Common wood problem or unrepairable?

[B-McD]

While I'm restoring my car i feel i can't leave the wood as is. I've read up on how to remove it and fix it, but i haven't seen any pics on how bad the problem can be.
All i really need is a yay or nay as to wether this can or should be done on the wood in this condition.
Other info would be helpful.

[Ears]

Yeow!?! You do have your work cut out for you there. I have read a couple of articles online about refinishing MB wood, but I have not tried (or needed to)yet. I am sure you can refinish, if you are good with working with wood. The problem as I have read is getting the old, thick finish off. You can't get willy-nilly with a sander as the wood is a veneer, and is real thin! I could not find the link to the last article I read, but I think I linked to it from An individual's page. Perhas I'll run across it later and post, if I find it.

Good luck...

[B-McD]

Thanks Ears.
I also found BusyBenz's thread on his resto and he said he got the veneer off with a small specially knife. If thats what i can do, hopefully the woods still good underneath and its just the veneer thats cracked. Because there's also a it of play, up and down, towards the end of the bottom, near the handbrake.

[dandan300E]

Is the problem with the wood, or just the finish? I've seen a lot of these where the finish cracks and yellows... once the wood is out, a good high-quality finish remover should do the trick-- don't mess with sanding it since the veneer is so thin. Once the old stuff is off, apply new stain, sanding sealer, and then polyurethane. The sanding sealer will prevent the stain from "bleeding" into the clear coat and the cracking and yellowing from occuring again.

Hope that helps.

[B-McD]

Thanks danden.
I'm fairly positive its just the veneer. But eaither way if im going to do it i'll need to remove the wood.
From what i've heard i just remove the 2 screws from behind the cig tray and remove the connection for the lighter, and then the wood can slide out and up. But this doesn't sound right. I feel like i'm going to have to remove the switches(hazard, windows), and the rubber around the gears, which the hole in the wood should be big enough to fit over.
I don't want to force anything or remove the whole central console, so any knowledge in this area would be much appreciated.
P.S. Is that dial for headlight intensity or antenna height?

[Ears]

I think the dial is the fader for the stereo... The headlight adjuster, (Euro only) I have read, is beside the headlight switch.

The back edge of the wood on the center console has a post, which engages a hole in the console. You have to remove the switches (by carefully pushing them up from below) before you can slide the wood back far enough to clear the post (on my 560, the post is plastic). You can barely raise the wood enough to perform this action on my 560... earlier cars may be different. On mine, the mirror adjuster is the only switch that has to be removed to allow the wood to move far enough to dis-engage the post. I can see, in your pictures, how the window switches are preventing the wood from sliding back (the console has a "lip" there...).

performanceparts4benz has had wood advertised in their catalogue before. Others probably have it as well. Might e-mail ron @ germanstar if you need replacement.

Good luck. Let us know how it goes...

[B-McD]

Well finally I got around to removing the wood. Basically the finish is cracking and peeling off, that's the yellow parts. What I need help on is the type of finish to use on it. The finish I've taken off looks yellow but I think its just faded. I've been searching for Busybenz's posts (he did the same thing ages ago), but the site comes up with nothing. Any advice on preping the wood or applying the finish would be appreciated.

[B-McD]

Well the refinishing is coming along nicely, but now I'm going to have to do the peice with the heater controls and AC. The knobs don't slide out easily, and I don't know how to get around the levers. Anyone else had any experience?

[noeljb]

I can tell you what everybody tells me when I ask.

Get a piece of wood to test on and try many different types. I figure they are just as stupid as I am when it comes to refinishing wood.

I have seen, in some paint and hardware places, different types of wood with many different stains and finishes on them. If you can find a hard wood sample with different stains and finishes it might point you in a direction.

Wish I could be of more help.

[B-McD]

Sorry for any misunderstanding, but my last question was just about removing the panel that contains the heater and AC controls. The smaller problems in that panel will most likely become more noticable when the panel below is fixed. So I thought I'd do both together.