I'm new here and have just recently picked up a 2003 E500 Silver on Black with NAV, Keyless-Go its loaded. I already have done the newer style grill and eliminated the hood emblem, 19's ( but stock winters are going on soon and im selling the 19's ) Exhaust Tips, Wing, and 35% tint. I am semi-familiar with the whole forums and mod scene, i owned a semi-modified Audi previously.

Ive read and searched but i still have a few questions for some of you guys who know a whole lot more about this car then me at this point.

I plan on doing all installs myself, i can't seem to find a good local shop, plus its always semi-enjoyable doing it yourself.

- I plan on lowering my car using the Renntech module. How easy/ quickly can you adjust the ride height? Does it just matter on where you position the module inside the car etc. I'm assuming with the stock wheels i can achieve something close to or exactly what "W211 Ryda" has.

I also seen a used renntech module and am just curious besides this actual module and the wires does anything else come with it?

- Headlight/fogs. I would like to do something so i have the white headlights and blue fogs. What brands/models/brightness etc...

- I would also like to get an ipod jack, but ive heard with the 03 its not possible. The catch 22 is the dealer a few months ago replaced my entire NAV unit, there is no jack in my glove compartment but there is an AUX option when i hit radio. Would it be possible to pull the unit out wire in a jack and just wire it out however i please?

- As for stereo, i would like to add subs/amp. A friend of mine can hook me up with a deal for an alpine 650 amp with 3 JL audio 10's in a 36in box which happens to fit perfectly in our trunks. I blew my stock sub, so i would like to remove that and leave the whole for the sound to travel. It looks like the sub has to come out through the inside of the car. Anyone know about how to go about that?

- And of course if anyone has any suggestions for things to do, or just general comments please feel free.


Thanks and all responses appreciated

Nick

 

anyone?

 

I have a question for you .. how did you blow the stock sub?

 

Call the guys at Reus systems for your stereo. I wouldn't mess with doing anything to it on your own since its all fiber. Your typical aftermarket gear wont work unless you do some major mods using someone with experience. They have some sweet options from $2500 to $5k, fully integrated, clean, and designed for the factory system.

http://www.reusaudio.com/

 

with max volume and full bass on most of the time i guess it just blew it after so long

 

Thanks for the recommendation, will definitely look into them, now if only i could get lucky and someone knew something about the lights and the possible aux jack on my newer nav unit

 

I'd like to chime in about Reus Audio.

I have heard good things and bad things about them and their installations. Definitely do a search on the various MB forums before jumping into something costly.

I will say I heard their installation in a SL at the LA Auto Show a few years ago and liked what I heard however, I've never heard the stock setup to compare.

Lastly, didn't think MB would design a system w/ a sub where max volume would be enough to blow a speaker.

 

I'd love to hear some alternative recommendations for audio systems that can be installed/integrated in the E without changing the factory look. I'm sure every vendor has good and bad comments out there, so true, we need to be cautious and make the right decisions for our own taste. I read one guy had an issue with the group pricing deal from Reus and something about a refund that wasnt granted, but I haven't heard any other comments. I spoke to the owner and he seemed pretty cool, and indicated they have a patented high end tweeter set up that goes into the rear view mirror that raises the soundstage from stock below the shoulders up to the drivers eye level... As an audio guy, that sounded pretty sweet to me. They have some authorized MB dealers across the country, and one demo in particular in Houston I was going to go check out. I dont have their system, and I'm not affiliated in any way.

 

As far as the lights go, 6000k is white, with maybe a very slight blue tinge. 8000k is blue, when you get into the 10-12000k range the lights are more purplish. Personally, I would never run different color heads/fogs - I'd run 8000k for both. The light output is still very good at 8000k and about twice as bright as the stock halogens. But you said you wanted white headlights and blue fogs so I'd go 6000k and 8000k respectively.

I purchased my HID's off of ebay for $100 and so far so good. I did have to add a capacitor to fix the flickering. There is a DIY for this stickied at the top of the forum on how to do this.

If you indeed have the never nav unit then there should be an aux input in the glovebox - I think this is something you should take up with the dealership who installed it.

