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Like many of you, I have the milky wood syndrome in my interior. Until I figure out whether or not I want to do a permanent change, I am just going to wrap it. Does anyone know of a guide for removal of ALL wood interior trim? Thanks.
Milky wood - I like that. Might start using it if anyone asks what happened to the wood.<br /><br />Here are some files to get you started. Paying forward after konigstiger shared them with me years ago.
Here's another one for the wood trim in the console. Wish there was a good one for the doors. Check eBay, sometimes you find kits on there for a lot less than retail which I think is around 2-3k.
Hello,
I'm looking to buy a W212 and it will likely have milky wood trim. I'm interested in your solution. At this point I'm resigned to buying the OEM wood trim pieces from a Mercedes parts seller and replacing the faded pieces. I guess I'm hoping for a lower cost way to buy the replacement wood trim parts.
Thanks,
Jeffrey
Hello,
I'm looking to buy a W212 and it will likely have milky wood trim. I'm interested in your solution. At this point I'm resigned to buying the OEM wood trim pieces from a Mercedes parts seller and replacing the faded pieces. I guess I'm hoping for a lower cost way to buy the replacement wood trim parts.
Thanks,
Jeffrey
Yeah OEM new price is still about 2k even with buying it online.
There is one ad for a set on eBay for $900. Still pretty steep. I got a used set in better condition than mine for around $250 a while ago but those are all gone now.
You guys can decide to buy replacement wood trim at $2000 a set. But does that really solve the problem? Temporarilly, yes, but the replacement parts will be the same as the old, "milky" parts removed in a couple years. So what have you accomplished?
I think it makes better sense to find a local furniture repair expert and have the pieces refinished. The local wood shop expert should know all the tricks on how to protect open grain Burl Walnut, as they already have experience with furniture used outdoors. Accordingly they should know what treatments can be applied to the wood as part of the refinishing process to halt, or at least retard future fading.
Once refinished, I would adopt a proactive protection plan. I've been fortunate to have the wood trim replaced on my 2016 under warranty. But since then, I have:
1) Installed a 5" strip of 30% tint in the header of the windshield, to increase the area of glass that limits sunlight hitting the wood. It's not perfect of course, but it helps. The rest of the car should be tinted, too, if not already done. Check your local laws for compliance.
2) I bought "The Shade" from www.DashDesigns.com, and religiously shade the windshield anytime I park in the sun. I have used this product on four cars for the last 18 years. But it's obviously never more necessary than on this Benz with this particular wood problem. Once you develop the habit of using it, it becomes second nature. Keeps the car cooler, too. It stores out of the way when not used (you don't see it while driving) and limits prying eyes inspecting your car's interior.
You may think it ugly, but I think it's less ugly than the faded dash wood, and at $40 max, infinitely cheaper. YMMV...
I have black walnut that doesn't suffer from milkiness issues so far, from my research when looking for an e class I started to research the issue as I like woodworking. From what I found was that wood veneer is paper thin so refinishing it would almost be impossible, my idea was to sand and stain it, then seal. If I ended up with one, but veneer is most likely fully impregnated with polyurethane or similar thus it wouldn't take a stain.
Now for those that suffer with faded trim, if you rub it with wet towel does that bring back glossy deep finish or not?
If it does than its a matter of resealing it, if it doesnt than probably not much can be done outside of painting, wrapping, hydrodipping.
ps. I am new to MB so if wrong please let me know.
MB was fine with wood trim in the past. I believe if you read the old threads, the problem was that their supplier didn't put in enough UV protectant in the wood trim so it faded. In the replacement sets they fixed that problem. Faded wood stopped being a problem by 2013/2014. If you buy the original MB set, you'd get a 2 year warranty from MB.
There are some old threads where people mention sanding off the coating and redoing the wood. But as mentioned earlier, it's very thin so it's easy to go too far and sand it all off.
MB was fine with wood trim in the past. I believe if you read the old threads, the problem was that their supplier didn't put in enough UV protectant in the wood trim so it faded. In the replacement sets they fixed that problem. Faded wood stopped being a problem by 2013/2014. If you buy the original MB set, you'd get a 2 year warranty from MB.
I don't know where this explanation originated (I've read it before), but it continues.... and I can tell you from first hand experience it is not true.
Just look at this "before" image of the OEM wood trim in my 2016, end of model run W212. This car was sold to the first owner (in Florida) in October 2015, and I had the wood -- looking like this -- replaced under warranty in May, just 2-1/2 years later. The service advisor at the MB dealer took one look at this, shook his head, and just said, "Yup..."
So, I have no faith at all that this problem has been fixed, even with the replacement pieces.
