I needed to refinish the wood trim on my car but after looking into it more I found out I needed to also replace some of the wood also. So after stripping the wood and sanding it I tried to find out a way to replace the wood but I knew that it wouldnt be able to get wood on the compound curves so I looked around and found some vinyl that looked like zebra wood so I got some and thought I would give it a try, it worked out pretty well all I need to do now is put some clear on it and wet sand it and it should look pretty good, I may put some tint in the clear to make the wood darker but Im not sure what I want yet just have to play around with things and see how it looks.
the upload thing wouldnt work so here is a link http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f8/dewhite2485/DSC00106.jpg?t=1199758993

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82 240D (82 300D drive train)

oh, I think the original looks much better, even with cracks in it... JMHO...

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
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I should have taken a before picture it was pretty bad, the clear was cracked and chipped and the wood veneer was peeling pretty bad. Once I get it all the way done we shall see how it looks but everyone is has there own opinions

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82 240D (82 300D drive train)

So is that picture of the wood or vinyl?

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DJ


84 300D Turbodiesel 190K with 4 speed manual sold in 03/2012

its my girl's car so I dont have allot of say but Im guna try to make it darker with the clear and see how it looks on some test pieces, right now I think it looks like the stock wood thats been stripped and sanded

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82 240D (82 300D drive train)

Thats the vinyl in those pictures

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82 240D (82 300D drive train)

Zebra wood is naturally light like that. MB must have stained it slighty to darken it up. I think with a little stain and some glossy clearcoat they'll look great.

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Zebrano wood!

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Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
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Gone:
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To me those vinyl pieces look pretty good. A good dark stain would make the look right. Even the light color looks good.

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DJ


84 300D Turbodiesel 190K with 4 speed manual sold in 03/2012

Yes they did, and matching that stain is a PITA. I tried everything, even Chris Craft stain, but could only get close. Chris Craft is way to red though, it would certainly look interesting!


At one point you could order the "varnish" and stain from MB according to the EPC, but not anymore.

I looked at this wood, its damn near impossible to get a factory finish. Stripping it and not busting through the veneer is a PITA, I used a heat gun. Its very difficult because the margin between the finish popping off, and burning the wood is pretty small. I would not sand it much, maybe with 220 at most. The veneer is very thin. Getting the color even isn't to bad, but MB sprays the wood in a booth, with what looks like poly. There finish is totaly dust free which is amazing.

If you want to refinish it yourself I would do it Rolls Royce style with actual varnish, and darken it up to hide all the dust and brushing imperfections. Maybe use cetol even.

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1999 SL500
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RAHULIO1989300E

has a great pictorial with instructions!

With all due respect, that looks awful. I just refinished the dash on my 250C - take a look at the thread.

Refinishing wood on the dash

I saw someone saying that having it sprayed with Sanding Sealer and clear coated would be an expensive feat if you don't have the equipment and better off finding a cabinet shop.

Not exactly true... if you're not good with aerosols and don't have spray guns then maybe this is true. But anyone can get aerosols to the the trick. Any Lowes or even Wal-mart sells aerosol sanding sealer as well as spray lacquer or poly in clear. You could probably even get close to the original color of stain by using Minwax Red Mohogany stain. I would try it. Of course I'd get a scrap piece of MB trim first. And make sure you let the stain dry a good while before spraying clear. I build electric guitars for a living and before I had a spray booth and very early on before I had guns I did the research and there are plenty of clear coating options available in aerosols.

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That is what Mercedes calles it. But if you go to a hard wood supply store it's called a Zebra wood, or more scienctifically it's called Microberlinia brazzavillensis
http://www.woodzone.com/woods/zebrawood.htm

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MB probably uses that as their own trade name. What do they call the burl wood? "Burlano?"

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OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
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