Krypton

Hey folks,

Wanted to say hi to all of you members! I am a new Mercedes owner...well my wife is. I have always been a BMW lover and fan but I fear that I may be converting to MB with the new design 2015 onwards!

I have been an active member of the Bimmerpost forums and I hope to be able to gain a ton of knowledge, experience and information through this forum and eventually be able to contribute in some way down the line.

My wife is not big in to mods but I am so I registered here to see what all I can do to our new 2015 C300 (initially only things that don't void the warranty )

Feel free to come up with recommendations/suggestions on what all I can start with and what my options are.

A few things that I am going to get done:
-Clear bra
-Window tints
-Illuminated star on the front grill (not sure)
-I want to install or get a rear view camera installed - not sure if I should get this done at a dealership or some other shop or is it even possible to do it by myself?
-Fog lights
-CF wrap or paint the bottom silver lip below the bumper (not sure what it is called) to black - not sure if this can even be done. It is chrome at the moment.

Any other recommendations/suggestions? I want to see if I can get the auto start stop on traffic lights programmed to stay off permanently.

Thanks in advance for the welcome and all recommendations/suggestions folks! Looking forward to some fun times and conversations with ya'll!!!

Cheers
Sam.

rbrylaw

Welcome! There are lot's of threads on many different mods littered here. I'm sure some will chime in with things they did. The only thing I did was tint my windows, so I can't help you much, but wanted to say hey anyway!

ManiacGT

Welcome!

Yeti575

I too recently converted from BMW to MB. This is a nice place for info

Enjoy your stay !

OSMS_Carlsson

Welcome, I am sure you will find lots of good ideas here. If you are looking to do some cosmetic mods you don't need to be too concerned about warranty, doing some cosmetic mods will not void your warranty.
We purchased a C300 Sport on a lease and I changed the rear trunk spoiler, swapped the wheels- kept the same 19" tires, painted the brake calipers and painted out all the chrome trim in a dark metallic Anthracite...the only time you will void the warranty is if you modify anything on the engine...the cosmetics should not create any issues.

Hope this helps!

Jim

Krypton

Thanks for the welcome Jim. Question for you - how did you paint all the chrome trim while being on the car or did you take it off? If so then how did you take off the following:

1. Chrome Window trim on both sides
2. Chrome lip under front bumper
3. Chrome trim on the trunk, right above the license plate
4. Chrome trims below the doors

Also how easy or hard is it to take off each of these items, if each of them can even be taken out? Any DIY for all or any of these would be of great help Jim

OSMS_Carlsson

When we got our car it went straight from the dealer to the shop where we removed everything, window trim, door handles, front and rear trim. It is better to paint everything off the car so the parts get properly prepped and the paint is baked so it cures and lasts without peeling or lifting.
If you don't have the time and don't want the expense, then you can cut some corners by having the parts wrapped, but some of the parts may not look right and cannot be wrapped, so you still end up having to paint a few parts. Is the car you got a Luxury standard model, or did you get a sport?
I think on the Luxury model there is a bit more chrome. You might have the luxury if you have the chrome on the bottom portion of the doors...those pieces are not very expensive, typically when removing them they will get tweaked or bent, so we would normally just buy new ones and have them painted and then swap them. On the door handles we color matched those to the color of the car, and the grill surround was also color matched and then the trim and the star were painted in the metallic Anthracite to match the rest of the trim and the brakes. All in all we had 24 pieces painted. Paint and labor was just over $2k. Wrapping and painting just a few pieces might save you about $700-800 bucks. The lower front piece snaps to the bumper. The rear trim is double sided taped from the factory. I think we also bought a new star for the trunk and had it painted because the original ones sometimes break when you remove them. If you want I can send you some detailed photos. When removing the window trim we had to remove the mirrors, so this where the down time comes into play.

Hope this info helps

Jim

Krypton

I am sure that I don't have the sport model. How do I differentiate between the base model and luxury model? Anyhow, my main concern is to get rid of the chrome on the front lip below the bumper, the one on the trunk and the window trim. If I do wrap all 3 of them then what brand/make should I use (I think matte black would look good instead of glossy) and where can I buy it from? Also how much would I need to cover all 4 parts (2 sides window trims, front lip and trunk bit)?

OSMS_Carlsson

If you are going to attempt it on your own, I would just Google vehicle wraps and check to see if any of them will supply you the 3M vinyl. I would suggest doing gloss black, it will help hide the imperfections and will match the Pano roof if you have it, and the gloss black between the front and back doors. The lower front piece can be removed to be done, all the other parts will just require a steady hand a sharp blade and can be done on the car.

The difference between the sport and luxury is the bumpers and in some cases the front grill.

Jim

Krypton

Thanks a lot for the info Jim! You have been awesome and thanks for your time!

OSMS_Carlsson

No problem, always happy to help!

Hope everything turns out the way you want it.

Jim