I ran into the same issue as everyone else with trying to make something work from the topside of the door. Enough with the guess work and the door panel was removed. Note: There are two T-30 Torx bolts under the armrest to be removed and then just pull on the arm rest itself to pop off the door panel being held on by remaining typical plastic panel clips.

Why Mercedes could not fit a standard threaded metal sleeve instead of the pressure fitted plastic would have to be explained as I don't see why not.

The OEM plastic door pins are just pressure fitted and once pulled off the internal groove near the pin base gets damaged and new pins are required. In one of the pictures you'll see an arrow pointing to a ring on the internal rod and this is what catches the internal groove of the pin.

To make standard threaded pins work they first need to be cut down as they will bottom out on the clip as shown in the picture once in the locked position. The image showing a measurement is in the unlocked position if I recall but needs to be confirmed again.

There will be multiple ways to do this mod once people get more experience. On my first try I just drilled the inside of the "new" pin out so the male section of the pin rod would fit and then the bottom half of the pin needs to be drilled much bigger to clear the ring(5.8mm). The rod stem itself is a tapered. It's 4.75mm under the ring and near the tip steps down to 4.10mm.

Once the pin is drilled out the ring itself will be a "very" tight fit to once again pressure fit the door pin but this time much deeper and hopeful more reliable. Note: I never manually lock/unlock my doors and once this mod is made the door pin will be too short anyways to get a grip on and unlock manually. It's more for looks at this point.

I have to mess with the pin a bit more to drop it another 2mm to match the front pins but ran out of time for now. I also may do some more thinking on the other door to make something easier.

The door rod will fall down if you push to hard from the top. As seen in the pictures the rod (blue line) is held in place by a simple spring clip set-up.

Note: This is a lot of work for some simple door pins and may not be for the faint of heart. I have a full shop of equipment but a simple dremel and hand drill with more patience than I and plenty of skill may get by.

 

We need pictures. This will be invaluable when they are added.

 

Also as far as chrome surrounds I would think the stock plastic ones could be taken to a chrome guy. I have no interest in chromes surrounds but I do have a guy that does metal polishing and chroming so if anyone wants to send me some surrounds to drop off I can do that.

I'm also thinking some black chrome pins may look nice on this car to blend in more.

The pins I have now I bought off e-bay from this company in Germany. Expect 4 weeks for U.S. delivery. They are aluminum with a nice chrome plating. When I cut the pins there was no sign of flaking.
http://chrome-tec.de/catalog/product...roducts_id=127

 

the carbon fiber ones of ebay with a slight accent chrome top match very well to the interior and black birds eye maple

all chrome stick out a little much, but look way nicer than oem for sure

 

Awsome, Thanks for the pics. So your aluminum pin is still a press on deal right? Why not crimp the bottom of the pin below the "5.8mm ring" to keep it from coming off ever?
RickP

 

I don't worry about the door pin coming of as no one will ever tug on it and it's pressed on much deeper than stock and pretty tight. I'm just not sure I am totally happy with the arrangement but it was my first try and I was in a hurry.

I got to thinking and ideally I would cut the plastic OEM rod below the ring and fit a male sleeve over it and crimp that. It would then have door pin threads on the opposite side to work like the fronts. Now I have to see if there is such a part or something close to work with or I'll machine something.

 

I admire you guys for doing all that work. Keep it up!

 

This is great info. Thanks for the pics and direction. Hopefully others will build on your work and have a more detailed steps to replace those ugly plastic door pins in the back.

BTW, When you say its a lot of work for a door pin. Is that to take off the door (?) or to fit a good looking door pin (?) From your post, it sounds like taking the door apart is like a 10 min job.

 

In the end I just took coarse sandpaper and got rid of the ring circled above altogether. What I was left with was a tapered peg of sorts now.

From there I had to drill the aftermarket door pin out two times to make a step for the tapered plastic peg to fit nice and tight. Add a little glue and a day later all is set and not going anywhere. Now the rear pins sit flush like the fronts.

The door panels can be taken of in a minute or so after the first time and you get familiar. That's the easy part if you have the torx bit. I say a lot of work as there are many modifications to be made for a simple door pin and I can't see why the rears could not have been threaded like the front.

The steps need for a flush rear door pin:
1) Cut and debur pins as there is not enough clearance internally to drop down far enough if not cut and wanting to sit flush.
2) Drill out pin to fit original plastic shaft. 2 step drilling to fit tapered shaft is best.
3) Sand off plastic ring and cutoff tip of plastic shaft down to where the indentation starts.
4) Glue and fit pin.

Now the above may not sound too difficult but for a clean job and perfectly alignment tools are needed. I have a mill with digital readout so I can drill both pins out equally so they sit the same height, a cut-off saw, de-burring tools, etc.

Sorry I didn't stop to take pictures this time as I wanted to get the job done.

 

Thanks for all of the tips. I cut my rears down and drilled a bit deeper now they sit almost flush which is fine with me. I still went with the pressure fitting method, no one will be able to grab the pin to unlock it. I'll try to take some pics this weekend.

 

the B Class door pins from mercedes can be fitted to the C class, i did that and works perfectly

 

link?

I am talking about the rear... do they already come with the correct pressure fitting or do you have to drill and modify for the rear?

 

i am yet to do the rear, finished the front, they hardly cost 1 pound each