Hey guys, total newbie to the W124, but have a few key questions...
Hey guys,
I just bought a 1995 E320 cabrio (smoke silver,parchment,brown top) with 158,000 miles on the clock. It looks like it has about 30,000 miles on it with the exception of the obvious. I am excited about adding this car to my stable as I now have a fine example of each of the three german marques I love. Anyway, here are the projects I am looking to work on:
I am looking for information on prices, vendor and places where I can get these items:
1) New cabriolet top - I went to a local vendor and they quoted me $2,200 for a new brown german canvas top with a new headliner installed. Is this reasonable or too much? If it is too much, where can I go to get a good deal on a quality top that is the same quality as OEM?
2) New leather for front seats - I was quoted by that same company to recover the front seats for $2,200 and that is only replacing the actual seating surface and stitching the new leather into the old side bolsters!! Is this reasonable? I have seen where you can get all new covers that surround the entire seat from Performance Products for both front seats for around $850, which seems great, but does anyone on here have any experience with their product? Is it high quality or are they bad news? Any other leads for leather seats or seat covers would be great!!
3) New AMG Gen I or Gen II Front Bumper - I don't know where to begin when looking for these, but I am looking for vendor and price ideas. I have heard they are hard to find, but I hope I find one somewhere.
4) AMG Wheels - Any ideas on where get a good deal on these?
I know that is alot of questions, but I am anxious to get these projects going so I thought I would throw all of them out there.
Thanks a million!!
Robert
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1995 E320 Cabriolet - Smoke Silver/Parchment/Brown Top (bought to slow my a$$ down) :-)
2002 BMW M5 - Imola Red/Caramel (daily driver)
1996 Porsche 993TT - Guards Red/Black
2005 GMC Denali - Wife's ride - Junior League Urban Assualt Vehicle/Kiddie Tank/Car Parts Hauler
Last edited by e320cabrio : 09-10-2007 at 09:09 PM.
I am not a cabrio guy so I can't help you with the top issue but let's look at the rest of the issues.
Seats. IF you have heated seats, there is a need to take the old covers apart and stitch the heating pads into the new covers. There are folks who will do that much less expensively than $2200 if you only need the front done. PM me and I can point you in the right direction with all the details.
AMG front bumpers are available but expensive [I think still from the dealer for Gen2], there are also clones that are made of less than high quality materials and they chip/crack easy and tend to not install quite as well.
Wheels. Go to the For Sale section of BenzWorld and check it out. There are usually tons of wheels. You will want something around 35 offset. I personally stick with 17" as anything larger has more rotating mass, weighs more and the car was not really designed for that much suspended weight.
With regards to the bumper, is there a cheaper source than the dealer for Gen 2 is that the only place that will carry them?
Thx for the info on the for sale section. I have narrowed it down to to sets of AMG's that I want, so I will just watch and wait for them to come available.
Where is McBear, Kentucky? I'm in Nashville, so we may or may not be that far apart.
By the way, you didn't happen to purchase that Charcoal Gray 93 500E with 18,000 miles on it that was for sale in Brentwood, TN about 1 1/2 - 2 years ago did you? I had a 2001 BMW 740iL at the time and took that car home for the night and almost bought it. I could have bought it then for about $23,000 and should have done it as it was perfect. It looked like it had never been sat in.
I was at a small custom shop in Rancho Cordova, CA, last summer that was putting a new headliner into a car I was fixing up for my niece. One of the other projects there was a late model BMW 325i (I think) cabriolet that was being fitted with a new German canvas top. The shop was charging $1,500 and reusing the headliner and rear window. California tends to be a bit more expensive than most places.
I can't help you with the other items as I prefer 'box-stock' to custom for the cabrio.
Thanks, guys! I guess those front bumpers are a tad pricey... I wonder if that includes the front fog lamps that go into the bumper. Probably not.
As fgar as the convertible top, those guys were at $2,200 for a new canvas top AND the headliner installed. Pricey, but they are the best in town. Unless I hear that is way out of line, I will probably let them do the top and go with mcbear's on the leather. It sounds like they can do some REALLY cool stuff.
By the way, you didn't happen to purchase that Charcoal Gray 93 500E with 18,000 miles on it that was for sale in Brentwood, TN about 1 1/2 - 2 years ago did you? I had a 2001 BMW 740iL at the time and took that car home for the night and almost bought it. I could have bought it then for about $23,000 and should have done it as it was perfect. It looked like it had never been sat in.
I wonder if that includes the front fog lamps that go into the bumper.
It does however they are driving lamps rather than fogs With the fogs mounted in the main headlamp assembly they decided not to duplicate them in the spoiler instead placing pencil beamed driving lamps.
$2,200 for a complete top might be right. 
With the fogs mounted in the main headlamp assembly they decided not to duplicate them in the spoiler instead placing pencil beamed driving lamps.
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