HBerman

I recently noticed that the wood on the dash on either side of the car is lightening unevenly in different places. My 2011 E550 is a June 2010 build. The dealer did ask me if I had noticed any fading when I was in for my state inspection last month, but it wasn't as obvious as it has become in the last several days. The SA said it was a known issue and that MB would replace the wood. I suppose it's time to call them up to see what's involved. Anyone else recently? I've had MB cars for years and never have experienced wood fading before.

hyperion667

wow, you get inspected at the dealer??
is it the same price?
faded wood isn't a good thing......raise some kane and get it fixed to your desire....who's your SA?

HBerman

I get all of my service at Leith MB of Raleigh. The NC State inspection is a fixed price of $30. One of the reasons that I use the dealer is that if there is any emmission issue that the test discovers, they will correct the problem right away. My former SA of 10 years just left to take a position in another state so I was assigned a new gentlemen (Christien). I'm going to visit the dealer after the holidays for their examination, but the fading is very obvious so I don't anticipate having a problem with the parts getting ordered. It's just disappointing to have to deal with this type of issue.

HBerman

All of the wood on my E550 is being replaced next week when I have the car in for Service B. There is a known issue with a certain VIN range in which the wood does not have UV protector in the clear coat. Apparently, it is also not limited to just the burl walnut. The dealer had already ordered the total kit (every piece of wood in the car) since it is all cut from the same tree and dye lot. This must be costing MB a pretty penny. The labor will be around 4 hours according to my SA.

K-A

Do we know what the Vins are? I thought they would have corrected this by the '11 MY's (I knew it was reported with some '10's).

HBerman

My E550 was built 6/26/10 and the VIN was in the range of the problem vehicles. I don't know if MB discovered a wider problem than MY2010. The car has been in service for 18 months now, so it took a bit for this problem to be noticed. It seemed that the fading became obvious around 2 months ago with the development of uneven coloration on the wood on the dash.

This must be an unannounced service item because the dealer basically told me that I could expect the problem. I wonder how many wood sets are being replaced?

K-A

Ah, okay, a 2010 build could make sense. Hopefully it got sorted by 3/2011 (my build).

RSIKR

I would like to know the VIN range. I have an OCT '09 build.

BenzV12

How on earth does it happen , I dunno . May be matte trim could keep it's condition as long as the car's age . Actually, I would like to have burl polished walnut too

DKN

I just got off the phone with my SA, Danial at MB of San Diego. My E550 4matic is in for its 40k B service. I have severe fading of the burl wood and had asked them to replace it. I told Danial that there was a service bulletin for the wood. He really went to bat for me and actually found the needed bulletin information. As a result of the bulletin they are replacing all of the wood. Dan said it was a $2200 kit. It took him some time to find the bulletin info, so here is what we learned;

LI68.10-P-050415, option code 731 (burl wood).
Affects VIN series A000988 through A291888.

BM2BZ

so the only wood trim affected is burl wood, not other trims ?

DKN

I believe so. I do not know how to obtain a copy of the actual service bulletin to check however. "option code 731" is that the original code for the burl wood trim? If someone knows how to get the service bulletin, maybe they could post it for us.

MBtech2009

To answer this question, yes, it is only the burl walnut wood that did not get the correct UV protection. The easiest place to notice this is under the center console flaps that are protected from the sunlight. You will notice that the would is noticeably darker under this area. Any mercedes dealer should be able to fix this for you at no charge if your vehicle is under the original 4yr/50k mile warranty. Also be sure that all of the wood in the vehicle is replaced per the previously discussed bulletin, otherwise the wood that is not replaced will fade at an accelerated rate just like the other peices you have had that faded. The new peices have the proper UV coating to prevent early fading.

mnje350

Check the thread titled fine scratches in wood trim. The talk about a SB related to the faded wood issue. Within certain serial numbers the wood will be replaced for free. The replaced mine.

El Cid

Questions. My car has a Nov. 09 build date and I have not noticed any fading of the wood trim. However, the car is in a garage about 85% of the time.
Do all cars within the vin range have the problem or just some?
Would limited exposure to sun delay the problem? In other words, will mine begin to fade in the future?

newyorktoLA

I have no idea, but go to the dealer and see some new cars. Even if yours is a bit faded, I would bring up the bulletin and get it replaced just in case your wood does get worse

Dema

Thanks for keeping this thread alive. I will raise concern when do next oil change and will force dealer to replace wood. It is really shame. My cheap lexus has beautiful wood, so why MB not?

mbuster25

My car has been driving sparingly, 95+% time garaged. It has seen no noticeable fading. I just talked to dealer regarding replacing wood trim, and they said they could not see any fading so are not replacing yet. The replacement of faded wood would only be covered under the standard warranty period, regardless if you have an extended warranty.

RSIKR

I have the same issue or lack thereof. My car is garaged, 14k miles, no obvious fading yet. The VIN falls under the affected vehicles.

MLRLINCOLN

HAVE 2011 E350 SPORT. BURL WALNUT IS FADING BADLY OVER GLOVE BOX, CENTER CONSOLE AND DRIVERS DOOR. DEALER IS REPLACING ALL THE WOOK

K-A

Can you post your build date?

MLRLINCOLN

I don't know where to look to find the build date.
The VIN# ends in 299056 if that is any help.

MLRLINCOLN

6/11/12 DEALER REPLACED ALL WOOD IN CAR. LOOKS GREAT, CAN'T BELIEVE HOW FADED IT WAS, AFTER SEEING NEW WOOD. IF YOU HAVE SAME PROBLEM DEALER SHOULD REPLACE ALL WOOD IF UNDER WARANTY.

K-A

Interestingly, your Vin number was BARELY out of the range of "affected" vehicles. I wonder if that means that either yours was too close to technically be "out in the clear" of the affected Vin ranges (early 2011 MY's basically), or the issue affects more than the cars with DTB's on them. My Vin is in the "4's", so it's quite a way forward from the "affected cars", but I wonder how reliable that DTB is.

mauiTom

My 2011 E350 vin is mid 357K wood looks like crap.