Is their a product that can get rid of or tone down the small scratches on the wood veneer in my 98 E320? They are predominately on the panel that hides the cup holder.

Thanks

__________________
1989 300e (sold)
1992 300e (wrecked)
1998 E320

If they aren't deep then you can sand
the veneer with very fine(wet) sandpaper then
polish the veneer.
Should look as good as new.

If the are then you'll need to sand untill the veneer
is gone and re-apply the veneer.

Louis.

Veneer is the term for a very thin layer of decorative wood (or other material) applied to a substrate, generally to save the cost of using a solid piece of expensive material. In our cars, the veneer is coated with a layer of lacquer (older models) or polyurethane plastic, which are susceptible to scratches.

Unless you're comfortable with your wood finishing skills, I would suggest seeking the advice of a good refinishing store. While working on guitar finishes, I've used everything from toothpaste, bon ami and plastic restoration glazes to work on wood, inlays and pickguard with success. I try to avoid sanding off material as much as possible, since you don't always know what kind of polishing you're going to have to do to make it match the rest of the material.

The cracking you are seeing is not in the wood veneer, but in the clear coat.

The only way to fix is to strip and re-coat.

There are several companies that do this. One of the most well-known is Drew at:

http://www.heritagewoodworks.com/

__________________
Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

MTI.

I grew up in Europe.
and there veneer means lacquer.

I didn't know.

Louis.

Veneer is a thin piece of high quality wood laminated to a substrate (cheap wood or other). In Europe they did a thing called "veneer finishes", which consisted of a base coat and then a glaze coat which artisans could mimic almost any finish using feathers, brushes and combs with glazing compounds of various colors.
The answer to refinishing is to try very fine rubbing compunds, including tooth paste, if the scratch is not deep. There are wood refinishers who will redo, cracking or damaged surfaces. BTW Mercedes also laminates their wood to an aluminum backing to reduce any splintering in case of an accident.

mb123mercedes, now it makes sense, we were both talking about the same thing! Now if we can just convince those silly Commonwealth members to stop calling the trunk a boot, or a hood a bonnet!

Well MTI.

I lived in Belgium for 22 years.
And the area I lived in had its own dialect,and
if you translate the dialect word we used for lacquer
in to English you end up with veneer.


NO DISRESPECT in tended.

But the British have in the past and still
do things in (what we would consider) reverse.

But,who are we to question their choises.
Does make for some hilarious moments though.
I'm sure they think of us the same way.

Louis.

I use clear plastic polish and clear plastic cleaner by Meguires, does an excellent job of getting out scratches, restoring gloss, and adding shine without streaking. Works very well on instrument cluster plastics aswell. Ive heard that piano polish works well, although ive never tried it.

__________________
Nate

1995 E420
1992 BMW 525i
1984 300D Turbo sold
1993 Volvo 244 sold
1995 Volvo 944T R.I.P!


"The details are not details. They make the product."
-Charles Eames

www.cbs.nu

Veloces suggestions are great, Meguiars Plastic Polish will remove lighter scratches and swirls from the veneer. Piano Polish is an excellent maintenance tool, it doesn't remove scratches but it adds significant gloss and protects from UV so you're veneer won't crack.

I'm going to take apart my ceneter console over the holiday to remove some lighter scratches, I'll post how I did it and results. Stay tuned.

__________________
Afshin

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