My guide to wrap your centre trim console ...
08-21-2015, 05:30 PM
#1
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Thread Starter
My guide to wrap your centre trim console ...
Right hears goes...I'm just a novice and I don't right guides very much at all so apologies if I miss anything out or am not clear which my descriptions (feel free to ask if your unsure) Failing that feel free to look else where! I couldn't find a guide tho 
I'm doing this because a couple of people asked for a guide and there's some interest in doing this I think.
I'd rate this an average mod to do ,obviously how good you are at using wrap is going to either increase or decrease that rating! but regards the scary part of what seems like destroying your centre console trim I'd say that was the easiest part for me..the wrap takes time and practice to get it right if your a perfectionist and I'm about 95 % happy now with the second wrap I applied (silver CB)
Words of advise before I start the guide regards taking apart your interior trim ....
Take your time !!!! And don't worry when your looking at a heap of parts that once came together to form your centre console! All will be good! Promise....
Right....you may be wise to disconnect the battery (I never just made sure I had everything switched off but do it at your own choice)
Below is the first part to get your centre trim removed.There are to spring like clips hidden inside where marked you need to push a flat object (screw driver maybe) in under the open doors of your arm rest.Do one side at a time, push in ...you won't really feel anything or here a click but the clip will push in,while pushing pull up on the silver part and lift it a little, then do the other side exactly the same one both clips are free you need to then push the centre open silver button in and pull the whole unit off.
It's a bit of a pain and you will need to use a little force but it will pull of and reveal 2 screws.
Unscrew them both and put somewhere safe!
You can see them circled red and if you look below you will see two holes marked blue,these are where those awkward springs sit that you need to release earlier so it will give you an idea where to aim for better.
Now it's time to lift the trim out... Lift it up and pull back and the whole unit will come free bar for the wires all attached.
Next you will need to disconnect them all....it's pretty simple and straight forward just remove all the connections to be able to detach the trim completely (make a mental note of them but don't worry as each one only fits in a set place so you won't get confused when putting them back.
Once you have the centre console take it indoors and find somewhere to dismantle and wrap...
Right now we need to strip the trim itself....
To begin remove the two screws at the top of the pic below they will release the ash tray unit lift it up and remove it,easy hey....
Next is the touchpad thingy... Two screws at the bottom and when you remove the ash tray it will reveal another two at the top so 4 altogether remove them (all the screws are the same so no need to remember which is which)
Remove all the connections marked green ,you can now separate the ashtray completely as it was wired to the touchpad.
Remove the touchpad and store safely! I imagine these ain't cheap!
Next we move onto the control switches panel.
Push the clips in marked red and the unit should pullout from behind.
Next is the cd slot unit marked wth the green.you need to remove the control panel first as this helps hold the cd slot in place.
Push the clip in and remove.
This next pic shows the cd slot to remove you can see the bottom parts marked red are where the switches panel held it in and the ones above should have clips there abouts where I marked (forgot to take a better pic of these sorry)
Anyway is pretty self explanatory and you shouldn't find it hard.
Next comes the fun part ! Well is was for me... (Sarcasm)
You will need to remove the 3 air vents ... 4 Spring clips hold each one in place and there firm so be warned! I started by pushing on clip in with a flat head screw driver while pushing down really hard on the vent (make sure you have something padded underneath so you don't damage the vents on view! Once you get one clip to sit below the lip keep it pressed down hard and do the next one opposite it once you have 2 in place the other two will follow and the the vent will just magically come away.... Have fun doing the 3 vents! Am sure MB must have a tool to remove these or I'm missing the trick of making it easy... Oh well once you have them removed you will be left with a stripped centre trim.
Scared now? Thinking what have I done! Hahaha...don't panic the hardest part is still to come! Wrapping it!
One final the to do is remove the ash tray lid,I was baffled for a while and then realised it was very simple! Open the lid and look under need you will see a ridge under the lid itself...get a flat head screw driver and gentley push in and pry the lid up w,with a small amount of pressure the lid pops off and slides free.... Easy!
