Yup it's all the same. I just did a quick research and it's definitely all the same. I started a new thread for my W219 CLS55 interior here: https://mbworld.org/forums/w219/7934...r-project.html

 

I have to say this, my interior might not have happened if it wasn’t for “Woth the Wait” he came thru for me, and donated his core interior trim. This certainly saved me some money for sure.

So if anyone else is on the fence about refinishing their interior in carbon fiber, it will be worth it, once your sitting behind the wheel looking at your interior 👍🏽 And it isn’t that expensive roughly $800.

 

I'm currently looking for interior trim pieces. Unfortunately I see only few local part-out listings and all of them are located at least 1-2 hours from me or even further. Nothing is offered in my state. I found few pieces on eBay but I guess I'd have to spend at least $300 to get all 6 pieces or maybe even more.

 

It might be worth the drive, to either pick up the pieces in person, or just order them thru eBay, and wait for them to arrive in the mail. Personally, I would have them shipped directly to OCarbon in Tempe, AZ.

 

Why do most people shy away from Alcantara covered steering wheels? Is it because, they think that the material will not last? Or is it because after a while the material gets all nasty and ratty?
Maybe, I can convince you. Alcantara is a durable material, and will last for a long time. The reason, why you see some C63 and E63 with the P030 or P031 package looking all nasty, is because the owner neglected to take care of it.
Or they were just too dam lazy either way. The key to keeping Alcantara looking nice, is to keep your hands clean. The natural oils in your hands will transfer over the Alcantara material, and over time will become nasty, if not cleaned.
Sonnax makes a Alcantara and Upholstery Cleaner, that I use specifically for my wheel. Simply apply the cleaner onto a soft bristle brush, and with lite pressure gentle scrub the wheel. Also works great on the shift knob as well.
Keep in mind that you don't want to saturate the Alcantara, it should be slightly damp not soaking wet. Gently scrubbing the material will raise the dirt to the surface, where you would use a microfiber cloth to wipe the cleaner and the dirt away.
Sometimes if you scrub to hard, the Alcantara material will develop what, I call lint *****. Simply take a 2500-3000 grit piece a sand paper and rub it away, apply only very light pressure. The lint ***** will be removed.
Then let the steering wheel dry naturally. The key to keeping it looking excellent, is to have a small bottle of hand sanitizer on hand, or in your glove box or center console, to apply to your hands before you ever touch the steering wheel.
Or even better wash your hands before you ever get into your car. My steering wheel, still looks new from the day it was installed.

 

Installed new steering wheel!

Unfortunately it was a bit dark in the garage, thus the video is a bit grainy.

Also I noticed that custom steering wheel has almost the same dimensions as OEM one. And it seems there the airbag is a bit darker than leather on the steering wheel. But I'm very glad I got this new steering wheel.

 

I see what your saying. I’m surprised that your wheel didn’t already have the interface installed. My wheel came ready setup for plug & play. Anyway, you need to take some of the shine off that airbag cover. As an option, you could consider having it wrapped in leather from an upholstery shop. It shouldn’t cost more that $100. Just a consideration.

But that is a beautiful wheel nonetheless, Leadermanz is second to none in my book. Did you see the work they did on Ferrari’s, Lamborghini’s and Porsche’s? Their work just blows me away. After I bought my wheel, I seen one that had a Affalterbach Crest press into the Alcantara, man if I had seen that earlier.

 

I guess we should learn from my experience and request LederManZ to install interface next time. It seems like they only do it if you mention it so I think you should mention as many requirements as possible. But I'm happy with it. Regarding difference in shades between airbag and the wheel Idk it doesn't seem that bad. I need to drive it for a while to get more experience.

 

I guess the only thing that really matters, is that the leather on your dash and on your wheel matches.
I wished that the E63 would have come with a leather wrapped dash and door covers.

I looked at a Aston Martin Vantage last month, and was blown away with their interior work combining leather and alcantara, especially their door panel and dash.....wow!!

So what else do you have in store for your CLS55?

 

I guess newer Benzes especially S-Class should have leather airbag. My airbag cover is plastic, not leather. It's hard to match colors of plastic and leather. Anyway I'm totally fine with what I have.

Next step is carbon fiber interior. Besides I'd like to install facelifted or CLS63 tail lights. Also update double din stereo and then work on exhaust. And that's it.

