I went to my local auto collision center to have an estimate of painting the front grill just like 2009 R350 without the chrome pieces.
The guy told me $150.00 because the front bumper has to be removed to get to the front grill.
I then bought a can of plastic gross black paint and a can of plastic clear coat at pepboys for less than $14.00 versus $150.00 plus plenty of change for many cases of beer.

I came home and removed the front grill without removing the bumper.

Here are the pic.

(I removed the chrome three stars pc. but not the rest. It can be done but I decided to mask them)

Still in process to apply the clear coating after several coatings of gross black paint.

 

Here is the final finish pic. of black painted front grill.
In my personal opinion, the black front grill matches my black exterior perfectly but may not look good on other color.
It should be put back to the R350 when it dries.

 

Its always good to be able to do the same work a shop does by yourself and save a bunch.

I don't get it though, my 2000 ML320 came with a black grille and the cool trick on those older MLs was to upgrade to the later W163s that came with silver grilles.

 

I hear you. I guess that people go for the look of the new model year
I went with black grill because it matches the color of my black R350.

Here is the final product that I am very happy with the result.

 

i think it looks awesome and freshens up the look of the front end

 

I'd double that AWESOME

 

Why was it silver in the first place???

BTW, I like the 'blacked' out corner lenses. Is that a DIY? I would like to do mine in silver.

 

Yes, DIY. I used black vinyl to blacked out the corner lights (You can get it from any Neon shop. I got mine free because my brother in law owns a Neon shop at home)


Only 2009 model had black front grill that comes from factory.

Here is the pic. of 2010 model.

 

Old thread but exactly what I was looking for. I will be doing this to my newly acquired 08 R350. I know some of these new cars you do have to take the bumper off but was able to find this thread with easy peezy instuctions. I usually change a few things on my cars and this is one of the mods along with the MB sport pedals that I already have on order. Added them to my SL and they look really good and simply slide on, also might get the newer style LED mirror covers similar to the 2011 Rs.

AsianR350 I noticed you used Krylon Fusion paint, how has that held up over the years? Did you use primer or just black and clear coat as pictured?

Now to search forum on how to remove that lens directly next to the headlight, I think its called the position light. The right side one on the R I purchased has condensation inside and some of the chrome has started peeling off and I have one of those on the way also. Hopefully as easy as the grille to get off.

 

I was planning on painting my grille too. I will likely use a base clear to protect it from the elements and UV.

 

I just repainted my without the clear coating. This time I removed all the chrome moldings so I did not have to mask too many places.

 

I ended up not using the clear but put on about 6 coats of black. It came out as smooth as the factory gloss black grille. Very happy with the results.

 

Shiny Black beauty.