Tonight I finished the door sills, and installed the Brabus illuminated shift knob and also a Kuda phone mount. Sorry for the picture quality, I'll try to get some better ones over the next few days. These may be the only night time pics of a CLS55 on the forum, at least I haven't seen any others. The car looks awesome at night!

The door sills were easy thanks to good instructions from Kevin M. I was able to insert the bare wire leads into the + and GND connectors of the footwell light plug, making a solid mechanical and electrical connection once the plug is reattached to the lamp. This avoids any splicing, cutting, soldering, etc. of factory wiring.

For the shift knob I did the same thing, getting power from the + and GND connectors of the cigarette lighter. I did have to slightly expand the cut out in the boot to get around the base of the new knob. The Brabus knob comes with a very heavy duty rubber band to secure the boot on its base, also two small hex nuts are tightened onto the lever to keep the knob in place. It's a very high quality kit, as it should be considering what it costs.

The Kuda phone mount has a perfect color match to this car's black leather interior. Fit is perfect, and an excellent finish makes it look like a factory product. Install took less than five minutes.

I really like how the car is shaping up, although it is turning into somewhat of a Frankenbenz. Interior will have a Brabus theme (shift knob, door sills, steering wheel soon to be ordered); engine and suspension tuning are courtesy of Renntech; and exterior features the Lorinser roof spoiler, with the remainder of the Lorinser body kit being a possibility down the line. All this superimposed over an AMG Designo package and custom 3pc forged wheels.

 

niiice lookin dash you got there!

this is going to be kind of off topic but how do you like your LG phone? i was debating between getting that or the Nokia 8801.

 

I really like the LG phone. It has taken me a little while to get used to the touch sensitive buttons and the slider design, since I've always had flip phones with tactile keys before.

Voice quality is fine, no dropped calls yet. Verizon has a great network here in the Phoenix, AZ area. The LG has a very capable mp3 player (with a 1or 2 GB MicroSD card), a decent 1.3 mp camera, and a nice QVGA screen. It also has some cool new display themes so you're no longer limited to Verizon's canned UI. The case is plastic with a piano black lacquer finish so it matches the car's trim perfectly. Of course the dark finish makes it very prone to fingerprints.

Apparently there is no speakerphone feature, which is quite odd since there is a speaker in back for the mp3 player. Also I have not found out how to get an audible beep or flashing light to alert for a missed call or new message. Maybe the feature is there, I haven't perused the manual yet.

Battery life is several days with my typical use, which is fairly light. It has a Li-Po battery so there is no memory effect. My car unfortunately does not have Bluetooh (really wish it did), but I got the same phone for my wife and it connects easily to her Range Rover.

 

that was an impressive phone review.

 

hey doc, would the shift knob work with the keyless go option? how hard is it to do the wiring?

 

It does not work if you have keyless go.

Looks great Eric! great install I see Brabus pedals in your future too.

 

Like Kevin said, knob is only designed to work on cars without keyless go. You may want to check with Brabus to see if they have, or will be developing, a knob that will work with keyless go.

The wiring is really easy. I just inserted the bare ends into the plug for the cigarette lighter, once the plug is reattached the male and female connectors basically crimp the wires in place and give a nice connection without any soldering, cutting, etc.

 

Great install thanks to you! Not sure about the pedals, but I am leaning toward the Brabus wheel with chrome paddle shifters It may not be much more expensive then a paddle conversion kit from AMG (if that ever becomes available) plus a nice thick wheel from MP Design, Renntech, Kleemann, Carlsson, etc. -- all of which I believe require re-use of the existing shift controls. The AMG Sport Performance wheel apparently comes with paddles but I doubt I'll ever be able to get one.