new owner with a few questions

[blacktrdsupra]

hi there - i have recently purchased a black/graphite grey 1991 300E (W124 i think) with beige cloth interior and would like your advice on a few things if you don't mind :

1) are there any reputable Merc dealerships in/around Islington (the only one i know of is Alan Day near Finchley. also, are there any good and trustworthy mechanics is this area that won't charge and arm and a leg just to lookover a car ? are there any accesory outlets (nearby or a website) that can help with interior trim like steering wheel, leather seats, carpets, dash trim etc

2) the wheels are standard Merc 15" alloys but would like to upgrade them to something like the AMGs and see if 17"'s will fit - any ideas ? what sort of size/off-set would i need ? is it safe to assume any 5 stud pattern alloy from merc would fit ? what would be the recommended lowering height and what make springs (assuming i kept the shocks)?

3) the car has a/c but no alarm/immob. on it, hence i am looking for a unit. are there specific make/models that would suit better tha others ? i suppose Cat 1 is what i am looking for (unless having Cat 2 won't affect the insurance)

4) speaking of insurance, who would you recommend that i talk to ? also, is it possible to get term specific cover ie for 3-4 months ? would revised suspension, alloys, bodykit affect the premiums ?

5) i would like to get some skirts (ie. cosworth ot AMG style), front air dam/spoiler and rear wing etc as well as slight tinting - where would you recommend for these jobs as well as sourcing the items?

6) due to family reasons, i had to give up my 450bhp toy when summer ended so was wondering if there was any way to increase power reliably from these engines ie exhaust, induction, chip ? i'm not looking for massive amounts of power (this will be driven by the wife as well) but a bit of useable low-down grunt.

i am very sorry for the long-ish post but i was spilling over with questions. any comments/advice would be gratefully received. thank you all in advance.

 

[blacktrdsupra]

hi - can anyone help ?

 

[peterchurch]

Hi,
welcome Hope you enjoy the forum
Just as a thought, for trim/performance etc, Rude Mercs over in hackney _might_ be somewhere to at least go and have a look at. They always looked a bit Ali-G whenever I came past them but you never know they might be of use...

To get Cat 1 on your alarm it needs to got to a recognised fitter I got tucked up by GAP on my last alarm. they gave me a lifetime warranty then tried to duck out when it started to play up claiming that I needed to pay a yearly service fee for it to count :evil: so I would not use them!

As for insurance if the brokers that are advertised on this board can't help then Quoteline might be a good bet but whatch out on the mods front cause anything you change will probably cost you in premiums

One other thought though, If you want to increase the grunt of the car I would stick with the 15" wheels for now. They may not look that "phat" but at least you won't add the equivalent af an extra passenger to the to the pulling weight of the car.

Hope this helps

 

[blacktrdsupra]

peter - many thanks for the welcome and response. i have enjoyed the forum thus far and it seems a remarkable place for good information. i will have a look at rude mercs in hackney but if they are ali_G stylee, i want nothing to do with that kind of stuff.

as for the alarm (my commiserations btw), i wonder there is someone near me that can do it. if you/anyone have any thoughts as to that, pls do let me know.

i wasn't aware of any brokers on the baord but maybe i didn't look hard enough so shall correct that or else shall try your idea. i intend to have only trim/sthealthy mods so hopefully the premiums will not be overly affected.

i take your point about weight but have had a thing for the oldstyle slab sided AMG wheels so was hoping to counteract their weight with a bit more power. again, if anyone has any thoughts, i would love to hear them. thanks once again.

 

[peterchurch]

wouldn't suggest using rudes for anything that the general public might see :lol: but you might get some tuning ideas from them. ( Even if its only how not to go about it )
For insurance look on the front page on the left hand side under members area

 

[blacktrdsupra]

thank you. i shall do so.

 

[nsehmi]

Hi,

I've just recently upgraded from some 15" 3-spoke alloys to 17" AMGs, they fit ok, but 'coz my suspension is a bit shattered am having problems. If your standard suspension is in good working order, then shouldn't be a problem.

As for Rude Mercs, I bought mine (190E 2.0ltr Auto) from them sometime back, I don't really think they know much about performance upgrading but I'm sure they could point you in the right direction. They are mainly centred on styling so you'll be able to pick up bodykits (bumpers, side-skirts etc) and other such things from them...

 

[blacktrdsupra]

hi there - thanks for the tip. i don't supose they have a website do they ? cheers.

