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SLC options (especially SLC43 AMG)

4K views 16 replies 8 participants last post by  oldmercman 
#1 ·
I had a private message sent to me, and thought the (anonymised) questions and responses may be of use to others:


Hi Mark,

Any way, sorry to bug You again about SLC43's....
Apart from Your impression on AMG Ride Control, which is tempting Me to add this £995 option...
(...and the body coloured mirrors)
During Your short time of SLC43 ownership, what extra options do You have or would recommend..??

Cheers,

My response:


Thanks for the message - I have moved your (anonymised) questions and my responses to a forum topic as I think others might be interested. (I hope it doesn't encourage people to place orders before you and usurp you!)


AMG Ride control is great and I'm glad I bought it - but I can't compare it to the regular suspension directly, which I remember as being very thumpy compared to my 2006SLK350.
There are three settings, comfort, (which I prefer (I am a road user not a track user) ), sport and sport +


AMG Ride Control Suspension is only usable in the Dynamic Select settings. You can't cycle through the suspension settings by itself.
There is one customisable Dynamic Select program in addition to the four basic ones and I have it set to Sport Drivetrain with Sport steering and comfort Suspension. It is significantly less jumpy than the sport suspension setting or the sport+ suspension setting, particularly with speed bumps.


Incidentally, the Sport+ Dynamic Select program just sounds ridiculous around town - great engine/exhaust note but in addition to the constant over-revving "sounds like you need to change gear" sound, the double declutching causes an embarrassing over-revving of the engine on slowing down at traffic lights etc for EVERY gear down change until standstill. It is good on non urban roads however as the car is most responsive and the exhaust/engine tone is great and enhances the experience as the double declutched revving is not as prominent or in other users face as at traffic lights!


Great tip: set it to Sport + mode with Ignition switch to position 2 PRIOR to starting the car for an amazing roar on engine fire-up! You can see heads turn with a "what was THAT" look!


I couldn't get my dealer to order the 70l fuel tank (A big regret - it is quite thirsty at about the same as my SLK350 which had a 70l tank so I need to refuel more often, and supposedly 98RON fuel is better so harder to shop around on a reduced range. (I have been using Tesco Momentum99). It should be £95 ish for the 70l and I would definitely have wanted this if I could have,


Similarly, body coloured door mirrors - the dealer "couldn't" (Wouldn't trouble themselves??) to sort this and, like the failed 70l fuel tank, only told me after the cut-off date for speccing the car. I have grown to like the gloss black but as a no-cost option prefer the body colour unless you go for Night Pack.


A regret: Black Nappa leather seats. They are lovely - proper soft leather unlike the full "hard" leather I got for my 2006 SLK350, but the stitching is white (Including the door panels) which doesn't suit my red car so much as the standard Dinamica/Nappa with red contrast stitching would have. Plus, the SLC43 AMG steering wheel has dinamica hand grips which feel nice, so I may as well have had it on the seats and saved £895


The panoramic roof is nice for £410 but that is a personal choice. The UK summer has been so hot and the car unbearable to sit in in any case when you first get in if you don't put the roof down so can't tell how much of it is due to that, but the roof goes straight down anyway!


Don't get the Air Guide unless you love the "futuristic" look. I got a polycarbonate one from eBay and love it. It fits directly into the OEM mesh slots, so no drill holes (I must photograph it and post about it properly!)


The chrome bonnet fins look AWESOME and are the most commented feature people point out and love about the car, not even knowing that I added them myself!


DO get the SmartTop! I fitted it on the day my car arrived.
 
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#2 ·
To avoid decision making, I just ordered everything from Magic Sky to wheel locks, with the exception of silver seat belts which sounded tacky. Dunno what they cost if anything. Did get the free mirror-colored body. :) Best of all, paid for in full.

I can play "Marching to Pretoria" in 4/4 time on the exhausts with judicious use of the loud pedal, brakes, and paddles. Entertains the people on a long stretch of sidewalk cafes and bars in Plano, TX.
 
#11 ·
Haha, impressive!!

I just love the sound in Sport+, I have my individual mode set with Sport+ engine with comfort suspension - living in London I'm in traffic a lot but just can't get enough of the brass band, pops, gurgles and even the over-revving on deceleration. Wish I could just have the Sport+ sound in all modes - especially Comfort for traffic / bumpy London roads.
 
#4 ·
Diamond silver. Bluish. Nearest I could get to my old Silver Mist 350 which everyone loved the color of, a tad lighter. Nice change from everyday silver. People love it. Gets all the girls. MB web site doesn't do it justice so don't go by that.

