I must be lucky. I use the same universal oil filter cover removal wrench as pictured on my 96 C280 and 2003 C320, and have not had a problem. I admit however that the "feel" of this wrench in not great - it always feels like it is about to slip off. Luckily, neither filter cover was on too tight, and they come off easily, and I tighten them not-too-tight.

I use a marine electric pump to pump out the oil rather than dropping it. I am sure it leaves a bit more in the crankcase, but this suits my situation of having to do the job on street parking better. Less chance of spillage and angry neighbors!

I use Mann filters and they seem to work fine.

The hardest part of the job is waiting for the electric pump unit to suck out all the oil.

I do this once a year (in my case this amounts to about 8,000 miles more or less) and use the best oil I can find. I just switched over to AMS Oil.