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Normally I do the work for fun and then flip the vehicles to make some $$. It's stupid, but keeps me out of my wife's hair out in the garage. So I recently purchased a 2003 G500 from my sister who is the original owner. 98K miles and a very well taken care of California truck. The plan is to do a G63 conversion with 22's. Obviously the goal is to maximize my profit, so I'm sure some will disagree with my choices on parts/approach but the goal is to make it look as close to factory without spending OEM money. Keep in mind, this is an '03 and dropping 10K on parts is probably not in the cards... especially considering that's about 1/3 the vehicles value. Happy to answer questions that some may have while looking to do similar upgrades.
So let's get started...
Day I picked her up...
Pretty stock G500. Nothing too unique short of the SUPER ugly wheels - at least they're 20's.
So got new mirrors in the mail. Yes, these are Chinese - purchased from AliExpress. I'll be honest though, quality isn't bad at all. Maybe not quite OEM, but pretty dang close. Only cost ~$300 shipped. Wiring coming up...
Also picked up some new headlights from Taiwan. Halo LED and very nice quality. We'll see what they look like wired up, but I will say they aren't too shabby. Cost me ~$400.
Sitting in the garage after the drive back from California. You can also see my other "Benz" next to it. I know - harsh to call a Smart Car a Benz. Picked it up for a song for my daughter ($2K) - they'll be a little building going on with that car too. You can also see a few parts that I picked up while I was out in California sitting next to it. Bumper, Fenders, and some other goodies that I picked up from my buddy over at gwagenparts.
No, all cosmetic. No lift. I thought about doing a 4X4 squared setup, but didn't want to have to do deal with the portal axles, extended lines, etc. - and I don't think I could get my money back out of it. At the end of the day it's still an '03 G500. If it were a newer truck or a G63/65 I'd probably be going a little more crazy. Going to keep it simple and just try to update the truck to more "modern" aesthetics.
Okay so strip down is starting. It's always fun to learn more about how a vehicle is put together. I will say they've done a good job with these G-wagen's. Pretty impressed that nothing is thrown together with cheap clips and is actually bolted/screwed together. The Tesla I did was all plastic rivets - basically that whole front end was held together by them. Refreshing to see real quality workmanship.
Anyway, pics...
Getting ready to start...
Inner front fenders pulled...
Front fenders pulled off. If you do this, keep track of which screws go where. They'll lined up with the inner fender well holes. If you don't keep them in order, it won't line up and you'll sit there for hours trying to figure out where they all go. I took pics just to keep it straight. Also pulled out the fog lights in prep to take off the bumper.
Full front end off. Well minus the headlights. I'm getting ready to mock up the aftermarket parts prior to paint. I don't want to do adjustments after paint has been applied. Better to make sure it all fits first.
All this was pretty dang straight forward. Easiest truck I've ever pulled apart. It all just makes sense. No hidden screws/bolts. If you tackle this, just take your time. I'm no mechanic at all, but half of the difficulty is just getting under there and doing it.
So did some mocking up of the new front end. Had to make sure it fit. Don't let anyone tell you NOT to do this - even if they're OEM parts. I've had some bad experiences in the past. Shot lines don't line up perfect and then sanding down after paint is an absolute nightmare! Trust me. Anyway pics below:
With G63 grill, new front bumper, headlight surrounds, and G63 fenders...
With new vertical style G63 grill...
Personally I like that a lot better - I think I'll roll with that...
New headlights wired up - simple plug and play. I'm going to put HID's in there, but that's with just normal halogens. Look pretty good IMO...
And now mocked up with the Brabus body kit - not 100% sure I love it... I'll get it painted though and decide after I get it all put together...
Everything is already over at paint. When I first got the car I had my paint guy camera the color for a perfect match. When painting your car don't let the paint shop just use the OEM color code. Over the past 17 years this truck has seen tons of California sun - fading the paint. If he just used the color code it wouldn't match. Anyway, I trust him 150%. He's done a TON of painting for me over the years - I joke with him that I should own 50% of his shop by now.
Are you planning on installing an aftermarket blind spot detection system and wiring it with the mirrors since they have the cut-outs/liights? Also i think the G63 rear flares might be wider than the regular G500.
Are you planning on installing an aftermarket blind spot detection system and wiring it with the mirrors since they have the cut-outs/liights? Also i think the G63 rear flares might be wider than the regular G500.
The G63 fenders are definitely wider. I just threw on the front ones, but the rear are the same - wider. I didn't get a pic showing that off. I'm not going to do the blind spot detection. I may eventually just replace the glass on the mirrors so they don't have the "!" on there. Hate having something that doesn't work.
Originally Posted by dgi
I dig all the hands on work your doing.
Styling isnt my cup of tea but I do like the wider fenders. A set of H&R Spacers to get the wheels out wider would look damn good too.
I agree about matching paint and not just ordering paint by code. My shop removes the fuel door to match new paint to that.
Either way, looking forward to everything being all one color.
What wheels are you going with?
I'm going to do some 22's - moving up from 20's. I actually ordered them already from my wheel guy. Should be here by Friday and I'll post some pics. They're Savini SV-F2's in graphite grey. Should look good with the paint. I typically love black wheels, but I think the metallic will look nice.
Gotta get all that double sided tape cleared out of the channels. Here's a tip - use some good "goof off" and use a plastic trim prying tool to scrape it away. It fits right in the channel and with the goof off makes for pretty quick work.
Got the mirrors mounted. Also replaced the mirror backs with Carbon Fiber for $100. They look pretty good. Mostly plug-and-play, but had to get a resistor in there to prevent hyper flashing. I have a video I took of them too flashing.
Also replaced the trim inserts with carbon fiber. I think they look pretty good for cheap Chinese versions. Cost $100 for all of them.
Looks great. I haven’t had any luck with the Chinese inserts. I’m in Texas and on a hot summer day the adhesive backing gets soft and they end up being pulled off in the car wash. I just ordered OEM inserts from the dealer yesterday and will cost around $1,300. Way too expensive for plastic, but there is a difference between them when comparing side by side IMO
Looks great. I haven’t had any luck with the Chinese inserts. I’m in Texas and on a hot summer day the adhesive backing gets soft and they end up being pulled off in the car wash. I just ordered OEM inserts from the dealer yesterday and will cost around $1,300. Way too expensive for plastic, but there is a difference between them when comparing side by side IMO
I'll keep an eye out for that. Worst case, I'd just use some 3M tape that I've got for adhesion if they fall off. I've used that stuff on spoilers, bumpers, all kinds of stuff. It keeps things on there pretty dang good. When I put them on there that's what it looked like they had already used, but I could see them using some crappy tape too.
subbed. DId you see the actual 2018 style tails they make for the pre-2018? I want to see someone IRL try those
I did, but wanted something with the "halo." Since I'm doing the halo on the front lights, and I wanted the rear to match. I didn't get the sequential signals though - thought that would be over the top.
Only a little work done today, but I switched the turn signals over to black and also switched out the turn signal bulbs to LED. Way brighter! No, I didn't do the multiple led kind - I thought they looked too cheap - just changed the lens itself.
12-29-2019, 06:41 PM
Thought I'd start a build thread...
