mauipaul, thanks for your reply, much info. I love my E430; it's a beautiful car, great ride and drive, etc., but it is my fifth MB and ALL OF THEM have been lousy when it comes to A/C (my '85 190 diesel was an a/c farce). I laugh when reading ads for older MBs with "ice-cold air." Right, it's ice-cold for the first three inches out of the vent, and then at about six inches, it's barely cool, and when it gets to your face, well, prepare to curse.
I'm taking it Monday to my indie shop (they're very experienced and I trust them completely) and see what they think they can do. If they can satisfy me without a mountain of money, I'll do it and also tint the windows a bit darker. But if it's a huge job and big bucks, I'm probably done with Mercedes ownership (forget disassembling the dash). Love my Benz, but I'm too old (80 now) to endure mediocre a/c through four months of HEAT in Dallas, and I mean HEAT (102 today, 106 tomorrow, up to 108 next week).
Beverly
P.S. Friends tell me to find a nice S-Class, that the a/c systems in them are more powerful and will cool better; that would be fine if it's true, but you can probably understand my skepticism. Anyone know how the S Class a/c systems really compare with E Class?
P.S. II. How is that Mercedes Benz can engineer their cars so wonderfully, yet have such piss-poor a/c systems? Well, if I've gone on too long, please excuse me---I'm going to the fridge now and get a Becks Pilsner, maybe two.