Time to wrap the trim ....
Clean the trim well,I used rubbing alcohol to remove any finger grease or dirt but light detergent I think will be fine.make sure it's dry and clean because you want the wrap to stick and any dirt etc can cause bubbles....
You will need your choice of wrap I used 3M di-Noc 1080 silver carbon fibre wrap second time, first time I used a high gloss finished black carbon fibre wrap. I bought plenty of each in the event I messed up and had to re do it.
Tools you will need
A good sharp craft knife and extra blades.
A squidgee to smooth the wrap down (has a felt edge one side )
A cloth
A hairdrier or heat gun so you can manipulate stretch and relax the wrap.
Patience!!!!!! Lots of! If your new to wraps.....it's a learning curve but you will get the hang of it after a bit of practice,and will get the finish you want
Take your time and hopefully you won't have bubbles (if you do have any small stubborn ones use the craft knife to pop them,very very gentlely with a tiny hole and heat the wrap and rub them away... Keep re lifting the wrap if you aren't happy with it it will take alot of messing with and can be heated up if it gets creased etc to get it smooth again.
There are plenty of guides on utube to help learn how to wrap so maybe take a look if your new to it as I was.
Once your finished you need to to refit everything back again,put it back in the same or you removed if you get me,take your time and you will have it done perfect.
Second time I did the wrap was a lot quicker and easier.
I will add some more pics tomorrow showing the whole cabin etc so you can get a better look as I was rushed today to take pics and it nighttime now.
I think the light silver is great and better then the black CF I had on before it just lightens the interior even more against the other black interior parts, and compared to the piano black gloss either wrap was way better!
That's my opinion anyway and it's my car ....so as I say to anyone ite your car! you like it then that's all that matters.
If I've not explained anything clear or make no sense please ask and I'll try my best to help... Am sure others on here could do a much better guide than me but nobody as yet has so your stuck with mine for now! Hahaha.
Good luck to those that try....
I'm doing this because a couple of people asked for a guide and there's some interest in doing this I think.
I'd rate this an average mod to do ,obviously how good you are at using wrap is going to either increase or decrease that rating! but regards the scary part of what seems like destroying your centre console trim I'd say that was the easiest part for me..the wrap takes time and practice to get it right if your a perfectionist and I'm about 95 % happy now with the second wrap I applied (silver CB)
Words of advise before I start the guide regards taking apart your interior trim ....
Take your time !!!! And don't worry when your looking at a heap of parts that once came together to form your centre console! All will be good! Promise....
Right....you may be wise to disconnect the battery (I never just made sure I had everything switched off but do it at your own choice)
Below is the first part to get your centre trim removed.There are to spring like clips hidden inside where marked you need to push a flat object (screw driver maybe) in under the open doors of your arm rest.Do one side at a time, push in ...you won't really feel anything or here a click but the clip will push in,while pushing pull up on the silver part and lift it a little, then do the other side exactly the same one both clips are free you need to then push the centre open silver button in and pull the whole unit off.
It's a bit of a pain and you will need to use a little force but it will pull of and reveal 2 screws.
Unscrew them both and put somewhere safe!
You can see them circled red and if you look below you will see two holes marked blue,these are where those awkward springs sit that you need to release earlier so it will give you an idea where to aim for better.
Now it's time to lift the trim out... Lift it up and pull back and the whole unit will come free bar for the wires all attached.
Next you will need to disconnect them all....it's pretty simple and straight forward just remove all the connections to be able to detach the trim completely (make a mental note of them but don't worry as each one only fits in a set place so you won't get confused when putting them back.
Once you have the centre console take it indoors and find somewhere to dismantle and wrap...
Right now we need to strip the trim itself....
To begin remove the two screws at the top of the pic below they will release the ash tray unit lift it up and remove it,easy hey....
