Finally did it! Took the plunge and had OEM LED DRLs installed on the "standard" SL55 bumper. Thanks to to MilosM3 for the inspiration and directions! (https://mbworld.org/forums/sl-class-...ed-drls-2.html). Used his part list but did it a little differently. Had a one piece custom grill made for each side. I decided not to use the chrome surround on the DRLs for a more aggressive look. Wired the DRLs to the cigarette lighter circuit via the fusebox. That way the lights turn on and off wit the ignition. The original fogs are tucked out of the way but still plugged in so that there are no error codes. I'm really pleased with the look. It really updates the car!

 

Looks great.

 

Looks awesome! I added some cheap aftermarket LEDs to my 03 S600. For the $20 spent, i can't complain, but I wish they were brighter. I may have to upgrade to some OEM lights.

What was the total cost?

 

looks factory, great job

 

Thanks everyone! I ordered the lights from Parts Geek at $113.48 for each side . Went to Mercedes for the connector and pins $40 total. The grill material was $90. The installation was $450 at the local shop in Charleston, SC - Show Zone. So in total about $807. Not the least expensive way of doing it but it looks factory and correct. I even took it into the local Mercedes dealership and the quality of the job drew a crowd of MB techs. If any one has any other questions just let me know.

 

very Nice.... I want this mod...

 

dope...

 

Nice, like the oem look.

 

Thanks jagata...Nice garage!

 

awesome, what car are these lights originally from?

 

Thanks hamann100! These lights are sourced from a 2011 S550. I just did not use the chrome surrounds.

 

Can you take a picture of which fuse in the fuse box is for the cigarette lighter I installed the DRL, but looking for a connection that only goes on with the car ignition.
Thank you for any help.

 

Hi Robert...The cigarette lighter fuse is F11. It powers on and off with the ignition. The fuse chart should be in the tool kit in your trunk. It's a great mod, you'll love it! Let me know if you have any questions or need anthing else. Good luck!

 

Thank you so much SRT, Got them up and running.

 

You're welcome! Glad you're up and running. Post some pics...

 

Here are pics with them installed and running.

 

Thanks for sharing Robert. Hope you enjoy them!

 

Not as good looking as yours, but it serves the purpose. I don't like running the headlights as the DRL feature on these cars.

 

Totally agree about not using the headlights as DRL.

 

Excellent. Who made the mesh pieces?

I had planned to replace my Fog Lights with Rigid LED bars but this is exactly the look I was going for. I will be copying your design, sir. I hope you do not mind.

I just ordered the lights and if you have any information on mounting them, please share...

Thanks!

Jeff

 

Hi Jeff...You're welcome to do the same. I've been using this forum for sometime and am glad to finally be able to give back! First you'll have to mount the LED. You'll be able to use two of the fog light mounting points and then you'll have to drill a hole for the 3rd mounting point. You'll also have to cut into the outside edge of the opening. Don't worry it's behind the grill and you won't see it. Make sure that the LED follows the same line/slant as the top edge of the opening. If the LEDs are horizontal with the ground visually they will appear to have a downward slant..You don't want that. To form the grill, you'll use the original fog light grill as a template for the outer dimensions. You'll have to measure the inner opening then you'll form the inner and outer edges with a speaker grill tool. Basically pliers (see pictures). To mount the new grills several small holes were drilled in the opening that now houses the LEDs. You'll have to paint and scratches on the grill as well as any areas in the bumper opening that was cut. That way it won't be seen through the grill opening. The new grills are simply held on by black tie straps. You'll have to take your time and make sure that the straps are properly placed, trimmed and hidden. The power for the LEDs is supplied by the cigarette lighter/12V fuse. In order to avoid any error messages the original fogs are still on the car and installed with a custom bracket to the under body tray next to each wheel. There was a hole cut into the trays so that when the car turns off and the courtesy light/fogs come now that they are down pointing towards the ground they illuminate the underside of the car for 30 seconds. You can choose to do that or just simply mount the fogs without the cutout. Let me know if you have any other questions. Good luck!

 

I located the mesh material, unpainted of course. My plan is to whip up a die and press the screen using heat into the ideal shape. From then on, I will be using the original frame from my SL55 fog light grilles and welding it to my fabricated grilles. This will allow these grilles to pop into place just like OEM!

This leads me into the point of this post. Once I do the legwork and get this set up, it would be very easy for me to replicate OEM style AMG grille-work to work with this mod or any other fog light type modifications requiring various openings.

Since the rest of the project seems much less intimidating than the razor sharp grilles, I figured some of you might be interested.

Feel free to email me at jbkralovec@gmail.com if you're interested and I will decide if this is a feasible project. - Jeff

 

I've been getting questions about where I sourced the grill material. I sourced mine from Ebay: Custom Car Grills - CCG UNIVERSAL 12" x 48" HEXAGON XXL GRILL MESH. The pattern and size matched perfectly. They are slightly glossier than the factory grill however close enough. Even though it wasn't really necessary, I had mine touched up with a flatter black paint that matched the factory center grill. Make sure you look at the pattern when mounting the grill (there is a top and bottom to the pattern) just match the orientation with your center grill. Hope this is helpful.

 

id like to do this but first would like to figure out how to remove my oem foglights without getting a error on the dic, or fog light error. I know this would have something to do with a resistor but is there any posts out there that show a parts list to do this successfully without a error. I plan on running the led's straight to the cig lighter fuse to be on all time and want to eliminate the fog lights all together without having leave them tied up inside the bumper

 

I think the car has to think that there's a load on that circuit in order not to get an error message. From my understanding there are couple ways of doing that. #1 - To still have the fog bulbs in place hidden away (like I did). #2 - 50W/6 Ohm load resistors when using the power source from the fog lamp circuit eliminating flickering ( the down side is that you would have to manually turn on the LEDs with the fog lamp switch).

I wonder if it's possible to have the LEDs wired to both the fog light circuit and the cigarette lighter circuit in tandem with the resistors. That way the LEDs would serve as courtesy lights when the ignition is off.