I've come across a 2005 G55 Grand Edition I'm thinking about buying. Car seems straight and the carfax shows no accidents, but the front brush guard has "grills" on the two sections of the guard that protect the headlights. I couldn't find any other 2005s with the same look, so I'm wondering if it's an aftermarket brush guard due to the OEM guard being damaged in a wreck. Thanks in advance for the input.

They were offered for a while in the US with the headlamp protection grill but then there was a recall mandated by the US DoT to have them removed. They are pretty common on G-wagens sold outside the US and are an official MB accessory.

Is that pic a pic of the car you are looking at? It does not look OEM. Need more pics to tell for sure.

........what jimmyg said us exactly correct. They are oem. The re-design wasn't done to improve them, was done purely to satisfy the DOT recall

Ted

No better close up shots of the guard, but I did search ebay and found a 2004, 2007, 2008 and even a 2005 G500 with the same exact style. Seems fairly random which cars and which model years received it.

......it just depends on whether or not the owner chose to have the headlamp protection section of the brush guard removed or not removed following the recall by NHTSA. Some did, some didn't. Following the recall or new G55 with brush guards came without the headlamp protection and also without the turn signal cages.

......some think that the lack of headlamp protection and turn signal cages were an evolution in styling by Mercedes/AMG, but this is not so as the changes were actually mandated by NHTSA.

.......further on the 2013 G550 and G63, you see further changes in the brush guard made neccessariy, not so much by syringe but out of necessity. The addition of the LED's below the headlights made in neccessariy to widen the inferior portion of the brush guard in so as not to block the LED's. On the G63, it looks just fine with the larger bumper and grille, but on the G550 it looks a bit odd.


Ted