Cpbball3

Ok guys. Went to a custom modification shop on LI and got an estimate for Brabus Style Tallights on my C300. I attached an image below.

The estimate was $400 in total.

What do you guys think?

Additionally, I got an estimate to paint my front grill black (keeping the chrome) for $200. I am debating on choosing to do this myself instead and saving the money. How hard do you truly think it is and how will it compare to professional work?

AkaSigFreak

Hopefully they will buy you dinner and kiss you first! The Brabus lights are painted. Most have bought the chrome tail light trim rings and had them painted black ($50-60 for trim rings + $50 to professionally paint). As far as the grille- you can by a black grille from ebay for $150 and keep your stock grille for when you trade your car.

Cpbball3

1.) The chrome piece does not look at good as them being painted.

2.) The red brake lights are tinted to make the red a little darker.

I do agree that the grill estimate was high at $200. I am afraid to buy the one on ebay just because it is not OEM and I could run into some fitment issues and other problems.

I think my best bet is to do the grill myself - I am just worried the black color paint will not match the color paint of my car.

lamonsas

these tail lights are hot man! id go for it.

AkaSigFreak

If you think $400 for a shop to paint and tint your tail lights- go for it. But you are willing to pay that and then paint your grille yourself to save money?
I don't understand your thinking, but do what you want.

Cpbball3

How much do you think is a reasonable price? This is a pretty intricate design on the taillights. I will obviously shop around for better prices. What do you think is good?

hitokiri89

Try audio planet on Jericho turnpike , they may be able to paint your taillights for less . I would just paint the grill myself , I did mine with Plastidip that way it comes off , my grill got destroyed though .

Ron Jr

Reds Auto body in Lindenhurst will do your grill for less and will do a good job. I would even lend you my Lux grill while he has yours in the shop. 400.00 for the tail light is to much IMHO. I went with the chrome trim stripped and painted black I actually think it looks better as a seperate piece than just painting the lend. Just tint the red darker.

Cpbball3

Ya I do think that $400 is a lot. This place is legit though. Escalades with over $100K in extra's in the shop. M3's shipped from Miami. They have Porsche 911's in shop. CLK 55 Black Series. Ridiculous.

I am either going to paint the grill myself or get it done for $150 at the most. I would like to get the taillights down to $300.

Sportstick

I've got the tail lamp chrome piece on order, and plan to have it painted Palladium to keep up my monochromania. I will post pics if/when successful.

I did buy a set from a forum member, but they were broken in shipment. However, just holding the pieces, that particular set actually fit very well up against the tail lamp surface. I am hoping the set I just ordered fits as well.

Cpbball3

Called up Audi Planet.. the guy told me $140 and I laughed.. I told him it is a little more than just smoking the entire taillights out from the inside. He said bring it to the shop and we will see what he can do. I am excited and glad that this COULD be a reasonable price. I am just hoping that the job will be done correctly. They said they couldn't paint the front grill (which is ironic cause its easier than the lights)... We will see.

Thanks for the suggestion.

BTW, do you have anyone you know who has work done there? I realize that the cost is usually correlated to the amount of time spent on the job and the quality of the job. I am a little weary of this price!

envyxc350

I did mine for about 10$ with a rattle can, came out perfect if you have the time to tape every detail off. But 400$ way to much. 140 sounds much better.

Cpbball3

Audio Planet was shady and wanted $275 now for the lights LOL!

I would definitely rather opt to get them done by the professionals at Martino Auto Concepts instead for $400.

Audio Planet said it is VERY difficult to outline the entire light in pure black.

I am debating taking them out myself, smoking the brake lights in red (I will have to tape up the white part) and then giving it to Martino Auto Concepts to do the black outline (since that is difficult). Shouldn't cost me a lot that way.

alexlev

Martino is a high end body shop. So, unless you have a Ferrari that needs work done, it's a waste of money.

Like others have posted, you can do this yourself by buying a separate chrome trim piece and then painting it. If you really don't like the outcome then you've only lost a few dollars, in comparison to $400.

Spec_Davis

buy the trim and paint it yourself

Cpbball3

I think you guys are right... I will buy the trim and paint it myself..

Is there anyway to still tint the red brake lights (by myself) without going too dark. I just want a shade darker. Can spray still do that? I would basically have to tape off the white and spray all the red.

jctevere

I bought the trim on eBay for $70 shipped. I am going to take it to a body shop to get it painted (or I might do this myself). But if I were you I wouldn't paint the stock grille. Just get one already done off eBay for the price of (if not cheaper than) painting it. This way if you don't like it you don't have to buy another one to return to stock look, or have an issue when selling the car. The fitment issues really are a non-issue. As long as you know that the grilles for the c300 and c350 differ from the c63. It is very easy to make a grille that fits correctly, and all the aftermarket ones I have ever had were fine.

