damn brother sick ass find i found a e55 resonator for $25 and i am getting it installed next month looks like we both got lucky

 

Nice steering wheel but it isn't off a S500 Grand Edition. The Grand Edition wheels have a jeweled star centre badge, the airbag cover is also covered in stitched leather and they are only available in cream.

http://ronniejacksonmercedes.com/images/01537.JPG

Yours looks like it could be an earlier wheel off a 1995-1997 W140 or a W124. Its still a very nice item and as rare as hens teeth.

 

Comrade.. I bought just the wheel, NOT the airbag. That airbag in the picture is one from my S320 which it is going to be installed on.

Thanks Nhz, yeh Im over the moon about the find.. Congrats on your find also lol..

Im hoping that mine will just be a plug and play effort, hope that no modification is needed. (All the mechanics look exactly the same on both wheels.)

The only problem is just removing my original wheel :surrender:

 

grand edition had black leather. and the air bag is his airbag not the factory grand edition. i have seen a couple grand edition with black leather. even if it is just a s600 steering wheel its still a steal at that price.

btw the grand edition has the same exact interior styling as the s600 no differences except it says grand edition on the floor mats

 

i think it you need some sort of torque tool for the steering wheel removal. i can't remember exactly.

the best part of my find was it was clean and it looked brand new no holes or rust and internals were also clean. the car only had 30,000miles the guy at the junkyard said why didn't you get it with the tips. everyone buys these for the tips and i asked how much he said nobody is really interested in the mid muffler so how does $25 sound. the guy at this junkyard wanted $500 for oem wood steering wheel and i said f**k that i could get it at the dealer for that much lol

 

Damn $500 for an OEM wood wheel??? That guy is smoking that low quality ish, messing with his brains big time lol..

I was willing to pay up to $150 for this wheel, but when they asked for only $50 I almost broke a huge smile. Keeping calm and composed, I said:"How about we make it $45 and call it a day?" They were more than happy! But not as much as ME!!!!

What leads me to believe that it is off a Grand Edition is the dark wood on the wheel. Never seen that in any other W140`s. Have NEVER seen a W124 with a wood steering EVER! (We never got the E500, only a handful were imported privately as far as I know)

Will be fitting it today, I did organize a heavy duty torque power bar, with a friends help Im sure we will b e able to install the new wood wheel. I couldn't help but give the leather a good clean and treatment, as well as polished the wood

 

Awesome find! I want to upgrade my wheel one day but they don't really make them in zebrano huh? I think it'll look weird with burlwood wheel and the rest zebrano, I would need to change all the wood and you know how crazy those center console wood can be =(

 

There are ZEBRANO wood and leather steering wheels available for the W140!! I saw them online, some website that makes custom wood trims / parts for German cars. I think it is based in Germany, was covered in an earlier thread a month back.. That is, if you have $500 or more to spare!!

Im trying an experimental, but tasteful combination of Zebrano and Burlwood in my S320. Will take more pics once it near completion. Also adding some chrome in the right places with my interior colour combination I can already envision how stylish yet classy it will look. (Definitely no ricing!)

Shopcarpro:

Thanks for tips comrade! Will let you know how it goes, and most definitely will upload pics of it once it is installed!

 

There are ZEBRANO wood and leather steering wheels available for the W140!! I saw them online, some website that makes custom wood trims / parts for German cars.

I think you may be talking about Eris Car Design:

Eris Car Design

They also do lots of other Mercedes wood-based goodies:

Eris Car Design

I've only ever seen two W140s that I think have Birds Eye maple. Am I right in thinking that these two cars have it? The tone of the wood is darker/greyer than walnut.

 

I just borrowed a torque power bar, and will give it another go.. Anybody that has been through the process of removing the steering wheel please shed some light on the subject for me because I refuse to be defeated by a single bolt lol.. (Rusky ni sdayutsa!)

It could be a B.......if you mess it up once. Get good allen key with a 1/2" drive, then insert the allen key and bang with a 5Kg hammer straight to break loose any oxidation, before you turn it. I had gone thru the drill several times. I seen guys who twisted the allen key & had to drill thru. It will come out. Take your time. Good luck comrade.

 

I have taken steering wheels of w201 and w210 each time there is a MB screw lock on the thread (blue colour if I remember right) I was fortunate both times they eventually came loose with a good fitting key, or a tap with a hammer while restraining the wheel. If this does not work try a little heat on the bolt which may loosen the screw lock enough for you to break the seal.

Good luck and great find :thumbsup:

 

I love it at that kind of wrecking yards , make sure in hot weather to cover the wheel as it could crack the wood .
Check in this link there is everything you need to know how to remove your exsisting wheel .
Ciao :thumbsup:
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w140-s-class/1397397-whats-involved-changing-steering-wheel.html

 

allentc is right, thats NOT a grand edition steering wheel.

the actual leather in the steering wheel is parchment, like the interior, not black.

i'm not talking about the airbag color either, im talking about the steering wheel itself.

all S500 grand editions only came in parchment interior color and obsidian black exterior, no custom colors, etc.

even though your picture is quite dark, i can see that its burl walnut (aka burlwood). trust me, my 140 has a oem burl walnut steering wheel and I know how it looks.

 

i have seen some grand edition with black interior. unless they are not actual grand edition. they were black leather with black birds eye wood and the floor mats said grand edition. i saw a couple about a year ago on craigslist

 

I just remembered: should your steering wheel be birds eye maple, it would be from a euro or asian W140.

It was a rare option, but w140's outside the US had the option to pick what kind of wood trim they can have.

There's a user here from Hong Kong with an S600 that has birds eye maple trim (he was actually the one that mentioned the whole optional thing years ago)

 

hahahaha..

You guys are probably right. Its probably not a Grand Edition steering wheel, but rather a normal W140 dark burlwood wheel.

