NISMAS

has anyone bought s63 style grille from ebay where they say cruise control compatible, will it work with distronic or i will need oem distronic plate anyway?
as i understand it is not working because of chrome paint inside the plate which is painted black, it must be only chromed lines not all chromed and painted black between lines, the chrome is blocking beams?
if there is no aftermarket grille working with distronic at all, maybe someone has oem distronic plate number?

NISMAS

anybody? did you buy oem distronic plates or distronic works with some aftermarket grille?

zam2000

It will only fit the 2010-later W211, if you have 2007-2009, you will have to replace the bumper for it to fit.

If you have OEM distronic, it will not work (will distort the signal).

Look nice & pretty well built though. I bought one from ebay and it helps to improve the look of the front.

NISMAS

i already have full facelift from s63 but i need only the grille, and i need it to work with 2006 distronic, the only solution is new distronic plate from mercedes?

NISMAS

so nobody have s65 style grille working with distronic?

NISMAS

i found the number for plate, it's 2218880041, but it is insane expensive, the plastic price is like gold now?
does anybody bought cheap china or taiwan made grille which is working with distronic? where i can find it?
does this "cruise control compatible" grille will work with distronic??
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-AMG-STYLE-FRONT-UPPER-CHROME-GRILLE-GRILL-10-11-MERCEDES-BENZ-S-CLASS-W221-/360452078348?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories &hash=item53ec9e3b0c&vxp=mtr

zam2000

Just a quick update to this thread. I ran my car through the automated car-wash over the weekend, and the plate that fake the distronic-radar fell off.

Turn out they use some cheap silicon to glue it to the grill, pretty easy to get off with heat & pressing from the car wash place. The plate is all scratch, so no point for me to put it back.

Since I have no intention to change the way my car get washed , I put back the original grill.

I'll wait til they get a version without that fake distronic plate.

Samclove

Has anyone converted their 2006 S600 with the cruise control system to the grill with the emblem in it? If so where did you find the compatible grill w/ the distronic star? What size did you use the W220 or W221.

Thanks!

SwineHund550

Did the $199 S65 grill off ebay...
Mine had some nasty stone hits so i figured i would replace it.
They appear to be second rate "Blems" rejected by Benz.
Quality is so so...not perfect but better than what i had.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mercedes-Ben...c6efcb&vxp=mtr

SwineHund550

In the pics i centered the distronic plate to line up with the louvers after i took those.

DaveW68

I'm pretty sure that Ebay grilles are made in either Taiwan or China.


I see that you have an IL plate. Where you located?

SwineHund550

Im in Bensenville
The grills are made in China for Benz.

DaveW68

Ahh.....Whenever I think of Bensenville, the Victory Auto Wreckers commercial that they still air from 1977 comes to mind with the door falling off the early 70's Chevy. "That old car is worth money." LOL


I'm in Crystal Lake....just a short 45 minute jaunt away.

snovvman

Do you have Distronic? If yes, does it still work correctly? If in fact they are just cosmetic blems of OEM, I would presume so, but other posts seem to suggest differently. Thanks.

SwineHund550

Yep... 5 mins from the house. They need to pull those old TV spots.
I do not have the Distronic.

SwineHund550

A lot of car parts are molded in China and sent to auto makers. Im sure they learned like the other companies here in this country that China will stab anyone in the back.
More tooling Fab is now staying domestic.

wywywywy

The aftermarket distronic plate is NOT the same as the MB factory one.

The construction is different, so it's not a case of them being rejects. And obviously they do not work.

I happen to have a pic of both the aftermarket and the factory ones side by side. I'll post a pic tonight.

snovvman

Thanks for the info and looking forward to the photo. Do you know if the aftermarket grille can accept the factory Distronic plate? In other words, do all the clips and mounting points line up?

ibeforreal

I don't think anyone makes a grille that will properly fit the distronic cover other than MB.

DaveW68

I really don't see what the problem is. The plate is only a plastic shield to keep the distronic sensor clean. The only way that the aftermarket one shouldn't work is if it has some special reflective tint that doesn't let the radar signal through.

snovvman

Based on my readings, the aftermarket finish (perhaps the chrome strips) interferes with Distronic.

snovvman

I asked because I read that someone bought an aftermarket grille and a factory plate. I too doubted that it's a direct fit, so I wanted to make sure.

DaveW68

Doubtful. It's plastic and radar easily penetrates plastic. Perhaps you should just order one from Gary. He sells them for cheap and I haven't heard of any problem with his grilles.

wywywywy

Okay here are the pictures.
Click on them for higher resolution.

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Firstly the front of the grilles. Top is aftermarket, bottom is genuine. It's hard to tell from the pic but the chrome finish on the distronic plate is slightly different.







Then the back of the grilles. Again top is aftermarket, bottom is genuine. They seem to have come out from the same mould, but the plastic welding is not the same.







This is a close up of the distronic plate of the aftermarket part.







And this is a close up of the distronic plate of the genuine part. You can see a hole to the left of the plate with some sort of glue (silicone?) filled in, which is NOT present on the aftermarket grille, and this may be of significance.







Looking at the last two pics, I reckon you can fit a genuine plate on an aftermarket grille, although it might need glueing. But you can't buy the plate on its own anyway so it doesn't really matter.

DaveW68

Great photos and write-up. Honestly, since the shield is only there to keep the distronic sensor from getting mucked up, I really don't see anything there that would have any negative effect using the after-market part.