KCSam

Has anyone removed a stock '20 GLC 300 grille and replaced with the Panamericana? I'm looking to do it, but not sure which parts I need outside of the grille itself. The local dealerships here aren't much help with required parts.

20W253

Did you ever figure out how to remove and install the Panamericana grill on your own? I'm looking to do the same thing.

KCSam

No. I put in a call to the dealership inquiring about it and they never returned my call. I'll have to try again this week and see if I can get a response.

mustbebenz

When you figure out what you need, don't forget to check out discounting official Mercedes parts dealers online. You should be able to get about 30% off retail list. Best if you have a local discounter you can save shipping, such as I have locally with suburbanautoparts.com
please post findings.

KCSam

I talked to two different Mercedes shops today and they both said it wasn't possible. They said you'd have to swap out the entire bumper in order to do it. One of them said you can't do because of the sensor locations in the GLC and the other said you can't do it because the grilles are two different sizes. So, not sure this is going to be an option any longer, unfortunately.

eddieo45

KCSam, aren't you subscribed to this thread from last summer? https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...ferrerid=13231
a guy hcoronado posted the link to the grill part, https://www.ebay.com/itm/254748457293, and posted a video link for the install:

KCSam

I don't recall seeing that video. I just watched and it doesn't look too difficult. Thank you for pointing out and sending.

The only thing is that his GLC is not a '20, From what I've been told from the dealership, the older models are able to replace, but the '20s you cannot. I'd hate to buy the grille, tear mine out and then realize it was all a waste of time and money.

eddieo45

his sig says his is a 2021; wasn't the facelift the 2020 MY?

KCSam

His signature says it's a '21, and in his reply he says the following, "The wife and I decided to by a 2021 GLC300.." So I am assuming it is a '21 he replaced the grille on. The guy in parts at the local shop here said that you can't always trust that the sellers are stating that it is correctly compatible or not. I wish Mercedes made it easier to upgrade parts. This shouldn't be this hard.

eddieo45

The OEM Mercedes AMG GLC43 grill might not fit; the eBay item is a knockoff, likely Chinese made, but the compatibility list I posted above makes me pretty confident. If it claimed to fit a pre-facelift 2016 I wouldn't be. When my GLC comes in I will take a chance with the $136 part, especially since it ships from US and is returnable with buyer-paid postage. You'd be better off asking someone in a body shop; I may pay my body guy to install it, just so I don't break anything on a brand new $60K car!

KCSam

I’d love to see how yours looks. When are you due to receive? Based off your experience with the grille, I may order one, too, and see if I can find a local body shop who could put in. Is your GLC a ‘20? I noticed the grille link you sent from eBay has the silver bars. I’m looking for the black bars. I’d have to see if they have one in black in addition to the silver one you got.

Please let me know how it turns out.

eddieo45

I’m looking at March and if you click the link for the grill there’s black too. I want to look at a neighbor’s AMG to see what the real one looks like before order.

KCSam

Sounds good. Keep me updated if/when you do it.

KCSam

I talked to the dealership today and they said they do not do body work and referred me to a shop they send all their work to. The guy I talked to said that they only do OEM body work. Anything like the grille from eBay they won't touch because it may not fit properly and they don't make adjustments to make something non-OEM fit.

KCSam

Did you order yet? I was about to order mine today, but wanted to see what you found when looking at the neighbor's AMG. Does the eBay one look close to the OEM? Now I just need to find someone who will put it in.

eddieo45

Sam I told you last week my car isn't due to be delivered until March. As confident as I am that the grille will fit, I'm not gonna jinx myself by buying a grille before I have a car to put it on! The neighbor in question is at my weekend/summer house, and I plan to be there tomorrow night through New Years. If I don't see the neighbor's GLC43, I'll swing by my local dealership in the next couple of weeks and take some pics. My only concern is chrome or black; I purposely chose the AMG Night Package to decrease the amount of chrome, but I'll go with whatever the AMG OEM looks like.

I paid my then-mechanic (a gas station owner) to put an aftermarket grille on my first Mercedes, a 2000 C280 Sport (he may not have even charged me; took 5-10 minutes). I've done lots of interior and exterior mods since to several models (see my sig) but not another grille yet. I think you're looking at a pretty simple choice: you can buy the $136 grille and either take a crack at it yourself or pay a body shop (a different shop than the one that already refused) to do it. Your other choice would be to hire the dealer's favored body shop to put the OEM GLC43 grill and bumper cover on your car, and pay whatever it costs. There's a super moderator here on the forums named MJ50 (https://mbworld.org/forums/members/10263-mj50.html) who has a history of mods on 4 different models that is absolutely inspirational. He prefers OEM mods, but over the last 15 years or so he has done dozens of aftermarket mods as well, and he seems unafraid to spend the money for installation when the DIY is beyond him. Me, I like the pride that comes with a DIY, and saving hundreds of dollars doesn't hurt either. I remeber once with my CLK550, I had the parts for the Keyless Go driver's door handle, the driver's side window switches, and the steering wheel buttons for phone, volume etc. I was told each DIY was 10-20 minutes, but all three together was making me a little anxious. I went to local place that specializes in high end used cars and after waiting around about an hour waiting for them to look at it, they told me it would be, I forget, $400, $600? I ended up doing all three mods (well, fixes really) in the parking lot of a local public park in about an hour. Once you accept that it's not rocket science, and you come prepared by watching the videos a few times and having all the proper tools, it's pretty simple.

