Helical

We have had some really bad flooding here in South Carolina and unfortunatly my daily driver was lost. It was a 2008 Scion Xb that I put over 100K on the odometer without a single issue. Long story short, I was car shopping with my fiance who was getting upset at all of the dealerships we had gone to that day. We made a last minute stop at CarMax real late in the day and the C300 caught my attention. Well I did stop and look at an EvoX and stared at an A7 before hand. When I checked the C300's price tag I thought it would have high miles. Luckily it only had 21,XXX miles on it and I ended up buying it for under $18K.

The only thing I really do not like about the car is that is smells like the Crayola Factory made the interior.

Being a young male who hates having something anyone can buy and have the exact same car, I intend on doing a few small modifications.

Here is what I want to do if I can:
1) Install my old Pioneer double din and ditch Sirius radio (I stream my music and cannot connect my Iphone)
2) Find a set of aftermarket wheels without breaking the bank.
3) Lower the car for a more aggressive stance
4) MAYBE add the 2400 watt system I had in the last car (I dont want that $3000 system I pieced together to go to waste)
5) Add a few cosmetic changes such as a lip, small subtle spoiler, and touch up some paint
6) X pipe (Already ordered one)

I am sure there is more I will do and some that I wont do. I would hate to lose my heated seats just to have music worth listening too.

I will need advice along the way and I have been googling a lot of things within the past few days.

ghlkal

Congrats on your "new" ride

That's low mileage for a 2008.

Did you check under the seats for old coloring books?

Helical

I need to! If you sniff a box of crayons, you will know how my interior smells exactly!

Alfadude

Did you ask them about the smell? If a car has an unusual odor I would be skeptical in that they might be trying to cover something else up, like a smoker's car or maybe mildew. Or do you think it is just related to normal detailing a dealer would do. Can't say I have ever heard someone describe a car smell like crayons.

black lavender

Crayon smell is normal. You can do a search here and threads have come up by it. My guess is have the vent system deodorized. Mercedes dealer can do this.
2008 with 21xxx sounds like it has been sitting, a lot. I'd have it inspected.

Acapulco Bill

Congrats on your C300 purchase, at 21k miles the engine is just broken in. Since the vehicle is more than 5 years old, changing the AFT is recommended even though 39k miles has not been reached.

Unfortunately there are few aftermarket stereo options for the W204. There is a highly popular thread that describes improving the sound:
https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...r-upgrade.html

Streaming and the iPod - Take your VIN to a Mercedes dealer and check if your 2008 headunit accepts the UMI (Universal Media Interface). This will give you multiple input options plus Nav in some cases. Admittedly the speakers supplied with the stock Audio20 W204 system is one of the auto industry's worst. However the Audio20 headunit has very low distortion output, sports a sophisticated A/D that allows the integrated parametric equalizer to function (a MB dealer can update the headunit's software to give you the EQ and the Aux boost), and the output D/A+amp combo is distortion-free up to clipping. A quality audio signal can be provided by just tapping the high level output speaker wires for both extra amplification or a subwoofer.

As for spending $$$ on sound - if you are going to rely on streaming MP3's as your primary music source, then NO amount of investment will improve the sound. Like they say: "Garbage in, garbage out". The noise will be louder, but not better. It is a fact that between streaming and MP3 compression, only 1/10th of the original musical information will reach the listener. Only music digitalized in Apple Lossless decoded with a 6th generation iPod Classic can equal the quality of an original AIWW CD played directly.

Alfadude

Well, I learned something new there. Thanks.

Just did a search and read up on that. I have only had my car a couple months now and have a lot to learn. Can't say I have noticed that in my car though.

Helical

The system itself is "ok" but I have found a wiring harness that will let me use my old Pioneer AVH P4400BH unit and maintain steering wheel controls. I will more than likely use the Metra kit so that I can relocated the heated seat buttons to the top.

Eric Shields

Having trouble when connecting my phone to the auxiliary outlet, I have sound but the sound is probably half as loud as the cd player/radio.I've tried maxing out the volumes on my phone as well and still not anywhere near. I asked at the MB dealer and they had no ideas.I also called a car audio store,they mentioned there may be a small box inside the dash that has a small volume *** on it,anyone have any input on this?

C300Sport

I seem to recall a lot of guys had those replaced under warranty as they were known to have amplification issues. Do a search on here and see what you can find.

GMTB

So you have COMAND? Did you boost the sound in the Aux menu?

*COMAND Operating Instructions*

Increasing the volume using COMAND
It may be the case that a device which is connected as an external audio source seems quieter or louder in the vehicle, or that the usual maximum volume cannot be achieved. The volume of some devices can be set
separately. In this case, start at a medium volume and then raise it slowly. This enables you to hear if the system can play the music without distortion even at high volumes.

Select Volume in the AUX display by turning the COMAND controller and press to confirm.
A menu appears. The dot indicates the current setting.
Select Standard or Boost and press to confirm.
Standard: the volume of the external audio source is adjusted to a standard value.
Boost: the volume of the external audio source is raised by approximately 10 dB.