Hey everyone, was a mustang modder and made the switch over to a black 98 CLK 320. Just bought the thing with 95K miles and some AMG ii rims that I want to get cleaned up a little. Switching from mustangs to MB is going to be quite the switch so I appreciate all the help!

My current to do list:
1. smoke tail lights
2. new headlights (suggestions for a black car?)
3. new grill/hood ornament delete.
4. Lower about 3"
5. Tint

I've been searching the forums but any help is appreciated! Thanks guys!

-Sully from Philly

 

welcome to the boards and happy modding

 

Everyone of your questions can be Searched. Look for the Search function on the right on the dark blue title bar below the words New Guy.

1. smoke tail lights Never done it.
2. new headlights (suggestions for a black car?) Ebay or Google it.
3. new grill/hood ornament delete. Again, you can find multiple vendors on Ebay. You get what you pay for.
4. Lower about 3". I could write a book on suspension threads I have read. The only lowering springs I know of that will drop the car about 2inches is H&R, plus you can remove spring pads and get another .62 inches. (Vogtland and Eibach make lowering spring for the CLK. I personally went with Vogtland.) Look for bigmike and williams007 posts and you will see pics of their cars. However, if you go that low, you will have to do something to compensate for the negative camber that you will incur and the resulting uneven tire wear on the inside of both front and rear tires. I've read that tires are shot in 3-6 months. And the answer to that is another subject.
5. Tint You can go as dark as your state laws will let you. Personal preference.

 

Thanks for the welcome and thanks DLB for the comprehensive response. Time to get cracking and checking things off the list.

 

Congrats and welcome!

 

A good start on the 5 you got going, and congrats to the new ride.
I've done the 5 you have listed and mine is black as well. So heres some quick suggestions:
1. Smoked tail lights some ppl just black out the white part of the light for the "AMG look", if your gonna black it all do it light.
2. Theres 2 choice we refer to as Halo and cheeze grater style both come in chrome or smoked. I honestly think chrome looks better in both versions if your looking for the clean look. If your gonna go for smoked id get the chrome and get those smoked, can do alot better with a professional smoke job.
3. New grill few choices theres the big star which alota ppl dislike. Brabus style 3 slat is nice but is gonna be hard to come by. I think the stock one looks great, black that if your looking for sporter look. That what i did. But more power to you to go custom.
Hood star, the ones on ebay do not fit right and do not sit in the dimple or the curve of the hood. Only 2 i've seen fit inside the dimple called white star and one made by a guy named mario, his design is the gear/tree AMG logo.
4. Springs shocks too long to discuss, go with quailty!
5. Tint ceramic tint is the ****! check it out looks different in person and last forever. It is pricy but sets a different tone to your car, UV protection same across all %.
If your gonna go with the all black look, front and rear lights. To me it only looks right when you got something aggressive to set it off like body kit or huge painted calipers something. Gotta have some balance some focal points not just all black. On a mercedes i've only seen a few pull it off right. If you leave your rims with not black then its not so overwhelming.
Make it your own, Hope this helps...
Heres pics of my car: https://mbworld.org/forums/members/g...ums-gizzo.html

 

First off, thanks for the helping hand, its always good to have guys who have done it help out rookies like myself. secondly.. LOVE the ride. Everything about it looks sharp, I love the way it sits and the tasteful sportiness. As for the checklist, I think im gonna go for the AMG look on the tails since i have the AMG rims. The chrome halo projectors look sharp, I just wanted to make sure they weren't junk. What did you use to paint your grill? I think that would be a good place to start and then if in the long run I want to swap out for something else, I can. Thanks again for the welcome guys

 

The factory tail lights on my CLK55 were the exact same that came on your CLK.

That said, I had mine tinted professionally several years ago - but just the white/reverse portion of the tail lights. They look like the W210 E55 tails now.

Have fun!

 

Welcome.

You can change the grille color using two different techniques. The first is to sand it down, prep and spray with color, then the clearcoat. The easier way is to use Plastidip spray. Probably a littler faster since the prep time isn't as long as the above process.

I'm iffy on the projectors on eBay. Some people report decent cutoff, others have had terrible cutoff; I don't want to take that risk and go through the trouble of retrofitting projectors. That said, you can always retrofit OEM projectors (usually TSX or S2K) if the cutoff isn't to your liking.

 

Thanks, and your welcome.
I painted my grill using the same stuff mentioned above called plastidip. I really liked results especially for the limited amount of effort it was to paint it.
My ride hieght is on #4 and #3 pads on Vogtland springs if you feel like replicating it. Seems like quite a few like the way it sits but i personally wanna go down to #1 pads with a more aggressive front spoiler/bumper. Though i am enjoying how driveways are not a monsterous challenge, so its a toss up.
Good luck with your ride, these cars hold up real well.

 

Think I'm gonna try and do the grill in the next week or so, just ordered the spray. I'm reading a lot on the springs and it seems like there is no consensus. I read something about the vogtland springs being longer, and I live in the suburbs so there is a lot of hills/uphill driveways so I'm guessing a longer spring would probably do me some good. Is my best bet to go through vogtland for something like http://www.vogtlandsuspension.com/p3...duct_info.html or to find the springs by themselves and put together my own kit?

Also, unrelated, I just bought a replacement piece of wood trim for my interior (old one had a little piece chipped off) and I am thinking i need to remove the door panel to install it, anyone done this before? there is 4 holes that line up with the wood and it looks like i could just drill out whatever is plugging them now but there has to be an easier way.

 

Vogtlands are more often than not on backorder so you may want to go with something more readily available (i.e. Eibach or H&R). Though if you're patient, I think Vogtlands are worth it.