helper

I bought the launch addition SL500, and had one of the first in the country. It was by far the nicest car I have ever owned. It had style, speed, class, and was a lot of fun to drive. The reason I now have the SC430 is as follows. I paid $97,500 (list) for the MB, plus taxes etc, and had a loan of almost $40K on it. I really analyzed the entire situation and decided that the car simply was not 40K better than my red SC. I sold the SL500 for what I paid plus a thousand dollars back to the dealer I bought it from, got the SC430 and a check for $1200 back. Yes, I was able to drive the car for almost 5 months for free, but now I own a car free and clear. It drives almost as well, has a better interior (in my opinion) and may be better built. My only regret is that I have already lost money on this car, but I was able to get it for $3000 under list-a 2002 at model year end. I am told there is no difference between it and the 2003 except for softer rubber on the 2003, and a 2-3% price hike. I do hope that the small annoying noises I get from the roof and rigth hand seat area do go away or can be corrected-I have 600 mile s on the car now.

P.S. after the first month with the SL I had to have it towed becayse the air suspension stopped working and I coudl not drive the car safely.

antigeek

Welcome, helper!
I hope this site can be a helper to you as well,
and we look forward to your experiences.

Thank you for your first-hand comparison of these two fine vehicles.

As for your issues, there are a few threads about them.

The top noise is in one of the recent posts "Noisy Top Operation":
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...threadid=55223
Unfortunately, I don't know of a "fix" for it, other than to stop it just before it finishes going up or down, and let it move slowly into position.
There is another, but I don't recommend it much.
I used to lightly tap the top just before it came up to the windshield, but once I tapped it too hard, and the posts punctured the gasket (ouch). It could have been worse...

As for the passenger side noises, there are a couple of potential causes.
One is the windshield visors. Try adjusting them down & back up and see if that helps.
If not, the cause may be the wood panels on the doors.
There have been many posts in this forum about them.
I've got them 95% solved (except for some Eminem songs).
Here's a link that may help ("Hapiness is..."):
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...threadid=46219
This one has other items in it, and represents the last changes I had made to my car (back in May).

mfb

Helper,

I'm experiencing the same noises from the right hand side of the car. I have pin pointed the right visor as one of the culprits. Seems like the circular padded buffers end up vibrating with the frame of the car. Any other ideas other than folding down the visor?

Genearch,

I have tried your recommendation on the One Grand product (Blitz Wax and Omega Glaze). Even though I have a silver color, the stuff works great. Plus John at One Grand is great to talk to about car cleaning. I did the SC430 about two weeks ago and will be doing my wife's black X5 this weekend. I'll post pics once I'm done.

mfb

Jayson

I saw my first SL-500 yesterday coming out of the grocery store. My wife thought it was beautiful, but when I told her how much it costs she quickly stated that's too much money to be tied up in something that you park and leave outside. I had to grin. Wise choice, I'm sure your CPA agrees with you on your decision to ditch such a large liability huh?