Another Mercedes R63 AMG Adventure

Norma66-Brent said:

Make sure you give the paint time to cure. Even waxing to soon after paint can pull all the moisture out of the paint and cause cracking. Give it a good 2 months before going down that rabbit hole.

Does that include ceramic coating?

@madpenguin I sent photos to Fixalu.  They wrote back that they have a fixed price of 250 euros ($281) per wheel, plus 140 euros ($158) for round trip shipping of the 4 wheels.  The turn around is 6 to 8 working days.  The price sounds fair especially for all that they do to each wheel, but it's more than I have budgeted and so I plan to get a couple more estimates before I make a final decision.

This week I took the R63 out for the first time in about 3 weeks.  I've driven it about once every three weeks during the shutdown.  This week, a large battery appeared in the top half of the center display.  According to the manual, this means that the battery is not charging.  My mechanic encouraged me to take it out for  a longer drive (it's possible that the battery is not very charged as a result of limited use over the last 3 months.  I did put a charger on it overnight and the battery reappeared.  It may be that I have to erase the error code for the battery to stop appearing every time I start the car, or it may be that the battery (and/or the auxilary battery) is bad, or that the alternator is not charging.  The batter reads 13.7 - 13.8 volts when running, and 11.9 volts with the engine off after sitting for 2 days.

Thanks for the feedback. That's quite a bit of change indeed.

My other address probably won't be very useful to you, as I'm not sure he'll be wanting to do a quote with just pictures, but if you want to try : http://www.rc3d.fr/

madpenguin said:

Thanks for the feedback. That's quite a bit of change indeed.

My other address probably won't be very useful to you, as I'm not sure he'll be wanting to do a quote with just pictures, but if you want to try : http://www.rc3d.fr/

I checked out their website and see that they don't do any painting.  They just fix the wheels.  So I haven't contacted them for the moment until I check a couple of other options.

I finally got around to hooking up my iCarsoft MB V.2.0 to check on the battery warning message.  It pulled a fault code 9062 and said: "Component G1/7 (Auxiliary battery) is defective or not installed"

So it looks like I will need to replace the auxiliary battery which is inconveniently located under the carpet of the front passenger footwell.  Anyone here aware of anything in particular that I need to know about before (or while) replacing the auxiliary battery?  Before I tackle this, I'll hook up the battery charger one more time and clear the current fault code, just to see if that will take care of it.

I also put the non-AMG wheels with the summer tires on today.  It was past time to get the winter tires off.

I found a good DIY on MBWorld. And yes, it's a PITA!! Passenger seat was partially removed to make way, carpet, trim etc. 

Would recommend a quality trim removal kit to aid in the process. 

NoahWeb said:

I found a good DIY on MBWorld. And yes, it's a PITA!! Passenger seat was partially removed to make way, carpet, trim etc. 

Would recommend a quality trim removal kit to aid in the process. 

Did you have to reprogram anything after changing the auxiliary battery?  Did you have to disconnect the main battery (the videos I've seen on youtube show people just removing the auxiliary battery, replacing it, reconnecting the two wires on the auxiliary battery and then everything returns to normal)?

I finally got the auxiliary battery replaced yesterday.  I took me about an hour and a half, but I made a video of the process in both English and French, so I probably could have done it in an hour.  I imagine a pro could do it in 15-30 minutes.  The error message disappeared on its own and so far no reprogramming  of any kind needed.

The 20" AMG wheels are in the shop.  I'll post photos when I get them back.

I got the wheels back.  Here are some photos:

Before:

After:

There are a few tiny imperfections (you have to be really close to see them), but overall, they did an excellent job.

Wow! Looks great! Definitely the right choice in restoring them.

bonylad said:

Wow! Looks great! Definitely the right choice in restoring them.

Thanks.  Yes, I think they did a good job.  However, I have put these wheels up for sale here in France because I've found another set of AMG wheels that were offered as an option on the R63 that I like better.  So if I can sell the above set, I'll buy the others.  If I don't sell this set, then I will put summer tires on them and put them on my R63 in the spring.  I currently have a set of summer tires (on non-AMG wheels) that I will be taking off soon to put the winter tires on (the winter tires are on the 21" AMG wheels that you can see in photos elsewhere in this post).

The R63 AMG is the "practical" AMG.  Try this with an AMG GTR!

Well, it looks like I may not need to haul wood inside the R63 anymore.  I finally got the OEM trailer hitch installed in place of the after market Westfalia hitch.  When I bought my R 63, there were two problems related to the trailer hitch: 1) the black plastic diffuser had been cut up (unnecessarily) to accommodate the after market trailer hitch assembly; and 2) the actually ball hitch would not lock into the receiver.  The European hitch assembly is quite different from a U.S. receiver hitch.

