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So I was looking at some pictures and realized that some center speaker grilles have a vent knob in them and some don't. Was this an option? I remember when I took mine off the vents were there but they were locked shut. Can someone clarify what those vents are for?
So I was looking at some pictures and realized that some center speaker grilles have a vent knob in them and some don't. Was this an option? I remember when I took mine off the vents were there but they were locked shut. Can someone clarify what those vents are for?
I never saw that on a clk . what year is your car ?
2009 SL550 Roadster Diamond White, 2008 CLK550 Coupe Obsidian Black
On the older models, they had a knob that would change the air coming through the center vents to cold no matter what temperature was set on the hvac controls. So that is mostly likely for that feature. Such as if you just wanted a quick rush of cool air when you've been running the heater for example. My 04 E320 had this. It was removed on most models for MY05 I believe, part of decontenting and most likely because it would confuse owners. Even older models actually had buttons that you could select cold or hot air (such as the W140 S-class). BMWs also have this feature on some models I have seen.
Interesting. I am not sure it's year related though. If you look at ebay a lot of these parts come from 05+ cars, at least that's what the sellers say. Also, the vents would basically be blowing straight up at the windshield and getting air from the same source as the rest of the dash vents. Maybe it was an European thing that got killed in translation?
Not complaining it's not there...more room to install stuff
I have a 2005 EU-spec CLK 320 which has this wheel. My 2003 CLK 320 which I owned in Canada did not have it. It's just not a North American feature.
As said above, when the wheel is turned, less air comes from the front center vents and more air comes upwards towards the windshield from the center upper vent.
I wonder why they decided to skip it for the NA market. I guess if anyone wants it, all they have to do is get the grille with the button and pop it in.
I wonder why they decided to skip it for the NA market. I guess if anyone wants it, all they have to do is get the grille with the button and pop it in.
btw what upgrade speaker did you end up putting in to replace the oem?
Some people love it and some hate it. It's been in BMW's for years and still is to this today. I personally love it now, but it can be annoying if you dont know about it, because you can set the heater on and it will blow chilli air no matter what temperature you set. At the same time why do you need such a feature if you have climate control. But a couple of times i was sick of warm air hitting my face but didn't want to have a cold cabin and i was like omg this is actually amazing lol
Almost always set to open unless I need a blast of hot or cold air. Really useful as it does an excellent job of cooling the car, draft free, therefore is almost always fully open. Stops the front vents drying out my contact lenses late at night!
It does make some noise though if the climate control needs to ramp up the fan speed. One amusing feature, is that when I have the temperature set down to 18 or below, if it is around 20 or above outside, I get a large patch of condensation on the OUTSIDE of the windscreen, have to clear it with the wipers!
2009 SL550 Roadster Diamond White, 2008 CLK550 Coupe Obsidian Black
Originally Posted by aleks001
Some people love it and some hate it. It's been in BMW's for years and still is to this today. I personally love it now, but it can be annoying if you dont know about it, because you can set the heater on and it will blow chilli air no matter what temperature you set. At the same time why do you need such a feature if you have climate control. But a couple of times i was sick of warm air hitting my face but didn't want to have a cold cabin and i was like omg this is actually amazing lol
My 04 E320 had it as well and it did come in handy if properly used. I think most people in the US market were confused and the service guys at the dealer got tired of explaining to the customers so they must've told MBUSA to tell corporate to drop it for the market.
My 04 E320 had it as well and it did come in handy if properly used. I think most people in the US market were confused and the service guys at the dealer got tired of explaining to the customers so they must've told MBUSA to tell corporate to drop it for the market.
That's why we can't have nice things. It seems like a pretty useful feature...makes sense they would get rid of it
That's why we can't have nice things. It seems like a pretty useful feature...makes sense they would get rid of it
I've always hated it. All it does is create a foggy spot on your windscreen. There is really no need for air to be blowing from that whole straight up to the screen. So it sucks that you guys can't turn it off and have to put up with air blowing up at the screen. Maybe it's a better feature for winter countries where you constantly have a foggy windscreen but in warm climates it is literally useless and annoying. It also slows down the air coming out of the front vents because so much seems to escape through the top vent.
08-28-2017, 11:51 AM
