I was sitting in my 01 today, just kind of admiring how well it has aged over the years and many miles that it has, and something jumped out at me. The wood trim on the passenger side door that surrounds the seat adjustment buttons is a much lighter color than the rest of the trim. I thought maybe, it was replaced? Just a few minutes ago, I saw a video on youtube of another 01 and it had the same mismatched trim.. It kind of bothers me that this light colored blob exists on the door lol. Is this in all E55's or maybe just the 01?

 

Congrats on your purchase, Midwest!

My 2002 has the exact same lighter piece as yours. Also, the wood in the center console doesn't match very well. The cup holder wood doesn't match the wood around the shifter surround. The shifter surround wood doesn't match the ashtray door very well.

I always thought it was odd in a Mercedes Benz, not to mention an AMG car.

 

It is kind of comforting to know that I'm not alone, with this lol. I was half afraid that it was someone's attempt at fixing something and they messed up or went cheap and bought a standard trim piece.

 

yea the darker wood fades with age. Originally the wood trim was so dark that its almost black. You can compare it with the trim that surrounds the windows switches on the rear doors that get very little sun exposure. I've always planned to get all the wood painted piano black one day when the faded wood bothers me too much.

 

The piano black may look really nice! I have thought laying some spray tint over the one piece that is lighter, but I have not even owned this car for a week .. need to just take it easy for a while lol.

 

Tinted windows, and suns shade for the front windscreen help very much. My black wood is all the same color. But then again California sun isn't that strong. Might be a problem in sunbelt states. Invest in a sunshade!

 

I use OEM MB sunshade religiously anytime there is light coming through the windshield and my windows are all tinted 35%. The wood was a bit faded already when I got the car since it was tintless for the first 125k miles of its life.

 

Thank god my car still always inside of the garage for the last 8 years...