Mortenstein

Hi,
is anybody out there who installed illuminated door sills on the W211? I was looking to purchase some but everybody selling them says they have no idea on how to install them.

If anybody did this so far, please post how you did it.

I like to know...

• How take out original sills?
• Are wires already where needed?
• Are new illuminated glued or screwed or...?

Thanks
Michael

scorchie

I've installed them, but be aware that various sills install differently, so the answers to some of your questions varies dependent upon the type of sills you get.

I do not install the sills as most people generally do, because I think the sills should be controlled as part of the interior illumination (most people just have them illuminate whenever the corresponding door opens).

I believe that unless you have some basic electrical and handyman skills, you should not undertake installation yourself. A "hack job" install can be obtained at any car stereo shop, though, and so an avenue of installation for under $100 or so should be available.

-s-

Mortenstein

I was looking on the ones from formymercedes.com


Well, I would install them whatever is easier - don't want to run cables all through the car if there are already some closed to the original sills.


I think I can handle the installation - installed many sound and navigation systems so far. But I don't want to start ripping my almost new W211 apart just to run some wires.

Are there any under the original sills? Can I take the original sills out easily or is there a chance of damaging the car?

Maybe you can post some details.

Thanks a lot
Michael

ThisFlyGuy

care to write up a general tutorial as to how to do it?

marksatex

Please consider posting detailed (and perhaps even photo accompanied) instructions for the installation. I ordered a set off e-bay and the dealer will not install as they are non-mb parts. He quotes some tech rule . The price he offers to install MB sill is close to $1000US.

I am also not clear what do you (ThisFlyGuy) mean that the sills are installed differently... When/How are they activated?

Any help is appreciated.

BoSoxFan

Somebody had a tread with pictures showing his install. Perhaps it was the Benzworld site. Try a search of both sites.

scorchie

The sills that you order off eBay probably use LEDs for illumination. The sills that are OEM use EL (electroluminescent) panels for illumination. The wiring harness that comes with the aftermarket sills is not the same as the OEM one, and is not long enough to run properly as outlined in the OEM installation instructions. It also does not have the connectors to connect into the fusebox, nor the relay required. The LED sills have one shared resistor/regulator circuit to drop the voltage to the proper voltage for LEDs. The OEM sills have four (or two) separate voltage inverters to raise the voltage to the proper level for each illuminated panel.

Then again, the OEM sill instructions include DRILLING holes in the metal of your car. This is one step that OEM installs are supposed to have, that most people do not use when installing the sills themselves (maybe they do not have access to the OEM instructions... I am not sure).

I don't really endorse using the non-OEM panels, so I am not going to install anymore of them... so I can't really do photos in the future. The OEM panels have an installation sheet, so if you decide to get OEM panels, the instructions are included.

If you decide to tackle the installation of non-OEM panels yourself, the instructions that float around here should give you a sufficient base to get started and complete the installation. You'll just need to make some adjustments to the instructions because they are for different cars.

-s-

Mortenstein

DRILLING No, no, no, no....

Thanks for pointing that out! Nobody included myself will be going to drill any holes in the metal nowhere in my W211! I do not want to have it falling apart because of some blue-light whatsoever coll stuff!

zam2000

I got mine from eBay. and yep, it uses electroluminescent panel. I paid $150 for it. FYI, the one that uses LED ususally run about $80-100/set. The wiring is long, very long, enough to run the wire to anywhere in your car. The craftmanship of the part is 10/10.

It came with brush & chrome, very high quality, and stick on top of the OEM one. For God sake, whether you use OEM or aftermarket, it look and work the same, durability and functionality is the same, so I don't see need to pay lot more $$ for OEM part.

For certain parts of your car, go w/ OEM or brand name (wheels, rims, audio system, tint, engine upgrade, brake), since you can always make a sound argument why the (way) more expensive part worth it, compared to the cheaper one. But if both are pieces of chrome & brush metal, light up when you open the door, look the same, why pay more ???

scorchie

You got them for a W211 (this is the W211 forum) that stick on top of the OEM ones?!?!

Hmm... I'd like to see that.

Anyhow, in your response to "why pay more", it could be that your level is satisfaction is not as high as others. And that's fine that you are happy with yours.. But in my experience, the OEM ones do tend to look better manufactured. You may have gotten lucky and got a good set. But after many sets have passed through my hands, in general, the OEM ones are better. Also, the part that really counts to me... the wiring harness is far superior on the OEM one. It might follow that the electronics are better. The OEM wiring harness generally has a fitting to the fuse box. I've never seen an aftermarket one that had fuse box fittings, and most do not even reach the fuse box (thus all the instructions on the net to "find the big red wire and splice into that"). And the W211 ones I've seen generally don't have enough wire to run properly through the cable gutters (for instance between the two rear doors requires a run through the trunk, and there's not enough wire for that).

