The wood in my 1985 380sl was looking pretty beat so I decided to make it a winter project to restore the console, ashtray and heater control wood finish.
I searched the internet and this site and came up with many different ways to do this. But there seemed to be no consensus on how to do it. So I decided to try it myself.
About me; I have 30+years in the automotive refinishing business and a little knowledge (very little) about refinishing wood. So, here's what happened.
I removed all the pieces from the car (duh) and removed all the plastic switch holders from the back. I did this because I had planned on using automotive stripper to remove the original finish. Here's what I started with,
![Image]()
![Image]()
![Image]()
notice the cracks in the center console and how the finish was split and raised.
So my first step was to use an aircraft paint remover that I use in the shop to strip down paint. I applied it to all three pieces and waited....and waited... and waited. After three hours, nothing. I mean it didn't even scratch the surface!. I rinsed them off and it looked like nothing touched them. Damn! this stripper rips off anything and it didn't leave a mark on these pieces. Back to the internet...
So I read where someone said put them in an oven and slowly raise the temperature until the finish comes off. Started at 125 degrees and slowly brought up the temp. The finish started to bubble and pop but when I removed it from the oven it cooled and the finish got hard again. Gotta be a better way. I took them back down to the shop and used a heat gun. Now I could get the finish to lift and while keeping it warm I used a WELL POLISHED putty knife to get between the wood and finish and lift it away. I don't know what MB used on these things but it was tough. I was careful not to scratch the veneer and that's why it so important to make sure the putty knife has no burrs.
Now I have all the pieces stripped down, but the wood still doesn't look too good. It was very gray looking and didn't have a lot of life to it. I lightly sanded each piece with 600 grit sandpaper and followed it up with some #0000 steel wool. Things were looking better. to bring back some more depth I used some cherry gel stain from minwax and again used the steel wool. Looking good now, time for the clear.
I let them sit a few days to let any solvent evaporate and gave them 5 coats of High Solids Urethane clear. The clear I use is Mipa (German of course) and it was applied through an HVLP gun, allowing 15 minutes of flash time between coats. Next step was to let them sit and cure for a few days to make sure they were good and hard. 5 coats is a lot of clear, most of our refinish work takes 1.5-2 coats to get the desired build.
I next blocked each piece with 400 grit, then 600 grit and the 2000 grit. I made sure that all imperfections and blemishes were getting blocked down.
Back into the booth again for 4 more coats, this time a little thinner than the first batch. Once again, block with 600 and finish with 2000 grit. No need for the 400 grit at this stage.
And finally the buffing with a small buffing wheel. Here's the results;
![Image]()
![Image]()
![Image]()
![Image]()
![Image]()
So there it is. I couldn't be more happy with the way it turned out. The finish looks like it was poured on and is like glass. It's going to look great in the Benz.
Cheers, JJ
I searched the internet and this site and came up with many different ways to do this. But there seemed to be no consensus on how to do it. So I decided to try it myself.
About me; I have 30+years in the automotive refinishing business and a little knowledge (very little) about refinishing wood. So, here's what happened.
I removed all the pieces from the car (duh) and removed all the plastic switch holders from the back. I did this because I had planned on using automotive stripper to remove the original finish. Here's what I started with,
notice the cracks in the center console and how the finish was split and raised.
So my first step was to use an aircraft paint remover that I use in the shop to strip down paint. I applied it to all three pieces and waited....and waited... and waited. After three hours, nothing. I mean it didn't even scratch the surface!. I rinsed them off and it looked like nothing touched them. Damn! this stripper rips off anything and it didn't leave a mark on these pieces. Back to the internet...
So I read where someone said put them in an oven and slowly raise the temperature until the finish comes off. Started at 125 degrees and slowly brought up the temp. The finish started to bubble and pop but when I removed it from the oven it cooled and the finish got hard again. Gotta be a better way. I took them back down to the shop and used a heat gun. Now I could get the finish to lift and while keeping it warm I used a WELL POLISHED putty knife to get between the wood and finish and lift it away. I don't know what MB used on these things but it was tough. I was careful not to scratch the veneer and that's why it so important to make sure the putty knife has no burrs.
Now I have all the pieces stripped down, but the wood still doesn't look too good. It was very gray looking and didn't have a lot of life to it. I lightly sanded each piece with 600 grit sandpaper and followed it up with some #0000 steel wool. Things were looking better. to bring back some more depth I used some cherry gel stain from minwax and again used the steel wool. Looking good now, time for the clear.
I let them sit a few days to let any solvent evaporate and gave them 5 coats of High Solids Urethane clear. The clear I use is Mipa (German of course) and it was applied through an HVLP gun, allowing 15 minutes of flash time between coats. Next step was to let them sit and cure for a few days to make sure they were good and hard. 5 coats is a lot of clear, most of our refinish work takes 1.5-2 coats to get the desired build.
I next blocked each piece with 400 grit, then 600 grit and the 2000 grit. I made sure that all imperfections and blemishes were getting blocked down.
Back into the booth again for 4 more coats, this time a little thinner than the first batch. Once again, block with 600 and finish with 2000 grit. No need for the 400 grit at this stage.
And finally the buffing with a small buffing wheel. Here's the results;
So there it is. I couldn't be more happy with the way it turned out. The finish looks like it was poured on and is like glass. It's going to look great in the Benz.
Cheers, JJ
