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I ordered a custom Forged CF steering wheel, so wanted to update the old man wood grain interior. Having done a few CF layups years ago, I decided to give it a shot myself.
The forged CF process is much messier however way more forgiving, you can sand through and just add more chop in a subsequent layer of resin. For an overlay like this I would opt to not bother doing the vacuum bag process in the future due to it being to complicated and the bag put a crease in the layup that will require way more sanding. So far I have 2 coats of resin following the initial layup and tomorrow when it hardest I will begin the smoothing process. Follow for final results..
I'm out of resin and waiting on the delivery of some more with hardener suitable for clear coating. Lots of wet sanding today or tomorrow followed by final 2 coats soon!!! This process is not particularly difficult but is very time consuming. You have to be patient and let everything cure to the times it needs. The hardener I'm using now is a 24 hour cure time. The new stuff will be 10-12 hours so that should speed up the process a bit.
Final 2 coats of epoxy on the dash then some fine sanding and polishing. And just started the rest of the dash components. Only thing I'm concerned about is the tolerances of everything being slightly increased I have to pay special attention sanding the edges for fitment.
Update. The shifter surround is gonna be a pain in the ***..I want to retain that silver trim so it requires a ton of sanding and prepping to keep resin out of the channel. I think the outer part I'm just.gonna paint black and resin over it. It's too thin to ad a layup to. I keep getting some small pinholes in the dash after sanding. I'm going to try and use a plastic body filler scraper to apply the next coat of resin. Other than that had to add some more fibers to the ashtray cover so that's gonna take some extra steps. But should be all hardened up in the next two days to do some test fitting before clear coat.
Final dash wet sand and ready for clear coat. The center shifter part was a PITA to get everything to fit back properly. One more fine coat of epoxy and then wet sand. I'm gonna paint the outside part black it's too thin to get a good layup. Just need to sand the ashtray cover and CD cover and proceed accordingly. I'm VERY tired from sanding..lol
Ive seen crack heads do better jobs... Wrong material, wrong resin, wrong process... SOME JUST HAVE TO LEARN THE HARD WAY
Sooooo. What's the correct material and resin and process then? I searched for your carbon overlay thread, but unfortunately could not find it. Could you please be so kind as to share your expertise.
Mercedes never made a factory forged carbon trim set. So you have no idea what you’re talking about
OMG seriously...Is this board filled with the Honda trolls that are enow buying 25 year old Benzs on a payment plan?🙄🙄
I know they never made a forged carbon option, the process wasn't even being done much back in 2006. If you can possibly comprehend, what I said was looks like a factory option, as in it looks like they could have offered it. Seriously dude, don't take everything so literally 🙄
Ive seen crack heads do better jobs... Wrong material, wrong resin, wrong process... SOME JUST HAVE TO LEARN THE HARD WAY
Can you send us your YouTube? Haven’t seen a crackhead carbon guy yet, but you might get a thumbs up if you really are that good.
Really, while this process takes lots of time and detail, it’s supposed to be very forgiving when non structural. Op did a great job and I’m sure is satisfied with their results. Having purchased expensive interior carbon from various sources that ultimately were poor quality, I get inspiration to diy next time from this poster
Learning through a process is ok for most of us because we are tinkerers and are ok with failing and trying again. Any carbon fiber fashion part is great for diy because there is no reliance on high end structural integrity. If pinholes arise from offgas in the future op can refinish the piece which is probably better than when I tried to refinish woven carbon fiber that I paid a ton more for.
Lastly beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Ops car interior looks way better in my eyes as well. I’m sure he will refine it as needed, for him.
op how much time and money do you have in this?
For my s212, i have over two grand into the center console/stack and had to spend hours refinishing or replacing in one instance. I’m personally a fan of woven but forged intrigues me for the ease of use.
When I had my w211, I replaced any cracked wood pieces and it was not terribly expensive but was bound to happen again plus the fading. A forged carbon layup would have been welcome.
For my s212, i have over two grand into the center console/stack and had to spend hours refinishing or replacing in one instance. I’m personally a fan of woven but forged intrigues me for the ease of use.
When I had my w211, I replaced any cracked wood pieces and it was not terribly expensive but was bound to happen again plus the fading. A forged carbon layup would have been welcome.
I look forward to seeing any other progress.
Enjoy Op
I would say about $400 in materials and supplies. I have a bout a week of on and off work cause you have to wait 12-15 hours for the resin to harden to move to the next step. I'm sure the more I do it the more efficient I will become on planning it out.
I’m a big advocate for taking on projects that are challenging, but teach you a lot about yourself and what you’re inclined to do, mechanically, aesthetically, anything… just lessons you learn.
Quite frankly, some of my happiest lifetime car moments were/is doing something all on my own… and realizing you did it and improving.
More power to you, OP… don’t listen to the haters, they’re everywhere nowadays..
Is the circus in town? Would explain the 🤡 here...
Honestly, this looks really nice. Respect to you! You could have paid some other guy, to get this done, but you did this with your own hands by yourself and the results look really nice. In fact it looks so good, I'm thinking about trying this myself
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