chad500sl

Today RJ Automotive coded a Distronic retrofit for my 2021 E350, a facelift W213. I'm posting my experience in case someone else is interested.

I purchased "DISTRONIC PRO - Mercedes Adaptive Cruise Control Retrofit" from RJ during their black friday sale. While purchasing it I also purchased 3 coding credits to add "remember eco state" and "remember dynamic select state". It took approximately 3 weeks for the new buttons to arrive in Florida. Most of the delay was MB Germany sending the buttons to RJ in the UK. Once RJ received them, I got a notification and received them 3 days later. I chose RJ over other vendors because of their professional website and clear pricing. I personally dislike when vendors require you to message them for pricing.

The kit came with the new buttons for both left and right steering wheel buttons, and a usb to ODB2 adapter. I setup a laptop with a new win 10 pro install. On top of win 10, I only added WhatsApp and AnyDesk.

1) I placed a battery charger on the car just in case. Coding can take a while, so you want your battery strong.
2) The laptop was connected through USB to the OBD2.
3) Anydesk was started, free version. I cut and paste the Anydesk ID number into WhatsApp for RJ to access.
4) I scheduled a coding time with RJ at 9am US eastern, 2pm UK.

RJ contacted me through WhatsApp a little before my time and we got started. Over the course of an hour and a half, RJ told me when to turn on/off the ignition. Very easy. The longest part was my car need a software update for the buttons, which took 40 min. Once the coding was complete, RJ told me to drive the car and wait for the Distronic to calibrate. After about 10 min of driving, Adaptive cruise control was working perfectly.

On restart, the car remembered the dynamic select and eco settings. Exactly what I wanted. Hope this helps someone else. I'll follow up with some pictures taken while installing the new buttons.

chad500sl

The airbag is removed by hooking a wire in the wheel and pull. The airbag then pops out. I had to buy a hook kit at Home Depot.



Below is a picture of the two torx on the back of he steering wheel. These were not shown in any videos I found about taking the wheel apart.


Here is a picture after the airbag pops out. Yes, I had disconnected the battery before doing any of this!



The three Torx that hold the mount plate have springs and two easy to lose washers under them.



The springs lift with the mount plate, Under them are small washers inside the holes. The picture shows the washer inside one of the holes.





Under the next level are three larger washers. The pick is pointing at one of the three.



Getting the cover to pop off was much harder than I expected. I circled the various clips so you know where to pry. I found it easier to remove the wheel any take this off outside the car. There are clear marks to align the wheel again.



The buttons installed. I think the fingerprints all over them give you a hint how much I manhandled the wheel negotiating the clips.