Thanks for the side by side view, I was wondering what it would look like. Personally I don't like it, takes away too much of the class and makes it look like a Miata or something:grin:
There are places in the world where 'downdressing' is suitable. Looking like a Miata is a compliment. Question however is to ask if anyone has actually done it, and if so, what are the issues?
I would rather it look like a Mercedes, but to each his own. Only issue is cosmetic, why do that when you can just dip it and remove later if you want or if you sell. Pull it off and you'll have the voids where the trim goes. Or just do custom grill job. One more thing, better keep original parts if you ever sell it. Oh by the way, I get it , trust me I do, I just never got into the whole suit thing because it just don't amount to a hill of beans:grin:
Personally I love this style and would do this in an instant if I knew how to keep the grill to look neat.
The logo and crossbar have a different pattern in the grill so just removing them would give an ugly look with something 'clearly' missing.
Now THAT's the idea. It would be a major operation though. The pedestrian protection makes the hood 'lift' upon a frontal crash. Not exactly the system on the R171 where any pedestrain is cut short from its shins on a frontal. :surprise:
No Distronic installed on my car so definitely no problem. The Distronic equipped cars have that smooth badge don't they. Would look a bit crappy blacked out I suspect. I have the standard 3D star type badge on my SLK, easy to remove and disassemble for Plastidipping etc.
Distronic has the flat three point star all right, but the fixture mechanism is the same as the non-Distronics. A twist and pull mechanism only for flat disc with a rim on the back containing the hooks that fall into the slots of the grill surrounding.
One of the German tuners supplies the same 'disc' with its own trademark on it (maybe Vaeth?). I may give the plastidip a try to see how it works out (when its warmer outside!).
The chromed bits with the star emblem 'brake' the mesh into two parts. It would look ugly just removing the chrome plastics. Recreating the mesh may be an option but attaching it to the surrounding material will be a challenge. Maybe if you have the right equipment to melt the parts together?
So looking at the photograph, this looks simple. Carefully cut out the perimeter of the mesh, noting that for some reason the bottom half is solid, not vented.
Take the surround to a machine shop and pay them to make an insert.
Choices: cheap plastic on ebay, woven wire or even do a laser cut design.
Hard to tell from the image if there is much of a curve on the plastic. If there is, a good shop is able to replicate this in metal.
Attaching the stainless grill would involve putting a 90 degree bend on the perimeter and attaching it to the plastic with rivets. Fairly simple work for a car restoration shop.
BTW, for those who don't get it, it's like a Savile Row suit. They don't have labels. It's the cut that tells the knowing what they are looking at. In the car world, it's like driving a Bristol. "Nicely understated, never underrated"
.
.
.
.
.
If the car you end up buying has parktronic your custom front grille will also have to accommodate 2 of the parking sensors in the lower portion. You can see where these fit on an earlier post with pictures of the standard grille.
A forum community dedicated to Mercedes SLK owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about your R170/R171/R172 SLK, or AMG performance, modifications, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more!