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DIY - Maybach rear styling on the W140 (Pre-facelift)

30K views 33 replies 13 participants last post by  MafiaDON 
#1 ·
Hey comrades, as promised here is the write up of the Maybach styling I did to my S320 this week :D

Since no aftermarket taillights were available for the preface lift W140 models, and that bottom strip turning pink was irritating me I came up with a solution, inspired by the Maybach 62.

All I needed was some clear red tint spray (found at a local hobbie shop for $10 per 100ml - THANKS for the tip forum member Daniel R )
And some crystal clear as a final coat.

Here is how I did mine:

Step 1:
Remove tail lights and bottom reflector strip from vehicle.

This involves about 15 of 8" nuts per side, so that is 30 nuts in total!!! to get to them you must unclip the trunk black trim near the lock, and push the carpet aside so you can see all the nuts.

Unhook both light clusters, and disconnect them. Remove also inner part of the tail lights..

Step 2:
Now carefully remove the taillights first, and then the reflectors at the bottom. (STOP! These components have been on the car for over 15 years, so they may be a bit stuck to the body. Use MINIMAL force to remove them, as the plastic can be quite fragile and will crack easily.)

Step 3
Now that they are off the car, give the car a good clean around and behind where the lights usually fit. Also clean the tail lights and reflectors in preparation for spraying. If the silver reflector comes apart from the plastic front, clean the inside properly (especially if you have watermarks and / or mold inside.) If there is any water / mold inside, then carefully separate the silver part from the pink plastic to clean inside. Use industrial clear silicone to seal it back up again before the painting stage.

Step 4
What I chose to do in this project is to remove the "orange" from the tail lights. So in this step you will need to carefully mask off the light clusters, leaving only the orange surfaces exposed. Also put some tape over the "LED" window on the reflector strip. I had some help here from a friend at "Stitch Customs" who also helped with the design of this mod.

Step 5
Here comes the fun part.. SPRAYING..
Get a ventilated room, lay down newspapers and start spraying! dont forget the black piece that surrounds the lock. Its needs to be tinted red too!

Spray one coat, let it dry. Then spray another coat, and so on and so on until you get the desired darkness of the red tint. (IMPORTANT - you must use a "Clear Red" spray paint, not normal spray paint. It must be a form of "tint" spray.)

There are multiple ways you can also do this. You can leave the reverse lights clear (just tape them off) Or you can make them black. I left mine all red, but I might change it a bit later on if I get any problems about it. For now I am happy with the ALL-RED Maybach styling:thumbsup:

Step 6
Now spray a few clear coats to seal up the job. And let it dry.

Step 7
Final step!
Once everything is COMPLETELY dry, you can now install the parts back onto the car!! Be sure to test the tail lights once you have fitted everything back. Becareful not to crack/ damage anything!!

See all the pics for reference comrades!

Any comments / suggestions are welcome.

(P.S - Please dont mind the paint on my rear bumper, it is on my list of things to get repaired / resprayed)

Much respect comrades!
 

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#2 ·
And the pics of the finished project :D

(I also added two pics of how discreet my DRL`s sit in the front bumper - Daytime shot)
 

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#3 ·
And just because we all like pics on this forum, Here is a few extra interior shots :thumbsup:

Next up - DIY repairing window rubber trim (fixing the gap) from shrinking.
(will word it better lol)
 

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#5 ·
hahahaha. thank you for the complement BUDDY :D

Anyways.. moving forward
 
#6 · (Edited)
NEXT STAGE of this modification.

Here is what the next step will in this mod.

Inspired by some W221 S-Class, I will combine the Maybach styling and this is what it will look like :D

(This is a rough photoshop rendered preview of how it will look like.)

So this mod is not yet finished comrades :thumbsup:

Did I also mention the LED tail light conversion? That will also be combined in this mod.. So stay posted fam.. (Preview pics of LED taillight mod to follow as well)

Much respect
 

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#7 ·
looks great! you did a really good job on that.
the next step will look PERFECT
 
#8 ·
Thanks Patrick!

Yep, I will look into getting the proper Mercedes body paint same colour code as the car. Then get it mixed to the exact shade..

Also have to find suitable chrome strips for the transition between the body colour and the red.

Unfortunately I don't have compressor, so I will take it to another comrade I know and he can spray them properly. And seal it off with the correct clear paint. (He resprays Mercedes Benz's) might have to pay a small amount for the help, but at least the end will justify the means :)

Will look into it further this week comrades, maybe the next step will be completed sooner than we think.

Much respect!
 
#9 ·
Wow

Man they came out great bro. I plan to buy these brand new "oem" pre-face lift tail light luminous bands on ebay for about $280, and if they turn pink like my current ones; I will def do this. [Although I would probably leave the orange] Thanks for the write up :bowdown: I bet this would look even better on a black w140 :D
P.S I see you got the rear wood ash trays :thumbsup: Looksniceman
 
#13 · (Edited)
That looks awesome Mafioso ,well done . I wanted to do that BUT with the brakelights into that strip ,no painting, the LED strip didnt fit in there thats why i let it go .
:goojob:



BTW: Did you know that you can get the upper AC Vents in Zebrano or Burlwood instead of the chrome frame you have there ,i got the outer 2 air vents in burlwood ,waiting to find the single centre bit double vent ,they are available as a set only , for the complete set of burlwood trim for my sprinter i paid $265 + postage ,m hoping to find the burlwood centre vents on ebay one day by accident ,lol .
 