After having to work on a lot of cars that have had things "hacked" into them, I really dread seeing things done in an improper way. If you haven't had that experience, then maybe aftermarket is the way to go and save some bucks.

-s-

tonewheel

I'd considered the "stick-on-top" adhesive things. For about 30 seconds. Then I found Harris Tsu at Harton Motorwerks. Harton's custom sills REPLACE the existing sill (on my C230K sedan) with the same MB factory sill, but modified. He purchases new stock sills from MB, removes the metal "Mercedes Benz" plate, and replaces it with a custom fabricated illuminated plate, which can say whatever you want to to say. I sent Harris a Photoshop file with my own personal lettering, and just got the sills today. FABULOUS!! No stick-on crap that can collect dirt or water underneath, or add height to the stock sill...these are the same identical sills that are on your car now, but modified.

http://www.hartonmotorwerks.com/development.htm

Instructions are simple, and he provides everything installed and ready to go. Wiring, transformer, wires already have clips on them, news sills contain new clips, etc. And the step-by-step instructions are crystal clear.

Installing them tonight. Only tool required is a screwdriver.

Mortenstein

Ohhhh...

I was looking for EXACTLY the same! No crappy stick on, drill through, mess around...

Please post pics after installation and tell us a little bit on how you installed them, if wiring was already underneath the original sills, how much paint you scratched...

I also couldn't find any info on how much $$$$$

scorchie

Again I ask... where are the stick on ones?!?!?!

The OEM ones for the W211 ARE REPLACEMENTS. Not "stick on".

ALL OF THEM SHOULD REQUIRE DRILLING if you install them according to MB instructions. This is so the wire can pass through without being damaged. If you do it without drilling, it's no big deal, it's just not the way MB says you should do it (sort of like the satellite antenna).

-s-

scorchie

I thought maybe I was on drugs or dreaming or something because everyone keeps talking about "stick on" illuminated sill moldings, so I checked again... and YES, THE W211 OEM SILLS ARE REPLACEMENTS, they do not stick onto the original moldings. Even the aftermarket ones for $80 are not stick on, they are replacements. They are just LED instead of EL. I haven't seen any aftermarket sills for the W211 that are EL and stick on, but I guess they exist because people keep telling me they exist, yet no photographic not empirical evidence has been presented... oh well.

-s-

p.s. "STICK ON" in this context refers to "sticking on to the original sill moldings", since both the OEM and aftermarket I've seen both replace the original sills and use double sided tape and clips, just like the ones from the factory, but they are in fact replacements.

Harris

I havent seen aftermarket illuminated door sills for the W211 in stick on either. In fact, I havent seen any aftermarket W211 illuminated sills at all. Can someone post a pic of what is it look like?

The ones that I am customizing for the W211 looks exactly like the OE ones, which is a replacement, the only difference is you can put your own letterings. And mine use EL pads, not LEDs.

Mortenstein

And how much $$$$ are yours?

zam2000

Seeing that you're associated with Steve, I have always thought you're as nice & polite as Steve is .... , oh well .

Btw, from what my service advisor told me, there's no such called OEM illiminated door sills. Mercedes doesn't make any of them. Some are made in Europe (Germany, Austria..), other are made in Canada, US, or Korea. Some require snap on (replace OEM one), other are simply stick on top of OEM ones.

Mercedes sell some of them through dealer, but that doesn't mean they're OEM, as I'm told (just as K&N air filter).

scorchie

Hmmm... well, we're in the W211 forum, someone was asking about the W211 sills, so I just sorta assumed that we were talking about W211 sills (which incidentally, do NOT stick on top of OEM ones).

Your dealer is giving you a load of ... useless information. Because something is not "manufactured" by Mercedes does not make it OEM. Nearly everything in your W211 is made by a company other than Mercedes. Mercedes designs and assembles the cars from parts made by a whole bunch of different companies from all over the world (on the W211, the body stampings are in fact manufactured by Mercedes; on the W163 M-class, the body stampings are NOT made by Mercedes).

Take a look at your headlights... ALI or Bosch... Made in Czech Republic or France. Everytime we look at parts we get, we marvel in the many places that the parts are manufactured. (I got to use "marvel" twice today!) I was chatting with a tech friend and we were both surprised to see recent wiring harnesses come from Tunisia!

-s-

p.s. sorry if you thought I was being impolite, that was not my intention... I was just emphasizing that the OEM illuminated sills are NOT stick on over the original non-illuminated sills, and if there are some like that, I would like someone to show me so I could just shut up about it.