[bruce_garrett]

The B&I dash trim kit came in the mail shortly after I posted here that I was getting it. I opened the box eagerly. I'd ordered the dark burled walnut which was supposed to match the trim pieces that the factory in Stuttgart had installed in my car. B&I claims their products match perfectly the factory wood trims, and to my eye the pieces I saw in the box did. But I couldn't check to be sure just then because my car was in for repairs to its rear bumper, which was a tad frustrating. The pieces looked to my eye like real pieces of burled walnut under a urethane gloss, which B&I freely admits they're not. They're simulated wood. That was fine with me so long as they not only looked real, but what was more, looked as if they could have been put there by the factory.

The kit came in a wide, flat box and consisted of two sheets of trim pieces laid out on wax paper, separated by a piece of foam and packed under a sheet of bubble wrap. You don't buy directly from B&I, but through one of their dealers. When I inquired as to the price of a kit on the B&I web site, my email was forwarded to Exotic Wood in Glendale Arizona. They quoted me a price of about $250 dollars. It took almost three weeks for the kit to arrive.

My goal was to give to the car something that, in my opinion, the factory should have done in the first place. I realize the 'C' is the baby Benz of the family, but it's still a Mercedes and it should look a bit more sumptuous then it does. Make no mistake...I love, absolutely love, the way this new 'C' looks. My only gripe, not a major gripe but still a gripe, was how little wood trim there was around the dash and in particular the meager amount of it they put on the center console. My goal in buying this kit was to remedy that as best I could, but without cheapening the look of the car. I wasn't trying to turn it into an 'S' class. I own a 'C'. What I wanted was for my car to look nice for what it is, not try to be something it isn't. I didn't want to over do it, and I didn't want to cheapen the look of the car by doing the equivalent of putting shag carpet on the dashboard.

So I had it in mind from the beginning that I'd be straddling a fine line, and that I might not actually use all the pieces in the kit. B&I themselves say on their web site that while their kits have fewer pieces in them then some others, less is more. That is the right attitude. Mercedes elegance has always been, in my opinion, understated, unpretentious. It's not about how rich the upholstery looks but how well it's put together. The presence of the car isn't in it's appearance, but it's engineering and the quality of its build. And you see this in Mercedes advertising. They are always emphasizing their car's safety and engineering features. The luxury is a given. What that meant to me was the parts in the kit not only had to look nice, they had to fit perfectly, or in a car that well made the eye would go right to anything that looked the slightest bit off and you'd know right away it was fake.

When I got my car back from the shop, I immediately took my trim kit down to it and compared the look of it with the factory installed wood trim. It was close...but not a perfect match. In fairness to the maker, I don't know how they'd be able to get a perfect match without custom making each kit after a first hand inspection of the customer's car. Wood just naturally varies. I was a woodworker myself for a number of years and I know just how hard it is to get two pieces of wood from the same lumberyard to match. The trim in my car was just a tad less reddish, more yellow-brown, then what was in the kit. But not so much that you'd really notice it except under direct sunlight. I decided to go with it.

The pieces are flexible, smooth, very smooth, but a tad rubbery to the touch, which is the other minor issue I had with the kit. It easily fools the eye, but not the hand. A light finger brush across the surface, which is all most people would ever give it, and you won't notice. But really touch the parts and you know they're...different...from the factory trim, which is hard. You can dig a nail into the kit pieces. I tried it. The dimple I managed to put into one piece (which I'd decided not to use) did flatten back out again, but there it is. Again, in fairness to the maker, they probably have to be like that because the surfaces you're installing them on are not flat. So the pieces, if made out of hard plastic, would have had to have been cast just so, and shipped carefully, and the market probably wouldn't bear the cost of a kit like that.

They're backed with a 3M tape that sticks firmly to the dash, but not so firmly that you can't pull it back off again without damaging your car. They say to just put the parts down lightly at first, and then pull them back off if you need to reposition, but I found that the adhesive is so aggressive that you still have to be very careful on the approach. You are given only two cleaning pads to wipe down the dash surfaces before you attach the parts, which isn't enough. But they are standard alcohol wipe pads and I had plenty more in my household first aid kit. There is no primer. Just peel and stick and when you are satisfied, press firmly down. The instructions say not to install the parts if the temperature is below 70 degrees (Fahrenheit), without either using a hair dryer or a heat gun. I do not want to contemplate taking a heat gun to an all plastic dashboard.

