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Recently my car hit 180k miles and I still love the car but wanted to update the interior a bit. The following is what I bought : the apple carplay unit, oem side rear windows shades along with the car door modules to allow the shades to work, and finally 4 door panels from a designo model s600. I figured the wood trim through out the car made it seem very outdated plus some of the trim had faded over the years so I removed the pieces and dropped them off at my bodyshop to have them painted piano black (high gloss). I figured that also I would freshen up the the leather seats both front and back which are black being they have 180k on them. I plan on keeping them black just re dying them. The face the cooler weather is here it will make it much easier on me to work a lot more hours on the car during the day. I have also recently experimented with somehow integrating aftermarket led light strips into the oem factory lighting on the door panels as well as the dash which would be controlled by a remote or a phone app. Once done I will post pictures and maybe some videos videos. I am hoping to have majority of the stuff done in the next two weeks.
These are panels I bought. I am thinking of either dying the brown to black or changing the color of the seats from black to brown which is more work than the first option lol. The reason on the got the panels is to really be able to do the rear windows sun shades. I picked up door panels for $300 which I think is pretty good. As far as the led part it’s going to be pretty factory. I will try to take some pictures lol.
Rear door shades is actually the option I miss the most, out of everything mine doesn't have (OK, I'd like Distronic, too, even if it is temperamental and totally impractical to retrofit). I really think this should have been standard on US S550s. Interested in how that goes. My interior is black so it shouldn't be hard to locate the proper rear door panels...
I have a set of rear door panels from a s600 but they are all leather. Much different than the standard ones that came on 07 base. I can take a picture of them for you if you want. Are you near New Jersey? I be willing to sell them for $50 a piece. Let me know.
I have a set of rear door panels from a s600 but they are all leather. Much different than the standard ones that came on 07 base. I can take a picture of them for you if you want. Are you near New Jersey? I be willing to sell them for $50 a piece. Let me know.
I am in RI. Do they have the shades? Curious how different they look from my base panels.
No the shades are totally separate part and would not be $50. I just paid $150 each for the left and right shades. $30 each for door modules plus the door cards. Not cheap retrofit mod. The top of the door cards are more curved on top to give more space for the shade frame.
I took my time dying this door card and took it apart so I could get every part with the dye. Waiting on the wood trim and also doing a custom led lighting integrated with the oem light system. The speaker grilles on the door panels will also painted piano black
So I got all parts back from the body shop and started slowly installing them in the car and also on the door cards. Here is a picture of the painted parts and also one of the door cards with the parts installed on it.
it definitely is. I will tell you that I wanted to get this car interior done correctly. I also just dropped $1k for the picnic trays for the back seats. Also not sure if I am going to add the backseat monitors. I will see how I feel after these upgrades. Thank you for the encouraging words.
Originally Posted by Senecat
Nice! Big job, lots of work. Cool to see someone take it on. You and I are a bit different, interiors scare me. I'd rather repaint the body!
it definitely is. I will tell you that I wanted to get this car interior done correctly. I also just dropped $1k for the picnic trays for the back seats. Also not sure if I am going to add the backseat monitors. I will see how I feel after these upgrades. Thank you for the encouraging words.
Have you thought about retrofitting the reclining rear seat?
So to answer your question I did but it seems bit more work than I rather do lol plus i already installed custom massage motors in the rear seats along with heated seats. I did just buy the rear seat picnic trays on eBay from a company who makes them custom. I had them made and painted in piano black. They were not cheap but I plan to keep this car another 2 years. The interior is almost done with all 4 door cards installed with the piano black painted parts. Tomorrow I will finish up the rest and upload pictures. Rear seat picnic trays. The ones I am getting will be painted piano black.
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QUOTE=acmw;8622986]Have you thought about retrofitting the reclining rear seat?[/QUOTE]
The led fiber optic cable I bought. I forget if it was the 0.06 inch or the 0.08 inch thickness that I used. I will try to check later today. The kit I bought last year when I originally installed in my car. One side note. With this mode is that you will have to make holes in the B-pillars to run the led light kit to the rear doors. The reason is there is no wire holes to snake led kit through. Again I will try to post pictures to help.
