Paris may be away for a year

The alternator issue is back. :/

*updated on 14.12 at 8pm / It's a developing story

*Update 2: There's a shocking new info that absolutely changes the course of this case. I'll be at Mercedes-Benz in person on Monday to document the potential discovery. Everyone in the car world in BG knows that when I show up in person I mean business. I'll update you on Monday!

*Update 3: Mercedes-Benz sent an offer for the alternator replacement, but are firm that they don't want to dig further. Even though we got in contact with the most capable mechanic there, he's still not confident beyond the alternator replacement. The offer itself is on the scammy side (they do charge for an SLR and not for an A class, but whatever I guess), but I fear this may be the only option to get the car running before Christmas. This may leave me with one option and I've done it before - I'll work on the SLR. Looks like I got the biggest balls around. heh Will update on Monday! Guess who isn't taking a Merc to Mercedes-Benz to get serviced ever again?! lmao

I was out with the SLR yesterday, when the alternator warning popped up. I was in a safe and big parking lot, at least that. But the PTSD from seeing that warning... If you've ever had a life-threatening issue with a car, thought you solved it just for it to come back 2 years later. You'll know the heart-wrenching feeling:

Oh, shit, here we go again.

So, what now? The main focus is on fixing the issue again. Unfortunately, the alternator and all other parts that usually get replaced like the tensioner pulley are all Mercedes. It's unfortunate, because Mercedes are scared to work on an SLR. They gave me an estimation of an year for one part, while I found the part and told them I'm going to order it and all they need to do is the work to replace whatever needs to be replaced. And that's how I realized they just don't want to touch this car. All sorts of excuses were told. Just tell me you don't feel confident and give me the car back. lmao *Update 1: The one year estimation Mercedes gave me is now down to 2 weeks, thanks to connections and friends!

This really tells you how much Mercedes this car is. Never heard of an SLR being sent back from McLaren. But McLaren are in the UK, so I had to try with Merc first, especially when the issue is from the Mercedes' side.

At the moment it's lifted, it's getting looked at. I have some theories what may be going on and I'm going to investigate all possible reasons for this recurring alternator issue.

theSLRtour II is still on, but there's a big question mark above it. I'll let you know how everything goes, but at the moment the SLR is unavailable for the upcoming months.

I'm also exploring the opportunity to ship it to the UK.

The reality is that there isn't a single person in Bulgaria that is confident enough to say "I know what's wrong" and the car just gets thrown around between shops. This is the reality of owning an exotic car. This is the harsh reality that all car influencers hide from you.

I'm hurting because I was looking forward to putting good miles on it as early as spring. There was an excitement in air and a reason to look forward to 2026. Now that's gone.

I can assure you the SLR is in good hands, I deeply care about it and I will do whatever it takes to resolve the issue.

I'm heading out with Monster now to cheer me up. See you around, hopefully soon in the SLR!