I decided to start with the smallest pieces first, and work my way up to the center console, which was my main goal. I started with the little circular air vents directed at the side windows. The trim parts for those went on easily, and fit well. That was also my experience with the side vents, and then the two parts that went around the light switch. Then I decided to try the trim around the instrument pod, and there I encountered my first disappointment.

Because of the way the instrument pod is shaped, the trim around it is the only part of the kit that comes in two pieces. One piece that goes around the top, and a smaller piece that goes over the area that bends in just over the steering wheel. The problem was the two pieces just did not join together well at all. I tried repositioning them this way and that, but the problem was the ends of the pieces tapered in and you could not butt them firmly together so the seam between then wouldn't be noticeable. And it was hugely noticeable. You took one look at it and you knew it was fake plastic. It would have looked unforgivably cheap in a Chevy Chevette, let alone a Mercedes-Benz. Again, in fairness to the maker, I don't think there is a way they can make that part all one piece without casting it in some three-dimensional mold and shipping it that way.

I tried removing the bottom piece and seeing if just having the piece that went around the top would work. But no. The ends of the piece hung out just ever so slightly over the concave area just above the steering wheel and it still looked fake. If they had ended right at the concave part or just ahead of it that might have worked. But there was just a tiny little bit of overhang and I just couldn't keep from noticing it. For a couple days I left it there and in the end I had to take it off. It just kept shouting Fake...Fake...Fake... at me every time I glanced at it.

When I approached the center console I'd already decided I wasn't going to use the piece that goes over the CD/DVD player. The kit pieces are pretty flat, and the edges all curve downward so wherever a button or control pokes though they're easily accessible. But Mercedes carefully engineered all the buttons to give you just the right about of visual and tactile feedback and I liked what they did with them and didn't want to be putting them flush with the trim. What was more, the kit piece for that part of the console had clear areas where the text under the buttons was supposed to show through and the moment I looked at it I wasn't sure it would look nice at all. Certainly not like a factory job. But I already had an idea that particular piece wasn't necessary, so long as the pieces above and below it worked.

Which they did. The piece that goes around the center air vents fit absolutely perfectly, as did the piece that goes around the seat warmer buttons. With the chrome strips separating the segments of that part of the console, it looked to my eye as if it was a factory job. I was delighted.

The last piece was the one that went around the large flat area where the cup holders are. I know a bunch of people here just hate those cup holders but I like them, and I figured this piece would make that part of the center console look a lot less bare. But getting it on was tricky because it was so big. I had to open the center arm rest doors first, and then gently slide the piece under the driver's side one, keeping it from touching the base, which was hard, and then getting it over the media center control knob. Instead of aligning it along an edge I reckoned if I aligned it around the cup holder holes the rest of it should line up properly. Which it did.

I sat back in the driver's seat and looked around, and it seemed as if my car had taken on a whole new, more sumptuous look. I was really pleased.

As I said, I drove it for a couple days with the upper half of the instrument pod trim on and finally took it off. I also took off the trim around the little round side vents. The trim over them was so narrow there was no flat surface to it and they looked more like little brown 'O' rings then wooden pieces. And I thought they were overdoing it a tad. So I took them off. But then some friends, whose judgement I respect, and a couple of neighbors who had seen them on, expressed disappointment that I'd taken them off, so I put them back. Now that I've had them back on for a while, I agree they fit in.

I've noticed since that the driver's side arm rest door is being inhibited slightly from opening by drag on the trim piece now partly under it. It doesn't pop all the way open when you press the button like the other side does. But it doesn't get stuck either. It'll open, but I have to move it the rest of the way now. It isn't hard. If the spring were just a tad more forceful it wouldn't be a problem.

The kit cost me about $250. Would I do it again knowing I wasn't going to use it all? Yes. Absolutely. The dash and center console look Much better now. The factory should have done this from the beginning. A little more luxury in the interior isn't going to take customers away from the 'E' class. The 'C' is a smaller car.

So...here are some photos. Let me know what you think...