10th Dec 2009, 17:47
Does anyone know how to lower the front of my 2001 CL500? I read that steel plates can be fabricated and installed on the front towers. If anyone can help with a little more detail, I would greatly appreciate it.
13th Dec 2009, 23:11
Just wait for the ABC hydraulics to crap out and leak oil all over your nice brickwork drive, that should do it.
19th Dec 2009, 09:04
How to lower the car. You may buy an adjustable kit online. This will let you remove the fixed length tabs that hold the ride leveling cams on the front and back struts. The new ones can be adjusted in length, which in turn lowers the car to your desired height on the lowest ride height setting very easily. All you need is a kit, a tape measure, strong hands and around 10 minutes.
I can still raise the car to 4wd heights when required to get over speed bumps etc.
Works best with original specked 19" AMG rims, as larger offset rims clash with the front and rear wheel arches if you lower the car.
23rd May 2010, 16:45
The faults described in this review are not minor. The failure of the suspension for example costs over £1000 to fix.
In any case, for this kind of money and reputation you expect MB to compete with Audi, BMW, Porsche etc in terms of design and quality, and they do not come close!
I could not believe how poor quality, cheap, badly designed and just plain annoying day to day the CL500 was.
Rust. Failures. Stereo vibrations, poor audio, noisy fan. Things you don't commonly get with the other German cars.
The people here praising MB have obviously never tried a quality alternative.
24th May 2010, 10:32
The faults mentioned ARE minor... besides $2,000 for a revolutionary suspension such as ABC is a small price to pay on a benchmark of a car, that cost $135,000 CDN when new in 2000. These cars are now 10 years old, so spending a little $$$ for repairs and maintenance should be expected, regardless of what brand the car is.
If people would just service their cars according to MBZ standards, then any and all problems would be found and fixed immediately. Quite simple to understand really, but some folks seem to think that after purchasing a premium auto, they can drive for free afterwards -- GET REAL!
Anyhow, no amount of moaning on this forum will change the fact that Mercedes-Benz has more old cars with high mileage on the road than any other marque, and if your CL500 is maintained properly, it will join those ranks also.
3rd Sep 2010, 04:12
The problems described here and many other places about Merc are not just on vehicles that are not serviced properly. The car in this review was always serviced according to spec. This never stopped the rear wings rusting, the suspension failing, the stereo vibrating and sounding cheap, the sun visors being ripped off some other model and not fitting properly, the fan whining, the interior falling apart, and a host of other problems, which all in all made it feel like a poor quality car. This is mentioned now almost every time you see a Merc being reviewed.
If you compare this to competitors, it becomes clear that Merc are living off their early nineties reputation. I have since driven or owned Audi and BMW, and it is very clear that they are built to better standards.
Some people are just so brainwashed into loving a brand that they can't evaluate it fairly. I am sure no amount of shoddy standards would stop some of there people buying their Merc, or iPhone...
I have nothing against Merc, it is just really obvious that their cars are way way behind others.
6th Jun 2011, 01:04
..."some folks seem to think that after buying a premium automobile they can 'drive for free afterward'"... is the writer serious? isn't that the point of a top-of-the-line automobile: The quest and realization of near total reliability? Isn't that what Mr Rolls and his friend obsessed over?
A true luxury car shouldn't just drive well, it should be a worry free machine as well. Rationalizing why the MB costs so much to keep on the road is common among premium brand buyers. It's a form of pathos that I simply do not understand. My $3,000 SC400 or $4,0000 SVX, may be "old", but they have airbags and ABS, and can travel all day long in excess of 130mph. What am I missing here that a $75-125k car will cure, but my cheap cars (with great reliability and low ownership costs) somehow can't?
As far as the "M-B has the most number of high mileage cars on the road of any manufacturer". Again; is the writer being serious?
Yes, with a lot of costly repairs, a Mercedes can be coaxed into lasting over 200,000 miles and occasionally a lot more, but there are a handful of manufacturers whose cars commonly get well past 200k with very few repairs.
But M-B is normally not one of them.
7th Jun 2011, 14:21
I had a buddy with a Bentley and it was far from trouble free. Yet his 20 year old 190 MB was very reliable and economical in his opinion. Go figure!
18th Apr 2013, 04:12
Totally agree. People expect it to be perfection after 10 years. As long as you buy a well maintained car, it will be less troublesome.
24th May 2013, 16:23
This WAS a properly maintained car. Always with MB, always on time.
This is not just a bad egg situation.
MB build quality is JUNK.
Utter junk.
9th Dec 2013, 12:45
My 2003 CL600 has been maintained on time by "experts".
But somehow that had no effect on my car's ABC system going bad (almost $6000 to replace), and the replacement of the air conditioning unit, and the cracked left front fender, etc., etc.
Wish I would have kept my '91 Mercedes 560 SEC. That car was built like a tank. The CL is built like a cheap Chinese plastic toy!
Most unreliable car I have ever owned. I hope someday that a lawsuit will be developed by the MB owners to try and get some of our hard earned money back.
4th Oct 2009, 13:37
To the aug 30 comment... CLKs don't have electric hoods! Servicing the car would have solved some of the problems, but some people buy these cars and are too cheap to have them serviced properly. Although, it is funny to hear them describe "Audi" and "screwed" together! LOL.