Hello everyone. A couple questions.

I have a $900 quote on redoing all the wood trim. Should I have them do it or try myself. ( I am leaning on having it done)

Second question. In either case I need help getting all the trim removed. Any instructions so as to not damage the pieces. I would appreciate some instructions.

Third question I am looking at purchasing 17 INCH CHROME WHEELs for my 2000 clk430 the 5 spoke AMG style. Anyone selling or with suggestions. I am looking at ebay for about $700.

Fourth questions. I thought the car needed plugs. I was wrong. the motor mounts were replaced and the mechanic (who I trust) said the plugs and wires must have been replaced because the care specs out. It has 143k miles - should I change the plugs anyway since i have bought them from the dealer. I am guessing they were changed at 100K.

Thanks. Oh btw I am redoing the sorry *** paint job - but the body work seems to have been done correctly except the the after marker front bumper lol. I have notice that the black on newer cars seems to be brighter. Is that true? If so they paint the code for the car is the a different black paint code on newer cars?

Thanks and sorry to load up but this have become a project lol

 

What do you mean by "redoing" the wood trim? New parts or refinishing?

 

Q1: Many people have done it themselves. Here’s one DIY link.

Q2: See the previous link. The wood trim can be very expensive. For example the Birds eye maple wood piece that goes across the windshield has a dealer list price of $695. Being careful is a smart choice. That said, many have done this themselves.

Q4: Personally, I would. The plugs are due every five years or 100K miles, whchever comes first. They should have been changed at least twice by now.

 

I mean refinish. How do you remove the long wood strip under the windshield? I do not want carbon fiber. I have the dark almost green wood veneer used for black on black by mercedes. has anyone changed the color on their. This color matches the black well but does not stand out.

 

The previous post has a DIY (do it yourself) link. That link explains how to remove the strip of wood you asked about.

 

If I understand what you are saying, I don't thinks it's really possible. And FYI, I'm a lawyer by day, but my hobby is woodworking - making furniture and things out of exotic woods. You say a place quoted you a price to refinish your wood? I'd like to know what they plan on doing. First, the color. In the W209 years they called that color black ash. It may have been the same in your car. It's not a natural wood color. They take a lighter wood (probably ash, which is the color of a baseball bat) and dye it. Not stain like you may be used to, but clear dye. Once you dye it that way you can't change it unless you just want to make it even darker. The more common wood they used was walnut. They leave that it's more natural brown color, although they may enhance it with a bit of dye the same color just to even out the tones and give it a bit richer look. I do that a lot. So unless you replace your wood I don't think you can go to a different, lighter color. You'd have to get all the finish off and then bleach it or something, and I think it would be a mess.


But setting aside the color, to me the biggest issue is the finish on top of the wood. I have not looked closely at W208 pieces, but there is no way I'd even think of refinishing W209 wood. I assume W208 is the same. The wood is veneer (a thin slice of real wood) about the thickness of a playing card adhered to a sandwich substrate and then coated with what I assume is acrylic. Basically plastic. That coating is probably 100 times thicker than the finish on the average piece of furniture. I cannot image being able to strip that off without just having a huge mess and probably messing up the bond between the wood and the substrate. In the old days - like a Mercedes from the 60s, the pieces were thicker wood with a more traditional finish and were as easy to refinish as a table. But these newer pieces are not really meant to be refinished, at least if they are like the pieces in my car. That's why I'd really like to know what the place that gave you quote was planning on doing.