Recently got them painted and figure I had to pull the bulbs. Body shop said it would most likely throw a light and they were right. What's the common practice, leave bulb in, unplug something?

 

Just leave the bulb in there. It will still shine through at night, which is what you want anyway... unless you want to violate DOT laws.

 

There's multiple ways you can go about it.

1. You can install resistors and remove the bulbs then you won't get the light out message.

2. You can just leave the bulbs behind the back of the marker lens- I personally don't care for this look as the light does shine through the painted cover and IMO looks dumb. Don't worry about breaking the law, never heard of anyone getting a ticket for painted corners compared to no front plate or tints. Also don't worry about it not being safe, no European cars (in Europe) have these corner lights. If it's good enough for Europe IMO it's good enough for here.

3. You can let the lights hang behind the bumper so the light will not be visible through the marker. You can tape the wiring to somewhere behind the bumper.


For the most clean install, I'd go with option #1. I have had personal experiences using all methods and #1 is really the best way to go. #2 and 3 is sort of half assed.

 

What resistance and power did you get?

 

I did the #3 on my C63. Taped it on the plastic wheel well.
It gives me extra lighting whenever I have to work in this area of the engine bay

 

Can you elaborate on the resistors. Where to buy and is there a specific size or model.

Didn't really think ahead before I had them painted

 

Sorry I can't really help with the resistors. I actually did method #3 on my R63 when I did the orange delete. But when my shop had my front bumper off (doing some other work) they told me they'd hook up some resistors so I wouldn't have the light dangling from the back. I'll try and find out more info from my shop as to what resistors they used otherwise if you guys are handy I and have the tools you can use a voltmeter to figure it out (if you plan to wire it yourselves).

If your plan is to just have a shop do it, just have any independent (or dealer/tech that you're friendly with) that's good with electronics and they could help you out with the resistors and wiring.

 

Or you can find someone with an Star Diag computer and have them code the car as "ROW" (Rest of the world) instead of USA. Which will turn off power to the sidemarker sockets, AND remove the dash error.

Take care,

George

 

Is this what you did? I think we tried that method too but we couldn't find the menu.

 

I did it on my brother's w211 e500 wagon - he painted the markers black to match the paint.

I'm actually running a clear sidemarker with an LED hockey stick pattern that matches my hockey stick drl's on my w212. It blends well with my iridium silver paint.




I can poke around in SDS in simulation mode and see if I can get you to where you need to be on that. PM me for more details on your vin.

Take care,

George

 

Well I've already got the resistors on my 251 so I don't need to do the reprogramming anymore but perhaps the OP would like to.

 

Uh, NO, thats NOT what you want...

lol

it will shine through at night and looks butt ugly no matter how many coats of paint.

just remove the bulb, who cares about the light error.

and who cares about the dumb law as well. it serves no purpose anyway, and ive never been pulled over for it. did the mod on the last 3 cars ive had.

 

I was driving with the light out message for my fog lights (after I converted to four fogs from two) for almost a year. It drove me nuts every time I started the car that I finally wired in relays to two of the fogs to remove the error. I don't think that's what you want either, especially on such an expensive car. At that point it's better to leave your bulbs taped behind the bumper.

 

You could always just paint the bulbs black. That should take care of the problem.