About to order ‘19 grille and inserts from CKS. Noted they have the oem grille w/oem badge and emblem & for $230 less an aftermarket grille with oem badge and oem emblem. The aftermarket utilizing oem parts intrigued me as I would love to know if the grille is equivalent in quality. If materials and fit don’t match with the oem, I’d much rather spend the extra than having to purchase another one down the line due to easily breakable tabs or poor chroming. What do you all think?

 

Also wondering the same thing. I want to do the entire front conversion to my 2018 C63s Coupe.

Is the lower priced (the after market option) of the two for pre-facelift models only for fitment issues?

From my understanding, the more expensive (OEM) of the two is a replacement for the 2019+ model year only and won’t fit anything older than 2019. I could be wrong though...

Another question I had was if the CKS aftermarket Pan Am grill comes with the glass star that is needed for the adaptive cruise control/radar or if I need to buy this separate?

 

The aftermarket grille uses your pre 2019 emblems which are slightly smaller in size . The 2019 factory glass star fills the whole centre and there is no chrome bar in the middle below the star , the aftermarket does have a bar . The factory 2019 grille and lower grilles will fit any 2015- up bumper but the factory grille has a opening for a camera so if you don't have a camera you will need to figure out how to fill the hole . You will need the plastic camera housing and then either order a blank , pt number is in another thread or go to local home depot or auto part store and get a black plastic push in plug to fill the hole . The aftermarket grille I believe has a option for with or without camera

 

Got it. Thanks for clarifying.

I saw your pictures on the other thread and it has me convinced! Where did you you end up getting your parts? How much did it run you?

I have a 2018 C63s with the 360 camera and distronic.
Where do you recommend I get all the pieces to make this happen? Dealer or aftermarket shop like CKS or any other you recommend?

 

Well , I work for Mercedes so I get better pricing than most but there is CKS in the UK that everyone seems to be buying from that may be the better option. You need to make sure you get the star made for distronic as there are 2 different versions

 

Ok I’ll be sure to look out for that.

Did you say the OEM 2019 grill fits the pre-facelift without fitment issues?

Thank you answering all of my questions! Really appreciate it.

 

Yes the 2019 fits all 2015-2018 . The only issue will be if you have a ft camera or not . The new grille is meant for a camera so you will need to buy the camera housing ( it's cheap) and then buy a black push in plug ( aval at local auto parts stores ) to fill the hole or order the gem dummy plug ( seen in another thread) and modify it to fit ....or some guys have just left the new grille opening above the star

 

i got the blacked out pan am grille from CKS. perfect fitment and finish

 

Thats great to hear! The black finish looks awesome.

Did you get the aftermarket version finished in black? Or the OEM finished in black?

 

I went with oem

 

I ordered the OEM from CKS. My install is Wednesday.