michail71

Back a few weeks ago I got the idea to try a paddle shifter retrofit on my car. I did a little digging around and found that owners of pre-facelift cars were getting the new wheels and sometimes discovering that the paddle shifters on their new wheels where working.

I started checking around some shops and was told by several that this was not possible. One said it didn't work on the later model cars. I was told I would need a new can gateway, TCU flashes, ECU upgrade, new wiring, etc. I was even told the transmission didn't support it. None of that made any sense to me. Especially the transmission not supporting the paddles. For one the stick does the same thing and the 7GTronic Plus is in many manual shift mode cars.

I started doing more digging with MB Marco and it started to look like it should be possible so I bought a wheel on ebay with paddle shifters.

After it arrived I swapped out the wheel and then nothing worked, not the buttons, horn, shifters, etc. MB Marco suggested I swap out the controller as that needs to be done between certain model years.

I did a tear down of both wheels side by side and the I made some interesting discoveries. My new wheel came with a lane assist vibration motor. However, the controller board did not have any pins. It had the socket but there were no pins for the motor to contact. This made me wonder if the controller had already been swapped. Or Mercedes may have just left motors in some wheels?

The next thing I discovered is everything inside the wheel was identical. The contact plate, the circuit board, pin connections, etc. Even my non paddle wheel had the internal structure to support the paddles. It only lacked the cutout and hole for the screw.

I put everything back together but used my original controller board in the new wheel. Once I put that on the car everything worked, including the paddles!

So it would appear if you have a later model facelift car you can easily retrofit paddle shifters to your car. The 2013 C250 I have only came with paddle shifters in the Sports Plus package as part of dynamic handling.

I would suspect someone good with a dremel could modify their wheel to take the paddles.

I have the SCN codes but now I just need to find someone that can program full manual mode in my car. Unfortunately Funkwagen is a bit far away.

MB Marko

I really really hope when I get the AMG steering wheel I can get this to work, I still have my doubts but I guess will see.

michail71

As long as that wheel nut comes off it should be an easy swap.

I have a strong suspicion the AMG paddle would work in a non-AMG W204 wheel. The base looks the same as it does on the flat top/single screw paddle style. From there it a matter of connector. If you need to swap out your wheel controller it's just a matter of getting the wiring hooked up. These things are just big buttons.

michail71

Even though I only have gear limit mode now it has changed my driving style somewhat. I keep the car in E mode and downshift when power is needed or cornering. Doing a short hold on either the downshift paddle or stick drops the gear down for maximum power. Even just a single downshift in most circumstances produces a nice throttle response.

I also think it may impact the peddle curve as well to be more predictable.

ghlkal

Wow. Nice mod.

michail71

Yeah, and kind of easy and inexpensive too. I haven't seen it done much because facelift owners haven't been messing with their wheels very much.

In gear limit mode I discovered that if you start off in D2 you can punch it and get a nice automatic Sport/Sport+ mode up to the speed limit or reasonable road speed. You can upshift to get 3rd when ready. It will launch in D1 without hesitation or early shifts. Then do a hold on the upshift to shift up and cruse.

This would work with even the stick so anyone could give it a try. It gets rid of the throttle delay and makes the car driveable.

ghlkal

OK, I'm going to have to try this.

michail71

Let me know how it goes. With the paddles I find I do this all the time now and it has transformed the car handling.

Even with just the stick it will work. Put the car in D2 when you need a good power start. It's like a whole different car .

michail71

Here is a photo that shows the connections for the paddle shifters. If your existing wheel controller has these pins you should be able to add paddles or swap out with a wheel that has them.

You can get a view of these by just unlatching the airbag. In the above photo I had done some disassembly of the wheel internals.

My car is a US model 2013 C250. There are reports on here that US cars didn't come pre-wired but mine was.

MB Marko

I'm going to go out and do this now F*** it! hahaha I can't wait.

michail71

Best of luck!

mykthex

Quick question, does the paddles comes with the wheel or I can order them at the dealer separatly?

I really want the paddles but I don't want to spend a lot of money to get the whole steering wheel. (I have a 2013 C350 coupe)

michail71

I have seen them sold on ebay separate from wheels. Dealer cost would probably be close to what you could get a wheel for on ebay.

To do this you would need to still take the wheel off and do some custom drilling and Dremel work.

I'd be nervous about it but I would say it's possible. The wheels and wheel control module are otherwise identical, except for the lack of the cutouts.

WhiteonBlack

Do you mind posting some pictures of the before and after of the steering wheel install. i really want to do this mod to my 2013 C250 since mine didn't come with paddles either

michail71

I didn't really take any because there were so many in the w204 steering wheel facelift retrofit thread. It's basically the same job but a little easier.

The only hard parts are paying for the new wheel and getting the factory wheel bolt off.

Isaac13

Just finished installing paddles on my 2013 C350. I bought a set of paddles from a 2014 C63 black series 507 edition on eBay. Removed battery connections even though I didn't even disconnect the airbag. Removed the cover, cut out the hole. Mounted them up, and so far so good. Excellent mod and would not have been possible for me without this thread. So thank you for sharing this information.

Isaac13

how can I set my vehicle into manual mode now. I was trying to understand what u were saying. I need some special program? Is there anyway for me to be able to switch the program to manual without going to a dealership? Thanks

MB Marko

dealership won't do this. you need to find someone to code it into full manual mode for you. theres members that do this you just need to dig around. hopefully you live close to them or it might be a pain to get this done.

Jasen

Hello,

I've 2012 C300 4matic i like to get this done. can anyone tell me if mine has prewires for paddle shift? any help really appreciated.

Thanks

MB Marko

pop the air bag off only way to tell and its not hard to do.

Jasen

Thanks Mark. Isaac also help me on this as well. Now that I know my steering are pre-wired should I install c63 steering wheel? Or cut my current steering?

Thanks guys,

Jasen

MB Marko

buy a used/new one you can get a good deal if you shop around. call auto wreckers and see if they have any. you can use your air bag if you get the same shaped wheel. so it doesn't matter if the air bag has deployed, because you can take apart your old wheel like I did and switch all internals. It's pretty easy to do.

Jasen

Ok sounds good. I'm assuming if I want full functional paddle I would need the dealer to add code to my car?

Thanks,

MB Marko

mine was plug and play nothing else needed. just make sure you change your current steering wheel internals into the new wheel. I've read that you have to do that or the lights in the wheel won't work. I didn't want to risk doing it so I took mine apart the total job took about 30 Minutes. to get the wheel off, take it a part, put the new one together, and on.

Jasen

Since my steering wheel got the lane assist and will i still have the lane assist in the new steering?