i dont know if these kins of threads are allowed.

so well lets start from the begining. im only 16 so obviously i dont own a mercedes yet. the reason i joined is after i get my license oct 10th im oging to be driving around in my mom's white 2001 c240 for a while. i have been driving the c240 for a little more than a year now and im mostly pleased with it.

since im going to get to drive it for a while i was also wondering what a person in my position would do. i was thinking about a chip but i dunno how well my mom will respond to it. does anyone have a ny good arguements i can present to her other than just power increase? maybe some subs? also ive seen alot of chrome door handle things. does anyone have an opinion on them? also remeber ive got maybe $500 to spend, lol.

i dont know what else to add, oh im male, asian, and from texas just do you can have a picture of who i am.

-Elmer

 

chip wont improve power that much. chrome door handles are yuck IMO.

get the flat hood emblem, if thats your style. i would kinda stick with more of the OEM type mods but thats just me.

btw, welcome aboard!

 

In general I agree, but on a white car, I think they actually look ok.

Citron, does your '03 come with the perforated grille as shown below? Or is that new for '05 coupes? I kind of like the perforated look and might like it for my sedan...

 

since it's you're moms car for now, I wouldn't do anything that isn't reversable. Considering you want to stay cheap, but want some mods just to differentiate your C240 from others, I would suggest the following as options:
CL style grill (the cheap one in your case, on EBay for about $110)
flat hood emblem
tint (not really reversable, but not a big deal probably)
door pins

 

Sup c240kid! I'm 16 also! What a small world!

I would pass on the door handles like everyone has said. Go for OEM mods that don't really increase the look, but increase the personal value of the car such as illuminated door sills, or maybe a new interior pattern. Those things stand out to the driver the most.

Next I'd go for a flat hood badge and all the other small things such as a grill, maybe smoked rear lights (i dunno about that on a white car though) and probably new brakes.

WIth a 500$ budget, it'll be hard to find a lot of things that make the largest difference, but hey, a Mercedes is about all the small things right?

 

i retrofitted the 05 grill on my coupe. i was one of the first to have it done. my 03 grill was painted to match the car.

 

Citron, is that XM on the rear window? How did you attach?

 

Thread drifting hehehe

In answer to your question... If your mom is like most mom's, the chip is not going to go over well.
Go for the hood badge....

 

I would generally say no to the door handle inserts, but I agree with DiamondNoir2K5, they look OK on the white car. The tint would also look great on the white car. I agree with everything else posted on the less expensive mods.

Oh, and most importantly....Welcome to the World!!

 

yes its XM. its hardwired to my Aux port of the COMAND. the XM is in the ashtray, hidden so i can still close the cover. the ant is sitting on the rear hatch, the wire is hidden under the headliner then down the b-pillar under tha carpet into the center console. i had the entire center console torn apart to install it. had to dremmel the ashtray to get the xm case to fit, but you cant see any marks, its very clean, no wires at all. the power is tapped in the the cig lighter with a new adpater placed behind the console.

 

i like OEM mods as well. you pay a bit more, but they are well worth it in the end. most of my mods are OEM.

 

welcome! enjoy the 240

 

Welcome to the board.

 

what a wonderful board. everyone seems very mature and well mannered. i thank everyone for all of the opinions. i think im going to order the chrome handles things becasue there are numerous scratches in those areas already. that and some peopel said they look alright with white. and besides they look easy to take on and off.

also the people who said oem mods, i dont know anything about them. anyone have any basic info?

i thought the powerchip DID add alot of power? like around 20 hp and 20 tq? maybe the website i went on just wanted to sell their product a lil too much. from what i hear the c240 is purposely underpowered through the chip by ALOT to lessen competetion with their other lines of cars.

and the whole flat hood emblem thing, is that easily reversible? ill look into it

hopefully ill be on the road exactly one month form now!

oh btw, i just realized i should be a valentine or passport first, because the can be used for any car i might own for the future. also i dont think my parnets care as much about speeding because they just told me i have to pay fo rthe ticket and pay for the classes myself if i get one. but the whole racing thing, im going to start off modest doing 60+ punches. and as i get better we will see

-Elmer

 

here are some of my OEM mods.

AMG brakes, COMAND and Climatronic, convex mirror (hard to see the line), euro strip, electronic folding mirror

 

Sl Ebrake (dont mind the dirty mats) and W211 indicators as well.

I have a few more but those are the ones i have pictures of.

 

The scratches come off. On my mom's white E320, I was able to get the scratches off using a "finishing material". I use 3M Finesse-It. I don't know if they sell it anymore, but it's just a solution of sorts that works very well at getting some scratches out. But, any sort of finishing material/solution should do the trick.
The door handle abrasions do tend to show up a lot more on white cars...

 

plus if you try and take the chrome handle covers off they may leave residue which may be hard to remove. my moms white W124 would get those scratches and they do come out. just a little extra attention when you wax in those areas.

 

I believe that the term "OEM mods" simply means accessories and parts that are manufacturered by MB for your car. This is as opposed to accessories and parts designed and manufacturered by third parties such as tuning houses like Lorinser, Brabus, Carlsson, etc.

So people are recommending OEM mods to you because they are safe. Meaning you can get them from and have them installed by your dealer, if you wanted, and there's little chance of screwing up your car by adding them since they are MB parts.

 

exactly!

plus most of the "OEM Mods" are plug and play.

 

ok, im really into cars so i know about original equipment manufactured parts. but what i didnt know is what mercedes offered and what car lines have interchangeable parts.

citron's post was very nice and informative. i think i like the euro strips but i doubt paying for them to be painted will be worth my time. also i dont think big brakes are needed ill look into the pedals though.

ill try to remove the scratches and then place in the handle things because io just wanna see how they look

IMO the sexiest thing i could maybe do is dual exhuast. it just looks so right on this car. but ill never be able to cus of my mom.

also a question, is the tiptronic able to be used in daily driving? because i tried it and in 1st when i let off the car seemed like it was braking.

-Elmer

 

Those Euro Impact Strips are color coded and come painted. No worries.

 

yeah i paid $120 for the pair, already painted.