I'm thinking of installing an aftermarket wood kit to replace the center console aluminum on my 2003 C230K Coupe. Does anyone have experience with these kits? Does the aluminum show around the edges on the curved surfaces? any recommended sources?

or you could just use the factory wood from a sedan, same part for the radio bezel & ashtray

Oh yes, I could do that. That is if the price for the MB parts weren't higher than the annual income of the average US citizen. (OK, so that is a bit of an overstatement.) I've been looking for parts off a wreck, but haven't been successful.

To answer your original question, yes, usually when you do the kit that just sticks on top of your old metal, you do see some of the metal. You'll see it when you open the ash tray, you'll see it from certain angles, etc. I'm not speaking from MB experience, but I have done the kit on previous cars and I have seen it on plenty to know.

As for sources, I used:

http://www.woodtrim.com

on my last car...the carbon fiber was real, not vinyl, and the service was great. They do make a kit for the coupe:

Product Catalog -> Exotic Collection -> Mercedes -> C230 Coupe

Not sure what they mean by factory match, so I would e-mail or call them.

Erik