Whether your car has or does not have ambient lighting from the factory you can add it or upgrade it to 64 Colors. The processes are slightly different.
Be warned though this is not a quick job. This YouTuber, Life of Emi, says it takes 2 days. If your car has 3 colors and you would like it to be 64 colors follow the instructions on changing out the harnesses here:
If your car does not have ambient lighting from the factory but you would like to install it follow these instructions here:
My ex inherited a house that a smoker, smoked every day in. This woman was awesome, completely unrelated to my ex but still gave her a house. It needed a lot of work, beyond just painting I ended up learning how to remodel from this house.
Remodeled Bathroom
Her dad was a general contractor/site supervisor or whatever and he taught how to do things right. He didn't really help me with work, but the knowledge he bestowed was awesome.
Back to the Point
But the first thing that drove me nuts was the house smelled like smoke. Ali (my ex) told me she painted every wall, removed all the carpet, and was at a loss as to what to do next.
I ended up going down this rabbit hole and came up with some carrots I thought I'd share.
There is a machine called an Ozone Generator. Ozone, O3, generators are not "sharper image" style air filters that generate small amounts of O3. These things pump out dangerous amounts of O3. People, and pets should not be in the room when they run, or for at least double the time it has run for.
Well after hitting each room several times, 2 hours each room, then wait a few days, another run as needed. The smoke smell from decades of smoking inside was eliminated.
I ended up using this a few times on smokers cars too. (Ali smokes) and it works great but with a technique and caveat.
Most people think you want the room or car completely sealed, and to be honest you really want the machine to be fed fresh oxygen, not O3. Therefore you want to have the trunk open run the Ozone generator with a window in the front slightly cracked (to push the O3 forward), with the air/heat on and on recirculation so it pulls the O3 through the system and kills any fumes in those areas too.
I have seen some people run the machine outside the car and feed it into the car through a flex pipe to accomplish the same goal. If the car is really bad it might be another option to consider.
The links to the ozone generator are affiliate links, I may get like a fraction of a percent from any sale, but it is also the machine I use and can recommend. Don't pump it for hours in a small confined area though it will burn out the catalyst.
It was pointed out to me by Daddy Duke on the youtubes that this may also help sanitize cars of corona virus:
When I first got my Mercedes. I washed it a lot. I wondered is there such a thing as too much washing. And I looked into it by asking on some forums where car nuts, and those who love washing cars reside.
It turns out there such a thing as washing your car too much or improperly. Basically what happens on most modern cars is you leave swirls if not washed and dryed properly, you may also damage seals.
Here are some tips I've learned along the way:
Car Wash Don'ts
No automatic car washes
They damage electronics
They damage exterior
Don't use high intensity sprays at seals
Don't wash your engine with a hose and 100% not with a power washer
There are too many electronics
You can use a damp microfiber
Compressed air
Vacuum
Don't use dish soap, dollar store car wash etc
Don't use terry cloths to dry your car
Don't dry your car in circles
Car Wash Methods
Two Bucket Method
Use the two bucket method
One bucket with a dirt trap at the bottom warm filled with warm water
One bucket same as above but with appropriate mixture of quality car soap
Rinse car with water
Use a previously washed or unused hand mit
Step 1: Dip mitt into the soap rub on car
Step 2: Dip mitt into water bucket to rinse off mitt and repeat step one as needed
Spray down car with water
Optionally Apply detailer or quick wax type spray
Dry with clean microfiber cloths in straight motions
Foam Cannon Method
Use a very wide spray low intensity tip with a pressure washer to rinse car
Add soap as directed often about 1/10 into the bottom of foam cannon
Attach foam cannon and spray foam on car
Rinse with a wide low intensity tip
Optionally Apply detailer or quick wax type spray
Dry with clean microfiber cloths in straight motions
Mercedes in Germany and I believe from the USA are available debadged as a factory option.
If you are like me you ask the dealer to take their sticker off.
One of the reasons you may wish to do this is for the lines. While the original Mercedes lettering is beautiful. Something like CLS 63s 4Matic can be a lot for the back of a trunk lid. Additionally, the CLS 63S isn't available right now -- it can date your car. Mercedes ownership to me isn't always about novelty it is about quality.
The CLS 550 and 63 while not made anymore are perhaps future classics.
I believe a good Mercedes is worth holding on to.
I would caution about debadging a very old car if it has spent most of its life outside as the paint difference may go beyond hand polishing/compound application.
In general you can use a heat gun, apply it to the letters. Use a nice taped flat scraper like you would use for a 3D printer or floss. The idea here is to not touch the metal at all, or extremely minimally with the force against the letter and adhesive.
This makes it slightly harder to clean up but provides a margin of error. I would also proceed slowly around the adhesive in a controlled manner. This is not the time for proverbial sledge hammer, it is easier than you may imagine and if it isn't stop.
