Newzchspy

Yes it will, its just that its flared and the rear wont match.

dynomite05

Sorry, that's what I meant. It's not only the rear, it's the fenders also.

thegreatfnr

Bumping an old thread.

I got some damage to my stock vinyl wrapped grille last week so I needed to make a decision and ended up ordering one of these single fin grilles.

I know you guys talked about the gap and I have seen all of the pics that are available online and have decided to just bite the bullet and go for it. After all my car is black so I dont think it will show as much.

Pics up soon once it arrives and gets installed.

hsiaochinsan

Please keep us posted. I would like the see the grill on your car.

c32used

thtguy

I am still contemplating this grille also. My front end needs some work, in the past week, I had a dump truck full of gravel lose some in front of me on the interstate causing at least 100 chips in the front end and windsheild, I had one of those viral corugated marketing signs fly out of a truck and hit my lower bumper and pushed in the center mesh, and over the weekend someone decided they didn't know where the front of their car ended and hit the center front of my bumper leaving a nice spider web in the paint. FML!

thegreatfnr

Will do. Im getting pretty excited about it. I got it off of an ebay site and it should ship out either today or tomorrow from the west coast. Means it will probably get here hopefully by the end of next week via ground.

Wow that is some bad luck right there. My damage was from someone backing directly into me slowly and it popped the top fin off of the stock grille and left a nice little scuff mark across the bumper. I think the bumper will buff out though.

thegreatfnr

Well the grille showed up today and I put it on. The gap is there but is not bad by any means. Here are the pics. Please disregard how dirty the car is.




I ran into a slight problem with the fitment. The hood release was contacting it once I tried lowering the hood enough so that it kept the hood from closing. With a little finesse I was able to bend the grille enough to get the hood release around the top of the grille. Now Im worried that if Im not careful the next time I pop the hood from the cabin that the release is going to smash into the backside of the grille I think I can do it without breaking it but it looks like it'll now be a 2 man job to pop the hood.

Overall though, I dig it. Its a big change from what I had.

thtguy

Sounds like it would work better with the CLK Rad support and hood latch

thegreatfnr

I didnt know there was a specific rad support and hood latch for the CLK. I thought our C55s had the front clip from a w209, wouldn't that mean they are the same or have I overlooked something.

If there is another latch Id be interested in looking into it to solve the clearance issue. You got a part #?

hsiaochinsan

Looks very good.

It really transform the look of the car.

I like it.

thtguy

I think the rad support is the same now that I think about it, but the safety latch has a shorter handle I believe.

CFiftyFive

Not bad, though I still personally prefer the 3-slat CL grill.

Thanks for sharing.

Yes, the CL grill has a different brace and hood latch. Just a do a search and you'll find the part numbers.

ozsn

I recently added this grill to my car, a 2005 C55, and I am very happy with the way it looks. I would not have noticed the gap had this thread not told me to look for it. When you put the grill on you must get a CLK grill stay, a CLK hood latch and then you must remove the chrome strip that is attached to the hood above the grill. The CLK parts were about $70 from the dealership. I think that something could be made to fill the gap if it really bugs you a lot or else call it an additional air intake/AMG hood scoop. I am thinking about trying to make something that attaches where the chrome strip used to be to fill the gap because I am a little worried about front end lift. It felt like the steering was a little lighter at higher freeway speeds, but I could just be paranoid and imagining things. I tend to always notice something different about my car once I have added something to it, even if it is purely cosmetic. Now I just need my flat AMG hood emblem to come. I have attached a picture of the car with and without the grill.

Quicktwinturbo

I think you are supposed to use some CLK parts to make this part safely installed...
It looks great but I would be very upset if the gap pops the hood while I'm on the freeway...

thegreatfnr

The CLK parts are basically just for the hood latch lever. The one from the C55 will hit the grille when popped. I still havnt tried popping mine since I installed it last week.

The gap itself will not make the hood pop up. I did well over a 100 this past weekend and no problems.

djfmf

I had a question. Just bought the single slat star kit. It comes with an oem star, but how do you attach it to the grill. Are you supposed to swap grills and the star is inserted into the car? Also the kit came with a washer of some sort, not sure if it was supposed to go behind the grill to lock the star in place? It had the finger trap kind of approach, you put something in it wont come out. Going to dealership to get clk grill attachment, what were the model numbers again?

thegreatfnr

Yes that washer is to hold the star onto the center grill piece. Be careful, i broke the washer that came with it but had another laying around. You might also want to put some silicone or glue on there, my star actually fell off and I need to get it replaced now.

djfmf

just found out the star is a replica, go figure. oem is supposed to clip in. won't be able to install, waiting for clk adaptor shipment.

thegreatfnr

Did you order from ebay? Does it have a part # on the star of the box? I will buy your star if you dont want it cause mine did just pop off this past week.

djfmf

I believe we both ordered from the same website since we have the same kit. Its better off to get an oem piece for 72.

thegreatfnr

I will not pay $72 for a plastic star(my dealer actually said $97), that is almost half what this grille cost total.

I would however buy your "non-OEM" one that your not going to use if you would like to make up some of the cost difference.

Newzchspy

FWIW, that car was de-parted and sold, I think it was SPRs car!! Gorgeous car!!

Klinh

I used to have the same grill and got rid of it because of the gap. The gap really annoying when I see it on people cars. Here's the new gapless grill that I replaced my old wih.

Klinh

Oopsssss..here's the pic.