Hello folks, I just bought a 2004 S500 4Matic. Its got about 114k miles and is dark opal black (blue) with grey leather. 2 owner non smoker car with a lot of S600 options like rear a/c control, a/c seats, etc.

The reason it was a deal was the fact that the original Command Stereo took a dive. The indy dealer was unwise to take the unit out throw it away and replace it with a crappy aftermarket radio that wasn't wired properly.

Anyway 2 weeks later the car is mine and I took the crappy non name aftermarket stuff out. Found a local stereo shop familiar with these cars to wire up a new Alpine 530 double din non nav radio and add a steering wheel control box so I can still use the steering wheel functions. I now have bluetooth with ipod controller. I looked into the Chinese knockoff command style radio unit but I have no faith in the sound quality or electronics. For $650.00 it is not worth it.

I was able to find a nice aftermarket faceplate to convert it to double din on ebay. Looks great and it has a nice OEM rubbery tactile feel to the plastic. Hope this helps out other people stuck with the same dilemma.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MERCEDES-BEN...item3cca24eaa1

 

Thanks for the heads up. I am contemplating the chinese headunit on ebay, but am hesitant. I was previously unable to find this dash kit...thank you! This gives me more options.

 

Got the car back. I am really happy with the install. All steering wheel controls work except that I cannot adjust the dash clock. I will try to shoot some pics when I get the chance. Before you consider the chinese unit be aware that there is no external bluetooth mic for your cell phone calls. I can only imagine how bad the sound quality is going to be trying to pick up sound from the ashtray area. Since you still need to physically wire up the unit to the speakers you might as well go with a nice Alpine or name brand head unit. If the chinese unit was in the range of $300.00 I would give it a chance. By the looks of the last guy who installed one I don't really see the point of it.

 

Can you ask your installed what steering wheel interface they used? My Comand unit barely works and I'd like to replace it with a GPS Nav unit and still retain my steering wheel controls.

 

By the way, so everyone knows, even though this is a 03-06 kit it will fit on an 00-02 also, but you will need to buy the wood trim top piece and the wood trim piece that goes around the hvac. These are about $30 each at the junk yard, and you get a much newer look vs. the horrible one piece double din kits that make the system look like it totally doesn't belong there.

 

I did the 03 swap in my 00, and am very familiar with the swap. It's nice having the factory unit so all the dash stuff works, like my nav directions show up right in the dash, I don't really even use the nav unit when driving.. I follow the directions on the guage cluster and if I want to jump ahead I can look at the Command for the map.. My bluetooth is from my MB puck so that is all integrated into the factory system so I can use the voice control and the car will dial a name or number I tell it to. All this is wonderful and I added an amp and converter box so the signal from the factory sub was removed from it and transferred into the conv. box and into my amp and to sub, so audio is great, however I would still love to have a new nav. with the better maps, traffic etc. I would really consider the swap now that this bezel is out.. this is alot cheaper than the alternative that was almost $300 if I remember right. Anyway, there are converter boxes to make all the wheel buttons work, even the voice control to use the new nav's voice control. I know Pioneer makes a great unit with voice control. Anyway, there is a post over on the W220 forum in Benzworld. I didn't make it but I did reply to it, probably about 6-8 months ago, where this guy did a whole swap for his dad's W220. Anyway, he posted which boxes you need to get all the buttons working, and you need certain revisions of the box, so you may want to look up that thread if interested.

 

Here is the pic of the finished install: I am not sure what safeandsound electronics used as a convertor box. You can go to their website and contact them. Speak to Mark.
www.mysafeandsound.com


After a ton of refurbishing on the paint work including about 6 hours of buffing wet sanding and clay bar and some Paintless Dent Removal the car looks new again.