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I inquired about having the gloss black wheel arches painted to match the body color at the paint shop of my selling dealership. I was told that the wheel arches are easily damaged when removing them and also warned that the color may not match the body color perfectly. The body shop recommended ordering new arches and have them painted. When I was told that they would only paint arches that they ordered at full price I did not bother to get an estimate for the project.
I did order one new front wheel arch to determine how they are held in place. The portion attached to the bumper has four tabs that snap into slots in the edge of the bumper. The portion attached to the fender is held in place with seven blue pins which expand when pushed into place as well as double sided foam tape. There is also a tab on the lower rear edge of the wheel arch. The blue fasteners can be released by pushing a short length of tubing with an ID of 8mm over the expanded tabs. If you intend to reuse the original wheel arches, the double-sided tape must be replaced.
When I was at the dealership yesterday I did notice that the painted wheel arches on the Alpine Grey AMG EQE SUV in the showroom did not match the body panels perfectly.
Back side of left front EQS SUV wheel arch.
Close-up of fender side (rear edge) of wheel arch.
Close-up of bumper side (forward edge) of wheel arch.
2025 Maserati Grecale Folgore and 2024 Jaguar F-PACE SVR
Attaching exterior parts with two-sided tape is ridiculous. Had a trim piece on my new Jag come loose because of that and I just used a bead of clear silicone adhesive to reattach it. It won't come loose again! Was watching a review on YouBoob afterwards and as the guy walked around the car noticed the exact same trim piece had come loose on that one too. Ridiculous I tellz ya.. like cheap ventshades sold at Walmart ridiculous.
Color matching is always tricky when painting plastic vs. metal. That is why many bumpers do not match the body color exactly. That said, I would prefer the wheel arches match the body color as they do on the EQE SUV.
Color matching is always tricky when painting plastic vs. metal. That is why many bumpers do not match the body color exactly. That said, I would prefer the wheel arches match the body color as they do on the EQE SUV.
The standard EQE 350 and 500 SUVs have black wheel arches just like our EQS SUVs do. It's only the AMG EQE SUV that has body colored wheel arches. BTW, The wheel arches on the SUVs with the AMG exterior appearance option are painted gloss black not just unpainted plastic. So, changing the color from black should only require sanding and primer prior to the color coat rather than the extra steps usually required to prepare plastic parts for painting.
I am going to try painting the wheel arch I purchased when it warms up in the Spring. If the color match is no worse than the AMG EQE SUV I saw at the dealership, I will order three more wheel arches and paint those too. If the color is too far off I may consider trying to paint the wheel arches Space Grey like the interior arm rests and dashboard. I think changing the wheel arches from black to grey will make the SUV look less like its riding on stilts.
2025 Maserati Grecale Folgore and 2024 Jaguar F-PACE SVR
The "Uyuni White" (slightly pearlescent) front bumper cover on my Genesis GV80 matched the rest of the body so poorly several people thought it had been damaged and repainted, including the Mercedes dealer when I traded it in for my EQE 500 SUV. If you look at used ones online they're all that way though. I doubt anyone will notice if the match isn't perfect and they're all off by the same amount. It only really looks wrong when it's not symmetric, like when someone tries to paint half a bumper and blend it all together.
...I doubt anyone will notice if the match isn't perfect and they're all off by the same amount. It only really looks wrong when it's not symmetric, like when someone tries to paint half a bumper and blend it all together.
I have been consciously comparing color matched wheel arches to the body panels on various vehicle brands. The match is less than perfect on many of the cars including Volvo, MB, and BMW particullarly for metalic colors. The only SUV with well matched wheel arches I saw was a non-Metallic white Chevy.
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren
Slideshow: A one-of-one U.S.-spec Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster became even rarer after a factory-backed transformation at McLaren's headquarters.
