I recently picked up a 2009 Mars Red on Black C63 and have started thinking about adding some contrast to the car. This would be the first time I would have a shop do this kind of work for me so I had some questions around the best materials to use and the cost of the work required. I'm based in the Seattle area.
What I want to do:
1) At the minimum: Black out fog light surrounds, front grill and star, window lining, side and rear emblems and the strip above license plate.
2) In addition, possibly: Black out the rear spoiler, roof, tint headlights, side mirror indicator lamps, bumper markers and tail lights.
Some questions:
- What would be the best material to use in the above applications that withstands the test of elements and time?
- What would be the cost of this work? For 1), a nearby shop quoted me $600 and another $400 for tinting all the lights.
I would go with option #2 and black out more, the red/black contrast is sick.
Also -- call multiple shops and keep price dropping , 1000$ seems excessive for what you are asking for. I have all my chrome blacked out, grille, mirrors etc
I would go with option #2 and black out more, the red/black contrast is sick.
Also -- call multiple shops and keep price dropping , 1000$ seems excessive for what you are asking for. I have all my chrome blacked out, grille, mirrors etc
Yeah, I'm tempted to do both 1) and 2). What parts did you black out and how much did the shop charge you?
In my opinion, blacking out the chrome trim/ around fog light looks great! Especially on red. However blacked out tail lights looks cheap and takes away from the beautiful car. The red tail lights already match the car and look awesome. (This is my opinion) it's also very easy to do yourself. Buy some 3m wrap on eBay/Amazon and use a ruler and measure out your pieces and cut them then apply. Did my last c63 myself without any headaches. It's very easy and forgiving to work with. Also wrapping the trim in flat/matte is cool but take a look on the forum of some members who used a gloss black for trim, looks amazing!
you can always do the trim first and see how it looks and if u still want to do the lights then of course u should do it how u want! Good luck!
In Tokyo to do all the trim it would cost about 2grand usd. To do yourself costs just the material (under 100 bucks for sure with tons of left over wrap) u can wrap other stuff too
I've just done my trim on my c63bs two days ago by myself and looks awesome on the matte silver car. Was free since I had the left over wrap. (2 cars done for under 100 bucks including a blade and a clear/ see through ruler for exact measurements)
The pricing youve been quoted seems very reasonable to me too.
Crack is popular again seems like a lot of shop owners are smoking it again. $30 for plastidip fog light covers lol, a spray can costs $6. You can spray it 10x before the can runs out. Vinyl for all those would cost around $300-400. Do it yourself. I had no experience and wrapped all the interior pieces on my c300 in CF vinyl.
The pricing isn't terrible, it's about on par with what you can expect. It is a whole lot of labor mostly but like others said, do it yourself. Give it a try first, if you don't like how it turned out, then take it somewhere.
Window edges both sides vinyl wrap - $295 - Do not even think of PlastiDip... let them do it if you are not comfortable emoving trim
Fog light (2) chrome plasti dip - $30 - Use PlastiDip here (no one sees this surface closely and I am forever touching up my paint from small debris chipping). There is a DIY somewhere here of someone who did it keeping it in place and just taping it out.
Front grill plasti dip - $75 - Matte Paint looks way better here. IMO Plasti Dip looks inconsistent on wide surface areas. Although be prepared for touchups and be SURE the shop etches the chrome with the proper compounds so the paint adheres.
Emblems (5) plasti dip - $125 - easy DIY - You Tube Videos everywhere... Debadge the C63 and AMG... much cleaner look
Smoked side markers (2) - $30 - good price
Smoked tail lights (painted) - $200 - cheeseball
Roof vinyl wrap - $300 - meh... get the mirrors first (see below)
Spoiler vinyl wrap - $60 - not bad... I may do same
Rear License plate chrome trim vinyl wrap - $40 - A Must - If you DIY all wrap, try this one first to gauge your comfort
Side view mirror lamps (2) paint - $90/ Side view mirror lamps (2) vinyl wrap - $30 save money and get them replaced with post facelift models... worst asthetic feature of old model... I lucked out and previous owner had done it already
Crack is popular again seems like a lot of shop owners are smoking it again. $30 for plastidip fog light covers lol, a spray can costs $6. You can spray it 10x before the can runs out. Vinyl for all those would cost around $300-400. Do it yourself. I had no experience and wrapped all the interior pieces on my c300 in CF vinyl.
look at price of plastidipping embelms 125 holy ****. that stuff is so easy to do. takes anyone 30 min max to tape and spray. it just peels off. no need to pay anyone 125 to do that.
$295 for the window edges? you gotta be kidding me. I got mine done for $80. Got my wife's G37 done the other day for $60. Your choice of vinyl, black gloss, black matte, or carbon fiber even.
Anything plastidip you can do yourself. It's dead easy and like others have said, $6 a can.
The fog lights is a spray and peel of excess. Easy.
