Aashh

Hey everyone, I’m getting my grille changed to a panamericana grille. With the grille swap being so complicated and having to take the front bumper off to do so. I was wondering if it’s the same deal for the grille surround. Or can it be takien off without taking the whole bumper off? Mine is chrome and I’m planning to have it painted black.

Bfgslkman

Its very easy but will take about 60 mins to disassemble and then about another 60 to assmemle. If you want to know how then look at the video on my YouTube channel (link in signature). I fitted the AMG diamond grill but the method is exactly the same.

You cannot remove grille, chrome bits on the grille or the surround without removing the bumper, but the bumper is only two screws each side, about 10 bolts underneath to remove the front undertray and a couple of screw holding the bumper the radiator suport.

Mago 51

Moin, Bfgslkman,

I'm suscribed to your channel and always thinking about swapping my stock grille for the Panamericana.

What throws me back a bit is deciding which grille to buy, of all the aftermarkets that are sold online.
I discard the original MB part because I think it is almost 600 euros at the dealer and I've heard that the others do also fit well, although not all of them seem to be just plug & play and I guess that it depends on the price.... because there is a fairly wide range of suppliers out there.
I suppose that, apart from the original, they're all chinese stuff, but there must be better and worse quality. Simply pricewise...?? I don't know.

Last week I saw a C Class with an "all black" GTR grille looking awesome good, but I've also seen some other cars (btw, very seldom here in Spain) with the vertical chromed slats somehow peeled off due to gravel or stone chips...definitely looking rubbish and ruining the image of the vehicle.
So, if you happen to know any reputed supplier in Europe (better avoiding the UK due to Brexit customs duty), would be great.
Thanks in advance.

Bfgslkman

Hi Mago 51 - thanks for the subscribe. I bought my genuine grille from EBay Kleinanzeige in Germany for about €150 (iirc) and then resold my orginal one for about €175. It doesn't matter if the one you buy has the Merc badge in the middle or the radar Merc Badge as they are also interchangable. I suspect Ebay with Eu Germany with EU packe postage might work? When I changed my centre console fom Piano Black to Wood I sold the orginal one to some bloke in Italy and it was only about €20 to get it send as a Hermes Paket to him.

(Apart from possible having to pay a little bit of import duty) I would buy one of the Chinese ones. I have replaced nmy airvents with turbine illuminated ones (new video coming) and they are OE quality. Might be worth looking on Aliexpress as some sellers charge a bit more, but the goods have already been imported into the EU and postage is cheap?

Hope this helps?

Mago 51

Hello ,

thanks for the feedback.
Yes, no probs in buying from Ebay Germany, actually i source out spare and maintenance parts from autodoc and so on.
Just wanted to avoid the UK because last time we bought some items for our Jag X350, we had to pay more for the customs than the parts themselves
About the iluminated turbine airvents, I absolutely love how they look but pffffff....I don't dare to dismantle all that stuff. Perhaps it is more a job of doing it carefully step by step, rather than because of its technical complexity, but...
Greetings.

PS: Good deal resellin' your stock grille on the bay, To be honest, I hadn't even thought about reselling my grille, once I had swapped it. Hmmmm...