anatomyguy

Any one know how much a new/used dash pad is for a 97 E 420 sport? I noticed a few small cracks around the vents and I would like to replace the dash. Anyone know?

Thanks

johnny's E320

I can't answer where to get them, but I can see why you want one.

I have very small cracks starting from the vents and moving towards the dash face. They are small. I also noticed I have the SRS airbag cracking, too. The indented outline of the SRS airbag seems to be separating. Not too noticeable.

Is anyone have this problem with the SRS and do you think it can interfere with deployment?

J.

husk323

no its pure cosmetic

Lancelot

I have the indented outline of the SRS airbag cracking/separating too so it seems to be common?

Musikmann

The same thing had happened to my 1998 E430 before I bought it.

There's a possibility MB still has some in the parts warehouses, I'd at least ask some dealer for availablity/price. I read somewhere that it's possible to fix the cracks with some kind of liquid sealer but I don't know where to find that. Another option would be a salvage yard that has a W210; there were a lot of these made so there are wrecked ones out there.

AlphaWolf

I did a wash last week and noticed that I have the same SRS airbag crack. Urh, I am so mad! I was hoping to keep this car longer. I put the shade when I parked outside. I always wiped and cleaned the dash w/ protectant. What more do I have to do?!

Musikmann

This is a well known issue and MB was replacing them at some point (I don't remember if only during the warranty period). I also don't know if it was unique to the W210 but think the earlier ones were more likely to experience the problem.

johnny's E320

As far as protectant, I NEVER use anything but a damp towel when I clean the dash. I once heard that protectants, like Armor-All, were a silicone-based liquid that actually 'sucked' the natural moisture out of the plastics used on dashes, leading to cracking. I believe these protectants could be used for dealers to 'dress' up the inside for a sale, but not to be used regularly.

Anyone heard of this, too? It's widely talked about on the web.

tirona

best product to protect the dashboard from sunlight is "303 aerospace protectant". but placing protectant on a dashboard after 10 years of sun exposure won't stop it from cracking, might slow it down a little bit, but not much more. if the crack is longer than 1cm, than i would drill a little hole at the end of the crack, this might stop it. if the crack is shorter than 1cm, than i would clean the area really good with ethanol (area not bigger than the size of a penny around the crack), sand it down a little bit with fine sand paper, apply some strong glue, turn the defrost on to speed up the drying process, sand paper it down again, than apply some black dye (if your dashboard is black) from a spray can (get a can of "bumper coating" spray paint). do this procedure only on a very little area, and cover the surroundings very good. when you are done apply the dashboard protectant on your dashboard to make it shiny. i'm not saying this will stop the dashboard from cracking more, but might slow it down a couple of years or more if you do it from time to time, but only if the crack is really small, it it gets big, no much you can do.

anatomyguy

Thanks for the ideas, I am going to try to find a new dash pad first, if that doesn't work I will try to fix it.