Just missed it! The Fort Worth MBCA club had a meet-up of Houston and San Tone sections last spring. Met a lot of crazies there, great time. Went to Gruene and New Braunfels. Maybe they'll do it again. Thinking of a 3-4 day solo trip to Austin this fall. Will be at Circuit of The Americas Dec. 6 for the AMG Performance Academy.

Houston had a regional meet in Centerville but it was the weekend I bent two wheels and didn't go. :(
 
#5 ·
AMG performance academy you say? I need to get signed up for that if it isnt too late. As for color, I prefer brilliant blue (although piedmont green from the E class wouldve been my #1 choice if it werent $10,000 extra to order the car in that color).

OT: Thanks for the informative list. I doubt I'll be in sport+ except on empty back roads and at the track. City driving in sport+ with the loud exhaust smacks of youngsters and their "fart can muffler" 'customization'.
 
#6 ·
I got on the waiting list for Dec. 6 but got accepted pretty quick. Tip: you can get on the waiting list for multiple days to increase your odds (I called and asked). If I die you can have my place. I'll have my people make some calls.

Yup, I'm just a youngster. Mostly for my own amusement. Getting my money's worth. But I don't take off fast in traffic and such.
 
#7 ·
RE: AMG in Dec -I checked their website but only saw dates up until October 6th. Am I doing it wrong?

Oh and dont get me wrong if you like the sport+ over revving, enjoy it! It obviously has a better sound, and is tuned by a proper performance division instead of being a bolt-on coffee can. I am quite certain I will spend mlst of my time in individual mode with the settings at sport settings for engine and transmission for acceleration, but comfort suspension and quiet exhaust. :smile:

What I still cant wrap my head around is why the SLC and a lot of other newer MBs have fake tailpipes. Like... how hard would it have been to extent the pipe exiting the muffler and connect it directly to the exhaust tips?? It looks patently absurd when you look underneath and see a gap between the muffler exit pipe and the "chrome exhaust", which are just sort of floating out in limbo, attached to the bumper cover.

I may have a shop manufacture a pipe that properly connects them, if it doesnt screw up the exhaust note too much.
 
#8 ·
Polycarbonate wind deflector

Don't get the Air Guide unless you love the "futuristic" look. I got a polycarbonate one from eBay and love it. It fits directly into the OEM mesh slots, so no drill holes (I must photograph it and post about it properly!)
Hi,

Apologies for the thread drift, but your comment above intrigued me, and I suspect a few others. Would be really interested to have your objective and unbiased opinion on your e-bay aftermarket wind deflector plus some photos.

I really don't like the standard mesh one - it always seems to be out when I want it in and conversely in when it would be better out!

My thinking is that a polycarbonate one would just clip in and stay there all the time, saving the twisting around clipping and unclipping the thing.

Also the ones from this site sponsor Windrestrictor, which look really great, have two drawbacks. First the price in the UK once shipping and duty are taken care of. Secondly adding the extra bracket could be classed as a "modification" in the eyes of M-B, not a good idea when the car is still under the manufacturer's warranty. Debatable but not a discussion I really want to be having with the dealership.

One further question, have you noticed reflections from the dash when driving at night?

Anyone else used the e-bay ones which clip into the standard slots?

Martin
 
#10 ·
Hi,

Apologies for the thread drift, but your comment above intrigued me, and I suspect a few others. Would be really interested to have your objective and unbiased opinion on your e-bay aftermarket wind deflector plus some photos.

I really don't like the standard mesh one - it always seems to be out when I want it in and conversely in when it would be better out!

My thinking is that a polycarbonate one would just clip in and stay there all the time, saving the twisting around clipping and unclipping the thing.

Also the ones from this site sponsor Windrestrictor, which look really great, have two drawbacks. First the price in the UK once shipping and duty are taken care of. Secondly adding the extra bracket could be classed as a "modification" in the eyes of M-B, not a good idea when the car is still under the manufacturer's warranty. Debatable but not a discussion I really want to be having with the dealership.

One further question, have you noticed reflections from the dash when driving at night?

Anyone else used the e-bay ones which clip into the standard slots?

Martin
Sorry about those issues Martin!
 
#13 ·
WOW that must have sounded amazing.. There are companies like Mid City Engineering that do custom MB mods https://www.midcityengineering.com/product/eco-off-for-mercedes-benz-eco212/ but unfortunately they haven't got anything to further configure Individual mode. Have done some more googling but can't find anything short of fully hacking the ECU - which I'm not smart enough to do... Oh well!!
 
#16 ·
@MarkChat
Many thanks for taking the time to post in details about your experience with the e-bay Makrolon wind deflector, excellent information to have. Really useful to know about your tweak with the retaining arm washers.

Look like the way to go, in Europe at least (while we can still count ourselves as part of Europe but that's another discussion...)

M
 
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