Meanwhile the Laurel wood trim in my 17 year old C-Class looks brand new.
Probably more of the luck of the draw. I suppose it may still be a problem in really sunny states. Just not as many complaints about it. Pretty much most 2010-2011 cars that I see online always have the faded wood, but most 2014+ ones for sale don't have it. There's always going to be a few isolated cases, but it wasn't the major problem it was before.
I think that DFWdude is on the right track with "UV Ray avoidance" as the best prevention for milky wood. After new wood kit replacement, I would 1) keep the car garaged, 2) tint with a UV blocking tint, 3) use a windshield sunscreen, 4) park in the shade when possible, and anything else I can think of to avoid UV Rays hitting the wood.
When I buy a replacement burl wood kit, I wonder if there is any effective UV Protection to apply directly to the wood kit before installation.
Maybe a spray clearcoat with a UV Protection or a clear urethane with UV Protection.
Another alternative would be to change the milky Walnut wood with a Black Ash wood kit. I don't see any of the used cars with Black Ash showing signs of fading.
This would only work where the Black Ash looks good with the car's interior colors. Ash/Dark Gray or Ash/Black or Black/Black
Jeffrey
When I buy a replacement burl wood kit, I wonder if there is any effective UV Protection to apply directly to the wood kit before installation.
Maybe a spray clearcoat with a UV Protection or a clear urethane with UV Protection.
I would be tempted to try this product I found a couple months ago. If it works to preserve the color on your outdoor pink flamingo flock, it should have some positive effect on the wood.
Have not bought it yet, though, because my wood is not off the car. So I do not know what glossy sheen it makes, if any.
My 2013 e350 had this issue 2 years ago and MB replaced it no questions asked under warranty. Now the issue is back. I do not believe this has anything to do with UV protection as there are only certain parts of each piece of trim that "fade." Rather this is an adhesion issue. While I've yet to determine how they manufacture these I could definitely be wrong, these are mm thick pieces of veneer that either get wrapped with plastic coating or pressed into preformed plastic. The "milky appearance" comes from it pulling away from the plastic/laquer shell.
If correct, no sanding or polishing or coating or tinting will help.
Also, have a 89 560SL and the wood trim is completely different. That's actual "wood" not veneer and each piece is finished with multiple coats of lacquer. I've refinished these with wet sandpaper and ultimately rubbing compound and polish/wax. This is a different deal. I think this is the effect you get when a laminated drivers license or something bubbles or peels. THe milky appearance...
Hi... I'm looking for some guidance on removing the Inside Defog/Defroster trim cover by the base of the windshield.. The problem I'm having is that when it's snowing, the left side of the windshield fogs up. I can increase the fan speed, but the passenger side doesn't do this. So I'm thinking there may be something inside the vent that is blocking the airflow.. Or maybe somebody has some experience with this issue?? thanks!
Thank you! I think I see the problem - look how small the opening is! lol
Apparently, I'm not alone. See the link below. Those poster's cars seem worse since they have to press the DEFOG button...I'm able to simply bump up the fan speed a little. But I agree that a car like this should not have these issues (and the fading wood trim). If anything, the HVAC software should automatically increase the fan speed for cold conditions. My ex 2000 BMW 5 series touring didn't have this issue. That car is was more than a decade older than the e350
Speaking of wood trim, I have a lot of customers that "wrap" vinyl window frames. So a white residential or office window frame looks like wood, but won't rot. These wraps have a 40 year warranty. I don't think I've seen any shiny stuff, but open pore and textured, yes. They wouldn't have glue pre-applied so it would require using contact cement adhesive. I might try it in the spring. I'm sure it would be time and labor-intensive.
Thanks again - I got it out. It's in super tight so I'm not sure it's possible to remove without damage. I broke some clips....but there are MANY so I'm sure it will stay put. Unfortunately, one broke a little more than the others.
I don't see any dead animals or other issues in there. I'm going to drive around with it off and see if I can tape up some of the other vents to block flow and direct more to the problem area. Hopefully, this won't create other problems. Probably better if I block the passenger side but then I'd have to break that cover too!!!
I've had the car for only 3 yrs. It's always done this, but only when snowing. So definitely temperature and moisture-related. For me, probably less than 5% of overall driving. The ppl on the other thread seem worse? I should probably change the cabin air filter too. I've only done it once when I first bought the car.
I went for a drive tonight and I placed my hand over the various openings. There is practically nothing coming out of the extreme left, which makes sense. I taped up the opening closest to the center and one of the two openings closer to the driver....the one closest to the center. Now I can actually feel something on the far left.
I may have created a problem at the windshield center. I'll leave it like that for a while and see what happens.
06-01-2018, 02:21 PM
