JSpam1990

Dear MBWorld,
Hello~ I am new to the Mercedes community and the website. I would like to share my experience with everyone. Recently a 2003 Brilliant Silver E320 came into my posession. Due to a lack of financial capacity, I was only able to make cheap and little changes to my E320. I changed the halogen light bulbs to the blue tinted "fake" xenons. It looked cool for a while but later it ended up causing a fire in my headlight unit. While I was at the University of Virginia, I was driving through the country with my high beams on for over 20 minutes. Upon reaching my destination, my friend told me that there was a small fire in my car. I thought he was joking but there was seriously a fire on my headlight unit. I blew at it and the fire expanded. Had not I had a Arizona Ice tea in my car, I would have been unable to do anything about it. Fortunately the fire was vanquished with the liquid tea. Fortunately my car was still fully functional and I was able to return back to Northern Virginia.



So what got pwned...
-My Left Headlight Unit
-My Hood Cables (Causing my hood to jam)
-The underside of my hood

And that was pretty much it.
But since it was still a considerable amount of money, I decided to go through insurance and get my bumper exchanged as well. My stock original bumper had considerable damage to it.

And this is when God showed me the light. That this was a blessing in disguise. For the longest time I had researched and dreamed about doing an AMG front bumper conversion, but had neither the money nor the knowledge to do this conversion.

This is when I have to say that, I read through hours of forums, went through many different websites, and even went to Mercedes about a conversion, but had no absolute answer. Some websites said just Grill, Bumper and components, while some added just the brackets, and some added inner components, and some added even the hood and the undertray.



After realizing the hassle I had almost decided to go with the more simple E55 conversion. But fortunately, my friend and old roomate with a 2009 C63 AMG and my friend with an Evo IXMR convinced me that I should go with the E63 front.




After hours and months of browsing around online, I figured out that the headlights, hood, side fenders don't have to be changed. But from the W211 Facelift from the 2003-2006 models to the 2007-2009 models, the grille is definitely different and there was much discussion about the difference between the innards.

This is the quoted parts from another mbworld forum
https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/...ok-inside.html

209-820-07-56 Fog Lamp Left $202.00
209-820-08-56 Fog Lamp Right $202.00
211-520-15-22 Engine Undertray $240.00
211-820-09-21 Bumper Blinker Left $37.00
211-820-10-21 Bumper Blinker Right $37.00
211-880-17-83-9040 Grill (Non Distronic) $306.00
211-880-18-83-9040 Grill w/Distronic $825.00
211-880-17-05-9999 Headlamp Washer Cover Left $26.00
211-880-18-05-9999 Headlamp Washer Cover Right $26.00
211-880-07-03 Center Inner Plastic Support $16.50
211-880-09-03 Inner Plastic Support Left $36.00
211-880-10-03 Inner Plastic Support Right $36.00
211-885-40-25 Bumper Cover (Cars w/headlight washers) $1420.00
211-885-10-22-9040 Tow Hook Cover Black $39.50
211-885-23-21 Chrome Trim For Bumper Left $40.00
211-885-24-21 Chrome Trim For Bumper Right $40.00
211-885-13-53 Center Mesh $160.00
211-885-17-53 Fog Light Surround Left $145.00
211-885-18-53 Fog Light Surround Right $145.00
211-885-13-37 Impact Absorber Center $26.00
211-885-15-37 Impact Absorber Left $24.50
211-885-16-37 Impact Absorber Right $24.50
211-885-03-16 Reinforcement For Lower Bumper center $28.50 (This part bonds to the inside of the bumper on the lower center I would use window urethane
to bond to bumper)
211-885-05-16 $12.50 reinforcement for left side of bumper lower
211-885-06-16 $12.50 reinforcement for right side of bumper lower
211-885-07-16 Reinforcement For Lower Bumper $25.00 (This part bonds to the inside of the bumper on the lower Left side I would use window urethane to bond to bumper)
211-885-08-16 Reinforcement For Lower Bumper $25.00 (This part bonds to the inside of the bumper on the lower Right I would use window urethane to bond to bumper)
211-887-03-27 Pull For Hood Latch $5.50 (This replaces pull on E55 hood latch)
002-998-51-81 Retaining Clip For Mesh $5.31 (Order 6)
003-994-05-45 Speed Nut For Fog Surround $2.00 (Order 6)
000000-000479 Screw For Fog Surround $1.70 (Order 6)
003-994-86-45 Speednut For Foglight $0.70 (Order 8)
000000-000521 Screw For Foglight $0.70 (Order 8)
000-990-54-92-9051 rivet .98 (Order 6)

The total comes out to be $3500 for this front face conversion.
But the thing about this is that not all these components are necessary. A lot of them maintained the same through the facelift.

