helps prevent progressive, cumulative damage from small/medium objects.
Most cars do use a larger pattern similar to what I fabricated on my car. From what I've seen it does do a lot of good without cutting into the flow of air into the intercoolers, the last thing you want to do is use a fine screen like that on a screen door, that will cut airflow greatly and you will loose cooling efficiency of the intercoolers. I notice no debris now accumulating like it was in the intercooler housings. I think everyone should do this mod, its fairly simple to do.
Most cars do use a larger pattern similar to what I fabricated on my car. From what I've seen it does do a lot of good without cutting into the flow of air into the intercoolers, the last thing you want to do is use a fine screen like that on a screen door, that will cut airflow greatly and you will loose cooling efficiency of the intercoolers. I notice no debris now accumulating like it was in the intercooler housings. I think everyone should do this mod, its fairly simple to do.
Agree, yours look OEM. Might be slightly more turbulent flow over the fins where laminar flow is preferable for efficiency, but if you aren't seeing any rise in temps then the change is probably negligible for road applications.
So sorry you have to deal with this, if they try to charge you again I think it will be time to escalate this up the MB chain at the very least ... this is an unacceptable design flaw.
Thank you, Ill keep you posted. No fun at all... I bet the KIA Stinger has protected vitals.. haha
Really sorry too see this happen to you (again?)... Funny ref re: Kia Stinger. They have a Stinger showroom at the Westchesrer Mall... took the kids today b/c they "needed" some kinda crap.
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