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Finally decided to share my progress on restoring my 2004 clk320 convertible interior. I bought the car as project/weekend car about two years ago and did a lot of things to it, but this story about interior
Condition of the interior was... let’s say not very good when I bought the car. For black interior probably nothing serious, but for light grey…… Since I was fixing rear window regulator at that time I decided to disassemble interior completely and get it thorough clean. The worst part was underneath front seats, even after couple of days of cleaning I wasn’t able to remove some bright stains, so I decided to replace rear part of floor cover completely with brand new one.
Due to car’s age and California sun the leather was not in a good shape and also was suffering from last attempt to paint it into a wrong color by one of previous owners.
After getting estimates from local upholstery shops I decided that it’s not worth it ($1800 for repainting and ~$3600 for reupholstering with new leather). After some research I figured out that Mercedes has strange way to price its parts. For some combinations part-type/color prices could be couple of times lower than for others: e.g.
Original lower cushion cover (no ventilation, not heated, 7F42 color code) for my car was around $500... but lower cushion cover for seats with ventilation in the same color only $80, and it doesn’t mean that all covers for seats with ventilation are cheap, nope only in that particular color and only lower one. Back cover was again around $500 (even for seats with ventilation), but back cover for seats with adjustable bolster in my color was around $80. For passenger seat I had to buy back cover for a coupe instead of convertible, the difference is that convertible has side airbags in the seats and for that back cover has cutout for airbag, I made that cutout and sewed all necessary plastic pieces from old cover . This way I was able to buy all covers for front seats for only about $400 plus $100 for one of the rear cushions, the rest I found used in on ebay. Completely disassembled seat frames, cleaned and assembled back.
My steering wheel was worn out as on many CLK. First I bought remanufactured original style steering wheel from ebay, but I don’t like thin steering wheels… I found used steering wheel from CLK550 (or CSL), it was different color so I shipped it to Europe for reupholstering, It cost me about $200 and the result is really awesome, much much much …. much better than the original steering wheel. On a photo color looks slightly different than airbag color, but in reality it’s very close.
My clk came with stock cassette radio, I found cheap used Comand 2.0 with broken cd reader. Fixed, cleaned and installed instead of original one. Also added aux cable: original clk cable was about $70-$80, I found new cable I think for w211 for $18, it’s a bit shorter, but still long enough to fit w209. To be honest Comand is a bit useless as media system, but it looks better than cassette player, and I really like classic look of pre-facelifted interior, it’s much more balanced that facelifted.
They were dirty and springs (it’s not really springs but anyway) inside were very tired. Removed both front seat belts (belts itself) and washed them in a washing machine. For driver side I was able to buy brand new seat belt assembly for about $40! in blue color (remember the story about mercedes parts combinations? ) and swapped belt to original one. Unfortunately while playing around with passenger side seat belt I broke it and cheap one was no longer available so I had to by new one in my color for about $250. Rear seat belts I simply removed because I’m going to use them at all. And yes seems like every time I find and order cheap mercedes part they become unavailable right after that. For example I was trying to order spare seat covers but no luck. Most of those parts were actually ordered by my supplier from germany.
Disassembled and cleaned each piece of the interior (dashboard, door cards,... everything), replaced almost every broken piece. Fixed passenger footwell flap (a common problem for w203, w209), parking brake handle, headrest control boards (re-soldered contacts), turn signal switch (also a common problem on w203, w209). Installed pedal covers and dashboard from sport package and new original floor mats (in my opinion ideal color for my interior).
Nice Job!! Could you let me know where you source your interior parts from?
I have two main sources mbdirectparts.com and ecstuning.com . Most of the time I order from first one. Those guys (or it's only one guy Vic not sure) are awesome, they were able to find and order some rare parts for me from Germany. If Vic can't find a part I ping ecstuning.com , couple of times there were able to help me with rarer parts, but their prices a bit higher. Tried to work with other different suppliers but experience wasn't as good as with those two
Seems like they both are official mercedes parts suppliers so when they order parts from Germany you don't pay for shipping from Germany to US, only from them you you. For example I ordered brand new driveshaft (completely different story, share it later ) which was shipped from Germany and I paid only about $45 for FedEx shipping.
