How To Restore A Mercedes SLK350 : Between The Wheels | Ep. 12
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- Опубликовано: 30 июл 2024
- In depth coverage and how-tos for the first batch of cosmetic and usability upgrades for the 2005 Mercedes SLK350.
Featuring coverage of:
- Interior trim restoration
- Audio upgrades
- Rear view camera install how to
- Leather restoration
And many other aesthetic upgrades...
Episode 12 of a series exploring the decisions made by a car nut as he attempts to decide which cars will fit his needs on the road and the track.
Recommended vendors/suppliers for some of the work done in this restoration:
crutchfield.com (audio upgrades)
leatherworldtech.com (leather and upholstery repair)
eBay and Amazon for everything else....
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All material copyright 2017, Oblivious Flight Pictures. 
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You sir, are a SAINT ! ! ! ! I recently bought an SLK350 and the interior stack plastic had seen better days. Better to sand and paint then replace it. You rock. Keep up the excellent work.
Very helpful (and entertaining). Was sad to see what lies ahead for this car after all the work you did to it.
Love your vids! (You've actually saved me vast amounts of time! Thank you!)
But I absolutely LOVE the commentary!
If you ever run short of swear words for projects, I'm in the process of installing a new alternator on my SLK, and have a few extra colorful words I'm sharing. 😂😂😂😂
Excellent video! I’m currently searching for another SLK350 (my last one was totaled) and your restoration and upgrade tips will come in handy. 👍🏽
My 300 is happy I found your channel, and you are hilarious too ! Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Good guide to R171 trim removal - Thanks for sharing this info:
The best I have ever seen. Thank you so much for these wonderful videos. I appreciate your knowledge very much.
Thanks for the kind words! Thanks for watching!
I appreciate also the hard work of the poster and instead of people just go for a newer/expensive car.
excellent video, thanks a million, now i'll have a go at fitting a back-up camera on my beautiful SLK 300 AMG
Enjoying your SLK videos, learning a lot (I also have SLK 350).
Thanks, James! Appreciate you watching! (Enjoy your SLK!)
I don't know how you have so much patience!
Christopher Bell lots of deep breaths and the occasional tantrum.
Subscribed. Great explained video. Looking to get a 2007 SLK so eventually these videos will come handy.
Thanks for watching! They are great cars, good luck in your hunt and enjoy it when you get it!
Thanks for the video! Very informative and useful. I️ too was thinking of most of the upgrades you did. Word of caution as I️ just investigated, two engine improvements you should look into is the intake manifold problem, where a plastic part can cause a world of financial headache. And the leaky cam solenoid... I️ need to figure out the plan of action for those two items!
Other than that thanks for this video! Keep it up!
Maverick thanks! I’m overdue for an engine once over - I can hear some squeak from either a pulley wheel or maybe the water pump on cold starts. Sigh... never a dull moment. Thanks for watching!!
Cool video.Thank you for the tips.
Billy Parrott thanks for watching, glad it was helpful!
btw i subed !!! awsome video , great quality man !!
george fourtinas thanks very much!
Awesome - well done 😁
Functioning Narcotic thanks!
Great content. My slk350 need a little attention and you hit some good problemattic areas.
PS. You're hilarious. I have a friend I've worked with on a number of woodworking "adventures" and his motto is..."It's not a project until someone bleeds!" Words of wisdom Lloyd.... Words of wisdom.
Best performance mod I've ever made on ANY car is lightweight wheels. Made a big difference on my 2010 SLK especially going over bumps.
What wheels did you get? I’ve had my eye on a set of Sparcos.
Wish I found this video before I did mine. what a pain in da azzz. I went along the floor door trim to the seat belt hole instead of centre console.
Wonderful and informative video much thanks
Perhaps you should do a full professional DVD series on upgrades and installations and place it on sale.
Thanks for watching and for the compliment!
Hey there! Great videos! I thought I saw one of you showing the install of the shorter radio antenna? Thanks!
Thanks! Yes, I loved the look but it didn’t have the conductor to transmit the radio signal from the cars system - didn’t matter for radio as I never listened to it but I couldn’t use the key fob so I had to put the original back on.
Good video and looking forward to your performance modifications. I'm keeping an open mind and an open eye in case the right one of these cars comes along. There is a 05 SLK 350 manual near me, it's got that tellurium silver blue, which I was hoping to avoid along with red. Also, kind of hoping that I might find 06++ year. We'll see. You averag about 20 MPG, and requires premium fuel? Any other problems come up with the car?