Well got sidetracked today as my son started college and was doing a ton of stuff with him. Needless to say I didn’t get to work on the s class.Being that it’s 12:40 am and Sunday I will probably install the front two door cards and then remove the stock rear door cards to see how the rear side shades install.If it’s a pretty simple process then I will complete everything tomorrow. If not I will have Monday to finish.I was able to pick up the mounting hardware for the sun shades from Mercedes of Caldwell, NJ.Cost me a grand total of $27.00. If anyone plans on doing this mode. I can give you the list of part #s and quantities of each that’s needed.
As far as the custom led lighting setup it was pretty simple. I removed the oem lenses that are below the wood trims on the door cards and the lenses on the wood trim on the dashboard. Once the lenses were removed I took led fiber optic cable that was from a kit I bought that was thin enough to sandwich between the oem lenses and where it snaps into place on the door panel.You have to take your time and have the right fiber optic cable thickness for this to work and look factory.Once the lenses were completely snapped into place I left about for 4-5 inches of extra fiber optic cable. The extra fiber optic cable then gets attached to the led lighting kit source. I will attach pictures later today to help with visual of what I am talking about above.The led light kit was already installed my car from I did it about a year ago. The problem with the install is that it wasn’t clean enough for me.
This is the hole that needs to be drilled in the B-pillar. Right below it is the rear door hinge. I had a bodyshop make these holds for me. Then I got rubber wire loom and ran the led light through it. When you open my front and rear doors you wouldn’t know the car didn’t come with those rubber wires looms cause the install was pretty clean.
I was able to install the front 2 door cards. I really like the way the designo door cards look in my car. It’s kinda hard to see the Led lighting during the day time on the door cards. I also needed to turn down the oem ambient light that comes from the door cards and dashboard when I install the dashboard trim. As promised here is some pictures. Rear passenger door : This is the aftermarket led kit I installed last year and how it was placed on the door before I installed designo door cards. After: this is designo door panel with the led kit installed in the oem oem lens where the ambient light comes from. Unfortunately during the day you really can see the led light colors. As you can see I opened the door panel so you can see the the led color is purple Different color led light (red)
Here is another picture of the purple led light. It’s starting to get darker in NJ so I am sure when it’s night time the led will look brighter. I will take a picture again at like 9-10 o’clock.
clb0099, I can help you upgrade parts of your headliner by offering you a set of Napa Leather covered AIRBAG decals, I've also been able to develop a method to cover the sunglasses holder with leather as well (pictures to come). See my most recent post, but is an example:
That looks great! Are the door cards difficult to remove without breaking anything?
Door cards on 221s are the easiest I've ever removed. Preface lift: front: two torx bolts (hidden under small trim panels), clips, and pull panel up, rear: one torx bolt to remove speaker grill (once removed push down towards earth), and two torx bolts (shouldn't be behind trim panels), clips, and pull panel up. Post facelift is exactly the same as preface lift for front, only difference is the rear as you no longer have to remove the speaker grill to access one of the two main torx bolts.
kronos is correct on removal being easy. The install of door cards is another story lol. It can be a bit tricky but nothing too crazy. I am hoping the dye holds up on the door cards but only time will tell. This isn’t my first time changing an interior of a car. In 2009 I had a Porsche Boxster and completely changed the color of the interior. Dyed the leather dashboard, seats, and carpet. Funny that the car is still on the road as I know the owner who bought from the dealer I traded it in to and the interior held up great. I will install the dashboard trim tomorrow and also tackle the rear shades install tomorrow. I will post pictures.
Originally Posted by KronosLederAtel
Door cards on 221s are the easiest I've ever removed. Preface lift: front: two torx bolts (hidden under small trim panels), clips, and pull panel up, rear: one torx bolt to remove speaker grill (once removed push down towards earth), and two torx bolts (shouldn't be behind trim panels), clips, and pull panel up. Post facelift is exactly the same as preface lift for front, only difference is the rear as you no longer have to remove the speaker grill to access one of the two main torx bolts.
08-19-2022, 05:22 AM
