drexappeal

That's for sure, John. Did you make it to San Diego today?

I really wish I could've made it, but I knew the timing would be bad because I didn't want to rush the body shop.

rlee02135

looks hot! nice work Drex!

j_belll

that front end looks sick!

good job wit it.

FrankW

if the # i sent to was the right one...lol ends with 1852...you should get it in a bit...basically said "soo much better than i expected and what about them sprinkled donuts!!" lol AT&T FTL!! signal's been sucking since they changed the name...you'll probably get my text two hr later or something...

drexappeal

Thanks, T! Only thing is, I didn't realize that the impact strips would be imbeded into the bumper, so when they had asked (through k1 motorsport) me if I needed a new impact strip, I didn't realize that it was a question about the chrome strip! So, I'm probably, eventually have the impact strip re-done (if it's reversable) or see if it would be possible to cut out the ones that are molded in and put in the Euro Impact Strips. We'll see, but it's not going to be an urgent priority. It was the quad fogs (along with slight differences from the Expression bumper), that made me go with this kit. That and also being such an "exclusive" kit since nobody else has shown pics of having it in North America.

BTW, never found out if you have your car back. Any updates?

drexappeal

Oh, no. I texted you my new #. Remember, my freakin' issue with Sprint!

I'll text u right now, so you can reply.

FrankW

i thought the one i had was the new number you had...unless I didn't actually press "save" when I updated the number and thought I did...

splinter

Oh yeah, like ants at a picnic. Can't keep me away...lol! Had a fine time. Good people that SD crew. Mike, Frank, Gregr09 made the trek too. My fourth GTG since first inviting myself to that first one in Irvine last January.

No worries, the real photographers will have pics up soon. Besides, you had some important business to take care of. IMHO, you closed the deal!

drexappeal

Thank You, rich.

And you were very close with your guess. TruTaing thought Expression and MH-Dezent were the same company (actually, many others thought that too), but they're in different countries. If anything, I'd think they are affiliated somehow, but not the same company.

drexappeal

Thanks. Long time coming. Many people know I have been contemplating which body kit for the past 2 years.

For the past 3 years, it went from Brabus (before I did some research and found other companies), to Carlsson RS, to Expression, to Rieger (new style) Front Bumper w/ Expression skirts and rear, to MH-Dezent (after someone pointed out the differences between that and the Expression bumper).

The problem was, majority of the shops I spoke with either wouldn't do it (cuz it would be a pain in the butt) or they just didn't have means to do it or didn't trust MH-Dezent.

No matter the case, I finally got it, it's been a long time coming and am VERY happy with the outcome. Now (aside from my trunk spoiler and exhaust muffler), my car is Full MH-Dezent (side skirts, rear valance, front bumper, front grille and roof spoiler).

nlpamg

sickness!

drexappeal

That's great! I didn't go to any meets my 1st year on here. After that, it was all downhill and definitely agree with your sentiments of it being addicting.

To think, you've already been to 4 after 1 year ago being your first! That's pretty darn good, John. AND, to think, you couldn't even make it to the first one...LOL.

Yes, I definitely closed the deal and a VERY good one thanks to Frank's recommendation. The owner and technicians at Autocraft were very accomodating and informed me of all the possibilities/pitfalls of what I wanted. They were up front with what they could and couldn't do and that's more than I can expect out of any business deal! Went through without any major hitches.

rlee02135

rich???

i'm Robert

BadAssC230k

thats it?!?!!?



haha, so just kiddin! Looks hawt man. kick *** & good job! so does that mean your 'done' with your car?

drexappeal

My bad, robert. I was thinking robert and typed rich...LOL.

FrankW

one of them makes the stuff for the other (my guess would be Expression makes it for MH-Dezent based on Expression being around longer). mh-dezent's german and expression's belgian.

drexappeal

LOL...I know, right? All that wait for this b.s.!...LOL. It looks so much better than I thought it would, so I'm definitely happy.

Done with the car?... I said that I was done with modding for about 2 seconds the other night at Jose's pad, but everybody knows that's not true. In order, my next projects are 1) Brake upgrade (I'm definitely gonna need new brakes soon), 2) OEM Steve stuff (i.e. IMS, Euro Comand - if I don't do aftermarket, some other stuff), 3) Interior dressing (slight changes, either paint or something else), 4) Engine Dressing (Probably paint, but not 100% sure). It all depends if I decide to just stop now and start to invest the money elsewhere. I'm probably going to make my budget if I stop at the Steve installs...but all of this will be going on piece by piece. And that's not even considering custom stuff that comes along and still gotta put on my rear camber kit.

BTW, saw your post and glad they fixed everything under warranty. At least you can get back on the right track.

drexappeal

Really, Frank? My guess would've been vice-versa, cuz MH-Dezent's logo was on all the "Expression" grilles. And initially, on the Expression website, they didn't have the roof spoiler available (only available on the MH-Dezent website). Who knows. Just happy it came out as good as it did.

rlee02135

No prob.

Do you have the fogs hooked up?
I remember you saying you can't have quad fogs in California...

FrankW

no clue... cross breed FTW!!! LOL but on second thought the pic on expression site for the C looks chopped around the plate. lol you might be right on

OT: the R171 Expression kit is HOT!

drexappeal

Fogs aren't wired at all yet. The intention was to do it at the shop, but they had to mount it in order for it to be fully complete and since the bumper wasn't off, it was too hot for my cousin and I to do it there. Wiring will hopefully take place tonight.

As for quad fogs in Cali, yes, the law is that you are allowed to have 2 assemblies illuminated at one time (1 set headlights, 1 set fog lights). Since our headlamps also have the parking lights integrated into 1 assembly, that actually counts for just 1 set of lights (even though there is a set of parking lights). So, initially, I was planning on having a secondary trigger for the 2nd set of foglights. Since bensitto had a quad foglight setup, I asked him how he went about having the wiring done and I will be following in his footsteps.

It'll be 1 set powered through the wires for the parking lights. The other set will be tapped into the OEM foglight wires. I thought this would cause problems for "bulb out" warning, but my cousin (who is my #1 wiring consultant) has told me that incandescent bulbs don't read wattage. The wires just read LOAD, so as long as there is the minimum amount of power being supplied to the bulbs, it should be fine. The reason LED's don't work is because it has a much lower load than regular incandescent bulbs, therefore, we require a Load equalizer in order to use LED's.

drexappeal

Freak, yeah! Love that kit. That and the hardcore kit that MKB has for the w211!

14cue

yeah bro, those quads are sweet! it's got me thinking now :P if i still keep the car i should do something (bodykit?) to spice things up a bit.

as for my car i got her back a while ago, here are some pictures from our summer meets:
https://mbworld.org/forums/showpost....&postcount=126

SlvrC230SS

Wow, finally, That's hot

drexappeal

Have the Brabus w209 front bumper custom fit to your car! Now that's exclusive! I know it'll be a lot of work, but it'll also be the only one with the w209 Brabus and quad fogs. I know, I know. I'm the worst influence when it comes to "saving" money on mods...