Polar Bear

Hi everyone,

This used to be my "home group" several years ago, and I had two W210 E55 AMGs. Never had either in thee shop one time, and both were excellent cars. I have always felt the W210 design was timeless, and knew I would own another someday. I bought a W211 E320 CDI which was excellent, and now have a W221 S600 biturbo I have had for several years.

With the climate in the area in which I live and with my job requirements I drive all day at work; not just to and from, so I tracked down a 2001 W210 E320 4-Matic. So far I love it, and realizd why I loved the W210 so much. This will be a daily driver for the most part, but I want to keep it in as good of condition as possible, so that raises some questions.

Since they are getting some age on them now, naturally the interior is going to show more wear. The Java leather is in surprisingly good condition. There is a small area on the driver bolster that is not very noticeable until you attempt to put leather conditioner on it, and I believe the leather "coating" has exposed the hide somewhat, and when it get moist it becomes dark and very obvious. After the conditioner dried, the area faded back to the color of the rest of the interior. I think I have found some solutions for that.

The Java airbag has a few scratches on it that exposes the black color underneath. Does anyone have a good suggestion as to making this look nicer?

Also, looking in ODUS, it seems as if the velour floor mats in Java have been discontinued. None for 2WD or AWD. Would anyone happen to have a source for these? I do not want the rubber ones, only the Java OEM.

Thanks so much for your help, and it's nice to be back!

FlatlineEF9

Welcome back. For the floormats, i was able to source my parchment ones (also discontinued) from ebay. Be weary though, cuz even the OEM ones break down real quick depending on what shoes you wear. In my experience, leather soled dress shoes are the worst

Steering wheel, i sourced a brabus model, gave it a facelift and also better grip. If you want to keep yours OEM, there are a few companies who do re-wraps in different textures and styles of leather, also with various grips. Ebay has some, but there was one in Santa Clara in california who was making those "DTM" style ones in alcantara or any other color you like. Core exchange required. I have yet to be able to restore the leather after the top coating comes off

Polar Bear

I found some on ecstuning.com that were for 4matic and were OEM and they match great. I probably go a little overboard in protecting my interior and have the "REMOVE BY DEALER ONLY" sticky plastic carpet protectors protecting the original carpet and the new floormats, after applying Scotchgard to them. I can't believe the condition of the interior. I like my cars to be unique, and not the run of the mill stripped ones you see every day. The W210 leather has held up wonderfully. The person who restores the leather for local dealers in the area is going to redo my steering wheel, so I will post photos when that is done.

It has kind of turned into a side project "restoring" a W210 and retrofitting options it didn't come with. I was fortunate that it has been well cared for, rust-free, and all maintenance seems to have been completed on time every time. I just put on new Michelin Premier tires, and have Hella OEM Xenon lamps on the way. It already has COMAND, which is the first CD-based COMANDs I have had experience with, and to my surprise it is actually usable. The previous owner even upgraded the Tele-Aid to Digital, although I am not a subscriber, but it was neat to know the car was maintained so well.

It also has VCS, but for some reason is missing the lever to actuate it, and I have one of those on the way, as well. I am not sure if I will retrofit the headlamp washers or not, or the leveling function of the lamps. If I can locate the parts for a reasonable price, I may. I also hope to install the only other option besides Xenon lighting it is missing, and that is the rear sunshade. I have a list of part numbers I am going to try to acquire over time to see if I can add the sunshade.

I do know someone that recovers leather steering wheels and have seen their work, and it is indistinguishable from factory. I don't have any scratches on mine, only some places where the color is darker. The person that specializes in that is pretty confident he can get it looking new.

I forgot how comfortable and fun the W210s are to drive. I do wish it was an E430 (my others were E55s) but the E320 is very nice, and the price I was able to find it at was as well!

Have you had to deal with the ribbon cable issue on your cluster yet? My thermometer is out, so I am going to tackle that this weekend.