 

I have make this conversion in many w211,w219,r230,r171,w164 with 2018 AMG steering wheel or also 2013 AMG steering wheel
I can send steering wheel worldwide ready for installation

more info in pm or email or WhatsApp app

John

 

Anyone know how to open the shifter buttons? I ordered a new wheel from ledermanz and he’s asking me open open the buttons for photos and details so he can add paddle shifters. Here’s what my buttons look like. 2006 E55

 

They are probably wondering if you have digital or analog Shift buttons. You are car has digital shift buttons which you can tell by the part number on the Button.

 

When they asked me to do pics I simply removed the airbag and did several pics of wheel internals. That was enough.

 

Hi @germangearhead can you please confirm that this is working? I am thinking to order the same, but scared it might not work or fit properly. I have E55 AMG 2005 Stationwagon.
Please advise, is the rucarbon safe to order as the webiste and profile looks fishy...

 

Also for those of you, that are interested but hesitant about Alcantara, it is a very durable material that lasts.

Alcantara fabric will last years when minimal care is taken to keep it clean. One of the most important things to keep fabric fresh and looking good is to drive with clean hands.
I have had a Alcantara steering wheel in my E63 AMG for over a year now and have only cleaned it one time. But always keeping your hands clean every time you drive is not always that simple. Hint: Small bottle of Hand Sanitizer

Here is my how to on caring for and cleaning Alcantara, listed is a simple "How To".

Items Needed for Cleaning:
Sonnax Upholstery and Alcantara Cleaner or mild dish soap
Small soft brush or even a tooth brush
Microfiber cloth

1. If the wheel is matted down in areas due to oils and dirt from hands, you will need to remove this first before trying to clean the fabric.

2. What you will need to do is take the small soft brush or soft tooth brush and press it lightly into the heavily matted areas and work the brush in small circles.
You want to do one small spot without really moving the brush. This will raise the grain of the fabric and kick out a lot of dirt.
Then pick up the brush, move to new spot and work in all the heavy areas. What you don’t want to do is press too hard or brush the fabric like brushing your tooth etc.

3. Take the damp cloth and “drape” it over the top portion of wheel. Then grip the wheel/fabric lightly and give a gentle small twist. Continue this process for the whole wheel. (What you don’t want is for the wheel to get “soaking wet.” You just want it to be just barely damp when
done.) Once heavy areas are damp, apply the Sonnax Alcantara cleaning foam or warm soap water directly to your brush. (You don’t want it to be sudsy. You barely want to use any soap in this process.)
Using small circular motion work the cleaner or soap into the Alcantara, the purpose is to lift the dirt and oil and not to deeply scrub the material. You just want to get the material to be lightly damp, to lift the oil and dirt from the Alcantara.
Then wipe down, with a microfiber cloth and let dry naturally.

4. Wait for wheel to dry. Then take the small brush and go around wheel pressing it into fabric making small circles again to ”fluff up” the fabric. Total time on cleaning the wheel should be less than 20 minutes.
You should only need to do this process maybe once a year in normal driving conditions.

5. Enjoy the comfort of your clean Alcantara steering wheel.

Again, I keep a small bottle of hand sanitizer will help to mitigate the dirt and oils that get transferred to your Alcantara covered steering wheel. Also helps against the fight of COVID-19 as well.
I use this to clean my hands, before I touch the steering wheel in my AMG, and it still looks brand new.

If overtime you start getting little *****, you can use 1500 grit sand paper to lightly sand off those little ***** by applying very light pressure.

 

from my understanding, all that will work is the steering wheel itself. no electronics associated with the steering wheel will work.

 

That would be the case without the encoder. Uses a similar encoder as one needed for a w205 retrofit which has also been done numerous times; this is no different. The cruise control scroll doesn’t work but this is true for all Mercedes 2003-2018

 

could you provide a link to the encoder and whatever other information you might have? I did read about an encoder but seems am unable to find that information as of late.

 

All controls working. E63 Guage faceplate. Alpine head unit with the lot... Happy Days!



03 E55 with Alpine head unit and updated Wheel.

03 E55 with Alpine head unit and updated Wheel.

 

does all buttom on steeimg wheel work?

 

Yes, they are mapped to the original functions...

 

even the cc controls?

nice work! You made adapter or steering wheel just rewired modded components?

 

Cheers, No, the CC is still on the stick. I custom rewired the new controls to the stock control module including the LED lighting. New resistor values were used to blend in the brightness with the existing interior lighting. all was a very tight fit but works OK. I also used the old dicast padel shifters with the longer levers. A shroud cover section was also made and wrapped to cover the column. The indicator arm was bent back a bit to miss the shift padells.

 

Sweet! Looks much newer with that one. Was thinking about doing the same for my 221 .