 

[nsehmi]

I don't know of a website, but here's their address and contact details:

Rude Mercs
294-300 Cambridge Heath Rd
London
E2 9HA
Tel: 020 7729 4815

(PS. Rude Bimmers is next door)

 

[blacktrdsupra]

many thanks once again. i ahve another query - can i retrofit a merc audio10 into the car ? along with the cd changer (becker made for maercs) ? thanks.

 

[blacktrdsupra]

hi there - have been doing a bit of research and looking for an independent dealer to give the car a once over and maybe service and as i live in north london, i found george fraser, mercstar (harrow) and martin's auto (wimbledon) as some of the recommended places.

i will be getting the car on sat morning and would like some peace of mind hence the questions. i also have found lanc. (insurers on the front page) to have the best quote thus far.

could someone pls give me their thoughts and feelings on these places in terms of workmanship and value for money. many thanks.

p.s. does anyone know if an audio10 sound system headunit with ancillaries like the MB disc changer can be fitted to a w124 series car and it's existing wiring or will extensive work need to be done for this ?

 

[peterchurch]

Hi,
as for stereo equipment, Rather than pulling the car to bits trying to fit a 10 disk why not plump for an Alpine MP3 headunit? I currently get about 9-10 hours worth of songs on a single CD (CD Quality @ 192 - 256 bit rate) No autochanger or extra wiring needed. (you also get the benifit of track listings). Now if someone breaks into my car I only lose a few disks that are worth 13p (if that) all my originals are safely tucked away at home.

Out of interest, is there something special about the Audio 10?

Best regards

Peter

 

[peterchurch]

Sorry to double post but I just had another thought, on the subject of getting the car given the once over.
If you take your car to a garage and ask if it needs any work done. I would expect that most garages will find you a list... It will just be down to the honesty of that guy as to how much work really needs doing.

When I bought my car I found a decent MOT center and I bought a second MOT ... while he was at it I stood around chating to him and asked questions... lots and lots of question I got a good look under the car and because the guy only did MOT work I did not get a list of work that did not really need doing but I got an assesment of the true road worthyness of the car. cost me an MOT plus £20 drink to the mechanic ££ Its the cheapest lesson in mechanincs I ever had

 

[blacktrdsupra]

peter - that is excellent advise re the MOT and asking questions. i will have to give that a try. £20 isn't much for a healthcheck !

as for the audio bit - i'ma bit dim when it comes to burning MP3's ( :roll: :cry: ) so i thought of putting a merc specific unit back into the car (may help re-sale?) hence the retrofit for the audio10 back into an older merc. it may need some re-jigging of the wiring loom but with the optical cable, it should be able to support the audio10 headunit (think it is a becker?) and a merc 6 disc changer as well. trying to keep it stock as possible.

future plans are to lower slightly with slightly stiffer springs and 17'' AMG alloys, induction and subtle bodylit - thats it!

even thought about retro-fitting the command modeule for sat/nav ... but that might be too much of a headache. thanks for the info/thoughts .....

 

[peterchurch]

With regards to buring MP3s, its not anything too hard.

I use audiograbber to create mp3 from my CDs

http://www.audiograbber.org/

This supports freedb.org so it will name the CD tracks for you when you grab the disk
It also allows you to choose the codec that you use to create the MP3s
most people use lame but there are better ones on the market anything that is based on the professional fraunhoffa (sp?) codec will give much better results in my opion

To be honest if you set ripping to 192kbps and use High Quality you should get a good track out whatever you use...

Then just create a normal data cd on any burner and drag and drop your folders of music on to a CD... job done.
here is a link of other burning type software.

http://www.softpedia.com/public/cat/3/2/index.shtml

 

[blacktrdsupra]

many, many thanks.

 

[ib199]

rude mercs

Hi there blacktrdsupra - first post, like you just bought my first merc!

I live round the corner from Rude Mercs in E London - haven't been in there to be fair, but there's hardly a merc on their forecourt in the last 6 months from walking past regularly...

The sign has been changed to "Rude Wercs" as well - either as a laugh I guess or cos they are "Werc" ing on any cars these days.

Anyway it hardly looks worth a trip from my house never mind N London, I'll go and have a look round at the weekend and report back on usefulness/not.

cheers

 

[blacktrdsupra]

thank you kind sir.

 

[OlafMaxwell]

My car has the Audio 10 in it. I would not go to the trouble of retrofitting one, some of the other alternatives would be better.

 

[blacktrdsupra]

hi olaf - thanks for the answer. i am assuming that you are speaking from experience - so if you don't mind. what kind of trouble do you expect/have faced with this retro-fit ? when you say other alternatives - do you mean any other unit or other merc only units ? many thanks.