 

Thanks for info, and i think its quite possible that the dealership simply did not bother to route the aux jack into the glove box since my car was never suppose to have it in the first place

 

1) As you know, you could adjust the height of the W211 via the 2 buttons on the center console. With the Renntech ELM, not only could you adjust the height even further, but you could adjust the fronts independently from the rear. I believe there are 7 to 8 settings for the front and rear, each setting allowing up to 5mm drop. I had my ELM installed under the passenger's side floorboard. There is a recess cavity under the floorboard and that's where all the connections will be. Very easy access and takes be about 10 mins to remove the board, adjust my settings, and then put the floorboard back. Other members have installed their ELM inside their armrest or mounted upside down underneath the glovebox just for the convenience of accessing it. Mounting location doesn't affect the performance of the ELM.

2) From what I recall, nothing else comes with the ELM. "Maybe" some 3M wire taps, but I prefer soldering my wires, which my installer did, for a more solid connection. I've seen that used Renntech ELM in the classifieds and that is an awesome deal!

3) All cars with HID come with 4300K bulbs, which has the greatest light output. As soon as I got my car, I quickly swapped in 6000K Philips Ultinon bulbs for more of that purple tinge in my light output. I did lose some light output going with 6000K, but I was willing to take that compromise. For my fog lights, I purchased this 6000K HID kit from CarLab (sponsor on here), which is a plug & play kit. My foglights doesn't match my headlights completely, but it's damn close. Much better than the stock halogen bulbs. My foglights are bright enough for me to drive at night w/o my headlights. Not that I do.

4) Sorry, can't help you here. Try PMing MBenzNL , BigSis, or Sunil

5) You would have to remove the entire rear shelf in order to remove the stock sub. I haven't tried this yet, but I'll be installing a system myself once my warranty is up. I've seen the 2 plugs where you could tap your Hi-Lo Converter for the sub amp, but I still haven't found a 12V acc. I'm pretty sure I could probe behind the fuse block in the trunk and find one. Just haven't had the time. Three 10" subs might be an overkill unless you upgrade your speakers and run them off an amp. Are you going with a ported or a sealed box? Sounds like you might be getting the JL W3s with that amp. Should sound good!

 

Thanks for all the info W211 Ryda.

1. I would definitely mount my ELM somewhere thats easily accessible, unfortunately since i cannot find a shop around here to do work, i will be doing everything myself which should be hopefully not terribly difficult.

3. Will look into the 6000k Phillips Bulb and i have already contacted stealthauto (stealthauto.com) and am talking to the guy about their HID Kit with 8000k bulbs for the fogs.

4. Will pm one of those people Thanks

5. Now another person a few posts up claims it will be a little harder to install typical aftermarket equipment because our cars our all fiber. Do you know anything about this, and im not sure if its a ported or sealed box i will have to ask my friend.

Much appreciated

Nick

 

Provost,

Which head unit do you have? The 03's were stock with teh Audio 20 which did not have navigation capabilities and had a tape deck, while the 04 models introduced the navagation capable head unit. However, with that said, many of teh 03 builds were prewired to allow for teh updated navagation capable units, and can be installed.

Let us know about the head unit and the answer regarding the ipod integration. If you have the nav capable unit the adding the ipod is a snap (relatively speaking), if not then a little more difficult.

rx

 

When I purchased the car it never had a tape deck. Its an 03 and it was loaded with keyless go nav etc... It came with the NAV unit and 6 disc changer etc... maybe the previous owner had it put it i dont know... But Shortly after i got it and still under warranty good thing, i was having trouble with it completely malfunctioning, so the dealer replaced it with a brand new 07 NAV head unit i believe. Which leads me to believe wiring in an ipod will be quite easy, even though i dont have the glove compartment jack, im supposing i just have to pull the unit and wire one in

Thanks Nick

 

I'd recommend the JL Clean Sweep box for turning the factory head unit into a neutral controller, getting rid of any factory preset EQ issues (ALL factory stereos have EQ shortcomings built in to compensate for crappy speakers, low power, and other imperfections). The process is known as "summing". Then you can build from scratch with amps, speakers, and any other toys you wish to deploy, without giving up any of the original features and controls of the head unit or steering wheel controls. I've been extremely pleased with my setup, and spent about $2500 TOTAL on the Clean Sweep, Amps, Infinity Kappa's, and JL Sub box. Check out a more professional description of the Clean Sweep at :

http://mobile.jlaudio.com/products_c...php?page_id=94

Good Luck !

 

Thanks Kenny

If i do speakers i would definitely do that, Don't know if i wanna do speakers though, and that unit doesn't seem to compliment factory speakers too well from the description.

 

True - but good gawd - getting rid of the factory speakers should be step 1 in any stereo upgrade !!

 

i know... i was planning on just the subs/amp but looks like i might have to step it up