'95 Sl320

A couple of weeks ago I posted a message indicating that, at my fiancee's request, I was planning on selling my SL320 (which I recently purchased as a StarMarked car without my fiancees prior consent). I'm happy to report that after two weeks of aggressive lobbying, my fiance has finally decided that the car isn't that bad after all. Only problem is, we now have three cars (she doesn't want to sell her car ('00 Audi A6Q), nor do I want to sell my daily driver - '99 BMW 528i). At some point, one of the sedans will have to go. Frankly, I'm not too impressed with the performance of her A6 (as compared to my 528i) -- but that's another thread.

Back on topic -- now that the SL is a part of our "car family", I would like to make a few mods. Does anyone know whether it's possible to do the following:

1. Retrofit my 95 sl320 with the current my2001 non-xenon headlights? I would like more road illumination as I've noticed that the headlights on my bmw 528 are much more effective than my SL's headlights.

2. Repaint/replace the lower body cladding to match the body color (smoke silver) -- I'm not too keen on the two-tone look.

3. upgrade the wheels and tires (currently has the OEM 16" wheels) to 17" staggered package (235 in front and maybe 255 in rear)? I like the look of the current silver arrow 18" wheels, but with the condition of the city streets here in DC, I would probably destroy the wheels in a couple of weeks. Another concern of mine is that if I increase the size of the wheels too much, I may inadvertently place too much strain on the suspension of the car (not sure whether this is a valid concern).

4. Replace the bottom seat cushion of the driver's seat -- I've noticed that the driver's seat cushion is not as "plush" as the passenger's seat cushion.

Any suggestions/answers would be much appreciated.

[elau]

If you want to do any modification to your SL, the best person I think is MBenz. He just remodeled his SL to the latest look. Check out his posts and you will see what I mean.


87 W124
95 R129
98 W163

[DALE DORIA]

I also wanted to change the headlights to xenon. Upon inquiring at the dealership, I discovered that this is not just a straight swap. Not only does it require significant modification for a proper fit, there is also extensive re-wiring involved. I was informed that this was not a feasible project. The repainting can be done. My salesman had his two-tone silver SL painted to have the body cladding match. As far as the wheels, you could call the local dealer about the change. You also may need the speedo re-calibrated. And finally, the seat. Are they heated? If so, then this will also entail wiring. I'm not sure if the wiring has remained the same since '95. Sorry, I'm not much help.....but it seems that all the upgrades I wanted to complete on the SL were either not feasible, prohibitivly expensive, un-able to be retro-fitted, and if still persistent, best left to someone who can provide a warrenty to the work!

elau --

Question for you -- is the interior portion of your rear trunk lid painted flat black (as in, a different color than the exterior portion of the lid)? Even though the color of my car is smoke silver on the outside, the trunk lid is painted black on the inside. I thought this was peculiar so I asked my dealership (EuroMotorCars) and they indicated that for the model year 95, MB painted (on all s-class and sl-class cars) the interior portion of the trunk lid and the hood flat black. Given that my hood has sound insulation, I couldn't tell whether this was true -- however, I did take a look at my mother's '95 S500 and noticed that the interior portion of her trunk lid was the same color as the exterior portion. I would be interested to know the status of your car since it is a model year '95 r129. Thanks in advance.

Dale,

Thanks for your reply -- do you happen to know how much your salesman paid to paint the lower body cladding of his silver SL? I obtained a couple of quotes from some well-regarded body shops here in the Washington DC metropolitan area (Wagon Work Corporation and First Choice Body Shop) -- each suggested that the paint job would cost around $1,000. For painting four pieces of plastic, I was shocked at the estimated expense.

[MBenzNL]

As elau wrote: I have just remodeled my 1990 300SL24.

[img]http://communities.msn.nl/_Secure/0MwBwAJcQVJkz8iL9OAL4rhcSFBnK7pLO85cylb6nC2H8EOQ*hjztmNEnZp1PpW6azGOOX6!UrH4Bk8lCX!YtTg/300SL-newfront5.JPG[/img]

If you consider repainting the lower body panels, you might as well change them for the newer panels (and bumpers), but that costs a lot more.

The headlights are interchangeable. It is even to be considered to install some Xenon headlights just as long as you don’t complete it with the auto light height leveling unit (the leveling unit comprises some additional wiring, a sensor on the front sway-bar which is easy and a sensor on the rear sway-bar for which the rear axle has to be removed).

[img]http://communities.msn.nl/_Secure/0LQAAALcPsWYhT6Yh4CXxXADz1i07b*8xmgxyWrvDE7THJes2aPCVqZdNb4buJ1q1SW**rXvlNd0/koplampen.jpg[/img]

According to mercedes their electronics in the R129 changed in 1995 (I guess that it has been done together with the model change) and if your car was a remodeled one (which it isn't because it is two-toned) Xenon would be an easier add-on.
If your car has the auto leveling shocks, adding the Xenon-light-height-leveling system becomes a lot easier as well, because these two systems share the same sensors.


