pedcat

Swapped OEM grille for a single fin design on my 2005 CLK55. This was pretty easy IMHO, and may not warrant a write-up, but at least it shows anyone considering this swap what they are in for. Grille was purchased off ebay from a Hong Kong retailer. I took care to select one that had the top arching over the star, to avoid 'the gap'.


My molehill of goodies:


Original grille has a support bracket on top, this goes away


One pin on each side of the grille pops out of a hole on the fender


I popped out the driver's side first, grille eases back toward the engine


Left side popped out much easier with the right side out


Side by side, note the upper support on the original


From the back, nowhere to reuse the upper support


A little cleanup around the slots in the bumper was needed!


New grille was installed by reversing the removal process - line up lower tabs, then left pin first


Right pin took a little coercing - go easy!


Snapped in place, closed the hood, good to go!


No gap!

Kevwood

Looks good dude, I wish that grill was available without the "distronic" though. Does it feel flimsy without the upper support?

pedcat

Thanks. The grille is pretty sturdy and snaps in tight, but there is some flex if press against the top as you would expect.

Klinh

I don't see you try to incoperated the oem top grill bracket onto the new grill. To me, it too loose/fragile without the top bracket.