My 2004 Mercedes Benz E320 aka The Benz

[87gtVIC]

Swapped on the summer wheels and tires. Was running the poor winters later than I normally do.\


Didnt bother washing the car (though I did clean the wheel wells and brake calipers/suspension) as some storms are expected to roll through today and tomorrow.

[friskyfrankie]

Nyce!

[87gtVIC]

Did the after winter clean up...yeah a bit late id say.

Good douching of the underside, engine and the paint was iron x'd, clayed and one stepped with HD speed. Looking good again.

Before:







After:

[87gtVIC]

And one straggler:

[friskyfrankie]

Guess you would have to see it in person because it looked pretty damn good BEFORE you did anything. Now it's "showroom" quality!

[87gtVIC]

Thanks


Up close of the engine bay:

[87gtVIC]

The drivers side mirror parking light had a crack in the lens for some time. My dad pointed it out to me and that bugged me enough to purchase a new mercedes one to replace it.

New lens in hand..old on car still:



Mirror cap removed:



Cap deprived of its parking light strip:



Nice and fresh looking again:





You have to bend the mirror out of the way to release a tab that retains the mirror cover. Well in doing so the original 18 year old mirror gasket kinda broke apart! The damage:



So I had to order a set of those. There are cheap ebay china ones and I was able to find some USA made ones (for a lot more coin) but that had good reviews. This is an item mercedes does not sell separately from the entire mirror assembly.

[87gtVIC]

Parts came in and looked really good.

Drivers side in progress...still old gasket on:



Removed entirely:



Drivers side all done up:





And the bad on the passengers side:



And that all fixed now:

[87gtVIC]

After a clean up this morning:

[87gtVIC]

Did a full brake job again on this car....As well as a brake fluid flush, well as much as one can do without taking it to Mercedes or aquiring the proper scan tools to tell the SBC system to flush.

Used a motive power bleeder. Nice rig. Like everything about it BUT the tear down after the job is done. The brake fluid reservoir on the car is just full of fluid and there is now way to remove the power bleeder without making some kinda mess at the reservoir. It is a welcome addition to the tool kit.

Will do another fluid flush in a year or so and see how that goes for removing the old....It was not so bad but I have never done it and it is recommend to do every two years.

The required brake fluid is DOT 4 Plus. I purchased the mercedes brand. 15 bucks a liter. I picked up four. Two for now and two for later.



New brakes and pads all the way around all OEM mercedes too.





Boy was it hot out today.

Bedded the pads and rotors in a bit later in the day. 5 aggressive stops from 40mph to about 10 followed by 5 moderate stopped from 30mph to about 5 and then 5 minutes of casual driving to cool the puppies down. All feeling good.