Hey all, first post and I'm sure these topics have been discussed elsewhere extensively but I wanted to put it all together.

I picked up my black 2016 c300 w205 sedan with luxury pkg last October (pic attached). I am lucky enough to know the owner of the dealership, and so he kindly extended my warranty longer than what is normally offered, for free, and helped out with the overall price (helped a lot since I'm still a student...).

Anyway, this is what I'm looking for, and I would really appreciate any guidance:

The headlights offered in the Luxury-plus pkg
I bought a demo off of the lot, so I wasn't able to pick and choose. I think those headlights change the game big time.. I know that they're expensive and that I would need to reconfigure the distribution of electricity in the car. Basically I'm wondering if there is a cheaper alternative that doesn't sacrifice quality or aesthetic (what looks good is subjective I know), but if there are no good alternatives, then maybe a place to get them at a price a little more fair, and where I should have them installed. At the end of the day I've got to get something, whether I pay the ticket price on those new headlights or not.

Exhaust
This is subjective as well (i.e. what sounds best), but I feel as though the stock c300 exhaust gives the vehicle no presence, and doesn't turn heads. I was thinking about upgrading to the c43 amg and if any of you have heard that exhaust, enough said. Here im wondering what sounds best to you.. I'm fair game with whatever idea, ready to swap the entire thing out if it sounds a little mean, or sexy (if you will). I also saw in a thread here someone who has swapped the rear diffuser for the w204, and had 4 chrome exhaust tips that still fit great - it looked beautiful, so I'd be interested in that if someone has more info (i'll reply there too).

Wheels
So I have the stock wheels and I'm not a big fan... I mentioned wanting to size up to a 20, or bare minimum 19', and everyone at the dealership told me it will ruin everything (ride comfort, steering, speedometer will be screwed, etc), but I don't care much about the speedometer, and I won't mind if the ride quality isn't comparable to floating, how bad can it be...? So basically what I've done is I've swapped the winter pirelli run-flats on (Canada weather sucks), and then the summers back on recently. I'm just looking for a set for the summer, and I'm not picky at all about the colour, still trying to decide between chrome, black, and regular coloured rims.

Suspension
So I guess this sort of goes along with the wheels with respect to aesthetic. I see lots of people using springs that lower 1.2' front & back, and what I've seen looks very cheap. Just wondering if I go springs, which I should go for, i.e. if you reccomend i lower less or more, which springs are ideal (come from a reputable company, are sturdy, and sacrifice the least amount of ride quality), or if I should bag it? My buddy at the dealer says he saw a bagged w205 for the first time not long ago.

Tune
This here I'm looking for the obvious things.. max performance upgrade, doesn't jeopordize too much of the internals/engine integrity, and ideally doesn't void my warranty :P ..

Audio
Added this upgrade in after I had written the rest, but I'm wondering if you guys think this is worthwhile.. I have the speakers in the driver/psngr doors, and they aren't that bad, but definitely room for improvement. Ideally there would be a kit somewhere to replace them all? I mostly listen to music, sometimes podcasts, and that reminds me - XM radio. I know I'm asking a lot, but whether or not anyone is familiar with whether or not this is feasible.. Integrating the XM option into the heads-up display so that I could toggle to and from XM easily would be great.

Keyless entry
Just being able to have my keys in my pocket and have it unlock when I go to open. This isn't necessary at all, but helps a lot given the fact that I carry a ton of things, lol.

Altogether
So I'm just looking to hear what you guys recommend. The only thing I've done so far is add tint, and get the winters (notning overly fun).. Let me know if you guys suggest anything in particular that you love and that I haven't listed.

Thank you all in advance!

 

Hi There, I'm also new to this car so I'm at the same boat as you! I'll put input on things I know and others I want to find out as well. I came from bmw so many of this is new to me


So far I've done headlights and tints first/exterior mods (dechrome and maybe spoiler/lip) next as well as tune.


headlights- I went HID instead. $160 option here in socal, turns it from xenon. No point in spending 2k on oem when it only looks a bit better. I got the 5k so it's a pure white light, exact match with the led strip


exhaust- I agree 100% this needs work. been thinking about doing muffler delete for cheap bank for buck, but I've heard it throws off the car with the pressure. Bmw world we could just easily do a valve control installation which just keeps all flaps open for better sound.


wheels- I posted earlier but I want to do VMR's or aftermarket for sure. the oem selection is terrible. ride comfort/speedometer/steering shouldn't be affected by much with larger wheels, sounds like dealer bs. Sure it'll feel a tiny bit stiffer or might feel a bit more road feedback but shouldn't change the car completely unless you went spacers etc


suspension- I had eibachs on my bmw. great low cost option. There really aren't enough reviews on springs. I think people buy Mercedes for luxury and usually don't mod much


tune- im going dinan sport next week $300 for a tiny bit kick. There's no tune out there that doesn't void warranty if it causes issue...but a conservative one shouldn't break an engine down. In the bmw world, the dinan had warranty that matched the oem one but those were 2k above. Nothing offered for Mercedes yet unless it was some kind of brabus thing I didn't know about


keyless- we are screwed. I had comfort access and I miss it dearly. Nothing we can do


Keep us updated on your status and good luck. I'll try to post more too

 

Sounds like you would be better off ordering a new one, too much that could compromise the cars integrity

 

You can go to 19" on the wheels without compromising speedo accuracy. There is an OEM 19" option. Just use those tire sizes. It will absolutely compromise ride quality. Handling should improve somewhat. 20" is too much wheel for the car if you want to retain the OEM overall wheel diameter. Sidewalls would be almost non existent. (They're barely existent on the 19")

C450/43 exhaust sound the way it does because it's a true dual exhaust from the manifolds back, and it's connected to a tuned twin turbo V6. The C300 is an inline 4 with a single turbo and a cosmetic dual exhaust. It sounds best when you can't really hear it. But there are makers of aftermarket exhaust specifically for the C300.

Headlights, not my department but not something I'd mess with.

Audio, the base system is terrible. The pretend "Burmester" system is overly bright and boomy when pushed but is better than the alternative. There's a link in my sig below to write ups on the W205 audio systems and upgrades.

 

Yep here you go
Remind me to take more at night time driving. It's way better than halogens imo. Also took a pic of my new cell phone holder in cd slot. Love it it's called koomus $15 on Amazon or eBay