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Thanks for the complements on the write up guys. I want to share all of the knowledge I have on our cars that way we can keep our cars on the road and our $$$ in our pockets I'm sure I will be posting more in the future as I tackle more of the minor issues my car has (there seems to be less and less these days ), stay posted
Gotta revive this because I cannot reassemble mine.
I took out:
1) rubber accordion pieces (broke mine; will replace at some point)
2) metal rails
3) shade
4) plastic (front) rail that pries off
I have no clue how to put it back together.
I put the shade in first but am having difficult what orientation the rails the go (I'm assuming the rails are only for the accordion pieces' sake, right)?
What I thought was the proper reassembly the shade doesn't catch on the plastic front piece and go back. The felt IS good.
HELP! I'm getting really frustrated for something so simple.
Buy some velcro
Slide panel to the rear
Put a small piece of velcro in front of the edge where the panel will meet when close
Put the other piece of velcro on the inside middle of the panel.
Make sure to hand press them nice and tight
Than close panel
Your done
Please use a good brad of velcor and it will last a long time.
The felt is not what keeps the sunshade (proper term) from sliding forward/backward unintentionally. The foam liner (the backing for the vinyl covering) is what provides the necessary resistance (since it is in compression when the sunshade is installed). My son's C43 had the same problem. We tried the felt idea, but it just made the sunshade very difficult to move; it also became "grabby".
We have found that the foam is a real and much larger problem. The foam deteriorates slowly over time and, eventually, the vinyl will separate and fall. The unintentional sliding is just a precursor for total failure. The rub is that it is not repairable. A new sunshade is around $500. We talked to numerous upholstery shops, including GAHH who makes replacement seat upholstery for these cars. All refused to recover it using the original vinyl; they could only recover the sunshade, just not in a matching material. We eventually spent an afternoon cleaning off all the deteriorated, gooey foam from the base material and the vinyl (with 3M Adhesive Remover). We then fitted new, fabric backed foam to the base material and followed by gluing the old vinyl onto the new foam using 3M adhesives specifically designed for the purpose. That tool several hours to accomplish because you have to work small areas. Also, the vinyl tends to expand when the glue is fresh, so it looked rather ugly at first. After curing overnight it looked absolutely perfect. When reinstalled the sunshade worked as designed.
For two months. The vinyl has started to separate. We should have bought the new sunshade to begin with.
I do not find the velcro difficult to use. Grabby ok but that's the purpose to keep it close. To slide it open does not take much effort at all. If I would have taken my time to look for some THIN magnets I would have used that instead.but the velcro works perfect for me.
You can apply felt in two places to attempt to achieve the same effect; on the stainless steel rails or on the metal strips bonded to the top of the sunshade. The problem is that the felt is relatively firm, whereas the foam compresses fairly easily. Getting the thickness of the felt right to produce the right amount of friction is tricky at best.
As for covering the sunshade with some other material, you still have the foam problem. Getting anything to bond permanently to the foam is the problem. Sure you can get new or different material and sure you can get new foam. I have done so. Try to get them to bond together.
I don't understand the velcro fix. On the bottom the sunshade rides on the stainless steel slides. On the top, the bonded metal strips slide against the bottom of the rubber accordion pieces.
As for covering the sunshade with some other material, you still have the foam problem. Getting anything to bond permanently to the foam is the problem. Sure you can get new or different material and sure you can get new foam. I have done so. Try to get them to bond together.
No, you don't have the foam problem if you scrape the old foam off. You probably didn't realize that MB uses a type of adhesive foam, there's no piece of foam in between. I posted in this thread almost 2 years ago and I still have the same sunshade with no issues, no problems, no sagging, no bubbles.
The rub is that it is not repairable.
You're having all these problems because you're doing it wrong. I hope others reading this thread don't see your post and assume it can't be fixed because of your experience. If you used 3M Hi-Tack 76 Spray Adhesive (designed for "headliners" ) it will fail because it won't stand the temps inside the car. 3m Rubber & Vinyl 80 spray adhesive should work better but it has to be properly prepped and applied.
Do not use 3m Super 77, it will fail.
I'll post pictures of what my sunshade looks like after two years.
Last edited by YNVDIZW124; 04-27-2012 at 12:19 PM.
The "foam" is adhered directly to the vinyl when it is manufactured. That is the way all modern headliners are made. The composite "material" is then glued to the base material, in this case the sunshade. The "foam" deteriorates over time and the vinyl, fabric, whatever falls down. The "foam" is the brown, sticky "goop" you have to laboriously clean off the vinyl and base material.
In this case the "foam" provides a resilient filler that fills the gap between the rubber accordion pieces and the stainless steel slides. That is why a new sunshade will not slide under acceleration or braking, but an old one with rotten foam will.
Yes it is possible to glue fabric, somebody's old bathroom carpet, whatever directly to the base material. Some folks have done so. There is a thread on MBWorld where a 210 owner did his headliner in Alcantara and adhered it directly to the base material. If you are lucky maybe it won't slam forward or backward.
If you want it to look like the factory built it, the foam is the key element in making it work.
We used 3M 08090, their high bond strength adhesive that a 3M rep specifically recommended to me for this application.