Next is the touchpad thingy... Two screws at the bottom and when you remove the ash tray it will reveal another two at the top so 4 altogether remove them (all the screws are the same so no need to remember which is which)
Remove all the connections marked green ,you can now separate the ashtray completely as it was wired to the touchpad.
Remove the touchpad and store safely! I imagine these ain't cheap!
Next we move onto the control switches panel.
Push the clips in marked red and the unit should pullout from behind.
Next is the cd slot unit marked wth the green.you need to remove the control panel first as this helps hold the cd slot in place.
Push the clip in and remove.
This next pic shows the cd slot to remove you can see the bottom parts marked red are where the switches panel held it in and the ones above should have clips there abouts where I marked (forgot to take a better pic of these sorry)
Anyway is pretty self explanatory and you shouldn't find it hard.
Next comes the fun part ! Well is was for me... (Sarcasm)
You will need to remove the 3 air vents ... 4 Spring clips hold each one in place and there firm so be warned! I started by pushing on clip in with a flat head screw driver while pushing down really hard on the vent (make sure you have something padded underneath so you don't damage the vents on view! Once you get one clip to sit below the lip keep it pressed down hard and do the next one opposite it once you have 2 in place the other two will follow and the the vent will just magically come away.... Have fun doing the 3 vents! Am sure MB must have a tool to remove these or I'm missing the trick of making it easy... Oh well once you have them removed you will be left with a stripped centre trim.
Scared now? Thinking what have I done! Hahaha...don't panic the hardest part is still to come! Wrapping it!
One final the to do is remove the ash tray lid,I was baffled for a while and then realised it was very simple! Open the lid and look under need you will see a ridge under the lid itself...get a flat head screw driver and gentley push in and pry the lid up w,with a small amount of pressure the lid pops off and slides free.... Easy!
Time to wrap the trim ....
Clean the trim well,I used rubbing alcohol to remove any finger grease or dirt but light detergent I think will be fine.make sure it's dry and clean because you want the wrap to stick and any dirt etc can cause bubbles....
You will need your choice of wrap I used 3M di-Noc 1080 silver carbon fibre wrap second time, first time I used a high gloss finished black carbon fibre wrap. I bought plenty of each in the event I messed up and had to re do it.
Tools you will need
A good sharp craft knife and extra blades.
A squidgee to smooth the wrap down (has a felt edge one side )
A cloth
A hairdrier or heat gun so you can manipulate stretch and relax the wrap.
Patience!!!!!! Lots of! If your new to wraps.....it's a learning curve but you will get the hang of it after a bit of practice,and will get the finish you want
Take your time and hopefully you won't have bubbles (if you do have any small stubborn ones use the craft knife to pop them,very very gentlely with a tiny hole and heat the wrap and rub them away... Keep re lifting the wrap if you aren't happy with it it will take alot of messing with and can be heated up if it gets creased etc to get it smooth again.
There are plenty of guides on utube to help learn how to wrap so maybe take a look if your new to it as I was.
Once your finished you need to to refit everything back again,put it back in the same or you removed if you get me,take your time and you will have it done perfect.
Second time I did the wrap was a lot quicker and easier.
I will add some more pics tomorrow showing the whole cabin etc so you can get a better look as I was rushed today to take pics and it nighttime now.
I think the light silver is great and better then the black CF I had on before it just lightens the interior even more against the other black interior parts, and compared to the piano black gloss either wrap was way better!
That's my opinion anyway and it's my car ....so as I say to anyone ite your car! you like it then that's all that matters.
If I've not explained anything clear or make no sense please ask and I'll try my best to help... Am sure others on here could do a much better guide than me but nobody as yet has so your stuck with mine for now! Hahaha.
Good luck to those that try....
Last edited by Bj71; 08-21-2015 at 05:37 PM.