#14 ·
Thanks for all the kind words comrades!

Yes I am VERY proud of how this mod turned out. I would go as far as saying that it looks like it came straight from the factory like that :) lol

What do you mean the "LED strip" would not fit comrade? With some slight modification, you can make anything fit! Also you want to be careful which LEDs you use. Some of the "strips" are as bright as christmas lights. You need proper automotive LED's, and a PCB board with resistors. That would be the best and most custom way of doing it, those plug and play kits are not always so great. They can be used for interior and stuff like that, but their brightness would not pass DOT requirements..

I like the idea of the wood vent frames, but with colour code I'm doing I planned to have the chrome vents, because they complement the door handles, chrome gauge rings and chrome steering wheel badge.. So I don't know if I would have put the wood frames in this case..

I am still looking for 1 x Burlwood rear ashtray, aswell as wood vanity mirrors and top front center light console wood cover :) I did get the other 2 x S600 (W220) wood handles for the roof, since the front ones are already installed, I will just install the other two at the back :)

Stay posted comrades, I will make a video of how nice this current setup looks at night. (The indicators now flash as red!)
 
#17 ·
Stay posted comrades, I will make a video of how nice this current setup looks at night. (The indicators now flash as red!)
Mafia, red indicators would not pass UK regs, is that a problem in SA?

Have you tried changing the bulbs to amber? They may then show some shade of orange.

Looking forward to the vid and more pics (you know we all love the pics!!):thumbsup:
 
#26 ·
Lol, thank you for bringing that up comrade.. And you are right, it is not "street Legal" as per SA standards..

But in the same breathe, tell me who is going to enforce this law? The police? lol if only they were knew all the laws themselves then maybe they would enforce this one, one day..

I have seen imported Chevy Blazers with their tail lights flashing as indicators. If the popo try give me hassles about it, I will just say this is an imported vehicle. End of discussion with them.. :D

As I have also mentioned, this mod is still a work in progress. I am planning to add some really bright orange LED bulbs, aswell as LED conversions for the brake and tail lights. Whether it shines orange or not, Im actually not even bothered. At the moment even my reverse lights shine red, but that is the only thing I will make sure shines the correct colour "white" with a really good LED conversion. The lens can stay red, but it must illuminate white. (if that is possible, but I think it is and will try make it happen during phase two 3 of this mod.)

I will record and upload the video tonight.. :thumbsup:
 
#18 ·
Looks good buddy, I like how it is uniform in color.
 
#19 · (Edited)
Dont wanna be the hater - I respect pretty much all modders ideas, and this mods no different. If you like it and it turned out the way you wanted it, then good work.

I personally like the clear areas of the rear lights. My originals were the stock bulb tails, but I switched to the crystal LED tails and MAN they look awesome.




Also of course, the red/red/red would fail inspection in Japan and NZ I think, unless it was factory like some of the import mustangs (i think they are)

Nice idea tho, and maybe once its completely done itll look better. Keep us updated ;-)
 
#23 ·
Dont wanna be the hater - I respect pretty much all modders ideas, and this mods no different. If you like it and it turned out the way you wanted it, then good work.
i think on that color car it looks great, on other color cars it may not look good. someone did say in another thread that the body match color paint instead of the red tint may not look good on lighter colored cars, but on dark cars it looks better.

on your car being silver the clear looks great because it blends better. on my tan car i think this red tint is exactly what im looking for.

the one thing i like about the W220 over the W140 is the rear end styling. the W140 tends to look bulky. its not awful, but a little help is great and i think the clear oem reflector tends to be the fault, and also the easiest to change or modify
 
#25 ·
Paint, not for me.
 
#30 ·
As promised, here is the video:



You will have to excuse the poor lighting, and the fact that this video was not editted at all. It comes straight off my fone and onto Youtube EXCLUSIVELY for this forum and the members..

It just shows how red the indicators shine..

Much respect, more updates coming soon on this topic / MOD..
 
#32 ·
Thanks Unbugai..

Yes I did own a BMW E36. It was 1996 316i.

I did love that car, drove it for four years even. The most major repair I did on that car was changing the headgasket which blew about a year or so before I traded up..

But I will post up some pics of when I first bought the car, to how it looked just before it got a new home..

Infact, it was that same BMW that I made direct swap (money and I took my sound system out of the BMW) for this S320 which I drive everyday :) I have a thread about it somewhere here on Benzworld.

Anyways, you'l see the pics later this evening once I get online on a computer. (My fone does not seem to upload to Benzworld too easily.)

Much respect
 
#34 ·
Ok I did not get a chance to find more pics of my ex-BMW.. But here is one pic, litrally a month before I traded it for my S320..

The other pic is my S320 when I first discovered it.

The last pic is how it looks today :)

Tackleberry: I hear what you saying comrade.. But when added tastefully they do give slightly more "upgraded" look and feel..

I will go ahead with the conversion, and hopefully I will get it right. When I do, a thread will be made :) or I will just update this one..
 

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