As for what others think, they are free to make up their own minds.
I don't need to argue, here's a picture of my 2 year old sunshade. Enough said.
Yes it is possible to glue fabric, somebody's old bathroom carpet, whatever directly to the base material. Some folks have done so. There is a thread on MBWorld where a 210 owner did his headliner in Alcantara and adhered it directly to the base material. If you are lucky maybe it won't slam forward or backward.
Doesn't go anywhere, it stays where it needs to be, no luck needed.
We used 3M 08090, their high bond strength adhesive that a 3M rep specifically recommended to me for this application.
And yours obviously failed 2 months after you installed it.
Last edited by YNVDIZW124; 04-27-2012 at 03:13 PM.
Other than the fact that yours looks exactly like something we did not want, you have obviously succeeded where all others have failed. Congratulations! Also, I will tell my 3M guy to consult you for all future adhesive questions.
Other than the fact that yours looks exactly like something we did not want, you have obviously succeeded where all others have failed. Congratulations! Also, I will tell my 3M guy to consult you for all future adhesive questions.
It looks exactly how I wanted it to look and match other interior pieces. Anyone else can change the color or material but the installation is still the same. I did not use 3m adhesives, most upholstery shops don't even use 3m products.
We talked to numerous upholstery shops, including GAHH who makes replacement seat upholstery for these cars. All refused to recover it using the original vinyl; they could only recover the sunshade, just not in a matching material.
You seemed to dismiss the advice from experts, but I guess a 3m sales rep has more experience with auto interiors.
My problem with your posts is the misinformation that you're spreading and shutting down easy and cheap fixes from people who are just trying to help.
You don't need to spend $500 on a new sunshade, cover it in suede that matches the interior color and be done with it.
YNVDIZW, can you elaborate a little more about your fix? I'm having this very issue with my sunshade. The original vinyl (seriously?! In an AMG?!?!) is starting to pull away from those 2 plastic vents. I think a recover job in suede is much needed and a classy upgrade.
How did you do yours? Do I need to scrape away the old foam or no?
Ok, this thread is 7 years old but it nevertheless is very helpful. Thanks especially to 503 for taking the plunge. I purchased my 2000 C230 Kompressor sedan a couple years ago. Little old lady car with only 15K on the odo (not a type). Pushing 58K now and I've been catching up on some maintenance stuff that little old ladies apparently can't or won't do (this non-little old lady doesn't want to do it either, for the record, bud I digress). Anyway, when I first got the car I could feel that when my sunroof was in the closed position and I would push the shade backwards so that it would be retracted (to allow sunlight in) I would notice that as the shade reached the end of its travel (i.e. as I was pushing it backwards into the headliner) I could feel some sort of mechanism engage with the shade - and I noticed that the mechanism didn't feel as tightly engaged with the shade as it should be. Not surprisingly, the feeling of 'engagement' between the sun shade and whatever that hidden mechanism is began to feel less and less secure (i.e. more and more play) until not soon later on there was no engagement whatsoever. Now my sunshade floats back and forth upon acceleration or deceleration. In order to keep it stationary while driving I've taken to folding a small piece of microfiber cloth and wedging it between the leading edge of the underside of the sun shade (just aft of the handle indent) and the inside of the headliner. This 'wedges' the shade and keeps it in place but it still bothers me that this doesn't work as it should. I was preparing to rip apart the interior to get the headliner out (which I may still do) just to be able to get a look at the mechanism in the rear that I used to feel engaging with the sun shade when I would retract it. But now after reading this post, I suspect I'll try removing first the way 503 did and then do a closer inspection. I'm also going to try to get to my local dealership to see if they have some sort of exploded view/diagram of the inner workings of this sunshade. Nice fellows they are - and are always happy to help out a DIY'er (like me). I just hope I can get that diagram and, especially, that it doesn't look like something that could have been taken from DaVinci's early mechanical drawings of flying machines. ;-) Of course I will post my progress or lack thereof (complete with photos) after I've gone to the dealership to see if a diagram of the sunshade and its associated parts can be had.
i have a rattle noise but it isnt from the shade. it is from the black trim that pops up when the sunroof is tilt open. not sure if it rattles when it is fully open, but i usually just pull the tilt trim back down and that will stop the rattle. i think i just needs some white grease or something.
So it's 2021 and this thread is still as useful as ever. I have a C230K '00 and just wanted to remove the sunroof sunshade slider due to similar problems with the liner/clothes peeling off. My friend mechanics couldn't figure out within 20mn so I did some research. After a few hours of researching, this thread and the one that references it, and another one from the MBWorld came up as THE BEST RESOURCES and they will explain how to do it yourself within 15-30mn. It took me about an hour, but I was cleaning stuff as well, taking photos etc. Else it's pretty easy.
I'm adding a few extra information about the process of removing the sunroof sunshade slider, specifically the accordions (aka bellow set). YOU NEED TO FOLLOW THE PROCEDURE AS DESCRIBED EARLIER BY user 'Aquinob' and user '503C43 ////AMG' and other users in the forums. This is just extra info, but it will give first timer a clearer idea of what to expect.