The following 3 users liked this post by Bj71:
08-21-2015, 09:40 PM
#3
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Join Date: Jun 2004
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2014 E63S; AMS 100 octane ecu tune; edok tcu tune; BB intakes; dyno tuned
Nice work and excellent write up and contribution to the site
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08-23-2015, 01:15 PM
#8
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Nice Craftsmanship
10-04-2015, 04:08 AM
#14
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W205 C300 Hybrid AMG Line
PS As mentioned great guide. If my car wasn't a lease I'd probably give this a whirl, not a big fan of my current piano black trim!
Last edited by MB205; 10-04-2015 at 04:11 AM.
10-06-2015, 02:08 AM
#15
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Thread Starter
Thanks me for the praise all,having had the wrap on now for a while now can't say I have missed the piano blk in the slightest.
10-06-2015, 04:48 AM
#17
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Thread Starter
10-06-2015, 11:55 PM
#19
MBWorld Fanatic!
There are certain browser plugins that let you convert youtube videos to .mp4s for example, and then you can copy the .mp4s onto a USB flash drive and plug that drive into the car's USB port and play the videos from the media interface.
10-07-2015, 01:57 AM
#20
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2015 C300
sweet! Thanks so much, I did not know that. I use a web plugin to convert videos into mp3s and listen to it. Didn't know mp4s can transfer over videos too. Here is a link for the plugin that I use to convert if anyone is interested.
http://www.flv2mp3.org/
super easy.
http://www.flv2mp3.org/
super easy.
10-07-2015, 02:26 AM
#21
Member
Thread Starter
Yep ripping utube videos is very easy and loads of ways to do it, I ended up investing in an app for my iMac that makes the job so easy.
Just advice for anyone ripping the max quality for video is 720p.
Last edited by Bj71; 10-07-2015 at 02:39 AM.
10-07-2015, 02:39 AM
#22
Member
Thread Starter
For those wanting to rip YouTube videos before I got an app I used these two sites
www.videoripper.me
www.keepvid.com
You will want to choose 720p MP4 for your videos.very easy to do .
www.videoripper.me
www.keepvid.com
You will want to choose 720p MP4 for your videos.very easy to do .
10-07-2015, 11:26 PM
#23
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2015 Mercedes Benz C300 Sport
From what I understand, this is only available in park right? Is there anyway to keep it up while driving? For example, when it's an album cover on full screen, it looks nice until the car starts moving and the x appears with the text over it saying it can't display.
10-08-2015, 03:03 AM
#24
Member
Thread Starter
Yes, you need a harness cable adapter that will bypass and give you video /picture showing so you have video in motion.
I have mine adapted so I can do this,there's mixed views of this as it can be a major safety issue obviously if you think you can watch a video while driving! And it's illegal in my country.
Look on eBay for the harness cable,it's pretty straight forward to fit.
Videos I generally leave on for the kids to watch when in the car but there not my taste in music half the time so it doesn't interest me to watch!
I have mine adapted so I can do this,there's mixed views of this as it can be a major safety issue obviously if you think you can watch a video while driving! And it's illegal in my country.
Look on eBay for the harness cable,it's pretty straight forward to fit.
Videos I generally leave on for the kids to watch when in the car but there not my taste in music half the time so it doesn't interest me to watch!
10-08-2015, 02:46 PM
#25
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Location: Southern California
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2015 C300
Yes, you need a harness cable adapter that will bypass and give you video /picture showing so you have video in motion.
I have mine adapted so I can do this,there's mixed views of this as it can be a major safety issue obviously if you think you can watch a video while driving! And it's illegal in my country.
Look on eBay for the harness cable,it's pretty straight forward to fit.
Videos I generally leave on for the kids to watch when in the car but there not my taste in music half the time so it doesn't interest me to watch!
I have mine adapted so I can do this,there's mixed views of this as it can be a major safety issue obviously if you think you can watch a video while driving! And it's illegal in my country.
Look on eBay for the harness cable,it's pretty straight forward to fit.
Videos I generally leave on for the kids to watch when in the car but there not my taste in music half the time so it doesn't interest me to watch!
