So I feel like everyone has one of these threads were they show the process of modding there cars, so after a couple months of modding I figured I'd make my own thread. This thread is about the evolution of my 2005 Mercedes Benz C230SS Kompressor. (the first couple of chapters will be stuff that I already have done to my car so bare with me) Enjoy

Chapter 1: First day with my car

Originally bought my car from mercedes benz certified pre owned in Pleasanton CA. Pewter exterior with black interior. Love the car the second I saw it at the dealer ship. Here are some pics of it the day I brought it home:

 

Chapter 2: Sub
After having my car for a month and listening to all of my friends sick subs I decided it was time for me to get one too, I had bestbuy put in a kicker comp 12 in a vented box and a sony explode amp. Loved the sub and it sounded great, but it sucks not having any trunk room

 

Chapter 3: First accident

2 months after having the car I had my first accident, even though my car was parked when it happened. My car was parked out side of my house and a old lady came and crashed into it. Her insurance cover the hole thing and the costs came out to $6,000

 

Chapter 4: spoiler/wing

When I first discovered MB world the first thing I did was buy a roof spoiler and trunk lip both painted pewter thought they made the car really look a lot nicer. I also Debadged the car.

 

Chapter 5:Plasti Dip
I saw many cars who had blacked out different cars but 1 that really struck my eye was Harrison's Pewter C230 that he did alot of plasti dipping on. I gave plasti dip a try and loved it. I ended up plasti dipping the bottom part of my front bumper, my grill, and then pained my hood emblem, rear emblem and hood vents flat black. I really like it and I like how it made my car look a lot different then stock. Also my friend who also has a w203 smoked my rear lights while I was plasti dipping the car.

 

Chapter 6: Center caps and Brake calibers

I got another inspiration from harrison... to paint my calibers red. Went to auto zone and bought there $20 kit, spend a couple of hours and they came out super clean. I put some Brembo decals in place of the older Mercedes Benz ones. While I was at it I bought a set off CF centercaps off of another member on the form and put them on while I was doing the brakes.

 

Chapter 7: Lighting

I wanted to get some HIDs, and my friend had 8000K HIDs on his integra so I ordered the same thing, I know they are to blue but I like the way they look, probably going to get less blue ones soon though. I also made all of my interior lighting blue, and some LED license plate lights. I got rid of the orange side markers and went with clear ones with LED bulbs.

 

Chapter 8: Custom Air Intake
I was well over due for a new intake filter when I went to buy a new one I thought to my self hey why not just build a custom one. I got a lot of different parts a spend a couple hours trying different cobinations to see what works. I got a pretty nice end product and really like it, Plus I always get complements on it when other people are looking under my hood.

 

Chapter 9: Aftermarket Head Unit
I originally had a 6 disk CD changer and I put in a AUX adapter in my car, but I wanted a nicer head unit. So I was one of the first people to get the new Pioneer AVH-4400BH

 

I spy an ESP warning!

You know, I am no fan of plasti-dip.. but I might try doing the area of the rear bumper at the bottom, where it is indented. I always liked that look.. and if plasti-dip pulls off if I am not satisfied then that's a plus.

Your car makes me wish I could refinish my calipers. At almost 132k miles they're looking pretty worn, but the car is very reliable. You didn't need the 02! lol

 

Looks good.

Please tell us that those blue zip ties are not there anymore...

Also, I doubt you got any additional performance out of this thing since the filter is just sitting there in the hot engine compartment as opposed to the factory setup where it draws air through the slot in the grille.

You did not say you were looking for any, but just pointing it out, that's all.

 

he's losing some air flow with the flex piping because it gets trapped in the grooves too. i wouldve done aluminum piping and heat wrapped it or sprayed it with engine paint. i believe someone on here removed their box and put a custom cf box with a filter attached right on the maf. looked really clean.

 

Looking good! Any plans for more performance?!

 

The ESP warning went away! it scared me really bad. I had frys electronics install my head unit (Normally I would do it my self, I did my coupes head unit my self but I thought for only $60 why not) So the second I backed up the ESP went off and I pulled straight back into the instalation bay. The guy turned my steering wheel all the way to the right and then all the way to the left and it just went away . I thought plasti dip would cheapen the look of my car at first then I figured worst case I just take it off if I don't like it and I am out a 6 dollar can of plasti dip NBD. Love my calipers too they make any wheel pop more I think. I still love the 02 though

Thanks, but I am embarrassed to say the zip ties are still there, once I have some time to work on it again I will tweak it a bit more and get rid of the zip ties. I wasn't really looking for that much more of a performance out of it, just cheeper air filter replacements in the future and a way to spend my sunday, plus have something to show under the hood haha. I think its just in my head but after I got it done I swear I defiantly felt a bit of an extra push and it made a nicer sound when you pushed the car into higher RPMs...but I think thats all in my head

The original design I tried to make was aluminum pipping but it just didnt work out, it ended up falling off while driving in the freeway and hitting my fan, it was all bad.

