New Wipe Blades

The wiper blades on the Jeep were starting to be a bit streaky so trying out a new set of Rain-X 810357 Repellency wiper blades in a part of 15" size.

Maintenace Update:

Mileage: 85,611 miles

- New pair of 15" Rain-X 810357 Repellency wiper blades 

Phase 2 - AMG Overhaul - Suspension and Diff

While the core maintenance and convenience items taken care of during Phase 1 of the overhaul process, what I'm most particular about with all my cars is the suspension.  

Anytime I buy a car over 10 years old I assume anything rubber has started to deteriorate so while the car was on the lift it was pretty obvious that the suspension hadn't been touched since it was new. One way would be to try and source bushings and then spend a ton in labor removing the old ones and pressing them in but I opted for the "spend more money on the parts than labor" approach. I got all new OE Mercedes/AMG bushings for the subframe, controls arms all around, shocks all around, and new diff mounts (engine and transmission mounts were taken care of in Phase 1). 

New arms and bushings installed

New arms and bushings installed

The C55 AMG also ships with an open diff which in my opinion is not great when you have this much power and rear wheel drive. I picked up a Wavetrac LSD and had that installed instead. The hardest part for sourcing was the Timken bearings needed to install it which I had to get imported from the UK.

New diff next to OEM diff

Wavetrac installed

The car feels absolutely incredible now with everything nice and tight like it should be. The wiring for the headlights also got sorted. I got the lights from the later gen CLK so they weren't exactly plug-n-play but it's all working as it should now.

Maintenance Update:

Mileage: 78,906

- New OE front struts and strut mounts

- New OE rear shocks and rear control arm links

- New lower control arms and sway bar links
- New OE tie rod assemblies
- New OE sway bar links

- New OE boots
- New OE Control arms all around

- New OE subframe bushings

- New headlight ballasts

- New Wavetrac LSD into diff

- New OE diff mounts

- Alignment 

Heater Flap Fix

I noticed that when just driving around in the 944, regardless of whether my heat was on, my vents would blow hot air. Thankfully it turns out this is a common failure mode. The clip that holds the rod for the heat flap breaks causing the rod that actuates it to fail open (so you don't freeze in Germany during a failure). The actuator is located behind a plastic cover under the dash and you just have to replace the plastic clip and retainer, reattach the rod and you're good to go.

Broken heater flap rod clip

Clip and retainer replaced

Maintenance Update:

Mileage: 99,056

- New heater flap clip and retainer

CLK Grill Conversion

While I like the traditional look of the C55 AMG grill and hood ornament, I wanted a cleaner sportier look so I did the CLK (W209) grill conversion. Also the C55 grill is super rare so I didn't want it damaged just case so replacing it with a grill that is easier to source new also seemed like a smart idea.

CLK grill conversion

The parts itself is pretty straightforward, just the new grill, new grill bracket, new hood release pull (shorter to clear the grill) and new flat MB hood emblem.

Phase 1 - AMG Overhaul

The first order of business after registration and inspection is to get everything in the car fully up to my standards. This means, no shoddy bushings, no sketchy hoses or wires, fluids all in a known state and basic creature comforts. I dropped the car off with Lee at Hybrid Motors and he took care of my top priority issues.

There was noticeable vibration in the cabin at idle and I knew right away those were symptoms of old motor mounts. Pretty expected given the age of the car and it's just one of those things that I think owners don't take care of because "it doesn't have that many miles yet". Ok bud, it's 21 year old liquid filled rubber, how long do you think they last. I replaced them with beefier OE mounts from the CLK Black Series which are not only better but also don't add any noticeable NVH to the cabin along with a new transmission mount. 

Most of the fluids in the car had already been replaced at some point based on the records but I always like to start with fresh engine oil for sure that I know is both new and the brand and viscosity I want to run. In this case, it's Liquimoly 5W-40. The valve cover gaskets had some leaks in them so had them both replaced. Pretty common for this engine so glad to take care of that. Also brake fluid was flushed. 

I have no record for when the battery was last replaced and I'll be damned if I get stranded somewhere because of an old battery so a new AGM battery was installed. 

CLK Xenon headlights

For the convenience side of things, being able to see the road is a must so the OE halogen headlights needed to go. These came with a xenon option so I picked up fully refurbished CLK 55 xenon headlights that are a direct bolt though they needed to be coded in to the computer. They're not working perfectly yet, some wire need repining for high beams to work and these are adaptive lights so that also needs wiring and coding in. I also paired it with Hella yellow fog light bulbs.

Lastly, being able to navigate easily and listen to music is a must and I can't stand suction cup window mounts. I wanted a head unit with CarPlay but didn't look out of place in the interior. The Dynavin D9 is perfect. It has buttons and knobs that mimic the OE radio look except it has modern guts and perfectly handles CarPlay. 

Maintenance Update:

Mileage: 78,849 miles

- 8L Liquimoly 5W-40 engine oil
- New Mann Filter
- Brake fluid flush
- New valve cover gaskets
- New CLK Black series engine mounts
- New Lemforder transmission mount
- New AGM battery
- New Hella 9006 Yellow fog light bulbs
- Refurbished CLK xenon headlight assemblies
- Dynavin D9 headunit
- Acer Titanium wheel bolts

Bumper Plugs

It seems like at one point the car had front plates drill into the bumper directly. Now, I typically run front plates on my daily since I drive into NYC where they can get pretty strict about this stuff but I wanted something I can take off if I want. I decided to go with a front tow hook mounted license plate bracket but the car already had 4 holes in the bumper for the plate. 

existing holes

I don't want to fill and respray the bumper yet so I opted to just get a set of bumper plugs of the right color (Brilliant Silver). It requires expanding these holes to about 1/4" then putting the plugs in. I'll admit it's not that great but it looks at least a bit cleaner than 4 random holes.

Bumper plugs installed

Prepping the Mini for transfer

With the addition of the C55 AMG to the fleet as my new daily, I didn't want the Mini to just sit around go bad from not being driven but I also didn't want to sell it so my compromise decision is to let our nephew use it as his first car. Doing some final maintenance before handing it over and removing the JB4 tune so that the power would be more manageable for a teenager. I also sanitized and replaced the air cabin filter

Maintenance Update:

Mileage: 87,186

- 5L Liquimoly 0W-20
- New Mahle oil filter
- New oil drain copper washer
- New rubber oil drain gasket
- New STP air cabin filter