gruppe-

this is a newbie intro. & series of questions. i just purchased a 1993 300TE w/ a 3.2l engine. car has 150k on the clock and seems to have been pretty well cared for. everything works (with minor exceptions) and the car is clean, etc. i am interested in making some minor modifications to the car which are primarily aimed at increasing its utility.

Item #1: the brakes on the car seem to work fine, however I do plan on doing some spirited driving as well as pull my motorcycle trailer around. is there a pretty straightforward bolt together brake upgrade for these cars using stock mb parts? i know that on my various bmw’s i’ve been able to install remarkable brake upgrades using bits and pieces from other bmw’s (or in the case of my 2002, calipers from a volvo.)

Item #2: i have the stock 15” wheels on the car which still have some good tread on them, but i would like to upgrade to something a little bigger and a little sexier. i don’t know what the offset is on these cars or what else will fit from other mb models. i’m sure that this thread has been beaten to death a hundred times, but i’m new around here. i did see some sharp amg wheels on an slk kompressor. they were 245R17’s. anybody know? they looked great and they’d give me more room for bigger brakes if needed. what is typically swappable to the w124 platform from other mb cars. i don’t mind buying wheels from a parts yard if they’re in good shape and it beats dropping a few grand!

Item #3: as mentioned above, i’d like to be able to pull my mc trailer. who makes a good hitch for these cars? i see one by valley, but I don’t wanna spend $300. does mb make one? does anyone have a used one for sale? any advice?

Item #4: I need an owners manual and repair manual. Does anyone know where I can get a used owner’s manual for this car? eBay, par chance? also, who makes the best repair manual for these cars. i’m a hands on diy’er and I will be doing most of the wrenching myself. factory manual, haynes, bentley, anyone else i’m not thinking of? who is the best source for these things?

Item #5: here’s what dosen’t work: the radio. i have the anti-theft code for the radio, but the po tried to enter the code without pressing “*” afterwards. now when i try to program the radio it just says wait. the po said he waited about 3 months and then gave up. what does one do?

Item #6: i bought the car saturday morning and drove it from boston to new york city w/out a hitch. since buying it, I’ve only put about 200 miles on the car. this morning when i tried to start it (cold) it was a bit rough to start and once it did start, it idled roughly. it was smooth under power, but at idle, it sounded like it has a miss. the miss went away after a while, but it came back a few hours later when i warm started the car. i haven’t tried to figure out this car yet, so i’m not familiar with it’s systems yet. do these guys have a cold start injector or idle control valve that could be awry? any suggestions?

that’s more than enough for now. thanks in advance for the help.

robert in brooklyn