Tarkster

Hello all, newbie here. My wife gifted me my first MB last year. Driving a Polar white C300 w/Sports and Premium Packages, and pano roof. Love the car so far despite some earlier issues that the MB service has been able to take care of.

Coming to the subject of this thread, I'm looking into replacing some items on my car. I'm not unhappy with what I have, just thought if its an easy (not so costly, not much effort) switch, why the heck not?

I've noted a thread where a user has replaced the Halogen lamps with LEDs. My car does have the LED headlights, however only with one LED head. I've noticed that the AMG model has the LED headlights with two heads. My question is, is it possible to switch the one headed lamps out for the two headed ones?

By the way, I must say, as soon as I saw those headlights, I was sold. I went in for an E series but came out with the C series just because of them!

Also, my car came with the 7" screen. Is it possible to switch this out with the larger (COMAND) screen? I'm not looking to gain the functionality that comes with COMAND, only the larger screen.

Appreciate in advance any input or direction anyone might have!

T

schvamf

Congrats on the car and welcome!

Both have been discussed here, try search.

Mikey53

From previous threads, I don't think either of those changes are easy or cheap.

B2FiNiTY

You can do all these things. Just a matter of money and finding an installer.

dieseldoc

The headlamp exchange is difficult to do. Different wiring and programming. There are threads about installing larger screens. Not exactly cheap.

alyshehata

Speaking of replacing parts, I am curious how easy it is to replace the wood trim on a C300 on the front right passenger side. I have a slight dent on the burmester grille that bugs me constantly (it's not major but you can see the dent when it's a little dark). I've found the OEM wood panel with the grille for about $160, which is really decent. I know how to take the door out by watching youtube videos, but I'm not sure how the wood panel pops out etc... Has anyone done something like this?

DapperStyle

Someone used a surgical dental pick to pop out a dent in their speaker.

alyshehata

Yup! That was me, I posted it here

Of course it is SO much better than with the large dent, but I later noticed that its still not as perfect as it was due to the dent leaving slight indentations on some of the holes that make it so when the light shines at it at a certain angle you can see a very small outline of where it was dented. In the morning or night time you cannot see anything wrong, but sometimes if there is a little bit of light shining at the speaker you can see it...

When I think of it, I really shouldn't care that much but I have always been a little OCD about my things. People I've showed it to tend to make fun and laugh about it because it's so minor, but I was just asking out of curiousity. Btw I've found that if I wax the grille (making sure not to get any wax inside the grille) the marks become very hard to see.

Mikey53

Wax the grille? Oh my

Mike5215

Remove the door panel and work the dent out from the back side. The grilles are very pliable (which is why they dent so easily). The shop that did my audio system dented both grilles pretty deeply and the dents came right out.

Darrington

Good info to know...thanks. My drivers side grill is pushed into the panel, and the grill has a dent.

Tarkster

Thank you for all the replies. I thought I ran a good search for these items, but I'll go ahead and search for them again.

Mike5215

Short version, the headlamps are major surgery. I think the guy actually titled the thread "after eye surgery" or something like that. Should be the only thread with "eye surgery" in the title. He had some success but not an easy DIY process.

The screen is less of an ordeal but even with the bigger screen the image is still the small size it was on the little screen, just a lot more black around it. You'd need an actual COMAND unit to get the full benefit. Then it needs to be coded to the car by a dealer.

I'd put the money elsewhere. Audio upgrade, aftermarket wheels, non run flat tires, etc.

MDSkiBum

I believe this is the thread you are talking about. That guy switched halogens for LEDs. The OP is asking about switching LEDs for the active LEDs. I'm curious about the answer to that one as well (didn't want to pay an extra $3200 for P4 on my C43 sedan when all I really wanted in that package was the active LEDs). Since it's an LED to LED switch, maybe there's a chance it's a simple part swap and dealer coding. Sounds like no one has tried, though.

huyuci

I can't speak with absolute certainty, but I doubt it's a simple swap for at least these reasons: 1. the wiring is different. 2. it's controlled by software, so unless the software is updated, the coding would not help because the "brain" does not know how to control these things. It'd be like cutting off an arm and replace it with a wheel and ask your brain to control it. Your brain won't know how to.

Number 1. alone would stop any dealer from doing it. No dealer will agree to modify the existing wiring. And if there's no dealer involved, there's no chance for upgrading the software.

My wife's car has active LED and they look awesome. At night, it lits up the whole street. But the static LED aren't bad looking themselves. Many guys with halogen lights would kill for those. I know I'm one of them :-)

dieseldoc

Agree, active LEDs are awesome. I wish my C class had them.

MDSkiBum

Ah, pardon my ignorance on the subject. I knew the wiring was different between the halogens and either type of LED. I was thinking maybe the wiring for non-active and active LEDs was the same. But, if not then that would certainly make this an extremely difficult task at best.

Oh well... Agreed that the static LEDs aren't bad and they will work for me. Thanks for the info!

huyuci

I won't have to compare the 2 plugs to find out the difference because in the static LED, only 1 LED projector (low beam) is on and it doesn't move. The other is the static high beam, which is only on when you manually turn it on. In ILS LED, both projectors are on and they move around. Therefore, the wiring must be different for that.

powerrrrr

I believe the dual projector LED headlight is a part of the intelligent LED system and requires the camera in the sensor housing at the top of your windshield to be functional.

Tarkster

Correct, I was looking to replace LED with what I guess is active LEDs. I wasn't aware they were active. If the active LED headlight requires intelligence, that's a deal breaker right there. I'm sure that's difficult or impossible to install.

And yes, I love the LED headlights. That's what I fell in love with before I even stepped into the car. Then I fell in love with the interior.

Thanks for all the input!