As for tinting the tailights I will check with my guy how much he would charge to do them (he is in commack on long island). Alternatively, you could spray them with VHT tint (I believe its called nightshade).

Cpbball3

That would be appreciated man. I work out in Islandia which is right next to Commack.

vukinator32

Martino's is a ridiculous shop bro. I live 3 minutes from the shop i love driving by on the weekends when they have all the cars parked out front lol... but yes... very expensive

itsLoonie

I as well am doing this tail light mod. Got my trims coming in by Monday then having the shop do it. They quoted me $20 since I'm having my CF spoiler repainted as well but they said they would have charged $60 for the trim if I brought them at different times. I'll make sure to post pics. BTW, I don't have the LED tail lights. Mines are the original halogens.

As for the darker shade of red, I want to do this as well but in don't know if I feel comfortable doing it myself.

Cpbball3

Ugh this is such a difficult decision! I wouldn't mind spending $400 and having piece of mind knowing the car is in good hands and this is done right. However, that is a lot. Doing it myself will cost about $100 anyway. I have to buy the taillight trim, and the spray.

The difference is around $300 then from getting it professionally done, w the painted look, or have the trim sticking out and me do it myself (oh lord!)...

itsLoonie

Well you can always hold off and see how it will look with the trim painted before going that route. If you say you are willing to pay that much then do what you want. There's a member here with a black C63 with the tail lights painted brabus style I believe or it could be the trim. His forum name is, MNL_ICE, so you should ask him if you got questions. Here's a recent pic or his car.

Ron Jr

Here is mine (Darth V2.0) with the trim painted. Personnaly I prefer the trim instead of the direct paint as it looks stock not like an after thought like the Brabus.
I passed a tint shop I never noticed before on my way to work today (testing new GPS and it gave a different route) and they have a sign that says they tint head and tail lights. I can't check them out this weekend as I have plans out east but will be checking them out next friday. They are on Rte 109 in North Lindenhurst.



Darth V1 with tint on the center of the tail.

RayWhiteC63

I'm in the process of doing the brabus look as well. I even went to the length of emailing brabus and they weren't a lot of help. Just kept telling me "call us if you would like to soup up your car". Thanks! Anyways, the guy at brabus did however tell me that the lights are taken apart and they paint them on the inside. But he wasn't able to guide me to anyone who actually does it. Again, useless. I don't think you'll be able to have it look exactly like the photo you posted at the beginning of the thread, mainly because of the side vertical strip that looks really hard to decipher, at least for me. I think the chrome template is a safe bet just to see what it looks like before you permanently paint it.

Personally, I like the painted route better than the template, but you have to paint it perfectly! I looked at MNL_ICE's like a hundred times, and although it looks good, I think he painted the centre lines a tad bit too thick. Perhaps it's just me. When I compared it to Darth's, i noticed his centre lines are thinner, and I like those better.

I too am torn and it's driving me f'in nuts. I'm getting my piecha LED lights installed soon and want the shop to paint my tail lights.

Take a look at these 2 pics. Much better. But again, it's the small vertical lines on the outside rim of the tail lights that make this so difficult and I think it's because they paint them from the inside. As you can see from 2 of the 3 pics attached, you can see a sliver of red between the 2 small vertical black lines on the side, if you know what I mean. So it's not simply paint the outside border and then paint 2 horizontal lines. Arrggh, this is driving me nuts too.

Has anyone here ever tried to take apart the tail lights? Do they just come apart or do you have to use heat, etc, ...

Cpbball3

I think I am sadly going to just give my car to the shop and have them do it. I just received my new license plates, just clay barred and polished my car, and summer is coming up. I understand it is a lot but you have to understand that the place I am going to gets M3's SL63's, etc - shipped from California to do work on. They have Lamborghini's everywhere.

I called up multiple places and they quoted $140 for the tail lights just to smoke them out. When I stopped by and showed them what I wanted done, they quivered in their boots (lol), and told me they would have to get back to me. Half of them did and half of them didn't. Only 1 of them said they could do this and it would cost $300. The place was a beat up shop. I rather go to professionals who run a multi-million dollar business and get them done the right way.

The entire brake light needs to be lightly tinted (like 50%) and then they need to tape the inside and paint the entire outside the same color as my black C300. This is pretty intricate work.

I know I am getting buried but I rather it be done properly and pay the extra $100 or so. Just slapped on 19's too. I will take pictures and put them in this thread when it is done.