As with anything on this page it is just a blog about tuned Mercedes. We are not advocating anything (although removing resonators and adding air intake spacers from UPD is really close), it is up to you. All damage is yours. Please proceed with caution, get the latest info from STAR or some place like this http://mbepc.net/ do not proceed, reach out on MBForum talk to an expert like K. and go step by step if you are a new kid on the block.
After you have debadged you may want to consider cleaning up with a soft microfiber and some 70% alcohol. After residue has been removed it is time to use a bit of rubbing compound with a soft terry cloth. Although the pro's on youtube use the 3M Eraser tool to debdadge their car and some sort of tool I have never considered buying, perhaps it is just a normal rotary?
Alibaba for some reason will not sell to me. This is by no means an endorsement for anything other than browsing in fact I would go with a reseller often like DMP for your Screens.
That being said. Checking out Alibaba and entering your common model code and year can help give you an idea of what kinds of mods will be available on the secondary market.
You may want to include other world wide designations or commmon descriptions as seperate searches. For example using both C218 & W218 in separate searches will likely uncover products that just one of the searches won't reveal.
Facebook Group Posts Are an Awesome Way to Find Body Kit Mods.
Sponsored Group Posts are a source to consider facebook to find and discover what may be available. For example there may be a sponsored post where you can direct order carbon fiber parts or a custom lowering module.
Member Posts on Facebook Groups is a Holy Grail like source of finding inspiration for your mods.
Members of model specific mercedes facebook groups often post pictures from across the world, of their modified cars. Here is an example of such a Mercedes Group for the CLS. Perusing these pictures can help you find ideas on how to modify your specific mercedes benz. More over, you can often ask directly or thru comment where modified parts were sourced, and if there are any drawbacks, installation advice etc.
Some Modifcations themselves have their own groups
Mercedes Android Screen Owners should check out the group "10.25" Android Screen" on Facebook. There are links to the discord, and notifications of firmware updates. Some Super members like Nick C. produce awesome firmware revisions that aim to satisfy the persnickety owners of modified Mercedes owners, who have taken what is arguably the best car built and decided this is good, but let's pursue my definition of perfection and upgrade it to a tailored specification.
IWC ingenieurs are individually tested like Rolexes. These tests cost money and check every watch before their release. Some IWC are positioned against tudor, omega, and breitling, and some are positioned against rolex, a few extend to perhaps slightly higher haute horology but perhaps less robust than the finest Rolex which are all in nature tough and wearable watches.
The Install
It isn't a bad install at all. remove the dash piece where the clock is attached and on the mid 2010's you remove the wiring from around the vent, then the vent itself with pop tabs on top and bottom and you can then remove the clock itself with tabs.
Parts Sourcing
The clocks are suprisingly reasonable. Making this mod a serious one to consider because of the bang per buck. A new IWC clock on many models starts at $200, some models replacing the clocks have become quite popular and the clocks cost more. Such as the case with my CLS.
Many parts pullers actually remove the dash as one because the disassembly to remove the clock is real. So when the individual clocks are costly you can find the entire dash assembly often pulled for $200-300.
The Result
It is subtle but the black clock with more detailed numbering is more sporting, luxurious, and overally just an enjoyable upgrade when looking at it or when not. At night driving with the IWC clock is much nicer as the light emits from the arabic numerals instead of a bright white from the entire clock. Overall, if you like watches/clocks, and you have a MB which can be upgraded to a higher end clock, I would put it on your list of considerations for mods.
Ease of DIY: 2
Take your time unclip everything slowly, make sure there are no scratches. If there is resistance stop figure out why. 4 screws 1 catch, 4 wires to unclip.
Picture Owned by LoweredBenz. Please See their Amazon Listing
The Air suspensions in Range Rovers have been modified for years. With links, later with GAP IIDtool and dealer programming to raise the height. The links are apparently super easy to install. But the computer way allows you to continue to run the car in an OEM fashion.
For Mercedes tuners and enthusiasts the goal is often the opposite. To lower the car. The same options are available to lower airmatic equipped Mercedes. You can go to a place like Eurocharged or OEtuning, an enthusiast independent garage, or a coding place and get the car lowered by directly programming the ecu. You can also do this remotely with a hand held module which is what I would likely do.
As with other tuning, these modules, I believe universally, work by pulling your ECU info, you upload it, and they send you a file that you download to the module via USB. Then you plug in the module and write it to the ECU per device instructions.
One advantage of these hand held modules is that you can go back to stock at any time. For example if you are visiting a place with poor roads, going on a road trip, etc.
Some Options for Hand Held Suspension Lowering Modules
Renntech and other less well known, but cheaper, vendors have ECU modules, suspension modules I believe Renntech markets them as. And you plug it in and basically it lowers your car a an inch or so maybe more in 1mm increments.
I believe these software modules leave intact the ability to raise the car, but I will ask of Renntech.
