hey guys, I know there really is very little customizing here on the R class and I know that when you hear C class bumper and matte paint you automatically cringe at the thought of what that might look like, but I just finished redoing my R500 and I'm very happy with the way it turned out and figured I'd share it here for the few who might care to see it.

I love my R and intend on keeping her for a really long time but lately I've been getting a bit bored with her appearance and decided to spruce things up a bit. personally I love the overall look of the R but I've always been less than in love with the appearance of the nose on this thing. I always thought the problem was centered around the headlights so I came up with the crazy idea of grafting in a set of CLS LED headlights, even bought a pair on ebay for the transformation which would have required modifying the fenders and the hood as well as the front bumper, but I decided to start my mods with the bumper itself and after I finished the bumper I stood back and looked at it and thought to myself, wow, the headlights don't even look so bad anymore. the more I looked at it the more I really liked it as-is so I decided to forgo the much more ambitious task I originally had in mind and just keep it simple and honestly, I'm really in love with the result

the color I chose is a Mercedes Designo color offered only on the SLS. It's called magno mango grey and it is one of Mercedes matte finishes. originally my thoughts were to go with the matte pearl white which I've always loved since the first time I seen it on an S63, and seeing as my R was originally white it just seemed like the way to go because I figured I could get away with just doing the exterior and not having to respray all of the door jambs. but the more I thought about it, the more I thought that I wouldn't be completely happy with a matte paint job with glossy white jambs so once I decided to do a full dis assembly and do the jambs too then I realized that I was no longer restricted to staying with the white and well, long story short, this color just really won me over and I decided to just go for it

the front bumper I grafted in is from a 2015 C class AMG and all work was done with urethane so it's just as flexible and durable as an original bumper. I even already put it to the test by accidentally hitting someone at a stop light and the only damage was a few scuff marks in the paint

here are a few pics, I know this look isn't for everyone and I know that the Mercedes crowd can be a bit on the conservative side of things, but personally I think I kept it away from being tacky while adding a bit more of an aggressive sporty look. feel free to tell me what you think

 

Looks excellent! Nice work.

 

Wow, that looks like a really clean job with nice gap control. I dig it. Gives the front end a more sporty modern look. Got any close up pics?

 

Very nice. Tastefully done.

 

It looks bad a$$

Very nice work

 

UberAwesome!

 

thanks guys, I don't really have any good pictures yet, still buttoning up a few things, need to tint the front windows, still want to spray the upper grille, either to match the wheel centers, or maybe just black, smoke the tails slightly and I still need to button up a few other odds and ends, then maybe I'll try for something better than cell phone shots, but for now here are a couple of close ups of the bumper. I did not use the OE lower grilles for this bumper, I used a tighter mesh design for a little bit of a different look than the stock lower grilles gave it.







the gaps right now are actually far from perfect, when I nailed that car at the red light it actually bent the bumper reinforcement down a bit, I really nailed him good, so right now as it sits the bumper needs to go up slightly, not so obvious in these pics but it will be perfect once I get around to swapping or straightening the front reinforcement.

 

So when will you start making these for the general public?

 

ha, unfortunately the costs to duplicate this bumper would be extremely high. first I started with a stock R bumper and a stock AMG bumper which is over $900 itself, then add many hours of custom cutting and grafting, and believe it or not this thing winded up consuming almost a grand in urethane bumper repair material on top of that, add another almost $500 for the lower chrome & $150 for the lower grille mesh, so to duplicate it would wind up being somewhere north of $3,500 just to duplicate it not including paint or installation.

making a mold and doing it in a lesser material is really not my thing, never would fit as well nor be as durable, I'll just leave that whole mess of a deal to the Brabus and Lorinzer crews this is basically how they build there bumpers. first build such as this would be the prototype, just as this one is, but they'd use lesser materials than urethane to actually build the prototype, then they make a mold from that, and then build there bumpers from the mold

 

So, I hate matte finish paint, OEM or not...

With my opinion out of the way... your creativity on that bumper is absolutely fantastic! Also, the refinish job looks great. You like the color and that is all that matters. What my very critical and opinionated eye sees is a really high quality custom...

Beautiful....

 

That looks great! What parts of the bumper are customized? The work looks flawless.

 

here is what the bumper originally looked like:













and here is what the donor bumper looks like on the c class





and here are a few pics of the initial fitting of them together












it also bothered me a bit how the lower corner of the bumper did not match up well with the side skirts, never did, in both height and design, so I added a more pronounced extended point at the lower corner in the final design to better match the side skirts. you can see it best in this last shot. once I added this corner it now visually flows well into the sides

 

Okay. I get it. Nice job.

 

Seen a lot of custom stuff in my day.... you sir have some serious talent. Not just good seams but it flows and looks like the OEM would have done it.

 

thanks Jeff, that's always my goal when it comes to any kind of custom work, to look factory, or at least as if it could have been factory. to me I consider that the highest compliment possible, when someone looks at something custom I've done and just says, ok, whats custom? I don't see it, it just looks like it belongs that way, so really, thanks for that

 

Considering the lack of aftermarket options avl for the W251, while I was searching for an R, I was originally thinking of melding a different bumper to the OEM R one also...but I was limiting myself to OEM and aftermarket bumpers from other MBs of roughly the same vintage. I never considered that one from a newer model would work with our cars' older body style, but I think you did a good job showing that it could actually all flow together pretty well. Unfortunately for me, since I ended up getting an R63, I almost felt bad hacking up the factory bumper (even though it's essentially no different from all other '08-'10 ones), but seeing your end result has got me thinking it might be a good idea to give it a try on a donor bumper...

BTW, as far as duplicating this bumper for resale purposes, you *could* always use your finished one as a plug to make a mold to crank out a couple fiberglass copies to sell. I'm sure it won't be hard to find a few buyers after seeing pics of your car

 

Good idea. Making a mold from that mod bumper is good for mass production.

 

turbocad6,

Nice work bud!