bgoldstein

Hello-

I have an 08 350CLK and am thinking about upgrading the radio. I'd like bluetooth capability as well as GPS. It is important that the analog clock on the dash continues to work as well as everything else on the dash. Is there such a radio available?

Rudeney

First of all, welcome to the forum!

Do you have COMAND (NAV)? If so, the instrument cluster will need to be re-coded as "no COMAND installed" in order for control of the clock to be reverted back to it. Otherwise, you'll lose the ability to set the clock.

There are a few things to consider when replacing the radio. Your car uses a fiber optic "loop" to connect the factory radio to the CD changer and trunk-mounted amplifier. This means that there is no analog speaker wiring in the dash. To connect an aftermarket radio to the car's speakers, you have to run your own wiring from the dash to the trunk, and then ti into the analog speaker wiring harness there that is currently plugged into the factory amp. Many people run low-level (pre-amp) wiring and install a new aftermarket amp in the trunk. There are wiring channels under the door sills to make this fairly simple. Another concern is the physical installation. The W230 faceplate kit will NOT work - the W209 center stack is narrower, and I think the bolt pattern is different. Another issue is with wiring the radio. The car's wiring only supplies constant +12v. Switching the radio on an doff with the ignition and illumination are activated by CAN bus signal. The factory unit talks to the CAN bus for these signals as well as the steering wheel controls and display of information on the instrument cluster MFD. You can buy aftermarket CAN bus interfaces that will provide switch +12v, illumination and steering wheel button control (but I don't think any will display info on the cluster's screen). Or, if you don't care about steering wheel controls, you can use the cigarette lighter and ashtray wiring for switched +12v and illumination.