Also, since you seem performance minded, would you consider any of the other slk besides 350? It looks like there are other V6 models that have less horsepower, yet basically the same MPG.
Thanks for the positive feedback. As for economy I need to record a true measure but I average low 20mpg. Highway cruising is easy given the 6th gear ratio and decent displacement V6 - means 65 hums at around 2400rpm on the highway and the car cruises well. As for other SLKs, I didn’t really shop them. This car was the first in the SLK line that had the mix of what I was seeking.
I typically average 25 MPG and have never done worse than 21 MPG in my '05 350 SLK--spirited street driving in the hills of WV.
Good Job mate i just bought a slk350 but no bluetooth,so i bought a Viseeo mb4 still cant connect to Spotify
Awesome video !! Where did you get the custom made and stitched wheel cover?
Thanks Joshua, I appreciate it. The steering wheel cover was from a site called redlinegoods.com. They did a great job customizing what I wanted.
im thinking of getting a slk 200 1.8lt (because of road taxes) . it has a AMG sport pacet , amg calipers , exhaust and amg body kt. ! it looks like it came out after 2012 but its a 05' im sceptical thought....because of versatility of a 2 seater !
george fourtinas I haven’t driven the smaller engine SLKs but I have to say MB makes a solid two seater/roadster. They are nimble, plenty powerful and in terms of fit, finish and design, MB was way ahead of the other brands in the mid 2000’s. Good luck in your search!
Where did you get that steering wheel cover and how does it fit ? My slk350 steering wheel is too thing and feels large. Thanks keep up the content.
Hi Conrad, it was hard to find. I also hated the thin wheel. A company called Redline goods really was patient with me as I asked for various things I wanted and they made a high quality item that I’m happy with. Included padding, nice leather wrap and the orange thread as well as needles. Redlinegoods.com
Nice mods! I'm checking out the source for leather restoration.
Man awesome video , how many miles did the car had when you bought it if i may ask ?
Thanks very much. It had just under 55K when I bought it. I've put about 3K on it since buying.
Excellent. I'm considering having a SLK 350 built to full SCCA..NASA race specs for GT class competition.
I’d be really interested to know how that goes! If you have details to share along the way, please do!
Great video, thanks for sharing your experience, I just picked up an '05 myself - can I ask how you interfaced the new head unit with the fiber optic system? - or did you abandon it all together. i'm having trouble finding a stereo shop that will touch it. thanks again
Thanks for the compliment. I avoided the fiber optics and just wired the new head unit conventionally.
yep, I kept coming back to that, seems like the cleanest way. I assumed all the cluster menus operated the same, and the only thing I'd lose is phone & vol buttons on the steering wheel, both of which don't get used. Thanks brother.
There are adapters which let you integrate the steering wheel buttons into a new head unit. Works well.
I've been looking at SLK , Z4, and GTO, in a manual transmission which are harder to find.... I can't make up my mind , so I haven't bought anything. Not to mention, prices are silly considering you're buying an almost 20 year old car .
Wish you would have an expanded section on the LED headlight upgrade.
Hi Bill, I haven’t installed LEDs (yet). But when I do, I’ll be sure and cover it!
Hi,
Can you also share the product you used to restore the leather? I just start cleaning the leather and it exposes more wear spots. Thanks
I used a color matched dye from a company called leatherworldtech.com - they will color code a dye to match your interior color if you provide the factory color code. Great product and match.
Thanks for the video, can you please let me know which paint spray you used for the interior pieces and where you bought it from?
You’re welcome. Thanks for watching. I used a RustOleum paint made for interior plastic trim. I believe I bought it from a major automobile retailer like Advanced or Autozone.
@@BetweenTheWheels Thank you very much for the prompt reply!
This, is, brilliant! Sorry, I'm late to the party.
Hi, I have a question, which backup camera is this in the video? I recently bought an SLK and am looking into installing one. Thank you!
question: the round buttons on the steering wheel. do they just pull off in order to repaint. or ... do you just hve to get a new steering wheel?
I didn’t repaint the wheel. I put a steering wheel cover on.
What did you use to wrap the black pillars on both sides of the rear window?
