[niscuit]

What a great DIY tutorial. Thanks for that, but I had a few questions. I have the standard cracked third brake light on my CLK 500 and have ordered a replacement part. Is the piece I ordered (209-820-10-56-M22) the plastic piece or the plastic and the led lights? Are there two separate items needed to replace the cracked light? Taillights work fine, just the plastic is cracked. Just want to make sure I have the right parts for the job.

 

[niscuit]

niscuit - you have ordered the right part.

It comes in a box as one complete assembly, but you do have to re-use the existing two nuts that secure the original part. There's no torque given in the WIS for tightening these - you just have to use your intuition....

I note our friend Rosswell managed to change his unit recently without completely removing the trunk inner lining. You probably can, but I took it out anyway.

Thanks for your help once again. You're the man!

 

[niscuit]

A bit late...but I did enjoy reading your analysis of this design problem - and especially the analogy above...

Your solution may well be a good one. However, it is clearly not suited to assembly-line procedures, so I wouldn't expect MB to use adhesives generally on future designs.

While I agree that the original design was extremely poor, the redesigned one I got when I replaced my old is definitely superior. I have had no problems since installing it about a 1 1/2 years ago.

-Ryan