Sorry I can’t post pics yet, I left my digicam cable at work (maybe I’ll pick up a second one tomorrow). News of my first project of the weekend was leaked by persons whom shall remain nameless in order to protect Drew [] (happy 20th birthday, smiley face!). I installed the rear wing with the LED brake light from Myroadster.net on Friday night. I was having some problems with fishtailing at high speeds and I think that the Myroadster version has a higher downforce []. http://www.formymercedes.com/images/D-ML163-LED-Painted.jpg
First I removed the old wing. This was very easy and only involved loosening four nuts at the top of the rear door. The OEM wing has studs sticking out of it and is mounted using nuts while the LED wing is mounted using screws (like MB wheels vs. American wheels, I guess). The LED wing includes some “centering studs� (pointed screws with the heads removed). I installed these and tried to get the wing to fit in the OEM holes. To my surprise, the holes for my OEM wing were a near-perfect match (except for a missing hole for the brake light cable, of course).
A more annoying difference between the wings is that the OEM wing is mounted with a foam pad stuck to the door; the LED wing is mounted with the pads attached to the wing. I had to peel off the OEM pads and “Goo Gone� the entire area. Before I did this, I used the pad to steady my drill bit as I made a hole about in the middle of the two mounting holes on the driver’s side for the LED cable. The positioning of this hole isn’t very important as long as you don’t drill through anything on the other side of the door.
Then I prepped the entire area. I used a few bristles of a paintbrush and some primer to paint around all five holes. I also read the instructions and waxes the rear wing with 5 coats of Klasse AIO, three coats of SG, and two coats of P21S Carnauba. After the primer was dry (mostly) I coated the holes with some included sealing goop (most likely a silicone compound of some sort).
I mounted the wing a bit hastily and made a few mistakes. First of all, the holes for the OEM nuts are a bit too large for the screws provided so I added some lock washers that I had laying around. It took several tries to mount the wing in such a manner that I could install all four screws and at one point I managed to apply just a little too much torque to one of them and cracked the side of the wing. I took my trusty Autosharp Pen and a toothpick and managed to paint the edges of the crack. I then mixed some of the paint with some epoxy, which created a rather nifty filler. After two coats it’s nearly impossible to tell that there’s a problem unless you know what to look for.
Finally, I ran the wires down the plastic rear door trim and over to the third brake light. The trim pries up easily and I only popped out one pop rivet (which I managed to reseat with no problems afterwards. The only surprise was that I guessed the wiring incorrectly – either the striped wire from the LED is not ground or the brake light isn’t grounded on the post I think it is. Luckily I tried the LEDs first by it to the brake light with a pair of alligator clips. A well-positioned screwdriver and closed lock-back knife make a good tool to hold down the brake pedal for these tests. The final connection was made (trimming off the excess wire) using common quick connects.
The end result is that the LED strip is significantly brighter than the other brake lights – I didn’t notice nearly the difference with the LED pop-in replacements. It also makes my only cosmetic add-on useful! For those interested, it has almost identical dimensions as the OEM wing and the paint match on black was good enough for me.
Is today really the 20th birthday of the smilie face? []
I would imagine that the wing's LED strip would be bright since it is very similar to the LED strip that I have, but minus the tinted glass of the tailgate. This makes it an important safety feature, as you noted.
I didn't realise that you had the MB OEM wing prior to this. I guess it made the job a lot easier too! Oh and yes, the "goop" that came with the wing is supposed ot be a silicon sealant to prevent rust.
I would imagine that the wing's LED strip would be bright since it is very similar to the LED strip that I have, but minus the tinted glass of the tailgate. This makes it an important safety feature, as you noted.
So my car's safer than Drew's[:O]? In the pics (at least on the camera's screen) you can see the difference between the incandescent, LED, and wing LEDs - it's really quite striking.
I didn't realise that you had the MB OEM wing prior to this. I guess it made the job a lot easier too!
I'm not sure if it made things easier, the holes weren't lined up exactly right and the crack was partially because of that problem (I also should have lightly fastened the screws and then closed the trunk a bit to push the wing closer to the door before tightening them - live and learn). On the other hand, I didn't have to tape the door and drill four of the five holes...
I promised a friend of mine first shot, I'm waiting to see if he wants it or not. It's black and will require some foam padding for installation (you can probably find this at Home Depot or Walmart). Since you're a fellow Joisey boy (or, as the song says, a Jersey Girl) I'll count you as a first runner up.
Since the thought of Drew dancing around his house waiting for the pictures was a little frightening, I went out and bought a CompactFlash/SmartMedia reader to keep at my desk at work so I can carry the cable in my laptop bag with the camera. Here are the pics from the LED Wing install:
First, let me preface this by saying that water restrictions in NJ have severely dampened (no ironic pun intended) my efforts to keep my car clean so please forgive the filthy nature of my beast (and don't even think about suggesting that I go to a - gulp - automatic car wash!). http://www.njdrought.org/
Let's start by taking a quick walk around the back of the car:
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Now let's take a look at the fill job I did on the crack. The crack was along a seam in the plastic about 3mm above the bottom of the wing. This is after two coats of my epoxy/touch-up paint compound:
Finally, here's the money shot:
It looked a bit more dramatic on the small screen, but you can tell that the LED strip is the brightest light, followed by the LED bulbs, then the rear incandescent bulb, and finally the bottom incandescent lights.
Let me know if there are any questions or if you want more pics.