The undertray does not need to be changed
The lower reinforcements have nowhere to latch onto for the previous models, so they were deemed unnecessary
You DO need to order a longer hood latch as the grille is more protruding.

After doing a lot of research and digging around online, I compiled a long list of options and parts. I came down to a very strong internal struggle between going the cheaper aftermarket parts and expensive OEM Mercedes parts.

Now don't get me wrong. After doing tons of research I have deemed that the aftermarket front bumpers seem to be one heck of a deal. They guarantee perfect shipment for latching onto the car as well as fitment for a front carbon spoiler. They're made of polypropylene which is more durable and resilient than fiberglass. And their ebay ratings were fantastic.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/07-09...Q5fAccessories

http://www.cargym.com/mercedesbenz-w...it-p-1968.html

But the one large downside of these bumpers is the mesh grille quality. You can see it clearly in the pictures that they are not of the same quality, nor does the center grille rise diagonally the way the stock one does.

But even on parts.com and various websites, the E63 front bumper is north of $850. Used ones were in shabby condition, and aftermarket ones did not seem very reliable. At a tough crossroads, I found this:

http://www.prestigebumpers.com/20mee63amgfr.html

Rated A- by the Better Business Beareau, and highly regarded on various forums, prestige bumpers takes Mercedes Bumpers and recycles them by making them pretty much brand new again. When I received mine, I could hardly tell it wasn't brand new. I was fortunate that the last front bumper they had was with no parking sensors or headlamp washers.



I also needed new headlights. In my search I ran into these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2003-...Q5fAccessories

Plug and play bi-xenon headlamps (pair) for only $500! The stock halogen headlamp is around $500 and the Bi-xenon one is close to $1500. I had my doubts but once again, their 99.5% Rating says they must be something right! They had many guarantees as well so I went ahead, bit the bullet, and ordered.

I received them a couple days later with fast and excellent shipping


I ordered my main grill and 3 mesh grills from parts.com. Never dissapoints!





Fog Lights and Side Markers from Ebay:


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...d=310260540268

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/FREE-...Q5fAccessories



I also ordered some LED's to complete my car's 8000k look.

From our very own AZN Optics of MBworld forum ($17)
https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...ew-thread.html
T10 8000k DRL for my center lights

HID Kit for fog lamps: ($75)
http://tspny.com/8000k

iJDMToy for DRL strips ($35)
http://store.ijdmtoy.com/Switch-Back...e_strip_5c.htm

These are very cool lights. They have super bright diodes that emit blue normally and yellow when you turn. Unfortunately throughout this entire conversion I have had a terrible experience with this company. Even though its $35 and cheap, I have just ordered my SIXTH LED strip to try and get two that work. Even now my car has not been fully completed due to this one infraction. I recommend and warn you. It is a great product, but the company has the tendency to really screw up and not take responsibility at times. But I have to say, I have had many pleasant transactions before.

Anyways. I went ahead and ordered all the parts and took it to
RE:Vision Auto Salon in Rockville, MD.
http://www.revisionauto.com/


And pretty much after that, they took care of the rest.

So here we go ladies and gentlemen,
Before:


After:



The whole conversion cost only about $1800 opposed to the $3500 estimate. If you just shop around online and find good deals, you can make your W211 go from classy to amazingly sexy.

I had my hesitations with 8000k, but I've come to the conclusion that if projectors are used so that it's not just blaring blue-ness and they are coordinated well with your other lights, they can look fantastic. They are not very blue at all. The description on my lights came as "pale blue" and I think that's a very good way to phrase it. White with a tint of blue.

Revision Auto Salon truly did a superb job and I definitely commend them and recommend them to anyone.

All the parts and people that I communicated with and ordered from provided excellent service and products (with the exception of ijdmtoy). I hope that I can help promote your products.

I will post more pics once the other LED light strip is installed.

I hope this conversion guide helped some people and if you have any questions feel free to PM me. I will also post a list of the exact innards necessary for the conversion.

Thank you

Future plans for my car:
-AMG Rims
-Tints
-E55 Rear Bumper
-Front Carbon Lip
-Rear Carbon Diffuser
-Rear Carbon Spoiler
-Quad Exhaust
-Viper Remote Car Start System

djrabbi

Looks good buddy. I was going to do the E63 also but I had parking sensors so they don't fit in the E63 bumpers....The headlights aren't OEM if that is what you were saying? Also I think DRL is too much? I think if you put it as a sidemarker option as in paint the sidemarkers and take that wire to the DRL...

Maddic

+1
For a nice front transformation! Interesting to see one pic of the front bumper is without side vents, but others do have them on...

The LED DRL is too bling for my tastes though...

