ULJets

After searching for weeks I finally received my OEM Illuminated "Mercedes Benz" door sills from mbonlineparts.com. I've read other users DIY but they were for aftermarket sills and the OEM's wiring looks MUCH more complex. The kit came with wiring harnesses, fuse, inverters, and a control box???.
Does anyone have or know where I can get the official installation instructions for the W221? I've seen them for the SL and R-Class, but nothing for the W221. My local MB dealership wasn't any help either.
Any help would be much appreciated!

E36c_AMG

I also need these guide!!!

tonykharper

ULJETS,

I feel for you. Nothing is easy with a MB. I thought of getting a set of these sills. But all the parts look like a nightmare.

The instructions for the SL and R-Class make it look like you have to tear out the seats and floor carpets.

I thought it may be easier to just wire them directly to the door courtesy lights and forget the harness. Don't know if that will work but I would try it before I would start taking out the seats and carpet.

Please post your final solution. I'm sure a lot of us would like the illuminated sills.

Tony

ULJets

This ended up being quite the project...nonetheless the finished product looks phenomenal!!!! If you are going to use the Mercedes OEM sills, as I did, half of the interior has to come out in order to fit the sills wiring harness. It ended up taking me a full 2 days, working about 6-8hrs./day. I am not a car mechanic though, just a perfectionist, so for those that are more skilled it might take half that time. It took another full day just to find the install instructions. Turns out you need to pay $15/day to access to them. They are located on the Mercedes StarTek site (FYI the portion of the site that contains the instructions is not Mac compatible, you must use a PC).
Once you have access to the site, the Door Sills install guide refers you to many separate sets of instructions (rear seat removal, SAM removal, disconnection of the battery, etc.). You DO NOT need to do every step it spells out. Specifically I did not disconnect the battery and the rear SAM, nor did I need to take apart the entire B-pillar, just the lower portion.
If anyone is taking on this project feel free to PM me for any questions. I was planning on doing my first write up on this project, but it got so involved that it would have taken at least 10 pages and I was too lazy after spending the weekend in my garage.

ULJets

Tony,

You can order aftermarket sills from "formymercedes" that are much simpler to install. From what I've heard those just wire in to the door contacts and a local power source. Unfortunately with the OEM sills that's not possible and you will need to tear apart 1/2 your interior. If you don't enjoy working on cars I would recommend having the dealer install them for you.

E36c_AMG

Hallo
I have bought the original door sills on ebay.I have found installation guide and installed everything.In the package i got 4 door sills,wireing from door sills to the 6-pin white connector,4 inventers,wireing with:
-can conector that i have connected to a can on the right side where the legs goes...
-negative pole...i connected it on the chassis like on the guide.
-fuse that is purple colour
-18 pin black connector
-white 6-pin connector that connects to a door sills white conector

Problem is:
-in the guide there is a orange fuse that goes on a 146 point on SAM.That point on sam is orange colour but my wireing have the purple colour fuse?!
-the 18 pin black connector i cant find where to connect...guide says that it goes to a interior light computer,but we cant found it on my car.Is that allready on the car or it should came with the kit,cus i dont have it?

Please help!
Thanx.

ULJets

Sounds like you are missing the Control Box, Part # A 204 900 50 05 64. As long as your are plugging the purple door sill fuse into rear SAM slot 147 you should be good, not sure what color mine was anymore.

cool_lagoon

uljets when you say sill which are you referring to? amber light all around the inner cabin perimeter?

E36c_AMG

Now the question is does the control box come with the kit only or it is possible to buy it only the control box alone?!

E36c_AMG

Can someone check the price of A204900500564 in US?

ULJets

Sill = door sill

cool_lagoon

ULjets are you done with the project? care to share some pictures?

Dr Feltersnatch

yeah, how bout some pictures? i'd love to do this on my car. my factory sills are all scratched up.

tonykharper

Does anyone know if the aftermarket illuminated sills scratch and dent like the factory AMG sills?

Mine look like crap and I've tried to be careful with them . The W220 chrome sills were much better. I think this is the only truly bad part of the W221 interior. They certainly went backwards on the aluminum sills.

ULJets

I'll try and take some pictures tomorrow and post them...so far no scratches but its too soon to tell. Makes a HUGE difference in my opinion vs the original sills. They should really be standard equipment.

V12toHybrid

to the guys who has removed theirs before, can you separate the metal/aluminum plate (the part that gets scratched)? if you could, then it's possible to polish it and clearcoat powder coat that to protect it then.

tonykharper

I don't know if you can separate the aluminum from the plastic originals, but even if you can you will still have to take the dents out before polishing.

If you drop anything on them they dent. Very cheap part for any car, especially a Mercedes.

Yea, I know I said cheap, but I didn't mean it in terms of what you will pay for a new set.

Love the car, but these door sills really just aren't good enough.

I hope you are listening MB!!!!


Tony

ULJets

If you are very careful you probably could separate the super thin aluminum piece from the plastic piece, but as Tony said after all that you are still left with essentially the same "cheap" door sill that will dent easily.
Plus you won't have the cool blue "Mercedes Benz" or "AMG" lights

ULJets

Sorry it took so long. Here's a couple of pictures, they look much better in person especially at night. Threw 1 before picture in too.

Dr Feltersnatch

Awesome how much did they end up costing?

ULJets

$950 for the kit from mbonlineparts.com.

Dr Feltersnatch

Nice thank you

Chris The Swede

I bought mine on ebay for a fraction of that price...Great post though since I have not installed mine yet. And remeber there are 2 version..Long and short.

745Japan

I think I'm going this route as well. Which do you order, the long or short?

Chris The Swede

Long...