my E430 rocket

wow i really dnt want that to happen to me....can i ask you name so i can tell jerry about ur order so i can confirm i am getting th right color?

my E430 rocket

allthough the wood came out very nice

my E430 rocket

so i have been emailing formymercedes about getting the correct color leather to match my current airbag cover after seeing blakes wheel and how horrendous it came out.

here is the latest email i have recieved

"zach,

Here is a pic of the material the re-manufacturer has to work with - look at the swatch in the middle. If that color is not close enough - then let's cancel the order for the steering wheel.

They claim that years of sunlight will turn factory leather yellowish.

Jerry"

with this picture atached

lexrex

Chill out dude. The wheel is far from "horrendous." The difference is really only noticeable under certain lighting conditions, and even then it's very minor. The pic I posted captured it in the *worst* light possible.

I think Jerry is right that the leather will darken over time. My OEM wheel was darker than my center pad, probably due to ageing. The new wheel will probably darken closer to the center pad. The difference between the old wheel & pad is about the same as the new wheel & pad, except in the other direction.

Getting leather hides from different sources to match a single color is very difficult. They all react to dye differently. That is why Rolls Royce uses all their wood and leather for each car from a single tree or single animal source, to make sure all the colors are perfect. Obviously, an aftermarket steering wheel manufacturer cannot locate the same cow that wrapped your former wheel! Perfection will be impossible. That being said, you could try tweaking the color of the leather with Leatherique conditioner / dye (www.leatherique.com). Alternatively, you could try to locate a lighter pad.

Whether it darkens or not, for me, the color as-is is not a problem. If anything other than a perfect match is not acceptable to you, you probably should cancel your order.

my E430 rocket

do u think u could post some more pics for me?

livetodrive

From your picture, it appears the steering wheel is the wrong color. It is not a question of fading, or being a close match. I ordered a Java steering wheel from Jerry to match the interior of my 2001. You can see from my picture it matched perfectly. Although it is hard to tell from a picture, your airbag color looks the same as mine, which is Java. A dealer can look up your leather color name, which you need to give to Jerry to match.

lexrex

Zach, I'll post some more pics when I get a chance.

livetodrive, the Java color is too dark for my wheel. (Compare your center pad to the center pad in my "before" picture.) Mercedes changed a lot of the colors in the 2nd generation W210 (2000+). They probably have an easier time matching and acquiring leather for those colors.

I'm happy with how the wheel turned out, and that's all that matters to me.