SLS AMG Gullwing (C197, R197) 2010 - 2014

SLS/R197/C197 AMG: DIY - Carbon Fiber door rail replacement

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Old Jun 10, 2016 | 12:30 PM
  #1  
Sandy Eggo's Avatar
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From: Encinitas, CA
'00 SL600
DIY - Carbon Fiber door rail replacement

I decided I wanted to have the CF door rails on my car. I ordered the OEM parts from a MB dealer and got to work.

Tools needed:
Torx 25 driver
Plastic painter's putty knife
Mounting tape

Step 1: Grab the back of the leather cover and slide the putty knife underneath. Gently pull up and work the knife through the existing mounting tape. Be patient and gentle - this will take a while as they used quite a lot of strong mounting tape. Resist the urge to "go gorilla" and start yanking upward with a lot of force as you'll run the risk of damaging the leather covered piece.






Step 2: Use your Torx 25 to unscrew the 3 visible screws.

Step 3: Back to the putty knife. Same process as Step 1. Start at the front or rear ends where it will be much easier to get the knife under the cover. Slow and steady wins the race. There is a LOT of mounting tape. You will get angry and swear a lot.



Step 4: Clean all of the mounting tape crud off of the door sill, wipe it down and make sure it's free of residue.

Step 5: The manufacturer already applied the mounting tape for you on the underside of the CF cover rail. Peel off the backing (mounting tape) - not pictured. Carefully line it up and apply to the door rail. Apply even pressure and make sure it's good an stuck down!



Step 6: Replace the screws. Do NOT over tighten as you'll probably just end up cracking the CF and it would serve no real purpose anyway.



Step 7: Remove all of the tape crud from the back of the leather covered piece. It comes off fairly easily, just use your thumbs. Apply fresh mounting tape in the same places that were previously covered.



Step 8: Mount the leather piece and apply even pressure to make sure it's well seated. You're done!

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Old Jun 10, 2016 | 03:52 PM
  #2  
A Sadak's Avatar
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2012 sls amg
Nice write up. Do you have the part#? How much were they?

Thanks for the informative DIY!!



Originally Posted by Sandy Eggo
I decided I wanted to have the CF door rails on my car. I ordered the OEM parts from a MB dealer and got to work.

Tools needed:
Torx 25 driver
Plastic painter's putty knife
Mounting tape

Step 1: Grab the back of the leather cover and slide the putty knife underneath. Gently pull up and work the knife through the existing mounting tape. Be patient and gentle - this will take a while as they used quite a lot of strong mounting tape. Resist the urge to "go gorilla" and start yanking upward with a lot of force as you'll run the risk of damaging the leather covered piece.






Step 2: Use your Torx 25 to unscrew the 3 visible screws.

Step 3: Back to the putty knife. Same process as Step 1. Start at the front or rear ends where it will be much easier to get the knife under the cover. Slow and steady wins the race. There is a LOT of mounting tape. You will get angry and swear a lot.



Step 4: Clean all of the mounting tape crud off of the door sill, wipe it down and make sure it's free of residue.

Step 5: The manufacturer already applied the mounting tape for you on the underside of the CF cover rail. Peel off the backing (mounting tape) - not pictured. Carefully line it up and apply to the door rail. Apply even pressure and make sure it's good an stuck down!



Step 6: Replace the screws. Do NOT over tighten as you'll probably just end up cracking the CF and it would serve no real purpose anyway.



Step 7: Remove all of the tape crud from the back of the leather covered piece. It comes off fairly easily, just use your thumbs. Apply fresh mounting tape in the same places that were previously covered.



Step 8: Mount the leather piece and apply even pressure to make sure it's well seated. You're done!

Reply
Old Jun 10, 2016 | 04:29 PM
  #3  
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From: Encinitas, CA
'00 SL600
Originally Posted by A Sadak
Nice write up. Do you have the part#? How much were they?

Thanks for the informative DIY!!
I should have mentioned, this is for Coupes/Gullwings only.

Part numbers:
197 680 03 35
197 680 04 35

The pair of covers were about $3,250 with shipping. Not cheap but worth it to me.

Next up, I'll be doing the seat bottoms and backs in CF.
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Old Jun 10, 2016 | 05:11 PM
  #4  
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Sandy Eggo
Good on you,doing it your self.
Now,WHERE are you going to get the carbon for the seats and the back?
do you have the parts #'s?
Thank you
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Old Jun 10, 2016 | 05:57 PM
  #5  
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Originally Posted by Sandy Eggo
Tools needed:
Torx 25 driver
Plastic painter's putty knife
Mounting tape
One set of *****
Fixed it for ya.
How many beer project is this?
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Old Jun 10, 2016 | 07:55 PM
  #6  
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From: Encinitas, CA
'00 SL600
Originally Posted by cls55
Sandy Eggo
Good on you,doing it your self.
Now,WHERE are you going to get the carbon for the seats and the back?
do you have the parts #'s?
Thank you
You could just walk in (or phone) to your local dealer and have them order the parts but I preferred ordering online which gets you the best price.
http://www.mbpartsworld.com

I'll post up the other part #s in a separate DIY thread - probably next week.

