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I own a 2011 E350 4matic Luxury Edition. It just topped over 100K miles and I have a mechanic ready to do some work on the engine already. Just so happens he also can do body work which my vehicle is in desperate need of--thanks City of Chicago. To give some insight:
1. Halogen bulbs H7 and H11--> I would love to convert them but have heard that it can be tasking. With that being said are there any Halogen bulbs that give a true HID appearance without trying to mod and convert to HID?
2. The grille: its time to make it look sporty, any recommendations on stylish grilles out there?
3. Car is black with black interior---alrady tinted but im going to go darker
4. Keep in mind the car has the dual fog lights on the body which I plan on changing as well for that true white appearance.
5. Lastly, the interior needs some upgrades, any recommended systems to go with that won't give out after a year?
I said the car off and with this semiconductor BS, I refuse to overpay for a used vehicle lol. I want to make my 2011 look sleek while driving it for another 50k miles or so.
Total cost I am estimating for the mods would be around 3000-4000. Its unfair to this vehicle that has been a soldier to not look respectable again.
Please friends, any comments/suggestions/mods you have performed are highly appreciated.
I recently made a (stupid) purchase of "silver" type halogens. Then I read the package, "Life: 85 hours".
Unless someone comes out with an end-around to the laws of physics and chemistry, now I know that the "bluer" halogens have shorter lives. I, personally, don't want to go through the trauma of raising the car, taking a wheel off, stripping the liner, and replacing a bulb in the dead of winter for the driver's side; and you KNOW that these will die in the dead of winter. And I lived in Chicago for more than three decades.
My "silver' bulbs will be relegated to the high-beams (which I virtually never use in my driving habits). I'm still torn between HID's and LEDS. Note that the "cheap" LED's are garbage and besides not lasting very long will produce blobs of light, annoy/endanger other motorists, and possibly attract the attention of 5-0's (of course, so do DEAD bulbs of any type).
I really like my Depo "facelift" taillights. They were not cheap, but were made be Depo, are DOT approved, and they really modernized the car. If you shop, they can be had for $350. They were quite unpleasant to install but not Depo's fault.
Read threads here involving "Carplay upgrades". IMO, worth it.
I would focus more on maintenance items. Did you change the oil separator/breather cover? Tensioner, thermostat, pulley's belt? And the big one is the motor/transmission mounts. I hope your intake manifold is still good. I just did front springs/struts and also rear springs/shocks. Too late now but no advice for lights, I have the bixenons as that what I wanted and knew aftermarket was going to be no good. You get active curve illumination plus auto high beams with the bixenons. I've used Apple Carplay/Android auto on other cars and that seems like a worthwhile upgrade although I'm find with my current setup, just use the phone for google maps. Not sure what interior upgrades you're looking for. Mine looks fine as I wipe it down once in a while and keep the interior clean, no trash or anything else sitting in plain view, I always stash my cords and phone holder etc in the center compartment. You probably have faded wood, would be good to get a new set but those are not cheap from MB, about 2k even discounted online, once in a while there's a set for under 1k on eBay but even a replacement set may still have the wood fading again after a couple years.
I agree about the maintenance, your list could eat up a good chunk if not most of the budget (although the OP might have broken "mods" out from "maintenance/repair" in their budget).
I would be interested to know if the original poster always had tinting in his/her car, if it has always been in Chicago, and the condition of the trim (pics might be important, because an original owner might not notice the fade over time). The reason I'm asking is that I believe that Northern climates and quality ceramic tinting might reduce or even eliminate the fading.
Last edited by strife; 11-22-2021 at 09:09 PM.
Reason: Can't write so good
I would focus more on maintenance items. Did you change the oil separator/breather cover? Tensioner, thermostat, pulley's belt? And the big one is the motor/transmission mounts. I hope your intake manifold is still good. I just did front springs/struts and also rear springs/shocks. Too late now but no advice for lights, I have the bixenons as that what I wanted and knew aftermarket was going to be no good. You get active curve illumination plus auto high beams with the bixenons. I've used Apple Carplay/Android auto on other cars and that seems like a worthwhile upgrade although I'm find with my current setup, just use the phone for google maps. Not sure what interior upgrades you're looking for. Mine looks fine as I wipe it down once in a while and keep the interior clean, no trash or anything else sitting in plain view, I always stash my cords and phone holder etc in the center compartment. You probably have faded wood, would be good to get a new set but those are not cheap from MB, about 2k even discounted online, once in a while there's a set for under 1k on eBay but even a replacement set may still have the wood fading again after a couple years.
An alternative to this would be to wrap the interior. I just wrapped all of my wood (which was not faded) in carbon fiber, and boy do I like how it turned out.
An alternative to this would be to wrap the interior. I just wrapped all of my wood (which was not faded) in carbon fiber, and boy do I like how it turned out.
that sounds like the ultimate fix for the aging wood trim... any pics of dash and doors👀
It took me probably around 8 hours to complete the entire thing, but that was also due to time spent figuring out how the heII I was going to take off some of the panels. It definitely got a lot quicker once I figured everything out. The door panels have to come off for the door trim, everything else is relatively simple. I did break (like two? I think) metal connecting clips, but none of the pieces wiggle or anything.
If you want some higher resolution pictures I certainly don't mind taking them.
It very much looks something that would come stock on a car. It doesn't have the gloss sheen that the factory (real) carbon fiber dash pieces have, but it does the job well. You could also wrap the trim in your color/texture choice (black, grey, chrome(??), or something else of the sort)
It's all good... sometimes its hard to know where the limits are not to go overboard towards cheap looks.
👍
Ah, I see what you mean. Where you notated B, the chromed accents, mine was wood. I do think chrome would look good there. I’m assuming this may have been a feature on older or different trim models. Mine is a 2013 Sport. It would have been possible for me to wrap the comand console, but I cannot imagine how much of a headache cutting out every one of those buttons would be. Not to mention that I would have to remove even more dash pieces. Maybe as a future project.
all these cars are partly similar and partly different
central console area
Last time I had a look at my Comand unit, I saw countless screws (30+) involved to open it up. Perhaps its less to pop the front panel. Even MB does not bother to include a decorative wood trim for this unit, only flat plastic.
Carbon & chrome is a nice upgrade to get a sportier style 😎
Last edited by CaliBenzDriver; 11-23-2021 at 02:20 AM.
11-22-2021, 04:04 PM
2011 E350 4matic (W212) Luxury Edition Mods
