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Picked up a pair of the 2011 tail lights on eBay hoping I can retrofit them to my 09... The problem is that the shape is slightly different. Everything else is pretty much plug and play... Minor re- wiring is required since the Reverse activates rear Fog light instead of the white back up light. The blinker works just fine. The biggest problem is that the 2011 lights do not fit well in the existing frame. I am sure it could be done but at this point I am not ready to start modifying the frame of the vehicle... Check out the youtube...
Picked up a pair of the 2011 tail lights on eBay hoping I can retrofit them to my 09... The problem is that the shape is slightly different. Everything else is pretty much plug and play... Minor re- wiring is required since the Reverse activates rear Fog light instead of the white back up light. The blinker works just fine. The biggest problem is that the 2011 lights do not fit well in the existing frame. I am sure it could be done but at this point I am not ready to start modifying the frame of the vehicle... Check out the youtube...
I am guessing that the frame could be modified, but then you would need some kind of trim to close the gap between the light and the bumper cover... I'm not ready to start drilling my R yet...
O I see the problem, the curve at the bottem othe light is different after comparing a photo of a 2011 to 2008 from a picture I googled. Looks like you could make this work still if you were willing to get a full rear bumper replacement? IMO the 2011 bumper is a nice piece too, plus it should come with the new exhuast tips.
If I had to guess MB did this on purpose to keep '10-'06 buyers from swapping lights and having a car that is un safe, I say this because the '11 cars have the refelector on the bumper not built into the tail lamp design like the previous.
As a former auto body guy I can tell you it would cost less to get a bumper than to try and mold these lights to the car. Perhaps wait a year till a used bumper turns up. But that bites because those 2011 lights look great.
Please elaborate a little more. I did not understand what you mean about the reflector and making the new lights unsafe...
The new tailights 2011 don't have a reflector built into the design so that if your car is parked on the street at night an an oncoming car shines it's lights on the back nothing will reflect back. This may cause the car to crash into your parked R-Class.
The reason the 2011 R class doesn't have a reflector built into the design is because they decided to install one in the bumper.
If you look at a 2011 bumper then look at a 2010 bumper you will notice the 2010 doesn't have the reflector on the bumper, because it's integrated in the tailight.
You might check with your local laws too, I would imagine you have to have some sort of reflector on your car.
I just have to try this now on my R Project. Love the lights to much not to do it. If there are any updates youve seen out these let me know! And as I understand it it is a new bumper that is needed and nothing else. And then some resistors I guess to make the light work properly.
That post made no sense at all to me? All done you write? I See nothing done here? I see nothing that is cut? New backup sensors? You mean you have the facelift bumper? Of course you get error messages. Why it wont lit on one side I Think is because you need to move the stifts in the conector corectly.
I tried this now..Damn how much they have changed.. I understod it was just to buy a new bumper and resistors and it was set. I did the conectors and as I though they have to be repinned and the ground is on different places on the old and in the same Place on the new lights. That is why one side dont work for you.
So it seems you can confirm that the taillight housing will fit into the metal shell body, and the only "body" part that needs to be modified or replaced is the rear bumper...?
I am still a bit torn about the taillight swap. I appreciate the clean look and utility of the newer LED lights, but I am one of the few people who actually likes the design of the older taillights..especially the slightly-smoked AMG version. It is nice to know that this is a viable option, though
Here is finished other then little piece missing above right tail light and backup sensor is black (used bumper was black) and my light doesn't work yet lol
@RockLexus looks like they put your R350 4matic badges in the wrong places at the shop. Original is more to the corners.
Originally Posted by vanable
So it seems you can confirm that the taillight housing will fit into the metal shell body, and the only "body" part that needs to be modified or replaced is the rear bumper...?
I am still a bit torn about the taillight swap. I appreciate the clean look and utility of the newer LED lights, but I am one of the few people who actually likes the design of the older taillights..especially the slightly-smoked AMG version. It is nice to know that this is a viable option, though
You'll have to drill different holes or something like that to mount the lights. The FL lights are shorter, thus why it won't work with the prefacelift bumper. There would be a sizeable gap between the bumper and the bottom of the light. The fact that they didn't make an AMG bumper for the facelift was enough reason for me to forego even thinking about doing the facelift tail light retrofit as it would look dumb downgrading from AMG to non AMG parts on an R63. The FL tail lights only have LED for the turn signal and those fiber optic light bars. The braking function is still a conventional bulb. So IMO I wouldn't bother on your car.
I had made this collage a while back using claimweb's pics of his car before and after the swap to show the differences side-by-side, and also to illustrate the part of the later bumper I was thinking of cutting and grafting on to the early bumper if I were to do the taillight conversion also (I also prefer the styling of the older amg/sport bumper to the new one). It's possible to splice the parts using plastic bonding products such as Fusor or the like. I've had friends cut and graft whole bumpers, so I think if the only difference is the two little corners, that should be quite doable. But again, like you said, the question is whether it's worth doing the conversion in the first place. The results we're seeing here from rock and chris do look nice though...!
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