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After reading this thread couple of months ago, i inspected mine and found some cables also Frayed
I dropped my car off for scheduled service yesterday and today they confirmed they will be doing some warranty repairs to the top
There is a Cable Repair Kit and Inner Head Liner is also being changed apparently
We just got my wife's c300 cab back for the exact same issue. Dealer had the car for about 3 days. They just replaced the strings with the new version of strings. Said they saw it on one other MB (E Class), and when I went to pick up the SA advised me of the tech note. New cables appear much stronger and better quality than the old. Hopefully they hold up!
it def included with the headliner both times mine was replaced. I’m telling you it’s going to happen again. 3 times already replaced under warranty . They replaced the entire convertible top in April and it’s fraying again. It’s a design flaw. I’m not keep this car without extended warranty. Only a matter of time until it rips for a 4th time
2018 C63S with 11000 miles. Strings frayed, at least one broken. This allows a flap of the roof to get caught in the mechanism when roof is opened, preventing a smooth, flat lay down of the cover pieces. I was aghast at the shabby engineer design of this. I fish with stronger line than this. Car is now out of warrantee and I read where MB repairs for this are $3-5K! UFB!
2018 C63S with 11000 miles. Strings frayed, at least one broken. This allows a flap of the roof to get caught in the mechanism when roof is opened, preventing a smooth, flat lay down of the cover pieces. I was aghast at the shabby engineer design of this. I fish with stronger line than this. Car is now out of warrantee and I read where MB repairs for this are $3-5K! UFB!
His guys us there any update tho this thread. I have stumbled upon it after my c class cables snapped and the car is now six years old. Any advice as to whether I should replace all the cables just the snapped cables and can indo it myself or will it need to be a main dealer effort.
I have the frayed cables and looks like I need to attempt to repair myself. My issue is that the fabric plastics have sheared at the space where the clamping rings fit. Any suggestions as to how I can attempt a repair? Would some sort of epoxy in the space and then all over the top of the clamping rings work? Has anyone else had to mock up a repair for this issue? Any advice welcome.
[QUOTE=HBC350;7960312]Car is ten months old and this is already happening? Anyone else? Might want to take a peek.
I recently heard a "snap" and when i took my car into local dealer was shown a condition almost identical to these photos. They've quoted over £800 for roof string repair plus £1850 for a new roof head liner, claiming it could not be repaired: those prices don't seem to include VAT or labour. Their Service Advisor did not reveal that this is a known problem. I've found an independent convertible hood repair place (miles away from where I live, though), who've told me (contrary to the dealer) that the roof head liner can in fact be repaired. Has anyone any advice for a first time poster on this group? Many thanks
I had the same issue, except my cables were intact, but the plastic where the cable ends lock, are broken on drivers side. So far 2 of those rings that’s holds the cable broke and others are starting to brake. I tested by replacing the strings where they go and placing a strong adhesive tape on the broken plastic and it fixed the problem right away but the tape came off after opening and closing twice. My first thought was to look for a new plastic pad (the one sewed to the top where the strings lock on to) so all of the rings where the cable locks would be brand new, since I could not even find the name of the part I bought an epoxy plastic welder at auto zone. I was lucky to get a manager that showed me a plastic welder that wasn’t messy and I could shape it how I want it before applying. But before trying it I came here and saw your post, now I wonder if you ever tryed doing it and if you had any issues after.
Please let me know thank you.
Originally Posted by Rab mac
I have the frayed cables and looks like I need to attempt to repair myself. My issue is that the fabric plastics have sheared at the space where the clamping rings fit. Any suggestions as to how I can attempt a repair? Would some sort of epoxy in the space and then all over the top of the clamping rings work? Has anyone else had to mock up a repair for this issue? Any advice welcome.
I'm new to this forum and found this posting incredibly helpful since I have a C63 convertible (November 2018 build date) with the dreaded "frayed strings" issue. Reading this page helped me understand the issue and also identify a very capable interior specialist in NJ that completely resolved my issue for under $800, all in. This repair/maintenance is not covered by the extended warranty I purchased for my car and I've made peace with the fact that this is something that must be checked from time to time (a wrecked headliner will add ~$500 to the repair cost) and redone every 2 to 3 years. I like my car a lot and I can live with this deal.
