PatSC23

I hav no idea - one person said by loosening the backing in the wheels well. Another person said a screw underneath the chrome. And another said it pulls straight out.

I just didnt want to deal with it so I sent it to the shop.

obsidian05e55

They pull right out from the front. They are held in with 3 clips. Just wiggle them out. Be care ful not the scratch the paint though.

The screw underneath is for adjusting the fogs.

squigmang

Thanks!!
_______________

DuaneC63

Is this tape gloss or matte black?

cek

It's a glossy matte.

More matte than glossy, but not matte-matte. If you know what I mean.

I think the pics I posted show it as it really is.

DuaneC63

TY Think I'll give it a try. I had the grill done but the window trim doesn't look as challenging for a DYI.

blackc230benzo

Save yourself the headache/ chance of broken clips. To do it the proper way takes literally 2 min extra. Crank your wheel all the to the right to do the left side. Remove 3 expansion clips on the front of the wheel well. Pull the wheel well out to expose the back of the fog, Slide your arm in and release the 3 J-Hooks.

These pieces become easily breakable especially after time.

blackc230benzo

The interior door panels dont have to be removed but still Depending on how hard you find it to vinyl around the mirrors, taking off the under-window trim is pretty might be worth it. 5min total time to remove piece

-Remove the speaker cover behind the mirror
-The interior door panel has a Small pizza slice shaped piece that pops out easily to access the electronics panel. Its close to the door jamb.
-follow the mirror cable down to the electronics panel and unclip it.
-Unscrew the side mirror (behind the speaker cover you removed) remove mirror
-Pull window trim off

j bro

glad i found this thread

is it worth painting grille if it will chip or would it be smarter to just try get it vinyl wrapped

blackc230benzo

neither paint or vinyl will stand up to large debris. My vinyl grill has 2 small chunks taken out of it from big rocks.
Paint will get those annoying microchips from little debris
Vinyl wont get all the little debris tearing it

Personally would/did vinyl since the whole grill took 2 hours and no wait time. Finish and drive

DuaneC63

The grill cost $100 materials and labor, but i pulled it off for them to wrap it. The door trims seems like a DYI. I've already pulled the upper trim rails. They just pop out with the right interior (hard but flexible plastic) tools. Thanks for the tip on the lower trim.

AZN Optics

Satin black vinyl from Stickercity. Matches will with the matte rubber trim.
https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w204/283532-few-more-cosmetic-mods.html

Richard2011

I've never seen anybody do it this way. Where are the tabs located, and which way did you pull to pop it off? Any tips on removal would be very welcome!

DuaneC63

The tabs (clips actually) are underneath the trim. They are white nylon retangle looking things. Start at the rear with a hard plastic interior upholstery tool. Do not improvise with anything else or you'll end up scratching something for sure.. I have a set cost $19 at Harbor Freight. SIR tools also sells them online. The are a must for popping door panels etc. Use the one that looks like a miniture crow bar. Gently slide it between the roof and chrome trim edge and move it until you can feel where it starts to bind. That's were the clip is. Don't start until you can feel the where the clip is or you could bend or kink the chrome strip. Gently pry at the chrome strip and it will pop off the clip. Once the chrome strip pops of the first clip it's really easy to find the rest of them. Make sure you use some masking tape to hold the chrome peice up as you move to the front of the car as you don't want the weight to bend it. I'll post some pics as soon as my tape shows up. To put it back on, there are several alignment tabs that fit into holes behind the trim. Just line them up and give the chrome strip a solid whack with your hand over the clip area and it will pop back in.

Richard2011

This is very helpful! Thank you! This will come in handy when I approach this DIY myself.

Sincity

Ditto that. Plus, you don't want to deal with possible paint issues.

DuaneC63

Just got the tape from Amazon a put a few hours putting it on. I pulled off the upper chrome strips as they are very long and hard to tape on the car. I left the lower ones in place as they are short and more trouble taking off. Tools you will need. 3m Vinyl tape, SIR interior hard plastic upholstery tools, xacto knife with new blade, your wife's neiman marcus card, her best sowing scissors , her best sowing needle, and hair dryer (more about these items later).

Use the SIR tool that looks like a mini crow bar to gentle pull the upper chrome trim off. It just snaps off see pictures.



Tape it to the car during removal at one end so it doesn't bend while up pop the clamps on the other end.




Clean it with some auto window cleaner. Find a very clean surface preferably made of glass, like that 12' glass dining room table your wife insisted you need to host her relatives for dinner. Start at the rear part of the upper trim since it has the most complex compound curves in it. Start the tape on the facing edge of the chrome strip.

