Thanks alroumi,

Just finished the swap tonight after work! Behind a local carwash! heh,heh.....

The reason is that on my way back down south (been at a customer site this week in the north of germany - Muenster) I'll be dropping off my seats&trim to a buyer!.  .... Already sold for the same price as I bought the new ones .... hurray!

... The new seats have a much softer leather , as well as more firmer (body hugging) form for the backrest!...

Took me 2.5 hours to swap out the inside door panels and seats!.... Didn't feel like hurrying things !

 ..... had the pleasure of not buying the plastic door pins this time because I had some on the new  panels as well as those that weren't broken from the removal.

Got the Door pins from matrixcar.de . Same place as sells that grill you were so keen on!. .... oh , and don't get the back ones .... they are not screwed on!.

... Now I got to find a pre-facelift VIN with the matching armrest & shifter.  (Black with twhite stitching) ..... So I can order those parts from the Dealer!. All ML55's I've seen so far have one tone (black stitching) armrests....

.... I'd appreciate a little help here guys ! .... Keep looking into every ML that comes you way for the White stitching ..... and if it's a pre-facelift ... then let me know!....

Yeah ... The shifter surround is no problem because the facelift one fits .... (although it is a but stubby at the front end ... because the facelift has the ashtray there ..... ) .

The armrest is more of a problem , since it's made to order (only if you provide a valid VIN)....

... was thinking of doing a DIY for washing the ML? .... anyone interested ?  

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much softer , and luxurious!  Looks & smells like new! even the drivers side shows no sign of wear. I think they were no more than 6 months old!

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The buyer of my seats&trim .... we made the deal on the phone!  I charged him exactly the same as I paid (including the shipping) for my new Final Edition Designo Trim!.

He has a Black MY2000 Brabus 6.1L V8 !.  Apparently  he bought it in this condition. The previous owner (or insurance company) sold it after thieves broke in by smashing the rear passenger door window (small triangle) and stole the whole interior (seats, door trim, etc....). He's been driving around like this for 6 months now!.

.... desperate to get a new replacement!.

The front 2 seats are tempory old seats (real bad condition) of a 98 ML!

You can see my son's suncream still on the backrest of the rear seat! ... Didn't bother to wipe it off!.... going to have to more watchfull on the new seats!.

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We agreed to meet on a Autobahn Roadside parking/rest place..... I helped him fit my seats&trim on the parking lot!

A few pics of my old trim fitted in his ML!

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What should I continue to work on next?  The bumper Update, or the ML55 AMG brake calipers?....

Pleubner, that looks awesome. Finally you got them installed in your car, congratulation! I think you should go for the ML55 bumper next

Just out of curiosity.. my ML front seats don't have the memory function, if i happen to find ML seat with memory function, will it work plug and play? or I have to get the dealer reset the computer?  

Yes they will work plug-and-play! The memory function has no outside connectivity .... It's a seat only function! not part of the connector.....

To store a seat postion you put the seat in a position you like , then hold the green button as well as the seat postion button you would like to store  at the same time for about 4 secs.....

The memory function does not need a connection to any other system outside the seat.

The electrical connectors on MY98/99 models are different! .... This means that you need to change the plugs of the harness for those older models ..... I have a mate who put seats like my old ones (also with memory) into his MY99 model. He happend to get the cockpit harness (I now have it) from a later model , and removed the plugs from it, then replaced his plugs ... and "VOILA" he had MY2004 seats with memory function in his MY99.

 ... so for MY98/99 = plug exchange,  MY00 onwards =  plug-and-play.

PS: Because MY98/99 have such a bad design for the doors (no very solid) , he also replaced the doors from a MY04 on his ML. (all 4 + trunk). Same thing here .... needed to replace the electrical connector plugs on the door with later model ones. (body/frame side,... not in the doors). Those later model doors have much better (heavier) construction , as well as sound proofing qualities. Also don't rust as easy!.

I might just wait for a few weeks until MLOFFROAD'S cash flow is back to normal before advertising my armrest/shifter surround.... What do you reckon guys?....

LOL , I figure you might be right there ..... It was a little wierd doing the mod in the parking lot! 

 Funny you mentioned the POLIZEI! The install of the other BRABUS in the autobahn stop was right in front of a POLIZEI KONTOLLE. Notice the long park markings .... They were stopping trucks and checking driver details .....

They did initially look at what was happening , but it didn't bother us as we weren't doing anything illegal..... they must have smelt the innocense in my body oder? heh,heh.....

 DAMM , now that you mentioned this ... it would have made a real good photo taken from a longer distance including the "Speck"!. I didn't realize that pics of German Police might be interesting for others around the world to see.

What the heck .... I get pics of English Bobbies in germany nowadays ...... The English football fans (tourists) bring along their own police for the Games.... Now that's what I call a world First ..... There are real police from various countries (officially) here in germany keeping a eye on their own countrymen! .....  NOn of this "Do you speek english/German" problems here!. heh,heh.....

Stay tuned for the Bobbies versus English Football fan bout !  Have you seen footage of them patrolling at UK matches at the German hosted World Championships on US TV?.

Adds a new meaning to the term "Stripping in the carpark" eh?.....