an answer to the gutter scars question by OP. I had the misfortune of scraping my back wheel within about 10 minutes of picking up my new SLK, mainly because I wasn't used to the position of the car..I'm used to driving sedans, so I'm much further forward in relation to the car. In the SLK, I'm much further back. So when I turned a left corner, I expected to have cleared the kerb already on that side, but alas, I heard a grinding sound.. I actually didn't feel as bad as I thought I would, figured, wth, now its got its first scrape, I can actually enjoy it
Went to the dealer to ask about fixing it, he said it wasn't worth it to get it done by them, might as well buy a new wheel(about 700 bucks) since thats how much it would cost to get it repaired..went to a few other places in the SE suburbs, and got quoted around 300-400.. Found a place called MagicWash in the parking lot of the mall next to Ikea in Richmond...the guy looked at it, said he could get it fixed for $130 bucks so I figured why not, give it a shot. Came back after 1/2 a day and its like brand new.