[img]http://communities.msn.nl/_Secure/0OwBvHQIVHn4g7NIHDQq22Wobt3r6YSW1!KkgjZGd4m8!ULZSiAmUK7o*58c4YZBKeWaQmOzcgitvd9YnzXCUflVeH!oaQm66/levelling-sensor-front3.jpg[/img]
(pics of the front sensor)

The innerside of the trunk is supposed to be black. Some of the MB models had exterior colored trunks (started with the 202 C class in 1993) in 1995, some models got the exterior colored trunks a little later (no need to worry).

The bottom seat of the seat cushion can be taken out very easily (take out the 2 phillips screws at the front side, pull up the front half of the cushion and pull out the rear side by pulling the cushion to the front...disconnect the seat heater plug under the cushion). The left and right cushions are interchangeable.



greetingz,

MBenz,

Thanks very much for your reply -- you're SL looks awesome. You've clearly set a new standard for updating R129s. A few questions for you:

1. Headlights -- were you able to simply pull out the old style headlights and insert the new ones (non-xenon)? Is it a DIY application? The service advisor I deal with at my MB dealership informed me that he suspected the wiring harnesses between the two units to be different (he thinks it's a pretty complicated switch).

2. Tailights -- did you switch your tailights to the all-red, soft-edged tailights found in the post'96 SLs? If so, is it a DIY application?

I also have a non-cosmetic question -- if I'm sensing a minor vibration from the rear of the car whenever the car is coasting (very subtle, but can be felt in the car seat and the steering wheel), do you think that I need to have my tires/wheels balanced? The vibrations only occur when I'm not depressing the accelator.

[elau]

amc123071,
The inside of my trunk lid is painted flat black even my exterior is white. In addition, there is a velour like material in my trunk lid. That may be the sound deafening material that you mentioned.

87 W124
95 R129
98 W163

[MBenzNL]

acm### (difficult screenname),

Thanks for the compliment! I am not finished yet and will do some more model upgrades next winter.



I have taken out my old 1990 headlights and installed the Xenon headlights without having to chance ANYTHING in the connector or wiring harness. I had to add an additional wire harness and connector for the height-leveling feature, but the Xenon headlights operate well in my 90 SL with OEM wiring.
I have a guideline that is made and used by MB for adding the Xenon lights (which are to be seen as more complex as the normal (newer) non-Xenon headlights) and there is NOTHING that has to be changed at the wiring or connector.
To swap the headlights you DEFINITELY do NOT need to be at the switch!

This is the connector at my European headlight:

[img]http://communities.msn.nl/_Secure/0NQAvQq0RUswa*6cjiGxymtWCyRvQFfaBR0kWtRcQWaUk2dCFUqpU6GtT*po9muT1SuHCw8ufWDVudekGCl2fgw/129-headlightrear.JPG[/img]

The current taillights in my 1990 300SL are the ones that were used by mercedes from 1995 till 1999. These are the red ones with the deeper horizontal lines:

[img]http://communities.msn.nl/_Secure/0MgB49hUQKYIz8iL9OAL4rnnhbIAUrnXCxy3Wd8nAYOBelfzlC1zbYVbHKMbZX8azrGbsbKz7X3WsrC*Jic*EWA/300SL-newrear2.JPG[/img]

I already bought the newest 99-01 taillights with the smoother surface but will not mount them before I got the 99+ side mirrors to match the upgrade (painting the door handles is not that difficult).
The lenses can be easily swapped; no problem at all.

[img]http://communities.msn.nl/_Secure/0MwBBA40QiJm*ubG4UazdhsvVMx5EGR40GzCmEhp96htgp7kkF6yELURPHgo642fm4b8tAptPQ06tFpTLc4IMIQ/129-taillight99.JPG[/img]

To get rid of vibrations in the car it is always good to start with balancing the wheels! It might be enough to kill the vibrations.

If you are considering swapping the headlights, you might want to consider swapping them for euro lights as well (I have heard that the light pattern is a lot better as on the US models). Personally I would go for Xenon as soon as I wanted to upgrade my headlights, but that is your own choice. Nevertheless, I don't know what the exact changes are between the old and new US non-Xenon R129 lights, but if you are interested, you can buy my Euro headlights as well (with connector and the last piece of the wiring to be sure you get it connected the right way).

[img]http://communities.msn.nl/_Secure/0NgAAACwSX!Qa*6cjiGxymobY50QL2d8Il!aKi0bGL8OfGrH5lX0E*So2xjLY11yMZlSPaMab3v6C10Z2uKHvMQ/129-headlightfront.JPG[/img]

greetingz,

[chronodeco]

To All - My wife just bought a 90 SL300 for her 50th birthday. Something I noticed when we test drove several of these models was the leg room was a little short for me when I had the seat back in a position I liked. As everyone knows who has owned one of these, if you continue to move the base of the seat back, at some point the back starts to tilt forward even though there is about 3 inches left before it hits the rear shelf. Could someone please tell me if there is a reasonable fix for this? I don't have this problem in my 300CE which has more than enough leg room for a 6 foot tall person. Thanks in advance for your help. Craig