My C280's CLK-AMG-ESK Front End Conversion
12-21-2014, 02:19 AM
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My C280's CLK-AMG-ESK Front End Conversion
I know everyone is just going to be mad, but personally, the W203 sedan is not one of Mercedes' best designs. The worst part of the car was the front end. The stupidly grinning face really just pissed me off. I thought about changing it, but never really cared too much.
The other day though, a family member backed up our GL right into the driver-side fender.
Now that I had to replace the fender, I figured I might as well get a new bumper, grille, hood emblem, and headlights as well. (I'm going to get better wheels after winter. I know they look ugly.) I brought my parts to one of my preferred local paint shops, and was told they would be done Tuesday. Before taking my car apart, I thought I should just give it a nice detail and wax it.
It turns out there were "some issues" with the bumper and it was going to take a few extra days. With typical PA weather, my car was destroyed the next day, so ignore how dirty the car is in all of the following pictures.
Here is the car after my friend (he had the Altima) and I started taking my car apart.
The logical first thing to replace was the headlights. The projector lenses really make the car look newer. We put a Morimoto 5000K HID kit, and Philips 5000K H11's for the high beams. We also put in LED DRLs just because we had some.
Next, we worked on the fender. Because almost no one has posted on how to remove the fenders, we assumed it was mostly clips. Body clips seem to usually be one-time-use, but we were very careful.
(For those going to say the paint doesn't match, it does very well. The car is just very dirty.)
We then quickly put on the 3-bar grille, which looks okay. And finally, we started on the bumper. Mercedes REALLY engineered this bumper where as our bumper was not quite as good. After a few hours of installing our custom mesh, and doing what we had to do though, the bumper was on.
(I know there is a hole in the hood. I can see it. We just left the emblem in the house.)
So was it worth it? Considering what I paid and the fact that the fender needed replaced anyways, it was definitely worth it. Working on my car taught me a lot about cars, and how much thought goes into every piece. I know it doesn't look like the CLK55, but that is not what we were going for. It looks better, and I am happy.
The other day though, a family member backed up our GL right into the driver-side fender.
Now that I had to replace the fender, I figured I might as well get a new bumper, grille, hood emblem, and headlights as well. (I'm going to get better wheels after winter. I know they look ugly.) I brought my parts to one of my preferred local paint shops, and was told they would be done Tuesday. Before taking my car apart, I thought I should just give it a nice detail and wax it.
It turns out there were "some issues" with the bumper and it was going to take a few extra days. With typical PA weather, my car was destroyed the next day, so ignore how dirty the car is in all of the following pictures.
Here is the car after my friend (he had the Altima) and I started taking my car apart.
The logical first thing to replace was the headlights. The projector lenses really make the car look newer. We put a Morimoto 5000K HID kit, and Philips 5000K H11's for the high beams. We also put in LED DRLs just because we had some.
Next, we worked on the fender. Because almost no one has posted on how to remove the fenders, we assumed it was mostly clips. Body clips seem to usually be one-time-use, but we were very careful.
(For those going to say the paint doesn't match, it does very well. The car is just very dirty.)
We then quickly put on the 3-bar grille, which looks okay. And finally, we started on the bumper. Mercedes REALLY engineered this bumper where as our bumper was not quite as good. After a few hours of installing our custom mesh, and doing what we had to do though, the bumper was on.
(I know there is a hole in the hood. I can see it. We just left the emblem in the house.)
So was it worth it? Considering what I paid and the fact that the fender needed replaced anyways, it was definitely worth it. Working on my car taught me a lot about cars, and how much thought goes into every piece. I know it doesn't look like the CLK55, but that is not what we were going for. It looks better, and I am happy.
12-21-2014, 02:51 PM
#2
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AMG bumper definitely looks way better!
Did you buy a replica though? Look at the hood-to-bumper gap on the first picture vs the last one.
Did you buy a replica though? Look at the hood-to-bumper gap on the first picture vs the last one.
12-22-2014, 02:06 PM
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Thank you. Yes, it is a replica. From what I could find, a real AMG bumper will not fit the non-AMG car. I considered getting the normal CLK bumper, but the problem is how it fits with the grill and hood (similarly to the AMG). A replica, I felt, would be easier. I do wish I bought a higher quality replica though. We did the best we could to minimize the gap.
12-24-2014, 02:10 PM
#5
Senior Member
Looks sweet! Curious to see her when she's all waxed up and clean, the paint does seem to have a big difference.
Where did you purchase your HID(s) from? I'd like to replace the high, low, DRL and fogs with them but I don't want to dish out cash and get stuck with errors on my dash.
Where did you purchase your HID(s) from? I'd like to replace the high, low, DRL and fogs with them but I don't want to dish out cash and get stuck with errors on my dash.