If you get little rough spots like this a hair dryer will smooth them out. Leave a little on the top edge to roll over and the rest at the bottom. Once you got the entire facing edge of the strip covered, cut end of the roll off using your wife’s sowing scissors. Go back to the compound rear corner and work the tape as smooth as possible around the bottom and top edges. If you get bubbles just gently pull the tape up and push the bubbles out. Once you have the entire strip covered, use the exacto knife to trim just at the weather strip line on the upper edge.

Use one of the SIR tool to push the tape down over the bottom edge. If you find any bubbles you can't get out, take your wife's sowing needle and make a tiny hole in the middle of the hole and use her Neiman Marcus credit card to push the air out.

For the bottom edges it easier to leave the trim on the car and cut a piece of tape about two inches longer than the chrome strip. Slip the tape between the door and the bottom of the chrome strip. Once again the Neman Marcus card and SIR tool comes in handy. Once the bottom edge is secure use your finger to evenly push the tape over the facing edge up to the rubber strip on the top edge. Use the credit card to score the edge of the tape were it hits the rubber strip and tuck a bit under the rubber. Ever so gently use the tip of the xacto knife to cut away the excess at the rubber stip line. The areas under the rear view mirrors are hardest. Make vertical cuts in the excess tape in front and rear of the mirror housing so you can work the tape underneath.

Those aren't bubbles or wrickles over the rear window, just some finger prints I needed to clean up. I also did the rear trunk chrome strip



Now comes the hard part. Get all your s h i t off the dinning room table and stash her sowing stuff away. Just tell her you found her Neiman Marcus card near her shoes.

Admittedly a pro could do a better job than I, but this was just 35 bucks of tape and some spare time becoming one with the beast.

Next I have to figure out if I should just pull the back ID, paint them, or try and wrap them.

BO Knows

wow nice!! I was quoted couple hundred to do that. Your wife should have thanked you!

DuaneC63

She's gunna be pissed if she found out I used her stuff and spent $35 for the tape. BTW, you can get cheaper tape but this stuff is tuff and very workable.

olszowa12

Love your license plate
Great job on the trims.

Richard2011

Thank you so much for the DIY with pictures! The next two pictures after the picture with your supplies looks like it's the lower window trim and you're just pushing up the rubber. I don't know if you noticed that or not. Also, looking at the clips, I'm guessing you pry downwards to pop it off?

I've seen a picture of another person that did this, and he tapped over the black stubs at the end of each chrome piece. I was wondering how you did it. A close up picture would be wonderful!

DuaneC63

The lower strip you have to work a crease in the tape with a credit card corner (what works even better is the plastic squeegee cards they give you to put protective film on your smart phone face) which slips just just a bit of the tape under the top rubber edge. Set the exacto blade in the crease and move with a steady motion but not too firm. You don't want to cut the rubber. The upper trim you just pry down wards at the clip (u can feel were they are as there is more pressure holding the chrome strip there) and it just pops off. If you pop the end caps off you will have to re glue them on. I just cut at the seam between the chrome strip and end cap. It might leave a very tiny sliver of chrome (only noticeable if you look real close) showing if you pull on the tape to hard, so leave the tape a bit more loose at these points prior to cutting and work any bubbles out with your fingers. There is enough give there to get the blade between the chrome strip and the end cap.

ZephyrAMG

Hilarious write up....really enjoyed it...LOL. Very informative, thank you for taking the time. Very very nice job...

Hope the wife didn't suspect a thing... I get a feeling there was some "revenge" going on here...

j bro

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to wrap the grill with that 3M tape. I have removed the grille but am still baffled how to even begin... the bottom edge is wider than the width of the tape and i dont know how to do the star or the cricle without using multiple pieces which will probly look cheap..... Duane i think i seen you say you taped your grille, any suggestions?

DuaneC63

I just did chrome window strips and rear trunk strip (ie the easy stuff). I thought about doing the grill but realized 2" wide tape is not enough for the bottom edge and the star is near impossible.
I had a shop do it for $100 if I took the grill off. They have much wider tape that's too expensive to make wrapping the grill a DYI on an affordable basis. Take the 4 little center chrome strips off (the just slide to the outside and then pull away. This gives them enough access to slip the tape in the sides and around the bottom. The star was made from one really wide piece of tape that they cut and worked in. Now I know why some guys leave the star chrome (major PIA). So all in between me and the shop all wrapped for $135.00.