Guys,

I am new to the forum. I just bought my first SL65. It is a 2006 with 48K miles. The car is perfect with a very few exceptions. One being the manual shift buttons on the back side of the steering wheel are sticky feeling. I spoke to a sharp service guy at the local MB dealer and he said I would have to replace the entire steering wheel to the tune of about $2,200. Any suggestions?

The other thing I want to do is change out the exhaust. It is a little too quiet for my tastes. I came out of a 2006 Gallardo and it was a little too loud. My friend has a 2010 CL63 that sounds awesome in stock form. I would be happy with a sound similar to his 63.

Autoscope here in Dallas has suggested I let them remove the resonators from the mufflers for a start. Has anyone done this to their 65?

Thanks,

Ken

Do a search on exhaust sound on the 65, lots of info.....some people have removed the resonators, etc... for a deeper sound....

My buttons are a bit tacky also on my 05, but I have gotten used to it and it actually works out great....a paddle button conversion will cost $$$$$...

Congrats on the car........you will love it......it is very versatile and hard to replace or part with..........

Thanks. My car is identical to yours. Silver w/ graphite

for about one quarter of $2200 (close to $500), DCT motorsports should be able to convert your wheel to AMG paddle shifters

https://mbworld.org/forums/5314450-post49.html

for a little more, they can recover it, add more ergonomic gripping and a flat bottom if like ... they will even add wood or carbon fiber.

Chris

I am actually trying something I read in a Ferrari forum for sticky buttons.....Witch Hazel is supposed to work, being careful to gently pry off the buttons first, then gently rubbing the buttons with a witch hazed dampened towel.
Will let you know tomorrow morning if it works 100%.

-Chris

Great Chris. Thanks!

I don't have any first hand experience with witch hazel (isn't that something you treat skin maladys with?) but I imagine it could work.

If I were going to try to clean them out, I would be more inclined to use a plastic cleaner ... Malco makes a great product that you can use to clean the rest of your car with as well (it is a great plastic AND leather cleaner that many upholstery shops use).


here are a few pics that might help.

the first 2 relate to the SL55/65 shift buttons

I always use a plastic wedge for jobs like this (see first picture) the buttons are held in lightly so not much effort is required. Pry from the edge of the button closest to the rim.

In the second photo, you can see the area where you want to focus your cleaning effort; the pivot and the beveled edge around the portion of the switch that your finger contacts when shifting. Pry device just happens to be in this shot, you dont want to go there. These switches were designed to be assembled and never serviced (they have an assembly only design). While I have had primarily good luck taking these switches apart (without breaking the part of the body that locates the pivot), others have broken them many times ... I would fight the urge to disassemble the switch any further (unless you have a replacement lined up).



Vabene7, I'm not sure which button you are trying to service, but this 3rd pic is for the S55 button

pry this button out from the anti-rim side as shown. Button can be further disassembled for cleaning by removing 2 torx screws (T6, non-security).

Chris

Best exhaust option for SL65 is to remove mufflers. It sounds awesome.

Check out this forum for some sound clips from Benz-O-Rama who was one of first to exploit this mod.

happens as a natural deterioration of the material used for and/or on the buttons. goo gone works really well to dislodge the goo. i followed up with 91% isopropyl alcohol and the goo gone and the goo came off easily. typical 70% alcohol sold in drug stores won't work, needs to be 90+%, also can be purchased at the drug store. now good as new!

Googone works perfectly. Had same issue.

Remove mufflers...it will be intoxicating ...I did on my sl65

I just did this on my steering wheel buttons and now they feel like new.