MBUSA503

..i wipe the sweat off when i see it, if it drys then..ur screwed

mick1

Oh i see. I misunderstood the word "it"

Robokam

My wife's '05 230 SS had the same problem. The dealer had replaced it under warranty.

drexappeal

Phil, I haven't had any fading problems like this (although having ASH interior shows more dirt than anything else), but even though these are not "leather", they are made of a composite leather, so technically speaking you could use leather cleaner/protectant and it should work fine.

I've been using MacGuire Leather wipes for a while now and they've protected the leather insert areas and kept it clean.

nlpamg

Cool, I'm gonna look into the stuff you and r3v1ls recommended.

At first I thought this could be due to the "updated" console/armrest, but there are quite a few people that this hasn't happened to. I may even buy the MB Interior Care stuff as well.

The reason why I really didn't want ash was b/c of the horror stories that I've heard of people's jeans bleading and discoloring ash seats. But, as long as you can keep it clean, all G

drexappeal

I didn't want ash, but the guy ordered the wrong color!...LOL...So I settled for it anyway. It's a pain in the *** to clean, but looks nice when I do clean it.

Either way, just keep having them fix that armrest whenever it goes bad. It's not due to the updated armrest, cuz I've got the same one.

Saprissa

W203 (Sedan & Coupé) arm-rests are the same from 2001-2004
opening from front to back.

In mid 2004 to present, the W203 (Sedan & Coupé) arm-rest was redesigned to open from either side (L / R) instead of front to back.

That's why the arm-rest on the pictures above (2004.5 +) are different from
those with (2001-2004) arm-rests.


Carlos

Saprissa@aol.com

drexappeal

Woohoo!...Funny how when I first got my car, I had no clue what a gem I got w/ the mid-season upgrades (only for Benz to turn around and release the 2005 3 months later!...*******s...LOL).

Carlos, you still out of the country or are you back now?

jan ken po

Started happening to mine now...went to clean it up and it went striaght up wild all over 1/2 of it. I was like "sssshiiiiiiiiiiiiiit"!

I just my dumb dealer doesn't give me a headache about replacing for free.

14cue

thats nasty yo!

Sauceboy01

yea, i just threw up in my nose...

Buellwinkle

Wow, that's really bad. I have a 2004.5 and had a 2002 and never had a problem and both were 6 speeds. You can lemon law it, 4 times and you get a new car or refund. There's a guy on the "other" forum, has a blue C230 coupe, Wayne (aka Breakstroker), and he had a wood lid on his.

jan ken po

Mine was, emphasis on WAS, like nlpamg yesterday morning.. after a coupel swipes with cleaner...it was 1/2 of 14cue's!!!. I actually put some concentrated baby oil on it and is much better. You can't see the lines...but I'm still taking it in to get swapped.

jan ken po

So I got it swapped w/o any hassles surprisingly. So whats teh best method to prevent this again..aside from not using it?

Abspara

Just wanted to chime in that mine has also started to peel and I've had my car less then one year!! It goes back to the dealer this friday for a warrenty repair and a few questions as to why the heck this is happening in the first place.

BadAssC230k

went from Classy to Ashy


Lotion?
Cyran Wrap?

victorfjr

My armrest started to peel last year and I had it replaced just before the warranty expired in February. Seems like its a common problem, I ended up peeling the whole armrest last year, it actually gave the armrest a "grippy" feel to it which wasn't bad !! but since the warranty was almost up I had the dealer replace it.

BlackLiquorish8

i have a 03 and it seems to be holding up no peeling or anything? Maybe i have a diff material?? looks the same tho but i have tints. The ones that have the peeling armrest do you guys have tints??? maybe the sun is also doin damage??

rlee02135

i think they started using different materials in the 05 models.


anyways, for those with peeling armrests and wood interior, formymercedes.com has a laurel wood armrest cover

nlpamg

sorry dude, the fmm stuff doesn't fit. if you look carefully, you can see that they changed the armrest as well in 05 and the fmm are for the pre-facelift ones.

Abspara

I've got 20% all around since the first week I bought the car. Still, you may be right, it could still be sun damage. Obviously yours is ok, and many others are fine as well, but yet, newer owners (05+) seem to have this issue...sporadically. What ever could it be?

Perhaps it is the sun, sweat, or PH balance of the driver causing havok, or maybe a combination of all of them. Or perhaps, just perhaps, its shoddy DaimlerChrysler workmanship. I've never had this kind of problem with the vehicles i've owned over the past 15 years. Certain things are expected to eventually not work correctly. Engine problems, drivetrain issues, mechanical and electrical components,etc. I can understand and begrudingly accept those types of things as they are complex by nature and should eventually break down. But something as common and simple as an armrest? I'd hope that would be something that could not get screwed up in R&D. Obviously it was. This gives me lots of confidence in the more "complex" things involving my automobile and sends a clear signal as to the frequency I might have to address those as well.

In the less then one year ownership of my car, this adds to the several, in my mind, very unnecessary trips the the dealership i've had to make. Routine maintainance should be all I need to worry about in the first year, and yet, I'm on a first name basis with several people at my dealership. It should not be that way.

Right now it is a warrenty fix, but that's not going to last forever, and neither will my business if this display of Mercedes - Benz quality keeps up.

My wife, who owns a 06' ML 350 has taken hers to the dealership 6 different times for stereo issues, malfunctions on the instrument panel, and a few other things, but that's another story for another day. Yea we collectively dropped a good chunk of change for two cars who's second home is Walters Mercedes Benz in Riverside, Ca. I don't regret it right now, but in another year, who knows.


Yea this was a rant, but so what, it's well deserved for all the time i've had to spend at the dealership.

EDIT: my photographic contribution of MB quality at it's finest

MB///HRV

Funny to see this thread, as the dealer is ordering me a new armrest b/c its got that tacky, grippy feel to it. It looks perfect like nothing is wrong.

DarCKnight

Mines is tacky/grippy feeling as well. I have the light grey/silver interior and mines looks dirty. I used some leather cleaner and a soft scrub brush to get into the texture and that worked pretty good, but I think I'll be taking it to the dealer next time it gets worn-looking.

BabyBenz6spd

I had the same thing happend to me few weeks back, I thought I might have applied something on the leather that I wasn't suppose to.

I'm going to the dealer soon to have this issue taken care of. this thread is awsome!

guhvies

Mine is peeling too. Looks like I might have to sand down my elbow as my next scheduled visit to the service station is about 11 months away. The passenger side is okay as I rarely get to sit there.