Originally Posted by NewportSLS
Fixed it for ya.
How many beer project is this?
Luckily, I had found a factory video on YouTube showing how to adjust the gullwing doors. In that video, they did a nice job explaining how to remove the cover rail in order to get at one of the adjusting mechanisms. Once I saw that, I knew it would be an easy job.

Last edited by Sandy Eggo; Jun 10, 2016 at 08:00 PM.
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Old Jun 10, 2016 | 11:48 PM
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Originally Posted by Sandy Eggo

Luckily, I had found a factory video on YouTube showing how to adjust the gullwing doors. In that video, they did a nice job explaining how to remove the cover rail in order to get at one of the adjusting mechanisms. Once I saw that, I knew it would be an easy job.
The Video >
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Old Jun 10, 2016 | 11:54 PM
  #8  
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2011 SLS AMG coupe, 1997 Yellow/Blk Hummer H1, 2014 Monterey Blue SLS AMG GT roadster
Nice job Sandy Eggo. Looks great! Good luck with the seats.
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Old Jun 11, 2016 | 08:52 AM
  #9  
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That's a nice upgrade in the look of the car! I am considering vinyl carbon wrap covering for my door sills, but you've got me rethinking that approach now.

How much time did you spend completing the project? I enjoy using my hands too for such work.
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Old Jun 11, 2016 | 09:51 AM
  #10  
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From: Encinitas, CA
'00 SL600
Originally Posted by Edez mb
That's a nice upgrade in the look of the car! I am considering vinyl carbon wrap covering for my door sills, but you've got me rethinking that approach now.

How much time did you spend completing the project? I enjoy using my hands too for such work.
I wasn't really keeping track of time; it was a great excuse to hide in the garage and screw around so I took my sweet time. lol. If I were focused and just trying to knock it out - no reason to think it should take more than 45 minutes per side. The video that Newport posted is misleading - they obviously cut through the mounting tape prior to shooting the clip (because it's way more time consuming than that!).

CF or vinyl wrap - either way, it's definitely a good workout for your hands and fingertips and will look terrific!
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Old Jun 11, 2016 | 03:08 PM
  #11  
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Sounds like a fun project to tackle while listening to a baseball game. I thought about leaving the wrapping of the door thresholds to a professional, rather than trying out my first wrap on a SLS AMG part.

Thanks for posting!
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Old Jun 12, 2016 | 12:37 AM
  #12  
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Originally Posted by Rbcj50cal
Nice job Sandy Eggo. Looks great! Good luck with the seats.
Yes waiting on seat backs!!! Can't be super easy to do
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Old Jun 12, 2016 | 01:14 AM
  #13  
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Originally Posted by Rbcj50cal
Nice job Sandy Eggo. Looks great! Good luck with the seats.
Yes waiting on seat backs!!! Can't be super easy to do
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Old Jun 14, 2016 | 11:26 PM
  #14  
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From: Claremont, CA
2011 SLS AMG, 2011 CL63amg, 2013 ram 1500, 2016 Denali XL
Originally Posted by Sandy Eggo
I should have mentioned, this is for Coupes/Gullwings only.

Part numbers:
197 680 03 35
197 680 04 35

The pair of covers were about $3,250 with shipping. Not cheap but worth it to me.

Next up, I'll be doing the seat bottoms and backs in CF.
I also to replaced my sls with carbon door sills with oem factory parts, money will spent !
What is part number for the seat bottoms and back in CF ?
Reply
Old Jun 14, 2016 | 11:35 PM
  #15  
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Originally Posted by lig4u
I also to replaced my sls with carbon door sills with oem factory parts, money will spent !
What is part number for the seat bottoms and back in CF ?
http://www.mbpartsworld.com/p/Merced...979102900.html

Last edited by NewportSLS; Jun 15, 2016 at 12:04 AM.
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Old Jun 15, 2016 | 12:53 AM
  #16  
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From: Encinitas, CA
'00 SL600
Originally Posted by lig4u
I also to replaced my sls with carbon door sills with oem factory parts, money will spent !
What is part number for the seat bottoms and back in CF ?
Right seat bottom: 1979190200
http://www.mbpartsworld.com/p/__/MOL...979190200.html

Left seat bottom: 1979190100
http://www.mbpartsworld.com/p/__/MOL...979190100.html
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Old Jun 18, 2016 | 03:51 PM
  #17  
Sandy Eggo's Avatar
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From: Encinitas, CA
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Update:

I finally got the CF cover rail for the passenger side of the car and installed it. This time around, I spent $10 on a set of body panel wedges. Highly recommend instead of the painter's putty knife. Made very short work of it.

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Old Jul 21, 2016 | 10:46 AM
  #18  
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CF Wrap Follow-Up

Originally Posted by Edez mb
That's a nice upgrade in the look of the car! I am considering vinyl carbon wrap covering for my door sills, but you've got me rethinking that approach now.
I recently visited a couple of shops near my home to review my options for wrapping the door sills/rails in CF vinyl. Unfortunately the products I saw, 3M Wrap Film Series 1080 (satin finish) and VViViD Vinyls Commercial Graphics (glossy finish) were not a suitable match to the existing CF center console. As a result, I will stay with the original painted sills for now, and consider purchasing the MB CF units down the road.
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