MercedesDad

First of all, I wanted to make it clear that I love the looks of the w164 ML63 (the w165 is very nice but it does not grow in me....yet ).

With that being said, I do think that Mercedes went rather generous with the amount of chrome on the w164's so I decided to experiment and see how the car would look if I "tone it down" a bit, so I blacked out all emblems at first. By the way, all of this work is 100% reversible as I have done everything with Plasti-Dip, which allows me to easily remove it, without leaving any residue, in case I realize that I do not like it, or I just get tired of it.

After a while, I decided to black out the grille as well, including the Distronic plate. Doing so has not affected its functionality as it works just fine. Not that I use it very often anyways as I find it EXTREMELY annoying.

Finally, I sprayed the wheels. They came up really good (IMHO), even when you look at them close.

So, please find below, pictures of how my car looks now.

I thought I would get the valued opinion of the knowledgeable folks of this forum. I personally like it, I notice that most of the time, the untrained folk confused the ML63 with other lesser siblings; however, this has not been the case since I blacked it out.

I notice it scares little kids now (always a plus) and guys start asking me what "type of Mercedes" is it at stop lights.

Sooo....in any case, please let me hear your thoughts, good ones or not......I can take it ....thank you for your feedback.

Rafiki

I did the same to my CLS 63, looks good IMO , i would not black out the side emblems though and the distronic emblem, other than that, it looks great, nice job with the plastic dip on the rims

carboxy

How did you get front plate on with out park tronic going crazy? Mine goes berserk w front plates

MercedesDad

Rafiki, note taken. Thanks for the feedback!

Carboxy, really? I have never experienced that. My front plate is made of aluminum cut to the exact same dimensions of the European license plate. Have you tried lowering your front plate a little bit? This should avoid any interference with the radar. I wonder what do people do in countries for States where they need a front plate.

AMG893

I like it. I would go further and black out the other chrome on front and rear bumpers, and fog light rings, door mouldings and roof racks.

I would have left the Distronic silver. I love the big logo on the front.

But your car looks great!

MercedesDad

Thanks mate!

I hear you. I love this star on the grille too but somehow it didn't sit right with the blacked out grille.

Who knows I might just peel off the star portion of the plastidip.

AMG893

Yes, i totally understand what you mean. I have seen it on an E class, black grille, silver star, and i know exactly what you are saying......

Its a hard one.

Main thing....... ENJOY the car!

Rippin'AV

I've been planning on doing the same thing. Tons of guys swear by the Plasti-Dip and I've been meaning to give it a try. I'm not that fond of all the chrome. I would have left the star and emblems alone but I like the overall look. Much nicer IMHO than stock. Gives it a little bad-boy attitude with the black wheels that I like with the black exterior body color.

Cheers, AV

MercedesDad

Well one more vote for the silver star...the list also includes my wife

PlastiDip is not perfect but if you take some time to prep the area, you get good results at a fraction of the cost PLUS you can always remove it in seconds if you don't like it. I dig the option of being able to bring emblems and wheels back to stock looks just by peeling it off.

Wheels came up really good and I notice I dont spend a lot of time cleaning them now as I used before since brake dust goes unnoticed on the matte wheels.

Service manager at MB dealership asked me who painted my wheels and for how much because he wanted the same for his own ML. He was surprised when I told him it cost me $35 and three hours.of my time.

If you decide to do it, just make sure you cover your calipers and the rotors. Nothing fancy; some plastic around them to prevent the Dip to reach them will be enough.

The more coats the better so I aplied 7 total, mostly because the more coats you apply, the easier will be to remove later if you get tired of it.

user 823908234

AAAcckkk! What is WRONG with you??? What are you THINKING??

Kidding. Looks badazz. Bring it to Mimi's Saturday. I want to see the Dip... I may have some areas on the CLK in need of it, and have not seen it up close (that I know of). 7 coats, eh?

And...
Silver star. and side emblems. As if my vote counted.

MercedesDad

Well Jerry, I'm taking everyone's opinion very seriously so your vote counts!

I was planning to bring it to Mimi's until I found out that I have to go to some boring conference in Orlando for the weekend (I'm the one puking now)

If you want to, we can try the dip on your CLK next time. After doing 7 coats on my wheels I feel like a pro.

MLSEXY3

I have the same. Yours looks different, but not as good as it does stock. The grille is cool, but you at least need the chrome star if the brush guards stay chrome. Maybe thats it. Black the guards and show us...

carboxy

Looks hot

JRSJR65

I think it looks good. To be great keep blacking it out, nice ride.

MercedesDad

I believesss I will end up doing this sometime

Thanks mate!

Thanks!! I might just black the entire thing out, not one piece of chrome left behind just to see how it looks.

user 823908234

Saturday 8/24, Perkins. Be there, bring black car.

Maverick1975

The only thing i would do differently on this is not black out the star in the front grill. the big black circle looks out of place to me. Rest looks great

MercedesDad

Jerry: I may not make it because I have to head down to Miami early Saturday. If anything, I may swing by but on my work horse.....my trusty F-150 . Looking forward for your input after resonator delete.

Maverick: Yes I agree. Peeling off black part from distronic star today. Thank you all for feedback!

scyukon

Plasti dip is awesome. I blacked out the wheels on my escalade last fall and the job lasted all winter, even through car washes. Thinking of blacking out the wheels on my ml63 then using the glossifier from plastidip to make them shine.

One word of warning though - you are likely going to find it tough to get plastidip off lugs. I ended up with black lugs on my escalade when removed plastidip in spring as had some surface bubbles.

But a great product indeed - look for Fonzie on YouTube for lots of plastidip videos. The plastic bag trick for covering brake drums and calipers worked great, and was quick to do.

MercedesDad

Funny that is the same video I watched before tackling the wheels. Yup the plastic bag trick worked just fine and made it really easy.


For what I saw, the more layers you apply, the easier is to remove it later, so I went with SEVEN...even my wife was making fun of me. Where the bubbles on the plastidip or on the actual paint of the nuts?

I also discovered that if you ever have a section of plastidip that does not want to peel off (most likely not enough layers), a little bit of carb cleaner spray will remove it right off!

scyukon

I think I had about 9-10 layers because just like you I found the more layers I put on the better it looked. And if i got a nick in the paint i would just respray over the area. The bubbled area was on a flat surface and was the plastidip separating from the chrome rim.

I will try your carb cleaner trick on my lug nuts but I likely will have to remove them first to get at them completely.