Questions questions questions...

[Ashman]

ok, as most of you probably know, my car is awaiting repairs.

The front right control arm and some of the little things associated with it will need to be replaced. I was also told the frame or whatever the control arm attaches to will need to be checked and straightend on a frame machine.

IS there a possibility that the car will never align correctly now? If so, what would my options be, considering that if it does end up not being able to align correctly, I will have to talk to the insurance about the possibility of totaling the car. I will not accept the car if it will never align correctly again.

Are repairs involving the control arm and straightening of the mounts going to adversely affect the car?

Will new control arm and bushings on one side affect the car in anyway or will it appear normal?

just looking for some guidance here as to what problems I may run into knowing the car might need to be put up on the rack and straightened a bit.

Alon

[haasman]

Ashman,

sorry to hear about your car. In my experience the sum total answer to all of your questions is: It depends.

The real confirmation is the alignment after all the work is done. If the car, on a four-wheel rack, comes into alignment, within specs, the repairs are fine.

You will get as many answers as contributors on this one. I would recommend continuously telling your repair company that you need to know if the car will not come into factory specs. Get them to state this on your repair order. Do not accept it if they will not. Then tell your insurance company. That is what you paid them for.

Finally, ask the repair shop to speak to the people (person) who is doing the repairs. BE FRIENDLY. Tell them you brought to them because you know they are the ones who A) know how to fix these cars correctly B) would be able to see if anything else had been impacted. Ask the repair person if they see (have seen) and other collateral damage. For an example, were the steering links impacted, etc. You may be amazed what you hear.

My 2 cents,

Jeff

[Ashman]

Out of sheer coincidence, I had to take my dads sl600 to our mechanic today. The Sl lost reverse gear completely. probably just a broken band in the tranny.

I had some time to chat with my mechanic, and I told him about the damage. I'm going to trailer the car to him on friday or saturday, and we are going to look it over up on the rack and see if there is any bending of the control arm mounts or anything else that would prevent it from being aligned correctly, or that would require it to be put on a frame rack.

If all goes well, and it doesn't need the frame work, I'm going to have my mechanic do all the repairs apart form the bodywork. I trust him to do it correctly, and only him.

As far as the bodywork, if all goes well, since the car just needs the front fender wheel arch at the front bumper connection straightened out a bit, and a new front bumper cover, I should be able to get the bodykit I wanted.

I know I'm definately getting the wheels, and if I dont do the bodykit, I'll be getting the sport shocks to go along with it.

Or if all works out, I should be able to do the bodykit, wheels, tires, and shocks and still have some dough left over.

I'll let everyone know what my mechanic says. I'm about to post pictures I took today of his shop in the good shops forum.

Alon

[Ashman]

on another note based on my calculations without all the actual repairs but just mods I am going to do, I need $1000 for the body kit plus or minus a little for the shipping on it.

$700 for wheels plus shipping

$620 dollars for tires shipped. then probably $100 or so for mounting, balancing, and alignment...

So far thats roughly $2400. If I can get away with adding the sport shocks at about $400 for all 4 corners, I'm looking at about $2800 total for the parts.

That would leave me roughly $1800 to get the control arm and other tid bits repaired and the painting of the bodykit and installation.

I am really hoping, that I can get all of it done. but I dont mind waiting on the shocks for a month or so. But I would like to do it all at once, and once the control arm is out, and possibly the left one for bushings, I might as well dot he shocks too.

We shall see. I'm getting excited.

Man when I know I am going to buy things, and I have the money, and it feels like its burning a hole in my pocket, because I'm so ready to spend it. Its this feeling of needing instant gratification. I feel I am growing more and more impatient every second I havent spent the repair money for my car, on my car.

At least I will definately have the wheels and tires i wanted.

As for the bodykit, I want it bad it will complete the look on my car, and then when the only mod left after all is said and done are the euro 500e lights, I'll be so happy.

I have this other plan on two toning the interior of my car. I have made a crude photoshop of how I want to do it. But thats like a last thing I will do at some point. take note of the door panel with the soft leather part still in creme. Thats how I want to do the interior panels, and thats how I want to do the seats at some point. I think it will look really cool. I will leave the carpets creme and the under dash and dash areas that are creme in creme. I will probably recover the rear deck in black, and I will most likely redo the center console in black too, like mike tangas did with his 560, which looks realy cool.

