Just enough of a PIA to pay your mechanic to do it.

Looks great.

I have the exact same OE grill as you with the dummy camera, and the Muscle Leopard gang (which is now my band name) said their grill wouldn't fit. Could you confirm all the clips lined up, and also if there were any issues with the camera cutout on the bumper?

I have the dummy camera hole on my OEM grille. I just bought this diamond grille from Aliexpress. The seller had a version with the camera hole, but I wanted a cleaner look.

This grille comes without a center star, but my original distronic star fits perfectly. I haven't tried installing it yet. The dealer quoted me $300+ dollars.



Now, I've noticed that some diamond grilles have 6 dots and some only have 5 dots, like mine. Is it because you need a taller grille (more dots) when you swap out from an OEM camera grille to non camera grille?


I was a bit worried that mine is shorter and may not fit in a dummy camera grille space.

But then I measured my OEM grille (with dummy camera) and my Aftermarket grille (no camera) and both seem to be the same 9 inches (top seam to bottom seam).




I hope I am good. Fingers crossed.

The 'cut out' is attached to the old grill so no, it was not a problem. The OEM illuminated Star just 'CCW 1/4 turn and 'unscrews' then unplug it and its out. Everything else lines up BUT you really want to raise the car up off the ground to get at all the necessary bolts and have a second person to help hold the bumper when it finally does comes free. As described in an earlier post the bumper itself doesn't truly come free due to the wiring. I'm not a 'Car Guy' and it was a PIA for me to do this. Strongly advise paying a mechanic to do this.
Note...there are a few different versions of this so be sure you're ordering the correct one. I got mine (2016 C300 4Matic W205) without camera at ZMAutoparts
by the way it's the Chinese New Year and they're closed until Feb 3rd I think it was, plus the usual slow boat from China delay.

That's some great research - let us know if everything installs okay.

Can you measure your new grille (exactly like i did) and post a picture? I want to see if theres a size difference between 6 dot and 5 dot grilles VS oem dummy camera grilles. Thanks.

Can you measure your new grille (exactly like i did) and post a picture? Thanks

2 1/4" top of grill to top of the star.

Total height is 11 1/4". Inside measurement for the star is 7". ( Don't let the camera angle fool you..it' IS 11 1/4")

Thanks for taking the time to do this, but you are measuring the wrong areas. The top and bottom of the tape measurement needs to be like mine, from the inside seam (lip) on the grille

These are the areas that are exposed when the griile is installed. Also, I wanted the measurement from your 6 dot diamond grille, not the oem grille.

Heres an example of where to measure on the diamond grille.


Also, don't bend the tape when measuring. Extend and lock it at 11 inches straight.

9" and 9 1/2" so you are good to go. Sorry about the duplicate photo but its -28° here in Detroit and hands froze up really quickly.

Awesome! Thanks! (you could've waited until Friday)

I never noticed that camera hole in the frame before.

Me either until I posted this. I'll definitely fill that with some white Aves Apoxie Sculpt just to keep debris from getting in there.
In case you're wondering what that is it's the same stuff that I used to fill in the screw holes that held the front license plate onto the bumper. Look to the left of the #10 on the tape, that was a quick cover over. Good enough for now. When I fix the few minor stone chips I'll also do those two spots too. -32 now but a high near 50 on Sunday and Monday!

BEFORE

AFTER



So I switched my OEM Grill to the Diamond Grill and ALSO switched my original star emblem to the glass one. YES this is an aftermarket grill and star emblem purchased from eBay... MAN it was a HEADACHE to put them on!! Of course I didn’t install it myself but the mechanic who installed it told me it’s not made well AT ALL plus they had to make some modifications to the grill in order for it to fit properly smh! The job should take about 1.5 hr but because this aftermarket grill was made poorly it took 4 hours!! I mean it’s not bad since I only paid $95 for the grill and $65 for the emblem but fair warning the product isn’t like the original parts :/

I ordered an ebay diamond grill about 2 months ago (should be here this week lol) It said it fits W205 non AMG up to C400, but when I look at the grill in the photos it only has 5 of the silver "diamonds" whereas another grill I was going to purchase has 6. When i put my car into the configuration on ebay the one i bought say's it wont fit C400 however the seller assured me it does. The one with 6 "diamonds" says it will fit in the configurator. I'm stressing now that i've been waiting for 2 months for a part that is not going to fit at all

Yea the diamond grill I ordered from EBay stated the same thing and also it was suppose to be the model that came WITHOUT the camera but it still had the hole for the camera, which is the part my mechanic had to cut off in order for it to fit correctly =:/ Hopefully yours fits but just be prepared to modify it in order to for correctly! BUT I must say the new grill and emblem made my car look waaaaay better...Top photo is the before

Time to do mine! I will pay $50 to a garage with a lift to remove (and later replace) my two splash shields and the rest should be easy to do in my garage.

EDIT: Just realized that I can reach all screws on the front splash shield.

Document AR60.00-P-0700-01LW Panel Gap Dimensions 205, 253.

Found out my bumper to hood gap is 7mm (should be around 4 mm)

Finally done! Just me and Jack Jones.






For anyone interested, I had a stock grille with dummy camera and added a diamond grille with no camera. (it fit fine)

Looks fantastic. Which vendor did you end up going with again, Benzdude?

This seller on Aliexpress. He was amazing. Double checked my car model before shipping. verified compatibility and even sent me a picture of the box. fast shipping and very well packaged. Best seller ever.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Suit...821228796.html

This seems like a ton of work. It literally took four minutes to change the grille on my W204.
They do look nice, though.

If I knew what I know now, it would only take me 45 minutes to do.

I did mine all by myself, so it took longer and I wanted to clean everything before putting them back.

There is no need to jack the car up at all, if you keep the tires straight there is enough clearance to work underneath. I used a large hand mirror and headlamp to see the screws underneath.

Also, you don't need to remove both splash shields. The front and rear splash shield share 3 or 4 screws and they can be reached easily. After removing those I could remove the front splash shield.

Glad I did it, my front end looks much better. No more grandpa grille look.

I am just surprised that the W205 bumper doesn't have more bottom support or screws.