Do you plan on removing the original 3rd brake light bulb so it doesn't illuminate when you hit the brakes? I yell at people that have aftermarket wings with lights on them and right in back of the wing there is the original 3rd brake light that is still connected. the purpose of the led's in the wing is take the place of your 3rd brake light.
maybe it's just me but that my $.02
The light housing is still visible from the outside so I had to ask which looked worse, having a housing that doesn't illuminate or having a functional brake light. Barring a custom rear door trim piece, I chose to keep the light installed. Besides, I think that the center light is closer to eye level and may be more effective at close range (e.g., bumper-to-bumper traffic). Thanks anyway for the input!
The light housing is still visible from the outside so I had to ask which looked worse, having a housing that doesn't illuminate or having a functional brake light. Barring a custom rear door trim piece, I chose to keep the light installed. Besides, I think that the center light is closer to eye level and may be more effective at close range (e.g., bumper-to-bumper traffic). Thanks anyway for the input!
Thanks for the pictures, BTW. I was anxiously biting my fingernails whilst in front of my notebook's screen, waiting for you to post them [:0] []
Having the housing non-illuminated looks silly and non-functional. Jeff, additionally, you should know that the glass that is just in front of the 3rd brake lamp is actually untinted, even if you have the factory tinted glass! Therefore if you remove the 3rd brake light, it would look even more ridiculous.
Your point about close range traffic is <b>exactly</b> what I thought. For cars further back the wing or high mounted LED strip serves its purpose. However, MB placed the 3rd brake light at eye-level for drivers in cars and hence it does serve a purpose as well. It is different from having a spoiler with the LED strip which obscures the original 3rd brake lamp. Besides, I don't see any harm in having an extra brake lamp especially in foggy or poor weather conditions.
In fact, I actually have a small 6" LED strip mounted in my 3rd brake lamp housing, just below the incandescent bulb. While it isn't a perfect installation inside, that is not visible with the housing replaced and therefore I'm not particularly concerned. What it does is allow the 3rd brake lamp housing to be illuminated at the same speed as all of the other LED hardware, while the incandescent bulb lags behind.
I understand that, I guess there's so many people around here that do it that's why...
If I were to get another light, say the LED strip or the wing with the LED lights in it, I would disconnect my original 3rd brake light and spray tint it to match the window so it won't be noticeable. But safety-wise I understand your point of view.
thanks []
If I were to get another light, say the LED strip or the wing with the LED lights in it, I would disconnect my original 3rd brake light and spray tint it to match the window so it won't be noticeable. But safety-wise I understand your point of view.
thanks []
When the light shines in through the windshield, and you're standing behind the ML, the shape of the 3rd brake light housing will be clearly visible, even with a dark tint. Therefore I felt that it would look rather silly to have a huge block there with no clear purpose (should the 3rd brake light be disconnected) []
If I were to get another light, say the LED strip or the wing with the LED lights in it, I would disconnect my original 3rd brake light and spray tint it to match the window so it won't be noticeable. But safety-wise I understand your point of view.
thanks []
When the light shines in through the windshield, and you're standing behind the ML, the shape of the 3rd brake light housing will be clearly visible, even with a dark tint. Therefore I felt that it would look rather silly to have a huge block there with no clear purpose (should the 3rd brake light be disconnected) []
this is an extreme case which rarely happens. When im behind ML's I can never see the hou...
this is an extreme case which rarely happens. When im behind ML's I can never see the housing for the 3rd brake lamp. I think it looks really stupid having 2 3rd brake lights. Most SUV's have a high mount LED brake light. Even in traffic i can always see the top of the glass of an SUV. And if they can't its their fault. I dont think a 4th brake light will help. Anyway, to each their own i guess. I will still laugh at all the cars with LED strip 3rd brake lights that still have their stock housing functional.
this is an extreme case which rarely happens. When im behind ML's I can never see the housing for the 3rd brake lamp. I think it looks really stupid having 2 3rd brake lights. Most SUV's have a high mount LED brake light. Even in traffic i can always see the top of the glass of an SUV. And if they can't its their fault. I dont think a 4th brake light will help. Anyway, to each their own i guess. I will still laugh at all the cars with LED strip 3rd brake lights that still have their stock housing functional.
When the sunlight shines through the front windshield, it backlights the silhouette of the rear tailgate hatch and you can see the outline of the rear head restraints, and the 3rd brake light housing. This is not an extreme case, but a very common occurance on all vehicles. This is exacerbated if the tinting is even lighter or non-existent. You can clearly see what I mean in these pictures, even though the light was already fading. On Tabo's ML, you can make out the rear head restraint, the same way that you can make out the outline of the rear 3rd brake light housing if it was a bit brighter.
Even on a car, I'd much rather have the 3rd brake light housing active with a spoiler than not. Why waste it?
If you've ever driven in whiteout or foggy conditions frequently (as we get here), more brake lamps definitely help. Same principle as having a high intensity rear foglamp.
<i>Edit:</i> Cgeorge's picture below illustrates what I mean perfectly. In real life, you'll clearly be able to see the 3rd brake light housing.
When I see an aftermarket brake light and the stock third light doesn't work I usually assume that the owner botched the job and broke the stock assembly. Like you said, to each thier own...
When you're that up close, it's pretty obvious as to how large it is. Additionally, people who have seen MLs know what it is and it looks silly nonfunctional. Additionally, disconnecting it (and reducing the current drawn) may cause problems, as Birger found out.
For me, I'd pick the extra safety over any perceived looks from others any day.
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