What’s the general consensus on aftermarket grilles?
The plastic insert, the chrome strips, or the whole assembly?

Some gorilla backed into me and now I need a new one.

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1981 240D 4sp manual. Ivory White.

I have one. They look fine if painted. Use plastic primer and paint.

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Which one did you buy, Uro?

Plan is definitely to paint it dark grey.
I really only need the plastic insert and the chrome strips.

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1981 240D 4sp manual. Ivory White.

The insert is all I bought and maybe a chrome strip or two. Don't remember the supplier but ebay was the source It was about six years ago. If dark grey is your choice, you may not have to paint it.

I bought an insert from this forum's parent.
Brand is BBR. Complete unusable malformed garbage, I threw it out instead of paying return. There are a couple of reviews, check it out.

Man, I saw your review. That's why I'm here now...

I found a complete assembly on eBay for about $60. It's horrendous. It's going right back.

The chrome bezel I have is fine, it's just the plastic insert and the moulding strips that need replacement.
The moulding is everywhere but I've been unable to find just the plastic insert alone.

The Uro assembly is anywhere from 100-150.

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1981 240D 4sp manual. Ivory White.

Some things on ebay are good. It's difficult to know quality before buying. I have a relative who imports a lot of aftermarket body parts. He set me up with an account at the lowest of 5 price structures offered by his employer and I couldn't make money on ebay. You have to import the parts yourself to have your cost low enough to compete there.

Perhaps buy an aftermarket grill for the insert and use your OE chrome if it isn't damaged.

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85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

The insert is still available from the dealer unless something changed. I picked up a new insert for my '84 as the original had a slight chip in it.




Part number:



Got it for 61$ with my friends account at MB about 5 months ago. You'd just need to buy the chrome strips which in that case, aftermarket would work just fine.

I actually found an OEM grille for sale for about that much.


Chrome moulding strips: $60
+OEM grille $70 = $130 shipped

Uro complete assembly = $105 shipped

Bearing in mind I plan to paint the grille dark grey,
I’m wondering if the plastic is noticeably better

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1981 240D 4sp manual. Ivory White.

Care to elaborate a little more?

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Milan Brown 1979 240D, rebuilt OM617.952 turbo diesel, rebuilt 722.315 transmission (my only daily driver)

Instagram: @maximed93

I'd take photos but I've already repackaged it.

From memory...

The chrome strips were cheap looking and marked easily (several were scratched in the mail).
The vertical strip was cut too short.
The plastic insert was so poorly cast there were drips of plastic visible. There were also mounting tabs missing.
The chrome frame was so poorly stamped/cast that the plastic insert could not be removed without bending metal out of the way.

Not great.

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1981 240D 4sp manual. Ivory White.

SonnyMorrow,

Thanks for the heads up. The grille inserts were NLA from the dealer, I just checked and lo & behold... available again!
Ordered one.

They suck and the plastic degrades pretty fast, like chalky in two years .

So, if you buy one clean it and re spray it then assemble using a good German made steel surround and hardware .

I just ordered two of those original ones, I'd been told they were N.L.A. .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

Thanks for the heads up. Just ordered an original.

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1981 240D 4sp manual. Ivory White.

Yea, me too ~ I've been asking for well over a decade now .

I use the aftermarket aluminum trim strips, sometimes they're proper length and so on .

The painting the plastic insert thing is important .

Many like to put their own mark on their cars this way, I don't as the never look as good IMO.

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better