03'55AMG

Searched around a little bit but found nothing, but I was wondering if there was a way to retrofit keyless go to us non keyless go car owners? I know it would require some door handles, another module somewhere, new keys and antenna, and STAR coding, but is it practical/affordable/worth it?

xxGenericSNxx

Practical: Yes. It's a great convenience feature. Now that I have it, it's hard going back to using a car without it. It's great just walking up to the car and unlocking it by touching the door handle without needing to take out the key.

Affordable/ Worth it: Well that's up to you. To do the retrofit (which is 100% doable on your car) will likely cost a few grand. That few grand can go a long way into other areas such as performance or other retrofits like Distronic or heated rear seats. Some people find value in certain options while some people value money in the bank more.

In an aid to help your search check out mbenznl.nl or google search "mbworld mbenznl retrofit" and you'll find that Steve has done a ton of retrofits like this before.

In regards to your "parts list" that sounds about right to me. Also, it's possible a ton of the interior will have to come apart. This can be hours of labor. Unless you do it yourself, I hope you have a good mechanic friend that will help you out with this.

And here's my advert for MbenzNL (I'm not affiliated with him- I've used his services before and am so happy with his work). I, like you, wanted to retrofit something to my car that was available as a factory option but not on my car. I inquired with him about ventilated front seats, something the dealer surely would know nothing about if I wanted to do that. He got me all the parts and sent them to me as well as provided me and my tech with all the instructions on how to do it and that really is the invaluable resource there. The parts are half the battle, the instructions are the other part. So I really commend his work. Doing the STAR programming will be another step (something I didn't encounter) so this will also require you to find someone that's good with the STAR computer. It just depends how explicit the instructions are because I can totally see this happening if you drive the car to the dealer:

You: I just installed all of the hardware necessary to retrofit keyless go to my car. Can you program it for me?
Dealer: ???

Sorry if I'm ranting too much. But I'm excited to hear what you'll decide to do.

AMGPilot

Can it be done? Yes, is it affordable? what exactly do you call affordable? $570 per door for the locks, the control module is $400, you need a new ignition lock at $400 Trunk, antennas, wiring harness, bumper harness if you have parktronic, $775 of receiver modules

Figure just shy of $5000 for parts. Then you have to find someone that wants to hack into your wiring harness and start to repin it, that's going to run you probably $2000+ (20+ hours of work) and then to somehow star recode the car. SO $7000+ on a '03 car?

Sir-Boost-a-Lot

iTrader: (1)

It'd be economically feasible by buying a totaled out car with the options you want, then selling the big ticket items like powertrain, brakes etc to cover the cost of the car. The you can cherry pick the options for yourself.

03'55AMG

I REALLY want Keyless. I am sick of having to take my key out, unlock the car, put it in and turn, then the opposite. I think if its doable for the right price, I will do this along with my other mods I will hopefully start on in about a month or so.
Why would the harness need to be "hacked into"? Also, I am sure I could buy used parts from reputable members, and I am sure Shardul is perfectly capable of walking me through the coding via STAR when I buy one of his setups. Thank you for the part prices, Gives me a good idea on affordability
As fun as that sounds, THAT would be financially impossible for me, and I currently have no bays open in my garage for another car. But I bet I would have a field day with a totaled 55, literally sounds like it would provide hours upon hours of fun.


Also, Contacted Steve at MBenznl.nl and told him what I was looking to do. Hopefully he can answer some questions as well. xxGeneriSNxx, I noticed you mentioned heated rear seats? Can you provide more details on this? This sounds like a very cool thing to have. My friends are always fighting over "Shotgun" because of the heated seat.. Lol -John

xxGenericSNxx

The W211 E Class had an option for heated rear seats in other markets. Check out how the OEM switch looks:
https://mbworld.org/forums/4399554-post50.html

MBenzNL will have more info on that. He's been quite busy lately so replies may take a few days. I never knew that window switch had a dummy area on it until I saw that photo!

03'55AMG

Me and Steve are already discussing this. What a helpful guy, too!

WHTEVO

I will also vouch for Steve/ MBenzNL. If anyone can do it, or provide the know how to do it, it will be him.

Which reminds me, i need to get a few things from him that i totally forgot about.

Aaron

03'55AMG

Thanks for the assurance. I love dealing with people that others have had good experiences with. -John

xxGenericSNxx

Excellent. He's the master of these sorts of things. Would love to know how it turns out!

AMGPilot

Because the body harness for a Keyless go car is different than one for a car without, that's why

Quadcammer

oh god, poor you. You mean you actually have to take the key out of your pocket and put it in the ignition? and then you actually have to TURN it?



jeez kid, most children would be thrilled beyond belief to get that car from their parents, and now you're gonna dump $5k plus into it because you are sick of having to use the key?

sheesh

AKnight55

Agreed. You cant honestly justify that cost because you are lazy can you?

AMGPilot

Folks remember this is the child that is driving his dads car and mommy takes it away from him for speeding.

Of course he's going to be lazy, he didn't have to work for the car in the first place

03'55AMG

I sure hope your kidding. You may call it lazy, I call it wanting more options on the car. What ever happened to "To each, their own"? Who cares what I want to spend money on, its my money... I simply asked for an OPINION on how hard it WOULD be to do this.. And sure, I was given the car, so what?? I am sure you were all given stuff as kids that you spent your money on to make it to your liking. Who cares if what I got happened to be an amazing AMG?

03'55AMG

There you go again.. Not Dads car. Not moms car. MY car. Title is in my moms name for insurance reasons. Don't believe me? Whatever. Believe what you want. I really don't think you'll ever get over it, and to be honest neither will I. Getting an AMG at 16? You don't think I was/ still am grateful to have this car simply because I want to add Keyless go??

AMGPilot

sorry not your dads car, it's your mom's car and she lets you drive it.

t-bone

Yup MBenzNL is the best at doing these mods. That's my car's window switch. You can check out the full thread for all the mods he helped do on my car.

https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/...6k-beware.html

One of my faves is the latest one which is the leather stitched dash and door tops.

xxGenericSNxx

Just read through your whole thread. Please regard my comment there!

03'55AMG

WOW T-bone!!!! Holy smokes, your car is

I didn't realize how much could be done to add options from stock with such ease, or at least in your build!

efiftyfizzle

Seriously, keyless go is cool and all, but those stupid door handles just randomly go bad... my passenger side one works intermittently and both of the rears don't work. I just replaced the driver side 5 months ago so I'm hoping it holds up unlike the rest of these.

Quadcammer

is it really?

https://mbworld.org/forums/5481771-post11.html

AMGPilot

Oh damn, that's gonna leave a mark


check out this one "A family loan" so not his money and not his car.....

https://mbworld.org/forums/5483269-post15.html

Quadcammer

03'55AMG

Still makes no difference. You loan money from the bank, it is then your money, as long as you pay it back with the interest. the fact that I didn't use a bank changes nothing.

Also, after speaking to MBenzNL the keyless go and heated rear seats will be about $6,000. I may go with the heated rear seats, but MBenzNL did confirm that the keyless is a big PITA unless dealer installed.

So I will most likely stick to cosmetics at this point, as keyless go is about as much as I wanted to spend on the 63 conversion alone. So you're right, can't justify it.