The shop I used is Creative Auto Interiors in Butler, NJ. Rodger and Shelby are fantastic and I warned them that more people could be coming their way with the same issue I had: https://g.co/kgs/6cukgWP
If you don't mind ordering from Ukraine, this chap seems to have a solution to your problem. I reached out to him before my repair and he quoted $11 per clip and $8 shipping. Link to his video:
good luck . I sold my 2017 c300 cabriolet. Had 24 service records in the past 2.5 years I owned the car. 8-10 of those were top failures. Always the same issue. Glad to be out of it. Extended warranty does not cover the top so I could only imagine how much that would of been each time
Hi,
Chafe seems to be the problem. Why not replace to Dyneema without braid. Widely used on sailing boats with high chafe risk. It comes with a thickness of 2,5mm and upwards
I'm new to this forum and found this posting incredibly helpful since I have a C63 convertible (November 2018 build date) with the dreaded "frayed strings" issue. Reading this page helped me understand the issue and also identify a very capable interior specialist in NJ that completely resolved my issue for under $800, all in. This repair/maintenance is not covered by the extended warranty I purchased for my car and I've made peace with the fact that this is something that must be checked from time to time (a wrecked headliner will add ~$500 to the repair cost) and redone every 2 to 3 years. I like my car a lot and I can live with this deal.
The shop I used is Creative Auto Interiors in Butler, NJ. Rodger and Shelby are fantastic and I warned them that more people could be coming their way with the same issue I had: https://g.co/kgs/6cukgWP
I'm new to this forum and found this posting incredibly helpful since I have a C63 convertible (November 2018 build date) with the dreaded "frayed strings" issue. Reading this page helped me understand the issue and also identify a very capable interior specialist in NJ that completely resolved my issue for under $800, all in. This repair/maintenance is not covered by the extended warranty I purchased for my car and I've made peace with the fact that this is something that must be checked from time to time (a wrecked headliner will add ~$500 to the repair cost) and redone every 2 to 3 years. I like my car a lot and I can live with this deal.
The shop I used is Creative Auto Interiors in Butler, NJ. Rodger and Shelby are fantastic and I warned them that more people could be coming their way with the same issue I had: https://g.co/kgs/6cukgWP
All the best,
Walter
If this happens to me, I would fight the warranty denied. The papers specifically mentions the top mechanism being covered. If the top doesn’t work because of this, it should be covered. I have a 21, so it may not be an issue.
Convertible/Retractable Top Systems: The top-actuation systems and roll bar mechanisms are fully covered.
Last edited by Elvisfan0108; Jun 13, 2025 at 11:28 PM.
Reason: Top CPO warranty
I was quoted $4,950 by Mercedes-Benz to fix one broken cord (They quote 8h of labor and supposedly replace the headliner, which seems unwarranted as it's in perfect condition). I bought the kit from MB (https://www.mbpartscenter.com/search...=205-778-05-00) for $55 and was able to replace the two pairs that were either broken or frayed in less than 3h. This video (
) was super useful). I also suspect that few cords carry most of the tension and therefore you don't need to replace them all just in case. I had to replace #4 (brown) and #8 (green), which I suspect are the ones that always break.
e400 cabriolet convertible top healiner and cable failures
Is there any recourse for an e400 owner with convertible (cabriolet) top cables/headliner failures at 24,000 miles and again
at less than 27,000 miles 11 months later. The first repair was at the dealer. 2nd repair TBD.
This 2018 e400 model is out of warranty.
Despite minimal use (under 3000 miles this past 12 months), MB USA denies any responsibility for their lack of convertible
engineering prowess. Sadly this expensive problem occurs and reoccurs in many models made by MB here and overseas.
Love everything about the car except the top failures. Have owned many convertibles (Lexus and BMW) in the past and never
had a problem like this. Nor have I had significant problems with any Mercedes sedan or SUV that we have owned since the
late 70's.
I would certainly fight for the dealer to give you some warranty on the work they performed less than a year ago. It's one thing for the car to be past its warranty period, it doesn't imply any repair is done without warranty. The repair should be warrantied.
As a side note, I suspect the problem may be made worse by the fact that MB allows you to operate the top up to 37mph. This is a very cool feature when many convertibles require you to be stopped or at minimal speed, but I assume it puts a lot more stress on the liner and the ropes. I can tell you that since I repaired mine, I've started to operate the top at rest :-) Will see if that helps.
good day, the kit comes with "cable rooting clips" as mentioned in the video you referenced aswell at timestamp 1:28.
i cant really figure out where these are supposed to go. i'd really appreciate if you could point that out
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e400 cabriolet convertible top healiner and cable failures
