Dueclaws

My dealer said the badges are currently on backorder: current price is $52.00 each.
I told him to order them!

mrjoe

Raygt3,

Just curious, is the emblem one piece or 2? The V8 seems slightly separated from the biturbo.

Raygt3

Actually, each letter is seperate after installation. The individual letters came attached, with adhesive, to a paper backing being one piece, spaced as you see. They are all applied at the same time and after the backing is removed, there ya go. Nice even individual lettering. The average person would never know it didn't come that way. I'm very pleased at how it came out.

As to the V8 and the rest being spaced apart, that is true, and how it appears on all the other applications, CLS AMG etc. Best thing about this is it'srelativly low cost and not perminant

mrjoe

Ok, that's what I thought. Last question - did you install them yourself or have dealer do it? Sounds easy to get it level/even since they all go on at same time. I am guessing "blue efficiency came off easily with no marks.

Thx.

Raygt3

Had the dealer do it as I hadn't taken delivery yet. They did it as a favor although it's not too hard a job. The OE badges came off easily with a little heat and a length of dental floss. There is no sign of old badges having been there. They used the bottom of the car as a reference.

mrjoe

Raygt3,

Thanks much for the info.

Joe

Dueclaws

Ray
Good info: I'm sending the information to my dealer.
Thanks!

Erling

Been driving my E550A for almost 2 weeks now and I just LOVE the new engine. Admittedly I came from a C350 so I haven't had experience with the old 550 engine. I took it on a "spirited" drive around the foothills of Los Angeles last weekend and it just loves going up the windy roads around here. Halfway through the drive I switched it into SPORT mode and it was a marked difference. Sport mode changes steering, throttle response and suspension setting (and at least to me it felt like the brakes as well which is possible as it is "brake-by-wire"). All in all it's a fantastic car and I couldn't be happier with it! I'm sure you'll be very happy once you get yours.

Dueclaws

Erring
Thanks for the report.
How is the acceleration?

Erling

I've only got 500 miles on it so I'm still taking it easy with the engine, no kick-downs or redlining for the first 1000 miles. However even with the limited acceleration I've been doing it feels more than adequate for my needs. I don't doubt the sub 5 sec 0-60 as M-B specifies.

laramr

I have to agree. Drove what could become mine last night. Gobs of torque. Nice exhaust note. The wife and I sold the Vette a year ago and have been debating what to replace it with and we are pretty close to settled. Now we just need spring to return to go topless.

Dueclaws

Thanks Erling

1 MB

Just a word of warning, if you're not used to doing graphics or any kind of decals, emblems etc. this install may not be for you. It takes patients. I've been doing vehicle graphic installs for about 25 years and it caused me some pause.

1. Use a heat gun to moderately heat up the BLUE EFFICIENCY badge. You want it just hot enough to pull on corner away using your fingers. Be careful..it's HOT. DO NOT use anything sharp or hard. Once you get the corner moved, slowly removed the rest of the badge pulling as much glue as you can with hit
2. Glue removal: Pretty easy. While the glue is still hot, take your fingers and "roll" as much glue off as you can.
4. Using a micro fiber towel, use "GOOF OFF" and very lightly, begin soaking the glue with the Goof Off. Use your finger nail and easily pick at the glue the roll it again. Pick, roll, pick, rool. It'll be off in about 5 minutes.
5. Once it's clean, use masking tapa (or similiar) to lay down a strait edge line. I would recommend you tape it to follow the body lines of the car. If you attach it straight across the fender, you'll be sorry. This tape line with be your guide for the emblems.
6. this is where it gets fun. iike a previous poster said, each letter is seperate and must be installed individually. I drew tic marks at the base of each letter so i had some kind of model to foolow, using tweezers, i SLOWLY placed each letter on the fender. It turned out fantastic. Looks factory!!
Once your done just carefully wipe fingerprints and smudge marks and enjoy!

Dr-Nab

Nice guide for removing the BE badges.

Quick pointer though, every badge I've seen/bought from MB comes with the badges sat on a piece of paper with a clear laminate on the top, the badges are stuck more to the clear laminate than the paper so you can peel the paper away and see where you're placing all the badges- so don't peel the clear laminate away first, take the paper off then apply all the badges in one go. (that's how I applied the "Powered by Brabus" badge on the back of my car, can't imagine how tedious that would have been to apply each letter!!)

I had to do the masking tape in a line method when re applying the SLK350 badges to the back of my SLK a few years back, so stressful (never again!)

YYZ-E55

Ouch. You've been doing vehicle graphics for 25 years and you didn't use the premask that came on the badges?? Tedious is an understatement.

Raygt3

Sorry if I wasn't clear as to the "individual letters" on the badge. The letters are individual but all pieces are affixed to a single piece of backing material which is used in the application process to keep things in the proper orientation and in the final part of the installation removed leaving the individual letters appropiately placed. I couldn't imagine doing each letter by itself and actually getting them even. If that were the case the car would still have the OE badges on it.

Let me be the first, Happy Holidays!

Dueclaws

Ray-
Thanks for the great information about the badge.
Happy Holidays to you and all forum members too.
John

Dueclaws

I received the following email from my dealer after they installed the new V-8 BiTurbo badging.

Badging looks sweet. Way better than Blue Efficiency. got to thinking about it. All of these new motors have more horsies than last year. You would think consumers are more geared towards performance than Blue Stuff. Why not make that evident? Maybe the guy that bought one a year or two ago looks at that and says "I bought the first one for the bigger motor and power... maybe I should trade up."

BNKH

Ray - we have exactly the same car. Great job on the badges and light lens. Can I ask where you got the V8 badge from, and who changed them over? I'm definitely going to do the same, especially as the guy at the car wash the other day looked at my BlueEfficiency badge and asked me.... wait for it.... is it a diesel? !!!!!!

Cavu

I put this badge on our E550 Coupe also. Thanks to Enzo the Cat for sending me the part number. It's 2218171715. Just verify with the dealer what it says to be sure.

It's not hard to get the old Blue Efficiency badge off. Just use a hair dryer to warm it up and dental floss to get it off. A little Goo Gone will get any adhesive off the car.

The tough part is getting the new badge on straight. I put a strip of tape on the front of the badge and peeled the whole thing off the backing they had it on. This makes it easier, but not easy, to get it straight. Next time I would use double backed scotch tape on the badge and stick the front to a piece of stiff cardboard to keep all the letters straight.

The other thing to note is "what is level"? I leveled mine with the trim on the car, not the ground. That trim lowers toward the front of the car and I think it would look funny leveled with the ground.

Good luck, it looks great.

Jeffy

Just got our car a few weeks ago and I agree it could use the 'V8 biturbo' badge. I chose a single badge on the rear deck lid to balance the E550 badge. As mentioned before (and in other post) placing a strip or two of clear packing tape on the front surface of emblem keeps all the letters together when your remove the backing strip for installation.

kc2ntlh

Looking good, Jeffy!!!

DanielDuc

Anyone bought the badges from ebay? I plan to get 1 from China for fun and re wrap it with carbon fiber.

GerryMac

Good luck with that Daniel, vinyl wrapping those small letters will be incredibly difficult and likely won't adhere properly ... at least according to my guys, that's why I went with painting my badging.

Let us know if indeed it does work out for you.

aznxkicker

i have them on my car..adds a bit of detail to the side and looks good