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My Pre-Facelift W212 Grille and Emblem Update w/pics
I just got it (my first Mercedes ever) several months ago. I'm going to keep my pre-facelift 2010 W212 for a while.
IMO two things made it look dated - one interior and one exterior.
Interior: I replaced the small brown-graphic non-touchscreen COMAND screen with an android unit, thanks to this board. This made adding a backup camera really easy.
Outside: I replaced the grille and that "poking up" hood ornament with something that makes it look a bit more like the facelift version.
Another thread here discusses updating with the actual facelift parts. That looked impractical and expensive. I found a compromise.
. There were some also cheap fake Chinese emblems. They had bad reviews so I went for a manufacturer part.
Grille is obviously not a manufacturer part. I bought it on ebay for $220. There are several variations. My having Distronic limited my choices. This took a week to arrive from Singapore.
It took about 20 minutes to swap out.
Grille comes out with one 10mm bolt. New one snaps in.
Ornament comes out with channel locks or by hand.
I might update the driving/fog lights from the "dual projector" to the LED. They appear to be expensive and I'm unsure if they retain full functionality.
Distronic still works.
Videos to remove the grille and ornament are on Zaki Garage on YouTube. He has a great collection of W212 videos. I had direct links to the videos but I can't seem to prevent this board from expanding/embedding youtube video links.
Here are the before/after pics: (sorry about the inferior "before" picture, I swear it is only the sunlight and not a manipulation to make it look old-timey!) Before and after
Last edited by RWagz; Jan 1, 2023 at 05:26 PM.
Reason: Don't want youtube embed
I just got it (my first Mercedes ever) several months ago. I'm going to keep my pre-facelift 2010 W212 for a while.
IMO two things made it look dated - one interior and one exterior.
Interior: I replaced the small brown-graphic non-touchscreen COMAND screen with an android unit, thanks to this board. This made adding a backup camera really easy.
Outside: I replaced the grille and that "poking up" hood ornament with something that makes it look a bit more like the facelift version.
Another thread here discusses updating with the actual facelift parts. That looked impractical and expensive. I found a compromise.
Total cost $270USD
Emblem is 000-817-17-01 - bought for $49 on Amazon. There were some also cheap fake Chinese emblems. They had bad reviews so I went for a manufacturer part.
Grille is obviously not a manufacturer part. I bought it on ebay for $220. There are several variations. My having Distronic limited my choices. This took a week to arrive from Singapore.
It took about 20 minutes to swap out.
Grille comes out with one 10mm bolt. New one snaps in.
Ornament comes out with channel locks or by hand.
I might update the driving/fog lights from the "dual projector" to the LED. They appear to be expensive and I'm unsure if they retain full functionality.
Distronic still works.
Videos to remove the grille and ornament are on Zaki Garage on YouTube. He has a great collection of W212 videos. I had direct links to the videos but I can't seem to prevent this board from expanding/embedding youtube video links.
Here are the before/after pics: (sorry about the inferior "before" picture, I swear it is only the sunlight and not a manipulation to make it look old-timey!) Before and after