Tools required (only for the sunshade slider removal operation):
Standard slotted flat screwdriver. I used a 1/4 inch flat screwdriver I bought at Walmart for $0.97
Oh yeah, expect to get hands dirty, dust etc. You might want to have cleaning towels etc nearby to clean the accordions / bellows.
After you removed that plastic front part with the flat screw as per earlier described procedure, now comes the tricky part with the accordions / bellows.
1) The rear of each accordion is tied to the "glasstop system frame" (i made up this name) as follows. Someone said that you'd need to "twist" some rubber part so you could take it out. This photo will give more clarity as to what that user meant:
1) The top rubber fold of the accordion / bellow slips into a flat metal part located on the side of the "glasstop system frame" and there are 2 metal clips that clip all together. PAY ATTENTION TO THESE CLIPS, MAKE SURE YOU DON'T LOOSE THEM !!! You have to pull the accordion GENTLY towards you, little by little, it should slide out. Gently because that ruber is old, like every plastic parts on these old cars... And old parts are hard to find... You'll get it what I mean when you try yourself. So here is the accordion / bellow (blurred) being removed:
Here's that flat part I was talking earlier to which the top fold of the accordion / bellow slips into it. You can see 1 metal clip as well. The other one got stuck with the accordion / bellow (see later pics):
This is where the clips are located on the glass system frame:
Here is the other metal clip on the accordion / bellow and you can see each clip has its own specific spot:
That's all I wanted to add to the thread, in the hope it will help future DIYers.
I found a upholstery car shop, they will fix the liner/clothes that was peeling off for about $100 and they are aware about the lack-of-friction issue that causes the sunshade slider to slide in/out when you brake, so hopefully I won't have to deal with it. I will probably make a last update once I get it back.
USEFUL TIP FOR THE MAIN HEADLINER PEELING OFF INSIDE THE CAR: If the front and rear edges are detaching themselves/peeling off from the main structure, you can use DUCK TAPE to fix it! Mine was peeling off in hte back about +8 years ago and I couldn't drive safely back then since it was obstructing the rear view. My parents "glued" it back with duck tape, they had ZERO knowledge about fixing cars (but they are handy). It blended perfectly well because my headliner is in the same tone as the duck tape (grey silver). And we saved $1000s. Duck tape is starting peeling off now, so I'lll simply repeat what they did. 2 persons may be needed for this operation to keep align the duck tape perfectly.
Just an update + a SUPER CLEANING TIP FOR YOUR HANDS AGAINST THE GOOEY ORANGE FOAM !!
Update:
I got the sunshade out and it was messed up. Found a car upholstery store half-hour drive from my place. They fixed it with a new "clothes", not the exact material as the ORM but a quality one and almost same color as the original and it costs me only $100, therefore I'm pretty VERY happy . They used their own sticky foam and they were aware of the sliding issue that many DIYer learned the hard way. Their work is supposed to last at least 4-5 years, we'll see but looks like they know their job. Only thing is, I broke the handle in the process of removal and am now searching for a new one. Cost: $100 only. I know it's not pure DIY for purists out there but I live in a tiny apartment and don't have a garage to store tools or do this type of job myself and it's not worth my time, so I was looking for a non-costly way to get the job done. For $100, that's a DIY-er price!
Here it is before i put it back earlier tonight:
One small problem I faced: the sticky foam was a bit thick so it was a bit snug/thight to slide it back. I could not do it from outside of the car, standing on the door frame. I had to be inside the car at some point and use one of your hand to "guide" it so it ddidn't bump against the metal frame and for the clothes to fit in, while the other hand outside was pushing it. You might need to work on one particular side, you might need to use your naiil against the vent to "guide it"... You'll figure it out.
The Tip against Gooey foam:
So everyone who experience the "clothe peeling off" issue knows it's a messy job because of that Mercedes gooey orange foam that Mercedes used. It's dirty and sticks to your hands and your tools etc. and is hard to clean even with water and soap. --> No worry anymore: simply use paper towel soaked in 70% alcohol to clean your hands and whatever parts that has this sticky thing. The alcohol dissolves/removes the gooey thing like it was nothing. Makes your life soooo easy.
So the slider (the thing that you can slide to cover the sunroof) on my sunroof is WAY loose and if I take off real fast or if I come to a hard stop the slider will slam open/shut. This is VERY annoying and the only way I can prevent this from happening is to have my sun roof open. When I open the sun roof there is something that holds the slider back. Does anyone else have this problem??? Does anyone know of a fix?
I have a 2015 c63s that the sunroof rolling shade broke. Do you guys know if is an easy fix or how much does it cost?
I have a 2015 c63s that the sunroof rolling shade broke. Do you guys know if is an easy fix or how much does it cost?
Hi, just an advice if I may: you need to be more specific and describe with more details your problem. Ideally with photos too.
Else no one can really help you.
Hi, just an advice if I may: you need to be more specific and describe with more details your problem. Ideally with photos too.
Else no one can really help you.
07-07-2010, 01:58 AM
I'm sure I will be posting more in the future as I tackle more of the minor issues my car has (there seems to be less and less these days 
), stay posted
