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Mercedes-Benz CLK (2005 and earlier)

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What is this discussion about? Mercedes-Benz CLK-Class, Coupe, Convertible

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#579 of 1627 Huntzing - went to Eurotire at lunchtime by tommyp13 Nov 07, 2001 (10:36 am)
Work in Secaucus, live in Clifton, so the shop's right down the street (3/46). Ended up talking to Bill, though didn't know it (or even remember his name) until he gave me his card. Gave me a price for a package which had S class knockoffs in 16" and a weird tire brand - vredestein. Has anyone heard of this brand, and have any input?   Thanks for the recommendation of the store; I'm going to buy my winter pkg from them, after hopefully waiting a couple of weeks.
#580 of 1627 Vredestein... by jrct9454 Nov 07, 2001 (10:53 am)
...is a reputable EU brand that has been in business for a very long time, but doesn't do much here because they stopped active marketing a while back. Used to be known here for their winter tire designs, before Bridgestone came along with the Blizzak and basically grabbed the market by the throat.
#581 of 1627 Oil Changes by jrct9454 Nov 07, 2001 (11:15 am)
As pointed out above, it's always a little stunning to me that folks are perfectly willing to believe the Stuttgart [or Munich or Asama or Osaka] engineers know what they are doing in designing the car in every area except oil change intervals. Then, somehow, at least in the US, nearly everyone has some kind of religious belief that comes to the surface and demands oil changes between 3-7k miles, depending on which oil-change-church one belongs to.   The big news, folks, is emissions controls. Cars with LEV and ULEV kinds of emissions levels are not dumping all of this unburned hydrocarbon junk back into the crankcase as they did in the bad old days. Sure, better oil technology helps, and synthetics in particular are indeed great, and having 10 quarts of oil in the crankcase helps, too. But the real answer to why you can go 10-15k between oil changes in these cars is because they are no longer poisoning themselves with every stroke they way they used to. If you still had a dipstick to look at [I do on my Hondas] you would see how clean the oil is at 5000 and 7000 miles - it just is insane to dump this into the recycling bin in the name of Jerry Jiffy's religious beliefs.   And the oil filter is handily on top of the engine, where it's been on most MBs for decades, but J-Jiffy probably doesn't have the correct cartridge, in any case.   Finally and incidentally, extended oil changes have been the norm in Europe for years...only in this country does the religion continue to dictate behavior...
#582 of 1627 Vredestein... by huntzinger Nov 07, 2001 (1:49 pm)
Have I heard of them? I own EIGHT of them   I've found them better than Pirelli's, as well as some older Continentals I've had. And drastically better than All-season tires.   One warning, though...they will be "notchy" driving for around a week after you first put them on each season, until they scrub in a little.   BTW, did Bill recommend 4 tires, or just 2 for the back?   -hh
#583 of 1627 Permaplate by rbraver Nov 07, 2001 (2:51 pm)
Permaplate is like the proverbial "undercoating" that you hear about dealers trying to sell as an add-on. It is a finish protectant that is supposed to be better than whatever top coating comes from the factory. I bought it for a new Passat years ago--it was one of those "heat of the moment" decisions to protect the finish of my new baby. Having had time to reflect on it, it seems that Wolfsburg, or Sindelfingen for that matter, should be able to give me all the protection I need. Thoughts?
#584 of 1627 It didn't even come up by tommyp13 Nov 07, 2001 (3:12 pm)
He priced it for me for all four, which is what I want anyway, as I don't want my bright new 17 inchers to get screwed up by salt.   Thanks for the warning.
#585 of 1627 Perma Plate and oil changes by jjpeter Nov 07, 2001 (3:45 pm)
The magic of the Perma Plate protection is the guarantee. After talking it over with the service advisor upon picking up the car this afternoon, I was more at ease about spending the $$. Once applied (with their new more advanced formula) they say you don't have to do anything to it for 5 years. If ANYTHING gets on there that won't come off with a normal washing, bring it back to them and they will bring it back to the original finish. OK. Same goes for the interior treatment we got also. They included a bottle of application liquid which one could use to "haze" the car once a year if desired, but its not necessary to maintain the gurantee. Since I don't have time anymore to wax my cars, I figured this is one way to keep the factory finish fresh and protect the car for the long haul.   jrct9454, is there really 10 quarts of oil in the coupe? If so, then yeah, the new engines and using Mobil 1 makes for extended periods between oil changes. Nuff said.
#586 of 1627 Slippery Stuff by lukyme Nov 08, 2001 (5:48 am)
Thanks for the input. I feel a little better about the oil change intervals. Like mentioned before, my BMW had the same deal, about 8500 miles before it told me to change the oil. I really didn't care as much as it was leased, and I would only have it for 30K. I plan to keep the C230 in the family for a while. I am on the same page with JRCT9454, regarding the fact that oil stays cleaner in the newer cars. I've mostly owned Honda's and Toyota's for the past 20+ years, and their oil always looked great after 3-4K. Don't recall the clean oil in the Big Three's after 3K. Looked like the stuff that was bubblin' out of the ground in the Beverly Hillbilly's. (At least those of 10 years ago) Thanks for the input "Y'all".
#587 of 1627 Oil Capacity by jrct9454 Nov 08, 2001 (6:26 am)
Well, it's somewhere between 8 and 10 quarts...somebody with a current 4 cyl owners manual will have to help out here. On the v-engine side of the family, it's just short of 10 quarts.   In any case, the generalization would work just as well if it were less - the important point is that modern cars are just not poisoning their own crankcases at the rate of even 6-8 years ago.   I will add that the new modular, all-aluminum engine family from MB [all of the new-gen V6s and 8s] are even cleaner than the last of the iron-block engines, which is what the 4 cyl Komp is. Some of the new-gen engines have been known to go 15k miles before the FSS demands an oil change. All depends on how you drive, and most importantly, how warm and long each engine cycle is. For the 4, a good average would be somewhere in the 8-12k miles range.
#588 of 1627 Oil and C230 by abc246 Nov 08, 2001 (5:46 pm)
I would not worry about the extended oil change intervals. The oil monitoring system on GM trucks will allow up to 10k miles on regular motor oil under certain conditions. Interesting thing is these trucks only hold 6 quarts. GM makes over a million of these a year and with the extended warranties they would have huge repair costs if this was not OK. I am following 10K service on my Silverado, but use synthetic oil. The oil on the dipstick looks fine even after 10k.   I am thinking about purchasing a 6 speed C230 and read every word of Edmonds Road Test. Under second opinions one person mentions rattles. If there one thing I can't take in a car is rattles. Has anyone had a problem with rattles? I was disappointed to read post 542 because the 2000 C230 didn't feel as solid is the 2002. I tried to purchase the ML in 98 and in 99 and did not because these SUVs rattled on the test drive!! I hope MB is not sacrificing quality for price nowadays.

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