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If you can see, I have somewhat of a Night Edition Theme going on my 2017. I recently swapped the factory chrome exhaust tips for these. There are some options such as replacing the whole diffusor and adding AMG style quad exhaust tips, but I didn't see a good write-up on doing that and it is like $600 for a whole kit, plus my diffusor came from the factory black. There are some options to just buy black out stickers, but I chose this option since it seemed like the best of both worlds (easy enough and not too expensive but will last long).
Here's the adhesive $3 minute install I chose not to go with.
Here is the item I purchased. It was also a bonus that it was located in California and not China so shipping was quick.
First step is to unpackage it. Note that one side of the plastic bag is open so don't dump it upside down and nick the corner like I did. Also don't wear a watch during install and nick the paint. This is 100% metal aftermarket part. The paint quality seems solid, but the reality is, I suggest you consider just taking off your oem exhaust tips and painting it yourself for a total cost of $5. I also decided not to paint the inside, since the existing one was black from the exhaust so I figured, this one will get black as well. If you do scratch it, just do a quick spray paint touch up like I did. I do suggest just spray painting it all black, but I couldn't wait for the paint to dry to install it so I left the other parts that you really can't see bare metal.
Now pay attention to the two tabs on the top of the replacement. You'll kind of need to push the original back towards the front of the car and then lower / bend the tabs down, maybe with a flathead screwdriver. Then you need to kind of wiggle and pull the exhaust tip out. Note, that it may be a bit too big for the hole, so you could actually compress the open end to help it come out. This process took a lot longer than I expected, since I was discovering as I went along.
Now the installation is the reverse, but see how I squeeze the back of the replacement down a bit to help it fit through the hole. You'll have to play around with making sure the tabs line back up and so do the holes. This process took a lot longer than I thought as well and no matter how hard you try, you likely won't ever get it as perfectly aligned as the original, but do compare both sides to get it as close as possible.
When are you gonna dechrome the window/roof trim, also i think you have a diamond grill right?
In a couple of months, I'll add a black trunk star and a front black star. I do have the chrome in the grill, so going to swap the grill to an all black version. When it needs new brakes, I'm going to get black calipers and black caliper covers. Then the only things left to black out are the lower parts of the side mirrors and the window / roof trim. Since it's the wife's car, I'm going to leave the window / roof trim and side mirror alone. To get to the trim you need to take some interior panels off and they just never go back together the same. If it were my car, I would eventually do all the trim, but I'll leave it for now.
I'm pretty sure you can wrap the windows' trim without taking it off. Just get a squeegee or whatever it's called lol and a heatgun/haridryer and you're set. Same goes for the grill there's an all black version, you can check it out in a video by a guy called Flexx on YT, and there's a version like the one I have that has the main part in gloss black but the diamonds and the two side pieces in chrome.
The trim on the convertible is a bit different so the wrap options seems doable. Then I would have to wrap the chrome door handles. There are some $40 ebay stick on covers that might work, but they are carbon fiber.
I found these gloss black stick on ones on amazon, but they are $100. Dang. I think I'll wait until next year and try the wrap on the trim and the door handles. If it doesn't work on the door handles, then I might get these.
My concern is they would stick out a bit and might eventually fall off vs the wrap.
Mate no lol, these are waaaaaay too overpriced. My advice is always look for things on AliExpress too, they're the same products just different resellers, but Amazon and Ebay's prices are always through the roof. The "stickers" for the door handles go for like $20 max on AE, you can get them in chrome, gloss black or carbon pattern. they're good quality and the 3M tape sticks on surfaces like its life depends on it lol, but I would go for the wrap if you can pull it off. If your question is if it's doable then yes, I've seen tons of vids of people with AMGs taking them to wrap shops for dechroming and debadging, and those door handles are easily wrapped if you know how to deal with vinyl.
03-25-2020, 05:03 PM