3M vinyl wrap
hello this video is crazy those steering wheel covers and the leather seat restore, im following your advice and going to leatherworld tech
what color code did you use for your leather seats at leatherworldtech?
i see 2 different blacks one a little darker and charcoal and dark charcoal
your seats came out like it was professionally done i was wondering which color you went with out of the 4
I’d have to look at the dye and I’ll try to do so and provide a code. The best thing is to pull your vin and get the name of the color used on the leather of your car. With that, and/or the color code, LeatherTech can show you the right match.
@@BetweenTheWheels i followed your video and i contacted mercedes already and they told me black leather for the slk350 and charcoal for the c63 and they gave me the codes. leathertech told me there is charcoal and dark charcoal and i see another charcoal. and for black i see one black and a darker black i was wondering which one you went with. thank you again for your reply i was just asking you because your seats came out really nice and its your video i followed to find this.
greatly appreciated and quick response. happy 4th! be safe
Best thing I did was to replace the headlight housings...You have to take the front bumper off...but it's not that hard to do. I'll bet you don't even have that car anymore....
Betting I don’t have the SLK? I drove it today! :)
@@BetweenTheWheels NIce! I love my car...I am looking ...maybe to get the V8...I'm not sure if it's worth it. I wonder if it will be too heavy on the front end. I want to drive an AMG 55. I'll tell you. The best car I've had was an Infinity G35 coupe. That car was faster than my G37 coupe...and handled a lot better. It was perfectly balanced...I miss that car....A drunk driver crashed into me and totaled it and me. It wasn't good...
Hi,
Thanks for sharing your experience.
I am also thinking about replacing the head and speakers. Any chance you can share the selection of speakers and how you fit them in the doors? Pictures of the mount you fabricated would be much appreciated. Thanks
Hi, I’ll see if I can dig up some pics or footage. The speakers were JBL components. Thanks!
@@BetweenTheWheels Thanks. I think the original set up includes 4" and 8". Did you go with only the 6 for mid? Did you also upgrade the rear speakers as well? Thanks again.
I stayed with the same sizes to avoid having issues with the door panel. The component system is the 6 inch with separate 1 inch tweeter. Six inch mounted in door and tweeter up on the wing of the door trim where the original was. A separate JBL 4 inch mid goes into the mount I made along with the 6 inch. The only issues are, no real rear punch since the original speakers in back are tiny and lame and the way the system is wired it’s difficult to set a crossover to get a decent sound environment.
@@BetweenTheWheels thanks
What radio system did you replace the old head unit with?
A JVC unit with Bluetooth and a few other benefits. Sadly, I can’t recommend it. The screen is resistive and not responsive enough and its contrast ratio is poor for a convertible, making it hard to see in sunlight. I’d go for a carplay-enabled head unit with high screen brightness and contrast.
Did you have Harmon Kardon Sound System (HKSS) and if what did you do about the amplifier connection, and if without HKSS what else did you use for amplifying ?
No Harmon Kardon in my car. Wiring was standard.
Did you change out the brakes? If so what did you use ?
Track pads, new drilled rotors and DOT 6.1 fluid. The stock brake calipers are pretty good.
Awesome mods. Where did you find the short antenna? I ordered one off of Ebay but it did not work.
Thanks. eBay was my source too and this shorty definitely cuts down on FM reception. I don’t do a lot of radio so it wasn’t a huge deal but then I realized the antenna also serves the key fob and cuts the range for it down to less than a yard. So, I’m on the lookout for a better shorty.
The eBay ones don't work & can cut down the distance to remotely un-lock/lock the car. Need a pucker Mercedes one off the face lift 2008 onward R171 SLK, that contains an amp.
Great vid! Could you share your experience removing the antenna. I just got an ‘06 slk and would like to remove it. Saw some nightmare stories about removing it so I would prefer doing something stupid. Thanks
Hi there, removal is just unscrewing the tall aerial and replacing it with a stubby. I didn’t remove the base or the wiring from the OEM antenna. As noted above, however, any short antenna that doesn’t have a metal to metal connection with the base is going to create an issue with key fob reception and radio tuning.
Well u didn't need to take off the original radio system cuz u could of have Bluetooth thru the headphone jack and the back up camera u could of get back up camera with 2 minutes installation
I added a backup camera to my 2010 and hardly ever use it. One reason being glare on the viewing screen. I'd rather have a backup sensor like the new cars but none are available.
Agreed, it’s hard to see my backup cam view in direct sun. It’s helped me a few times but I’m not sure the amount of blood I lost putting it in was worth it!
Damn you need to make more videos.....
Man you must be rich and lots time on your hands
Ha, I just enjoy cars.
Original is the best