My 2003 Cl has two spots on the lower door area
Nothing else really showing
My 2006 Rangie has more noticeable bubbling.
I am well pleased with my Cl.
At the moment everything works.. If something too serious goes wrong..
At this kind of price level, it's less than the depreciation on any new car, so I will just bin it. Current: 11 Bmw 730Ld SE, RR Vogue SE 2006 3.0TD6, 06 Bentley Continental Flying Spur 6.0 W12.

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All of that shape of CL's have plastic front wings and fiberglass boot, doors and bonnet are aluminium with a cast alloy frame, roof and rear wings are aluminium. It is riveted to a steel monocoque. The pre 2003 cars are prone to corrosion as Merc had to save big money in the early 2000's and skipped the cathode dip from the paint application process, they also skipped any underbody sealant, they all have plastic underbody panels, if you take them off it's bare steel with a thin coat of basecoat, not even any lacquer on it...

My 2000 CL had corrosion on the door, bonnet and rear arches, if it's fully ground out and sprayed with two pack etch primer it will hold the corrosion back for a very long time.

IMHO you are better off with the CL55C this is a 5.5 V8 with a supercharger, lighter engine than the V12 (which is very nose heavy) and for about £1500 you can get a reliable 650bhp (they are 500 standard)

There are plenty of specialists now sorting the expensive bits, I got my suspension pump rebuilt with a 24mth warranty for £400 as opposed to £1600 from Merc... most bits are shared with other Mercs and there are lots being broken as they are now worth more in bits...

Pick a nice post 2003 with the much better satnav and you have a great GT car.... Pete
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2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Parchment over Navy Interior. Sold
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand, Jet Interior. Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green, Ivory over Aspen Interior (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

Doubt you can get extra 150 BHP for just £1500. A set of fitted exhaust manifolds alone will cost that much. Or did you mean £15000? That's more like it

Haylands wrote:

Pick a nice post 2003 with the much better satnav and you have a great GT car....

I had a 2004 car albeit a standard CL500. Gorgeous.

Click image to enlarge

 Graham

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Gone: 10MY L320 RR Sport HSE, Ipanema Sand
Gone: 20MY Jaguar iPace HSE, Silicon Silver
Gone: 17MY RR Evoque SE Tech, Loire Blue
Gone: 08MY Discovery 3 XS, Stornoway Grey
Gone: 07MY FFRR TDV8 Vogue, Stornoway Grey

alx wrote:

Doubt you can get extra 150 BHP for just £1500. A set of fitted exhaust manifolds alone will cost that much. Or did you mean £15000? That's more like it

That won't result in 650 BHP. 70-75 BHP gain more likely but not 150.

http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/1775512-post3.html

I read it on some tuners website a while ago... you are probably right... still be a darn quick car though.... Pete
__________________________________________________
2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Parchment over Navy Interior. Sold
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand, Jet Interior. Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green, Ivory over Aspen Interior (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

Yep, pretty much. The trouble is you won't stop there. The higher the boost, the higher the temps. So you need a bigger or another intercooler. And a bigger pump. And a trunk mounted tank for better efficiency and to actually make use of all that power you're adding.