JSpam1990

There is a way of converting the parking sensors, but it requires a lot more work. There's a post about that on this forum somewhere.

t-bone

The vents are there in all the pics. You just have to look a little closer due to the angle of the photo. You can still see the bottom of the vents in the pic where you probably think they are not there.

Good job on the conversion.

Any plans for the rear?

JSpam1990

Thanks t-bone.
I am planning to do the E55 rear bumper and get C63 amg mufflers or E63 mufflers. I actually like the trunk and rear tail lights design of the pre-face lift better. After that I'll probably add a carbon spoiler and diffuser

nikkatine

Nice work. Looks great. I noticed you used the fog lights from ebay made by DEPOT. Those fit, but if you noticed, they leave quite a large gap around the bezel. If you use the OEM mercedes ones, you will notice they are a little longer and shaped a little differently so that they fit perfectly into the housing. But they do cost twice as much. Either way, nice ride. How are those headlights? Do they shine far out like the stock ones? How is the cut-off?

WHTEVO

That bumper looks really good on that car. Great job.

Aaron

b16gsr

looks good

Mackhack

Very nice and although I like the new LED strips at the new E/S-Class and also at the new Audi's having the round ones and the LED strips mounted just doesn't look right!

Still B+ for the whole conversion. A+ if you take the LED strips out again

lasvegas99

Looks great . Read a couple times and did not see how much the labor ran to do the swap. How much was that?

stevbo200

anybody see these led lights, http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...category=33710

tbal

Anyone have suggestions on where to order these parts online? Hopefully somebody that accepts paypal....

parts.com had good prices, but dont take paypal, or allow shipping to a different address other than the credit card billing address.

JSpam1990

I apologize for the late replies. I will answer the questions in order

The headlights needed some aligning but they look fantastic. The pictures above do not do the lights justice. I knew from reading previous posts that there would be people who oppose it, but when you see it in person they look fantastic. All of my lights are 8k and believe it or not, it's not blue at all. The LED's also turn yellow when I turn and are in the same position as on the new E63 which makes it look almost stock.

Here are the exact parts needed for the conversion.
Exterior Parts:
RT Side Marker Lamp-30.23
LT Side Marker Lamp-30.23
RT Chrome Strip-36.08
LT Chrome Strip-36.08
Tow eye cap iridium silver-36.08
LT Chrome Strip-36.08

Interior:
RT Outer Reinf w/e63-36.00
LT Outer Reinf w/e63-36.00
Center reinf-16.50
RT Rail insulator-4.50
LT Rail Insulator-4.50
Release Cable Front-41.25

Labor, Body-13 Hours-$520.00
Labor, Mechanical- 2 hours-$190.00
Labor, Refinish- 6.3 Hours- $252.00
Material, Paint- 6.3 Hours- $176.40

Any more questions?
I'm going to make a video post of the lights soon.

I also did the service e on my car (2 air filters and cabin air filter), oil change, changed all 4 brakes and rotors, replaced a hydraulic pump problem in the car which was fortunately factory covered from a recall, replaced a broken steering knuckle, got new rear tires, and I have to say after all that, at 77,000 miles, my car is running great.

Is there any recommendations on things I should change to better maintain the car?

tbal

Thank! Parts.com has better prices for all those parts you listed.

JSpam1990

Mackhack

How do you have the DLR on without having the head lights being turned on?

merc687

hey your car looks amazing. and the information you provided was superb. initially i thought it was impossible but after reading your info, it seems like that it can be done but it requires some patience

i had a question about the headlights you got from the ebay. are they plug and play because i remember if you needed facelift headlight it requires different harness or something. i guess you mentioned that there was alignment issue?
thank you

djrabbi

you need 18's for sure!!!! i have a set for sale....those stocks are killing the car!

wampa

I agree, plus some sideskirts and a flat badge

Conversion looks good.

JSpam1990

Hahaha Thank you guys

To answer some of your questions,
If you move the light switch to the one right next to auto, it just has my DLR's on. If you pull it out, the fog lights turn on. I usually cruise during the day with just my DLR's/+Fog Lights sometimes. And I usually don't use my foglights at night unless visibility is bad.

The headlights I ordered off of Ebay did need some re-aligning, but honestly, my stock OEM halogen headlights needed alignment back in the day too. You just have to get it adjusted and it looks great. I'll take a picture of it later. The only thing I want to say is that they aren't "Auto-Leveling" which Mercededs Bi-xenon's usually are.

The Headlights come with everything you need for an E320/E500. Depo specifically makes those headlights for the pre-facelift W211.

JSpam1990

desired_speeds

great conversion and info, but my gosh, get some wheels! hahah I'm sure you've heard it all already though.

JSpam1990

I have finally succumb to all the peer pressure
Brand new E63 OEM rims with new wheels are now being shipped to me

I will post pics soon

djrabbi

did you end up getting the wheels from Al? I hope it works out!