Here is the pic...

Alon

[Cap'n Carageous]

Uh... This may sound silly, but shouldn't you spend he money to fix the damages first and then see what you have left for all these improvements ? Just a thought.

[Ashman]

well capn, yes and no. I wont buy any mods until I know the actual repair cost.

So yes I will fix the car before doing mods, which is why I hope I can get all of the mods done.

I don't plan on buying the bodykit, wheels and tires and shocks, until I know what my repair cost will be.

I'm going to trailer the car to my mb mechanic to have him take a look. if he sees no problem with any bending of the control arm mounts or anything else related or any frame bending, he will be able to easily do my repair.

I was thinking I will try to find a used control arm if possible, and he agrees that while we can easily find a new part for a good price, especially here at fastlane, we might find a used one for half the price or less.

So all I really know for sure is that I will be getting wheels and tires since I need to since my one wheel is damaged, and I need two tires anyway. The cost of repairing the wheel, well its $80.00 for the center cap on the wheel alone and that is unchromed. Then if they repair the wheel, and dechrome then rechrome it, I might end up with tire leaks at the rim edge. if that happens, that money will have been wasted as the wheels I have, have been discontinued for a few years at least and therefore finding a new one is going to be tough. Plus I hate my wheels anyway.

What I plan on doing is getting the new wheels and tires, because I will have to, and I know I can afford them and still have the repairs done.

I will then sell my old wheels on ebay for a low price, missing one center cap and one wheel that is damaged, because I would think I can make a few bucks on those even though one is not great.

My current wheels are very heavy, in fact much heavier than the stock 15" wheel. the seem like almost solid chrome as any curb rash has not chipped the chrome, it has rashed the chrome, but it still retains the shine and still looks chrome wven with the rash.

All in all, My plan is fix the car and add the mods. With the money I have from insurance, I figure I should be able to get it done.

Alon

[-fad]

Alon-

in my experience, cars will never be "the same" (factory standards) of "better"after an accident- so it helps to set expectations realistically

also with suspension mod's, these 'by themselves' and 'together' will change the nature of the handling and vehicle ide- ...and the vehicle may not have the best ride and handling- esp with accident damage repaired to "as best as possible" but NOT restored totally back to previously undamaged conditions (factory spec)...it may turn into a Pandora's box w/ its quirks

suggest learning to read and understand alignment specs too, this will provide an explanation as to its tracking characteristics (and foretell tire wear) ...what alignment specs will you be using for a lower'd CE w/ or w/out HD/sport shocks? ....'dialing in' a mod'd suspension properly takes skill, knowledge, experience, and patience (not just swapping out suspension and chassis parts)

in either case, it sounds like you are putting the necessary effort and diligence into supervising the repairs

good luck
-fad

[Ashman]

thats why I am about to take the car to my trusted mb tech, because I know he will give me straight answers.

I don't trust bodyshops much to do mechanical repairs. bodywork yes, but suspension etc no.

If my mechanic finds he can just replace the bent parts and the car will be fine, then of course I will have him get it aligned for me. He knows how to set everything, he's been doing it for 30+ years, and I trust him 100%.

I plan on going with sport shocks. I will most likely have it aligned to sportline specs if my mechanic feels it will work nicely.

He loved how my car rode and drove witht he lowered springs and loved how it looked, and he normally hates lowered benzes. In fact he still talks about my lowered car whenever I see him. He always compliments on how much he likes it.

I am not taking the repair lightly, I am going to scrutinize every little detail, to make sure its fixed right.

I have a bodyshop guy who can work wonders with bent frames, I've seen him take a 300e that was totalled fromt he front, and he repaired to factory specs, and the car came out perfect. he gave the car to his wife, and he has had no problems with anything on it from alignment to tires to suspension to anything else.

My main hope is that there is no frame or control arm mount damage. If there is none, then my mech can easily do the repairs needed.

He will definately be repacking the bearings, and might do all the bushings with sportline bushings if bushings are needed.

I am still toying with the idea of a used control arm, as it will match up with the already used parts on the car, plus I can save money on it, which is a big plus.

I see no problem with using certain used parts. I mean how often does a control arm get out of whack unless it has been hit?

I just hope I will be able to squeeze in all my mods. But first priority is fix whats broke.

Alon