Hey guys/gals:

I've been lurking here on this forum for a while. I wanted a R350 to replace my previous car because of my growing family. I finally found and purchased a 2008 White semi loaded R350 a month ago and I love it so far... has every option minus the entertainment system.

I've always been into cars and had a daily driven show car for a while... I decided to give it up and sold it and purchased this R350 to replace it. But true to my roots and car hobbie I didn't waste time in personalizing this one a little...

Day Purchased:



Got a few parts a week later... Wood Steering wheel, Lowering Rear Links, H&R Springs, 2011 Style mirrors, 3 sets of HIDs (5,000K Color temp)+ decoders, LED lights complete interior, license plate lights & driving lights and AMG pedals... To give it a little 2011 refresh...














Installed HIDS:





Lowering it at a shop a friend work at:


After the install... I felt it wasn't low enough so I modified the front springs to get me a little lower plus I maxed out the lowering links in the rear...


Best picture that shows the drop and fender gap...


Since i purchased this R350 used... the previous owner had some minor scratches on the bumper and I needed to paint the mirrors so I decided to take it to a body shop where I... Painted the front bumper, the mirrors, rest of panoramic roof Black and Custom installed 2011 Quad Fogs from a 2011 E-Class...









Came out looking subtle and like OEM... I love the look...



I was trying to locate 2011 R350 LED Rear Lights to Retrofit into my R350 but could not find a pair at a reasonable good price in time... But as soon as I get them... I will install to give the rear a nice fresh look. :thumbsup:


I'll like to Thank everyone here on this forum for the information that they've posted which have helped me get the information I was looking for at the time... I will be posting here from time to time and trying to give back to this community...


Here is my previous car... So you can get a sense of how extreme I can get when it comes to personalizing a vehicle (It was modified in the Japanese VIP Styling)... But I will not be getting that extreme with my new family hauler :surrender:






Thanks for having me People...

 

Looks GREAT!!! It will have to go back to the Body Shop to retro fit the 2011 tailights, they don't fit in the exsisting opening. But it looks like that won't be a problem for you.
Welcome to the group

 

Thanks

I absolutely know what it's going to take to get it done (rear lights)... It's light work (pun intended )...

 

Hawt~ Welcome!

 

 

thanks guys... I appreciate the warm welcome...


What's up SkinnyMike...

 

rodneyc77,

your R looks good

 

Looks great. Just needs some 22" and have the grill updated to the 2010's (black instead of silver) or have it painted black or white. Also paint the orange side maker. Your R will be perfect.

 

Thanks...

But the biggest I would do is 21" and thought about the doing something with the grille but figured that the front looked good with the silver, gave it some character. Plus since any wheels I would get would be silver that the grille would flow with it. The front sidemarker definitely needs a paint treatment cause the amber is really getting to me.

Thanks again everyone.

 

 

Good stuff. Welcome.

 

really cool

 

Alright guys... I custom mounted some HIDs into the day-time running lights fog assembly (Outers) of the 2011 E/R-Class quad fogs I retrofitted onto my R350...

I just love doing real world testing... :rofl:

This was the results...


Front view of the bulb just melting away...


Bulbs themselves... they melted off the housing and got stuck to the fender liner...



In conclusion, the less expensive $40 day-time fog assemblies WILL NOT handle HID bulbs. It was an assumption I made when I first received them but since I already purchased them and I took to DK to install without time to get another pair of the actual metal/glass inner fogs , I threw them in anyway.

I basically installed them (HID Bulbs) old school, used a few dabs of JB Weld... JB Weld is still in tact but plastic housing not so much...

Let this be a lesson for anyone trying to do the same thing...



I also know that some people assume that they can cut cost by just buying 4 of the day-time Fog assemblies assuming they are the same... They are NOT and will not give you the same ultimate use. Assuming you want to light up the streets like I do... If you just want to run little LEDs then you're good to go...


Hope this helps some people in the future...

 

Really enjoyed reading your post. Your car looks great. Wish I had the enthusiasm and expertise to do something similar.
I have a R500 with about 47K miles. Fantastic vehicle, if I could fix the rear light and brake light problems. A new rear SAM worked for a while, but now the error messages are back. The RHS rear light/brake light is dead. Any advice?
Also the rear DVD is not working. It is the center consul type, I believe a dealer installed option. Is any of this covered in the service manual.

 

Currently running the ML63 AMG 20" Wheels...


Riding really low through the streets of NYC... Sits nice... People don't know what type of car it is...

 

Alright guys... I've been doing research... One question I've had was the current pressure of the rear bags at my current drive height. Based on the weight of the car and diameter of the bags - and how soft the rear been handling when I lowered it; I assumed 40 to 50 psi... I tapped into the OEM air hose of one of the bags and put an analog pressure gauge on it...


^simple setup... Only concern was the size of the factory hose... which is metric 4mm - outside diameter.


^Pressure in the bags currently is approximately 42 psi. (My assumption was close)

This was 5 minutes... should have done it a long time ago... Now I can guess what the factory compressor's peak output is...


As mentioned before, due to the amount of drop I currently have in the rear... the rear is a bit loose. Since I've forced it to be lower, it means there is less pressure in the bags.

As you can see... the bag is barely inflated...

^since I maxed out the lowering links before and didn't get the drop I desired; I flipped the lower "L" bracket and played with the length of the lowering link to get me the height I desired...

I'm currently working with an air suspension company and they are willing to make something work based on their current bag designs, space available in the suspension and some custom brackets/mounts to stiffen up the rear.

I think that I will put this thing on full air (controlled independently by me)... but just don't know exactly when.

 

I also posted on benzworld but I forgot to ask, what types of interior LEDs did you use? Any error codes with the floor lights? Can you give me direct links to exactly what I should buy?

Thanks!

 

SUHWEET!!! paint the silver part of your grill black, just my .02 cents while your at it!

 

cents while your at it!