Forgot to add, for "maintenance" parts I often use FCPEuro
I have a question, too. I recently bought a CLK, and while it's in really good shape, some stuff still needs to be cleaned. I noticed in your first post toward the bottom, you were able to get a textured (elephant skin-type texture) piece very clean. How did you do that? I have a few areas on mine that I was able to get pretty clean, but not that that clean.
I've had good luck cleaning textured interior parts with soapy water and a toothbrush. For really tough stains, simple green and a toothbrush works well too. Just be careful on any painted on lettering, like the print on the turn signal stalk.
I have a question, too. I recently bought a CLK, and while it's in really good shape, some stuff still needs to be cleaned. I noticed in your first post toward the bottom, you were able to get a textured (elephant skin-type texture) piece very clean. How did you do that? I have a few areas on mine that I was able to get pretty clean, but not that that clean.
Thank you!
I used hand sanitizer and old toothbrush :-D (you can see a bottle on the background). Usually I spread liberal amount of hand sanitizer on a small aria (about 5" x 5"), let it sit for about 20-30 seconds and then start brushing for about 60 second and wipe off. Don't let it sit for too long it may discolor a part. Just in case after I clean again with leather cleaner or water just to be sure that I removed all hand sanitizer. Idea behind hand sanitizer is that it's usually contains about 70% of alcohol but it's not evaporate as quick as alcohol.
What did you use to clean the carpet and leather ?
There is no universal cleaning solution, but most of the time for carpet I use Tuff Stuff and for leather I prefer leather cleaner from AMMO NYC
But it all depends on stain type. For example couple of days ago I was removing oil stains from floor mats and for that job best worked combination of CarPro Eraser (probably simple IPA would work to) and Tuff Stuff. When I was cleaning door covers Tuff Stuff didn't work so I simple used Laundry Detergent, let it sit on for about 10-12 hours and washed it in a shower To remove hydraulic fluid stains from my headliner I used dish soap (again let it sit on for about 10-12 hours) and the washed in a shower with Laundry Detergent
Great restoration! I didn’t know new carpets would be available, but the one of the first posts look great! I normally wash my velour/carpet floor mats in the wash machine with good results. Keep posting! 🙏
I've had good luck cleaning textured interior parts with soapy water and a toothbrush. For really tough stains, simple green and a toothbrush works well too. Just be careful on any painted on lettering, like the print on the turn signal stalk.
Originally Posted by dzmitry
Thank you!
I used hand sanitizer and old toothbrush :-D (you can see a bottle on the background). Usually I spread liberal amount of hand sanitizer on a small aria (about 5" x 5"), let it sit for about 20-30 seconds and then start brushing for about 60 second and wipe off. Don't let it sit for too long it may discolor a part. Just in case after I clean again with leather cleaner or water just to be sure that I removed all hand sanitizer. Idea behind hand sanitizer is that it's usually contains about 70% of alcohol but it's not evaporate as quick as alcohol.
Thank you both for the replies. I'll have to give the toothbrush thing a try, and I like the hand sanitizer idea.
Great restoration! I didn’t know new carpets would be available, but the one of the first posts look great! I normally wash my velour/carpet floor mats in the wash machine with good results. Keep posting! 🙏
Thanks . Yes luckily most of the parts are still available.
In the late 90's I used to buy and sell a lot of Suzuki GSXR's (that is partly where my online handle comes from). Each winter I would buy one, strip it and sell the parts. I would often end up taking my own bike partially apart in the process of swapping parts. I would take the time during the winter to clean the frame with Simple Green and a toothbrush,
Made it way easier to diagnose leaks or other problems when the bike was super clean in the Spring.
On more that one occasion, I have actually removed the carpet from a car, hung it on my fence, and used a pressure washer to clean it. I leave there int he dun to drip dry. i did this on our C240 and it looked like new.
04-24-2019, 02:14 PM
