viken

I wanted to take the wood insert out of my 2003 E500 shifter knob for restoration, because the wood had faded from UV damage. Didn't find this info anywhere else, so I'm posting it. The wood trim is screwed in with a torx screw that is hidden under the wood veneer. IT can not be unscrewed from the bottom. The wood veneer is glued in place over the screw, and then the clear plastic cover is glued to the veneer. there is no sure way to disassemble the knob itself and get access to the veneer without damaging the veneer in the process, so you should be prepared to replace the veneer. once you take it apart. This is done by prying the clear plastic off the top of the knob, separating it from the wood. or if you are lucky the wood will come off whole still glued to the plastic. more likely part of the wood will come with the plastic, and part will be left behind. I was able to get just the plastic off, but then I chose to break off the wood and it's plastic backing away from the mounting screw. It still has a track to slide into and I plan to glue it into the track when done. I was able to refinish and stain the wood, and reglue the clear plastic on using slow drying clear vinyl adhesive to make it easier to get the air bubbles out. i dont' know yet if that will work, It's drying under spring clamps as I write this. It looks fantastic, cost me nothing so far.

zubin.p

Hmm could you post any pictures of the before and after? I am trying to upgrade the leather boot and gear knob from the 03-06 to the 07+ style on the w211 and need to separate the boot leather part from the flat bottom wood part (where the PRND and C/S buttons are located). My understanding is that you have to pry the two pieces apart.

viken

many threads and some you tube videos exist for that. pullup on front of base plate to unsnap it slide it forward to remove. disconnect electrical connectors. then pull base plate over shifter to access release knob for the shifter shaft. twist 1/4 turn and slide shft knob off shaft. then removing boot is easy. you probably can also just leave base plate on and pull the leather boot right and then left to disengage from base plate.

I was referriing to disassembling the shift knob itself, BTW