KCSam

Sorry. I misunderstood what you originally said. I thought you were waiting until March to order the grille or make a decision on to order. I was originally going to go with the black, but after looking it over and seeing other photos of cars that look like mine, I think the chrome looks much better. I am going to remove the tint film on the front star to restore the original chrome so that it matches the new grille. It should look really good. We'll see.

Well, the dealership here (there's actually two) have both said that Mercedes doesn't allow them to see what parts are needed for the OEM grille and they are not interested in researching or trying, so I never even got to the point of determining what it would cost. I don't mind doing myself and can do quite a bit, but I am just afraid of breaking one of those clips or something else going wrong. I already broke one of the small clips when taking out the illuminating star. Getting that stupid star turned counter clockwise was not easy. I had to get a block of wood and gently tap harder and harder until it dislodged. That wasn't the process that broke the clip. I was fooling around with the housing on the star once it was off and I barely pressed it and it broke. Damn. It went back in fine without any issues, but I am just weary of something worse going wrong with the grille.

I called a body shop here close to my place and they said they work on foreign cars and they would do the grille, but they are a month out on work. I may take in this week just to get a price. If anywhere near the price you experienced at $400 or $600 I will DEFINITELY pass and do on my own.

eddieo45

Sam, I have found that some forums have more DIY'ers, some less. Some forums have really helpful, patient members, some fewer. For example there's not a lot of DIY on the R231 SL forum, and some of the forums that were so helpful 10 years ago now have cars so old (or members that have moved on) that they're nothing like they once were.

I think the fact that you've had that star off and back on is a good sign, broken clip or not! You're gonna be fine!

eddieo45

https://mbworld.org/forums/glc63s-gl...x253-c253-217/

Check out this photo thread for AMG grilles....

KCSam

I think I'm going to try and just do it myself. I watched another video and it looks like the hardest part is getting the side air ducts off and then grille itself detached from frame. Putting back together looks much simpler. Hopefully since I have an Illuminated Star there isn't anything additional I have to do. I close to pulling the trigger on the eBay purchase, but I'm awaiting an answer from the seller to verify 100% that this one fits my 2020.

KCSam

Here's another thread I found with someone who made a video and a few others who commented on their attempts to remove the grille and install another. I'm not sure it's as easy as I had originally anticipated.

https://mbworld.org/forums/glc-class...nd-grille.html

KCSam

Did you ever check out your neighbors AMG grille?

I ordered mine on NYE. It's set to be delivered this Saturday. I went ahead with the silver one instead of the black. I think the silver will look much better vs the black that makes the grille space look like a huge black hole.

DREKNOWSBENZ

Here's link for grill I think they asking 160$ with shipping.
It's very easy install just take your time. And mens sure lay a blanket down so you don't scratch parts as you set them down take things off. It'd probably a 5/10 difficulty for DIY and I've had minimal experience adding mods benz. I added illuminated star and that was harder 7/10 due to wiring. BTW anyone know why they don't offer driver assist dustronic and illuminated star? I know the distronic goes inside it and what I was told but I saw guy mod his star and get it work with no error codes. Whether it ACTUALLY WOULD function as intended is all together a different issue. Seems to me that if a guy with Dremel can do it why didn't benz? There must be a reason safety but should really like see them fix that so you can have both. I'm not big on all the led stuff on most cars tacky but the benz emblem can't do tacky

https://global.cksperformance.com/products/amg-panamericana-grille-gloss-black-c118-cla-models-from-may-2019-onwards-1?currency=USD&variant=32224028000339&utm_medium=c pc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google%20Shoppin g&cmp_id=10879587785&adg_id=108432536593&kwd=&devi ce=m&gclid=CjwKCAiA5t-OBhByEiwAhR-hm3iYv_pNP7R3I9A9PuIUFxfM5JToRBZBFwZUAW4uKd94fqdAT x2nlxoCNX8QAvD_BwE

eddieo45

I didn't; the weather was crappy and he's way down the end of the road. I have an appointment near the dealer later this month and I plan to drop in, check on my build and take some pics. The AMG photo thread seems to support your choice of silver, BTW.

KCSam

I got the grille Saturday. It looks to be of pretty solid quality. I took it to a local body shop near my place and they looked it over, snapped some photos and said they'd get back to me on a price to do it. So we'll see if I go ahead and let them do it (if a reasonable price) or go at it myself. He did say that they would drop the bumper to install rather than go through the hood like the videos in this thread show.