The front grill, its super easy because you can just remove it. It's simple to take off and plastidip it off the car. Comes out super clean.
Emblems, also easy.
Smoked side markers, you can just buy replacements for $30 on ebay.
Smoke tail lights, its a personal choice but I wouldnt do it.
Can't speak about roof wrap. Spoiler wrap seems reasonable but still a bit high.
Rear license plate chrome wrap. You mean the thin little bar of chrome on the trunk? I've had my window trim done twice by two different people (dealership messed up my windows). Both said they would just do that piece for free.
if youre not a DIY kind of guy, dont have the time or couldnt be bothered and have money to spend. just shop around and go for the cheapest but reliable shop.
otherwise, spend less than a $100 and 1 saturday and do it yourself. if youre not happy with the result. go to the first option.
look at price of plastidipping embelms 125 holy ****. that stuff is so easy to do. takes anyone 30 min max to tape and spray. it just peels off. no need to pay anyone 125 to do that.
I know it's insane. I've been plastidipping my chrome for years. Grill, foglight covers, window trim, all emblems, trunk star and rims. I doubt I've spent more than $125 in cans of plastidip for all those things.
look at price of plastidipping embelms 125 holy ****. that stuff is so easy to do. takes anyone 30 min max to tape and spray. it just peels off. no need to pay anyone 125 to do that.
Looks like there is a good amount of consensus on my quote being stupidly overpriced. This is the second "decent" shop I've gone to and their quotes have been similar. I'm guessing this is just a function of what the market is willing to bear.
I'm going to be shopping around some more before I settle on something since I'm not much of the DIY type and definitely could use a professional for such a job. That being said, I'll report back on another shop I've heard good things about which is supposedly cheaper as well.
Window edges both sides vinyl wrap - $295 - Do not even think of PlastiDip... let them do it if you are not comfortable emoving trim
Fog light (2) chrome plasti dip - $30 - Use PlastiDip here (no one sees this surface closely and I am forever touching up my paint from small debris chipping). There is a DIY somewhere here of someone who did it keeping it in place and just taping it out.
Front grill plasti dip - $75 - Matte Paint looks way better here. IMO Plasti Dip looks inconsistent on wide surface areas. Although be prepared for touchups and be SURE the shop etches the chrome with the proper compounds so the paint adheres.
Emblems (5) plasti dip - $125 - easy DIY - You Tube Videos everywhere... Debadge the C63 and AMG... much cleaner look
Smoked side markers (2) - $30 - good price
Smoked tail lights (painted) - $200 - cheeseball
Roof vinyl wrap - $300 - meh... get the mirrors first (see below)
Spoiler vinyl wrap - $60 - not bad... I may do same
Rear License plate chrome trim vinyl wrap - $40 - A Must - If you DIY all wrap, try this one first to gauge your comfort
Side view mirror lamps (2) paint - $90/ Side view mirror lamps (2) vinyl wrap - $30 save money and get them replaced with post facelift models... worst asthetic feature of old model... I lucked out and previous owner had done it already
Quote:
Originally Posted by SaphGreyC63
Ok this is insane. Especially line item#1.
$295 for the window edges? you gotta be kidding me. I got mine done for $80. Got my wife's G37 done the other day for $60. Your choice of vinyl, black gloss, black matte, or carbon fiber even.
Anything plastidip you can do yourself. It's dead easy and like others have said, $6 a can.
The fog lights is a spray and peel of excess. Easy.
The front grill, its super easy because you can just remove it. It's simple to take off and plastidip it off the car. Comes out super clean.
Emblems, also easy.
Smoked side markers, you can just buy replacements for $30 on ebay.
Smoke tail lights, its a personal choice but I wouldnt do it.
Can't speak about roof wrap. Spoiler wrap seems reasonable but still a bit high.
Rear license plate chrome wrap. You mean the thin little bar of chrome on the trunk? I've had my window trim done twice by two different people (dealership messed up my windows). Both said they would just do that piece for free.
Vinyl on mirrors is standard. My guy wanted $40.
Good luck.
Hey guys, I know I don't have the W204, but came across this thread and had the same questions. Here is my car:
I am completely virgin when it comes to plasti-dipping and vinyl wrapping; I want to get mine done but kinda apprehensive of what I should pay and what should be priority.
I found a shop that was willing to do the following in a package deal:
-chrome lower spoiler/splitter on front fascia
-chrome bar that runs the length of the trunk
-chrome strips around all 4 windows
-chrome around front grille
-chrome slats in the grille
-front Mercedes Star (which, now that I think about it, probably can't be done because I have Distronic)
-chrome strip that runs the length of the rear diffuser
-apply blacked out rear emblems for free, if I supplied them
-let me choose any combinations of colors for the different pieces (matte, glossy, CF, body color, black, etc.)
...all for around $250-$275, depending on which colors/textures I choose.
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