W210: Facelift Taillights on Pre Facelift, Install (E55 AMG Tails)

So this is a bit of an install/pictorial for installing 00-02 facelift taillights onto a prefacelift 96-99 car. The late cars have a slightly different shape to the trunklid, so the trunk lights themselves will need to be trimmed some with a dremel tool for them to fit into the opening. Everything is plug and play otherwise!


Here's my box of goodies from Canada. Thanks Visal!

Here's the old (HIDEOUS) oval style tail

To remove the trunk light, there are two 8mm fasteners on the outside edge.

and 1 8mm fastener on the inside ledge that is holding a clamp for the inside

once the 3 fasteners are removed, you'll be able to remove it from the trunk lid and see how much dirt is trapped on the side of the tail. it's a great opportunity to clean it out

which i did.

Now this is the only tedious part to the whole operation. trimming down the plastic for the facelift tails. they literally need to be trimmed down right where the gasket edge is and dtrimmed enough to where you'll be nearly trimmed into the taillight section itself. it's a sketchy operation throughout.

there's an entire stepped lip section here that needs to be trimmed down as well. my other side looks a lot better than this. i took a bit of JB weld and filled the gaps a bit - though, it ultimately doesn't matter as the tail section isn't sealed off anyway.

once you're done modifying the trunk tail, the main tail bolts and plugs right in without a hitch. viola!

i hope to never see these ugly things again

here's a comparison. don't mind the filthy car - just got back from a 1000 mile trip and haven't detailed her yet.

 and success. second side done and finished. 

 another view. "E300 and AMG tails" hahahahaha! 

I'll most likely be using LED bulbs in the entire set up as well. slowly bringing this grandpa mobile into the future. Can't wait to maybe get this car on air and painted.