At the back of my mind I thought that.

Mainly because not a single S500 Grand Edition was sold in South Africa since it was only for the USA market..

None the less, in perfect condition (hardly looks used, no ring scratches) for $45 is a steal even if it was an aftermarket wheel. But since its OEM Mercedes, Im happy about that..

Thanks MercS500 for the link, really did help Im off to try install it!

 

You always seem to get lucky finds. I'm jealous.

 

That's a brilliant story. Place is literally like a gold mine; dark, dank, and difficult to crawl through, but when you get to the end, there's a treasure trove. LOL

Were any there burl wood wheels in good condition? I could use a new one of those with no cracks in the wood, parchment interior (that means brown leather on the wheel).

You just need a bigger wrench to remove the steering wheel bolt or nut (whatever it is). It'll be on there pretty good. I don't know what the torque spec is, but no one wants the wheel coming off in their hands, so it'll be pretty high.

Brett

 

did you ask the wrecker if they had the matching trim? The wheel would look much nicer if it matched the rest of the wood trim in your car.

 

Don! I have replaced a couple of wheels now so here are a couple of ideas! Make sure the you have the correct allen socket no sloppy fits!! On my E420 I used my impact air wrench on it and she popped right off! Now the 300 SE was a diff ball game. I used my impact gun and she just laughed at it ! Take a breaker bar and the shortest extension that would clear the wheel ! It will take some muscle if the wheel has never been off but she will pop!!

Good Luck!! BTW: Nice find some peeps have all the luck!!



Smokie

 

It could be one of two things:

1. Fake Grand Edition
2. Recolored interior

All 600 versions of the Grand Edition had the same parchment interior color from the factory. There was no factory option to have a different color, thats what a regular S500 is for.

There was a brochure I read years ago about it, but good luck finding that too LOL

 

Thanks comrades Yeh Im very proud of this find..

Its definitely an original Mercedes steering wheel, has all the proper markings and looked exactly like my steering wheel which (was) on my S320..

:thumbsup:

Managed to install it.. Thanks for all the help comrades.. A torque heavy duty power bar really did the trick. Just need some help from a friend to hold the steering wheel while I turned the bolt..

Best part.. PLUG AND PLAY!!!! :bowdown::bowdown: No modifications were required, everything fit like a glove!

Was even easier to install the wood steering wheel, and tightened the bolt to the exact same point that it was before. I would call it a complete success:bowdown:

I thought I would encounter compatibility problems because my S320 is a pre-facelift model.. Oh well, glad it was mostly a walk in the park lol.

Love the way it looks on my car.. Sorry about the fuzzy picture, will take some better ones tomorrow.. (Last pic: always stocking up on switches, started a small collection. Both my S-Classes have brand new switches all round, not a single slightly worn switch hehehe)

Mission accomplished

 

I had a Junkyard adventure aswell - My Doner was a 99 S500 GE!!!!

I needed to pick up a reflector lens with the "pink hue" (PS if you purchase a new lens, it will not have the pink hue, thus you will need to replace both tail light lenses as well). See my pics below.

My doner was a 99 S500 GE. I took pictures of the salvage yard. To everyone in Houston - we do have W140 parts in our own back yard.

My thoughts upon entering - "I'm in paradise amongst junk!!" :bowdown:

 

I needed to pick up a reflector lens with the "pink hue" (PS if you purchase a new lens, it will not have the pink hue, thus you will need to replace both tail light lenses as well). See my pics below.

My doner was a 99 S500 GE. I took pictures of the salvage yard. To everyone in Houston - we do have W140 parts in our own back yard.

My thoughts upon entering - "I'm in paradise amongst junk!!" :bowdown:

Would you happen to have the phone number and name of this junk yard ?
Thanks

 

NICE ONE geekhou05!!!!

I see you also hit the jackpot! lol..

It just makes me sad to see a 1999 S500 Grand Edition in a scrapyard.. That car is ONLY 11 years old!!

Did you salvage that steering wheel? Is the wood cracked? I know you guys in Texas have unbearable hot climate Believe me Africa aint as hot, unless you on the equator.

Also grab that FOB remote key from the glove compartment lock on the W140 that has the popped airbags. Aparently those can be set to work on your car and you will have a spare remote! Whats the prices like there?

Good find though my brother.

Goes to show: "If you look for it, you shall find it!"

 

I didn't take the steering wheel because the wood is cracked (and my interior is black). My LS430 has the wood steering wheel and the heat has killed it - pisses me off just looking at it.

I didn't know that the regular FOBs could be programmed...looks like i'll be exploring...

The whole trip made me want to buy a W126 and show it some love.

 

Damnit, why'd it have to be all the way in Houston! :crybaby2:

I would take the birds eye maple trimmings, the airbag and the front/rear seats off that Grand Edition.

Oh well

 

There's a junkyard down the street from where me and nhzruthless live by and its literally a W126 graveyard (or heaven I suppose ) with more W126's being added weekly.

I reckon you can build a W126 from scratch given the amount of parts available at hand. I saw a Euro 500SEL there one time, I almost cried (much like seeing a junked Grand Edition for that matter :surrender: )

 

which junkyard there is about 20 lmao

 

A-Foreign-U-Pull. They practically have a section of the junkyard dedicated to W126's :yelrotflmao:

But like you said, other junk yards nearby have a bunch of W126's also

 

i got a e55 resonator from the benz junkyard on branford for $25

 

Which one? is that the place you recommended me before or something like that...

 

no it was another yard on that street. it looks like a bumper store. i got a new original e63 exhaust for my former w211 from that guy for $500 and that was one resonator and two mufflers with four tips you cant miss the shop you see bumpers everywhere.

 

Do you get to actually dig for stuff in the yard or they do it for you