I replaced my ugly orange bumper side markers, on my 2012 W212, with a set of smoked ones that from afar look pretty much invisible. It did take some work but I am very happy with the results. Use this DIY at your own risk. As always use common sense and caution.

First you need a few items

1) Standard door panel tool
2) 8mm socket
3) 10mm socket

Here are the steps:

1) Remove your front wheel
2) Remove from wheel well liner which is held in place by (2) 10mm plastic nuts, (4) plastic clips and (2) 8mm screws
3) The plastic nuts are located at the top and inner side of the wheel well, (3) plastic clips are located in the front of the wheel well and (1) is located at the bottom of the wheel well, right under the bumper, the two metal screws are also located at the bottom of the bumper.
4) After you remove all of the plastic nuts, clips and screws, remove the wheel well liner carefully, this will expose the side marker.
5) Remove the light bulb by twisting counter clockwise.
6) The side marker is held in place by a plastic brace, there is a tab at the rear of the brace, the side nearest to the back of the car, just push forward to make it loose, once the rear tab is loose just, carefully, pull the lens through the opening, the lens and brace are now only held together by a pivot hook, as you pull the lens out through the opening, it will feel like the lens and the brace are coming apart from each other and you will be able to see the pivot hook, just unhook and pull the lens out.

To assemble just reverse the steps. Take your time and don't rush it or become frustrated. It took me a while to do one side as I had to figure out the where everything was but the other side was a breeze.

NOTE: for a tight fit, I had to shim the inside front lip of the lens, I crazy glued a small piece or hard plastic to it and bingo! a nice tight fit. Unfortunately some of the aftermarket side markers don't have the same measurements as the OEM parts and in my particular case, this small difference created a gap that made the side marker look like it was loose.

 

great writeup ! this will really help others who would like to change out those fugly side makers.

 

Good job, this forum needs sticky thread for DIY projects so members can easily spot and access the info they like

 

Thanks! Is there a way to only remove the front part of the wheel well (the part closest to the front bumper), or do you have to remove the whole thing?

 

In my experiences and from I was able to see, detaching just the front and bottom sections of the wheel well liner will only work if you have removed the tire but you might run the risk of causing permanent deformation or other damage to the wheel well liner, plus to fully remove the wheel well liner at that point you will only have to remove one more plastic nut and plastic pin. I will say that you will be better of just removing the whole thing, just my personal opinion.

 

+1

 

Thanks for the diy. Smoked markers came today and I pick the car up tomorrow. Will have them on this week end?