Dechrome badges ...

[Senninha43]

Having been enjoying the C43 these past few months, one of the few things I didn’t like was that despite the night package, Mercedes chooses to leave all the chrome on the tailgate.

So with UK dealers unable to provide new badges, I tracked some down (compete with MB Part numbers) on eBay and ordered them.

With a little TLC, fishing line and a spare strip of 3M vinyl wrap, the back of the AMG is now all black apart from the star ... a much improved look IMO, and less obvious to those not in the know ... hope you like



I had considered a soft tint to the rear lens, but as you must legally leave the reflector I stayed OEM

 

[SmartAmg]

Like that! Can you not get a black Mercedes star of fleabay, would finish it off nicely.

 

[Abb]

Personally I would have left them all off and the MB badge as it is.

 

[TitusD]

I like the de badged look too. Best way to do it,imo,is a hair dryer and dental floss,then a bit tidy up of the residue using pre wash.

 

[Abb]

So with UK dealers unable to provide new badges, I tracked some down (compete with MB Part numbers) on eBay and ordered them.

With a little TLC, fishing line and a spare strip of 3M vinyl wrap, the back of the AMG is now all black apart from the star ... a much improved look IMO, and less obvious to those not in the know ... hope you like

I like the de badged look too. Best way to do it,imo,is a hair dryer and dental floss,then a bit tidy up of the residue using pre wash.

OP has already done that and then re badged it

 

[Yex]

You can indeed get Black Stars online.............please excuse gratuitous shot of 507 coupe rear end and CLK63 black parked next to it

 

[moodi]

Good effort but personally I think black badges on a black car are somewhat pointless. Makes them very hard to see so why not just rebadge the back entirely?

What is the exact legality on rear light smoking?

 

[Senninha43]

Thanks for the feedback ...

On my previous 350’s Ive debadged, remapped and enjoyed ... but this is an AMG, and Ive waited so long that Ive decided to keep the badges, however, the night pack on black the theme for this car for me was obvious ... keep it black and OEM, but extend the stealth look ...

Thanx Yex for confirming black stars are out there ... and Ive probably heard you out and about

Moodi, if you have separate reflectors in the bumper (like a GLC), then you can wrap/tint rear light units, however, if like the C-Class (205) the reflector is integral to the single unit, you legally need to leave the reflector as per factory .. hence why I wont be tinting ....

Currently going to leave the star chrome, to link top of handles, grill treatment and the diamond cut to the alloys ...

 

[Senninha43]

As time passes, ideas change and having started the dechroming by replacing the rear badges and the wrapping the tailgate chrome strip, I decided it was time to take the idea a little further ....

Having purchased some wrapping tools and fresh vinyl from fleabay, I set about the door handles and wrapped the top half to hide the chrome ...



With these wrapped I returned to the rear of the car and addressed the concern that some here had and plasti-dipped the pointed star, so now everything is black!



To keep it all in balance the next idea was to wrap the central bars to the front grill ...



However, whilst doing these bars I started to wonder how hard the grille might be ... well, 4 hours later the front end now looks like this ....



It was definitely fiddly, I can imagine a wrap company would charge a lot to complete this purely because of the time involved to prep and complete ...

I have one other ‘stealth’ idea that I may attempt to the interior, otherwise that’s all I intend to do apart from drive and enjoy the AMG ...

Hope you approve ...

 

[Galactus]

Looks great, looking to do something similar soon myself.

 

[Galactus]

As we are in lock down I thought I would get round to doing the little things I had planned around the car, first of them being dechroming. Started on the front grille of my W204 C63, grille done but stuck on the mercedes badge in the centre of the grille, does it twist to remove or does it need some further work?

Additionally, for the star I can't seem to find a gloss black replacement on ebay (can find 18.8cm ones that cover this badge but apparently not compatible with a W204), so guessing I may need to remove it and wrap it or plasti-dip (though I am avoiding this as wanted a gloss finish not matte).

Any help on removal of the star and purchasing of gloss black replacement would be greatly appreciated!

 

[GillyC63]

This is the one I bought for my C63.

Pardon our interruption...