Greg Elmassian

The grain on the dash is really even. But the parts have stiching. Is it leather or not? Can't poke it far enough to tell see the characteristic crinkle of leather.

Trying to figure out what to treat the dash with.

Greg

scorchie

If it has stitching on the area around the airbag (hmm... I forget if there is one) then it is most likely leather. Most designo cars do come with leather trimmed dash. I have one on my CLK, and it too has stitching.

I would recommend the same thing you use on the nappa leather of your seats! I use a few things in rotation, so I just do the dash the same.

-s-

Greg Elmassian

thanks! I was thinking it would be strange to stitch vinyl the way this looks. I'm going to alternate with my leather "food" and 303 protectant, since it's the highest uv resistant stuff I can find, and it's water-based.

What do you think?

Greg

Wolfman

The SL dahboard is leather for sure, the designo has nappa leather on the dash with potentially less grain...

Wolfman

blueSL

Agree with Wolfman, I have nappa leather seats and there's hardly any grain on either them or the dash. Regular feeding is a good idea, especially if your car is left out in the sun for any length of time which will dry out the leather.

Kar don

The SL350 has a newer MBtex type material on the dash, The SL500 has standard leather, the SL600 and designo models have Nappa leather on the dash (don't know if this applies to the designo launch edition).

carlosfernandez

Hi Gregg:

finally in this forum your find the answer about your dash, thanks god. For my vinil dash what product did you recomend me

Greg Elmassian

I hate shiny dashboards, they look cheap, but make it hard to see in the sun. I would use a quality lotion every so often, like every 6 months, I have heard good things about the stuff from griots, and also, the special vinyl formulation by megs at the Mercedes dealer.

But what I use most is the 303 product. It is water-based (does not age the plastic) and has the highest UV resistance of all protectants I can find.

Greg

Wolfman

I was very surprised to hear that the SL350 is supposed to have a MB-Tex on the dash.

Anyway, I checked into the German base and option listings (as the SL350 is not available in the US) and there is no MB-TEX on any SL at all...

Everything is leather. Only the base upholstery is a leather/fabric combo...

Wolfman

carlosfernandez

It means that my SL500 has its dash in leather?

blueSL

I think all US SL500s have a leather dash. European SLs (< SL600) have MB Tex on the dash unless you specify Exclusive Nappa Leather or Designo.

Wolfman

Now I am really curious! I am not disagreeing with you, but I went through the Mercedes Germany info (not the US one) and all indications (or lack thereof) pointed to leather as they describe the leather appointments throughout the car.

When looking at the option descriptions, the Designo or Nappa Exclusive options didn't specify any differences in the dash leather. Designo even specifically stated that "seats and door-center inserts" are designo-specific leather.

It'll be great if you can share some more info...

Wolfman

blueSL

It's complicated by the fact that there are three trim levels in Europe (standard, exclusive nappa and designo) and two in the US (standard and designo). In Europe, exclusive nappa covers more of the car in leather and the leather is a finer grain but much less durable nappa leather. The US standard appears to cover the car in leather or alcantara but not in nappa leather. To get that, you need to go to designo. Bottom line is that the standard US trim falls in the middle of the European standard and exclusive nappa variants.

If you think of the number of trim parts in the inside of the car, multiply that by the number of trim variants and then again by the number of colours, then take account of AMG/Non-AMG variants, it's no wonder it's a logistical nightmare.

vraa

I never understood why logistics was always a problem when in all the games I was always able to keep things under control such as ammo in games, or money income or product / supply distribution in business managements, but I finally figured out where the problem is.

When you deal with people whose in some, have egos larger then their yearly income. That's where the problems comes in.

Greg Elmassian

Just called MB customer service, I have 2003 SL500 Designo... The Designo came with nappa leather.

MB person told me that with nappa leather option, dash, console, doors, seats, and read compartment panels are all leather.

She also said that there are many combinations of leather and mb-tex depending on model, year, options, etc.

Regards,

Greg

Tezta

every SL500 and 55 should have leather dash as a standard item. Curious to see if the 350 really does not have leather on the dash.. That might mean the CLS 350 wont have leather either.