Giving my 2005 c class a 15 year facelift.. gone wrong

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nick9955

Member
Joined
Jun 17, 2018
Messages
33
Location
brentwood
Car
mercedes c class coupe 1.8 kompressor 2005
This is what happened when I tried to fit a new c class bumper and headlights to my old c 180 sports coupe.

I paid £44 for a crashed new bumper £30 for the grill and £40 for both headlights hoping to sell the old parts and make my money back. The headlights were fairly simple to rewire as they were halogens anyway and the bumper and headlights were fairly easy to fit.

cutting the fenders was scary but not as hard as it seemed. However the bonnet was a bit of a bitch tried to make something something out of fibreglass but it looks terrible I'm going to try and make the newer bonnet fit my car.

Just sharing what happened and if anyone's got any ideas on how to make it look any better?

The vid
 
I think it is a write off tbh. Is it even roadworthy?
 
Dear god!

Props for having a go and attempting a mod yourself, that must be commended.

Even if you hadn't had to cut it, from a distance it looks like the first gen GLK which we didn't get. (Awful looking).

Is that foam heat resistance otherwise you can end up with a fire if you drive that?


EDIT: just seen its fibre glass
Wow
 
I must also commend you on having a go. I think you would have succeeded if you had test fitted the bonnet and marked out where the bonnet needed to go. Then get it fabricated and welded to the edge of the bonnet. It seems you had a plan in your head of what you wanted to do but not a plan as to how your would do it.

I don't know why you wanted to do it but it's your car and you can do as you please with it. It's not very different to the max power jobs that were done to cars when I was young
 
So the reason for doing this (in my head anyway) was I bought the car for £1000 3 years ago off gumtree (big mistake) long story short it had a lot of problems mechanically that I fixed but it was also a cat D from a front end crash so the panel gaps were all way off which always annoyed me.

Then UK lockdown happened which must have fried my brain and I thought how much worse can I really make it by bolting the updated bumper... turns out a lot worse
 
So the reason for doing this (in my head anyway) was I bought the car for £1000 3 years ago off gumtree (big mistake) long story short it had a lot of problems mechanically that I fixed but it was also a cat D from a front end crash so the panel gaps were all way off which always annoyed me.

Then UK lockdown happened which must have fried my brain and I thought how much worse can I really make it by bolting the updated bumper... turns out a lot worse
Nevermind, half the fun is in having a go.
 
Nevermind, half the fun is in having a go.
tbh it was quite a enjoyable experience working on it but definitely wouldn't do it again wouldn't want to sacrifice another car
 
Credit to you for having a go, but you aren't going to get a start in a bodywork shop anytime soon.

Get another bonnet, and get a bodyshop to do the fitment.
haha wasn't planning on starting a body shop this was my first time working on body panels and using fibreglass.
 
Looking at the positives... you've had a go and got stuck in, you learnt a lot and probably enjoyed doing it I imagine.

I once had a £900 9 year old white MK4 Escort which I had a go at painting the bumpers body colour, blacked out the rear lights and painted a black stripe to join up the rear lights. As it turned out, the execution was pretty good considering rattle cans used - although I wouldn't call it professional.

It actually looked quite good according to a few comments I got and I thought so too of course. It was "of the period" mind (90s) and I did notice a local white Sierra Sapphire then got the same treatment.

That was my only foray into car mods done by me - I decided to leave it to the experts (and I would never try on any nice car I had and the shyteboxes I had weren't worth the bother).

If your car was only a bag of sand three years ago, I think you've had quite cheap motoring in all honesty and I'd live with it unless you are ashamed to drive it around assuming it passes the MOT.

You could give it the rat look to make it blend in more...

If it doesn't pass the MOT or you are too ashamed to drive it, just get shot of it and buy something else if you have the means and leave whatever you then buy ; alone!
 
Looking at the positives... you've had a go and got stuck in, you learnt a lot and probably enjoyed doing it I imagine.

I once had a £900 9 year old white MK4 Escort which I had a go at painting the bumpers body colour, blacked out the rear lights and painted a black stripe to join up the rear lights. As it turned out, the execution was pretty good considering rattle cans used - although I wouldn't call it professional.

It actually looked quite good according to a few comments I got and I thought so too of course. It was "of the period" mind (90s) and I did notice a local white Sierra Sapphire then got the same treatment.

That was my only foray into car mods done by me - I decided to leave it to the experts (and I would never try on any nice car I had and the shyteboxes I had weren't worth the bother).

If your car was only a bag of sand three years ago, I think you've had quite cheap motoring in all honesty and I'd live with it unless you are ashamed to drive it around assuming it passes the MOT.

You could give it the rat look to make it blend in more...

If it doesn't pass the MOT or you are too ashamed to drive it, just get shot of it and buy something else if you have the means and leave whatever you then buy ; alone!
yeh was quite a good experience! Had a couple of mates come and see it, the reaction it gets is pretty funny usually end up having a good chat about modding cars and what I could and should have done differently.

I think if it does pass an mot I will keep driving it maybe get a professional to look at it and see what they say haha

but if it doesn't I wont feel like I have lost much
 
Looking at the positives... you've had a go and got stuck in, you learnt a lot and probably enjoyed doing it I imagine.

I once had a £900 9 year old white MK4 Escort which I had a go at painting the bumpers body colour, blacked out the rear lights and painted a black stripe to join up the rear lights. As it turned out, the execution was pretty good considering rattle cans used - although I wouldn't call it professional.

It actually looked quite good according to a few comments I got and I thought so too of course. It was "of the period" mind (90s) and I did notice a local white Sierra Sapphire then got the same treatment.

That was my only foray into car mods done by me - I decided to leave it to the experts (and I would never try on any nice car I had and the shyteboxes I had weren't worth the bother).

If your car was only a bag of sand three years ago, I think you've had quite cheap motoring in all honesty and I'd live with it unless you are ashamed to drive it around assuming it passes the MOT.

You could give it the rat look to make it blend in more...

If it doesn't pass the MOT or you are too ashamed to drive it, just get shot of it and buy something else if you have the means and leave whatever you then buy ; alone!
Yes not touching the next car haha
 
Its like one of those comedy "how not to" training videos. Great that you had a go at it and I hope i gave you some pleasure trying to make it work. However I think your best bet would be to admit defeat, buy a couple of second hand wings and return it to OEM and sell the update parts. At least it should then all fit together properly. Oh and sell the angle grinder whilst you are at it.
 
The NASA shirt is quite ironic.
 

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