Thanks so is your car! I saw your photo shoot with the AMG rims, I really like how AMG rims look on your car. As for performance goes I have been wanting to do a tune really badly so probably this summer I will get a tune done, also for summer i plan on getting nicer sway bars and some nice coil overs because my shocks are starting to go out on me I feel like. Probably change up my exhaust set up too but I am not sure about that yet, maybe in the future.

 

Nice headunit, too bad the trim doesn't all match up now. Any thoughts to having the center console stack all redone, so that the trim is consistent?

I'd also plastidip the front part of the radiator.

 

To be honest I kinda don't mind that the trim doesn't match up perfectly I am going to CF wrap it most likely in the future. I CF wrapped my coupes interior and I love how it turned out, so maybe I will do this car too. I am sort of confused what you mean buy having the center console stack redone though?

 

Were can you get a pulley kit for the 04 c230?

 

Nice setup and modifications. I have the same color and interior color as yours. Lots of people said pewter is for old people, I defend it all the time.

About the rims, if you want stock, you can consider getting the 07 stock rims. Those are nice, just like mine on my avatar (nevermind, didn't realize that my avatar is not updated). I had the same rims as yours and picked up a 07 stock rims and it looks great. It makes the car more agressive and sporty.

About the intake, isn't that area is warm / hot all the time?? It is already warm to start with, but now with the whole setup inside the engine bay, won't it be much warmer and cause a descrease in performance?

I like the rear spoiler at the trunk, that is probably the next step I'll end up doing too. Well, i guess the more I do this, the closer it will look like an 07 setup.

How much did you get your pioneer setup for? That looks nice.

How about the headlights and fogs? You going to put in the depos? Seen a lot of those selling at ebay. As for me, too much work and no garage to work in. I'll consider going that route soon.

See attached of a 07 stock rims and what I have installed on mine.

 

Im not to sure
I dont think it decreases the performance but I also am pretty sure it doesn't increases it either. I like the 07 wheels but I already bought my next set of wheels and they are currently on there way to me, the should be here on thursday . I payed 500 for the pioneer head unit, but then went back the next day and had them to a price match of an online price I found so I ended up paying 430 (it goes for 600 on the pioneer website). Its such a new model that they only had one in stock and didn't even have a display model for it, also I couldn't find one like it anywhere else yet. I found a brand new dash kit off of ebay for 30 which came with the wiring harness antenna adapter and the thing that goes around the head unit (not sure exactly what it is called).

 

My bad I didn't see the last part of your post for some reason. The headlights and fogs are stocks and I am fine with them I dont think I will be changing them in the future I am happy with my HID headlights but I might put some HIDs in my fogs to match the rest of my blue set up that I have going.

 

I like how the little mods that we do can change a lot. Can't wait to see the Wheels on!

 

Cant wait to see the wheels on it to too, going to be a week or so though :/. Wheels will be here Thursday, spacers and hub rings will be here beginning of next week and once those get here I will get some tires and have everything put on. Ill be sure to post pics once I get them . I love little mods that make big differences too

 

coming along so nice! Im thinking about painting my cf wing and roof wing pewter just cuz it looks so nice on your car

you know.. when you get that set of bbs

ill still take that rim if its up for offers

 

Haha thanks man, and the BBS came yesterday! just waiting on spacers and I will have them on my car. If I can find one other person to buy one of the other wheels then I will sell the wheels separately so you can get that one that you wanted. If not I will probably sell them as a set, I just don't want to sell one and then be stuck with 3 wheels and all. I will post and see if I get any interest in anyone buying one of the wheels separately. When you say you might paint your wings pewter do you mean do it your self? I was wondering if that is easy to do and if it looks nice because I just ordered a set of Euro impact strips and I want to get them painted for cheep

 

no way where did you get the euro strips? I really want some too

And I was thinking about having a body shop do the work for me(paint the wings, debadge/repaint trunk)

Im sure it wouldn't be too hard to paint yourself, just colormatch that pewter

Thanks for considering to sell the rim! it would mean a lot! Cant wait to see those BBS on the ride