MattDaddy said:

Greetings everyone! In the next week I will be taking possession of my Father's Red 2009 SLK300. It has 35K miles and for the past few years has been sitting covered in his garage. It is his treasure and he sadly can no longer physically drive it. He was very sad to have to sell, so I decided to buy it from him to keep it in the family.

The car is in show room condition and to my knowledge everything is stock. I am not a huge fan of modifying cars, but I will probably upgrade the audio and have a reverse camera installed for navigation, safety, and better sounds. I will scan the forums looking for guidance there, and to get consensus on what a regular maintenance schedule looks like for the SLK.

This will be my first roadster/convertible, and first Merc, so super excited! I am happy to be here and I look forward to getting to know my new car, asking questions, and learning from the collective experience of the community!

All the best-
Matt

2009 SLK300 Red
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And so the journey begins. Attached is a photo of the '09 300, which has turned into a bit of a project. Before taking ownership from my dad, I realized the front locking cylinder was leaking. I didn't have the heart to tell him how much it would cost to repair, so I took the plunge and replaced the entire roof hydraulic system myself with rebuilt parts from Top Hydraulics. Thank god for Klaus at TH. There really are no other resources I've found to source these parts and give guidance to do the work. Really brilliant stuff.

After a mechanical inspection I was pleased to know the only other work needed were new front shocks. At 35K miles, the car sounds and runs beautifully. Now with the investment of new hydraulics and shocks, I'm kinda at the WTF stage and I'm researching paint correction/protection and audio upgrades. There are a few touch up marks and bumper curb damage from dad, so I'm getting estimates on paint restoration before ceramic coating and possibly PPF on the hood and front bumper. The car has the basic factory stereo, so also researching a Sony head unit with an anti-glare screen, speakers, and rear camera. I should probably stage things out and have these items done in the spring, but I'm kinda wired to get sh1t done, so likely more to follow here soon.

One question I have for the community...The rear storage console is all but useless as is the little speaker compartment above it. Given the precious space available in the cockpit, has anyone come across a better after-market use of that space? I was thinking of possibly parking a sub-woofer there, but the placement is probably not great for one. Drop down cup holder? I'm open to any ideas!