Here's a photo of the mutilated diffuser:

The diffuser was cut to accommodate the electric socket, but this was unnecessary because the socket swivels down and it only sticks out so far because it uses an adapter.  If you remove the adapter, the socket swivels up behind the diffuser out of the way, and when you want to us it you swivel it down and insert the adapter.  A real shame.

Here's a photo of the hitch ball that is pushed up into the receiver to lock it into place:

You can't see it in the photo, but on the back of the hitch ball, at the base of the section that goes into the receiver, there is a piece of metal that points up.  As the ball is pushed up into the receiver, this piece of metal is pushed down by the receiver, which releases a spring, causing the locking wheel (with the red key in the middle) to flip, which in turn causes three ball bearings at the top to pop out into a groove on the receiver, locking the hitch ball assembly in place.  The cross member on the after market Westfalia hitch was perfectly straight, and while I think it would work fine on other R Class models, on the R 63 the hitch receiver is too close to the aerodynamic panel on the underside of the car and it prevents the hitch ball from going all the way up into the receiver.  It flips the lock before the ball bearings are in the groove, which means that it could easily fall out.

Here's a photo of the Westfalia hitch with its straight cross member:

And here is a photo of the OEM hitch with the cross member that is not straight (it's upside down, but it makes it easier to see the shape of the cross member), which brings the receiver out enough for the hitch ball to go all the way up into the receiver and lock in place:

And here it is on the car:

I also replaced the diffuser with a different version made for R 63s with a trailer hitch.  It has a precut hole to access the receiver and electrical socket (which doesn't swivel on the OEM hitch).  When you aren't using the hitch, you remove the hitch ball and the socket adapter, and pop in a cover over the hole in the diffuser.  Because the diffuser is black and curved, unless you are very close to the car, you can't even see where the hole is.

In reply to 1955W196S :

You wrote and posted [SNIP}"....the two small pieces added to the back of the rear wheel arches..."{SNIP]

This is MB part number:
A2518801405

MB called this, TS / COVER REAR - Wide Base Tire Cover the US part number is (251-880-14-05)

Was for R class, no longer available.

Came across your thread today as I have been looking for the part, first time I saw a real photo. As on MB part catalog only show a very small line drawing.

I have a 2008 R320 CDI, that I am making some changes.

Regards

Joseph

My wife and I spent the day last week cutting firewood on the grounds of a 10th century chateau about 10 minutes from our house.  After driving carefully over part of the lawn, we followed a one car wide dirt track into the adjoining "woodlands".  The owners let people cut down selected trees that are dead or diseased for firewood.  Although the dirt road makes a circle of the woodland, coming out where it began, the road is partially blocked 2/3 of the way around by the remains of a 300 year old oak tree that blew over in a storm several years ago.  So, I had to turn the R63 (with the trailer attached) in a turn around area so that I would be able to get out once the trailer was full of wood.

Here are a few photos after we got home (if we go back, I'll try to take some photos in the woods - it is gorgious!):

It's nice to not need to put the wood in the R63 any more!

The onboard computer on my R63 is telling me that it is time for the "Service F".  I've talked with my local mechanic who is a Mercedes specialist (but not AMG).  He is having trouble getting information from Mercedes, but told me that there should be a way to get a workshop code for the service F on the onboard computer.  Does anyone know how to bring up that code?

I finally got by the Mercedes Dealership to get an estimate and find out exactly what is involved. Even though the onboard computer told me that it was time for a "Service F", that alone meant nothing to the man from the service department. He got in the car, turned it on, brought up the message, then pushed a few buttons and it brought up a shop code: 5MMOF1. That was the code that he entered into his computer which told him that my R63 needs an oil change, changing the oil filter, the air filters, the cabin filter, changing the spark plugs and the antifreeze, along with an antibacterial treatment of the air conditioning system. All for the measly sum of 1,080 euros (about $1300).

At least I finally know what needs to be done.

1955W196S said:

The R63 AMG is the "practical" AMG.  Try this with an AMG GTR!

 

 

Wow!  An SUV that's actually a utilitarian vehicle.  

Here is a link to a video that I made shortly after I bought the car.  The rear diffuser was in bad shape because a trailer hitch had been added, and I decided to replace the diffuser with one that was specifically designed for the R63 with the optional trailer hitch.  After the video was made, I replaced the diffuser, but discovered that the trailer hitch, which was not an original factory part, did not work with the R63 (it was made for a non AMG R Class) and so I also replaced it with a factory trailer hitch.

https://rumble.com/vviihh-r63-amg-rear-diffuser-and-removable-trailer-hitch.html?mref=e29xq&mc=50lhb

Here is a link to part 2 of the video on the rear diffuser and trailer hitch: https://rumble.com/vw0xav-r63-amg-diffuser-and-trailer-hitch-part-2.html?mref=e29xq&mc=50lhb