Fake Wood Look.....
 

HI EVERY ONE...I'M NEW AT THIS...BUT HERE I GO...I CURRENTLY OWN A 1999 ML 430 AND FOR THE MOST PART I'VE ENJOYED IT...I'M IN THE PROCESS OF UPDATING THIS SUV TO REAL MERCEDES STATUS....ANYONE WHO OWNS THIS SUV WILL KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.... MY QUESTION IS ABOUT THE FAKE LOOKING, WOOD INTERIOR ESPECIALLY THE DOOR HANDLES...AM I ABLE TO UPGRADE THESE HANDLES WITH THE 2000 MODEL...I'M NOT SURE IF THERE STILL THE SAME OR IF THEY WENT TO A LEATHER APPLICATION...ANY HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED...THANKS...

Carlos:
I think it would work OK, I think they're the same shape. But I think the interior colors changed between 99 and 2000, so you may not be able to get a good match on color.

Please don't use all capital letters in your posts, thanks.

Gilly

what's on the 1999 ml 55....
 

Dear Gilly.... thanks for your reply.....would you happen to know what kind of handle would be on the 1999 ml 55, leather or the same fake wood....

There wasn't a 1999 ML55. The ML320 came out in 1998, the ML430 in 1999, and the ML55 in 2000.

Gilly

Carlos, don't be so upset, you bought a real MB (dare to say). If you are really into updating the looks, there is another site that could serve you better:

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/table.asp?id=21

I actually did the opposite. I bought the old fake-wood grab handles and replaced the (real ?)leather ones. It turns out that the fake-wood ones have really sharp (upper right-hand)corners than the leather ones and so the fit is not 100%. Nobody would notice unless I point it out:)

Thanks for the advice....
 

Thanks amfung for replying to my post....its nice to know fellow MB owners out there are going through the same thing I am...One quick question..are you infering that the leather handles on your Suv were not real....how could you tell.....

I looked at my 2000 ML presentation guide, it says nothing particular about the grab handles being leather or vinyl.
It says the door panel material depends on model (cloth, vinyl or leather).
My feeling is that if you have a ML320 model year 2000, that the M1 package models would have the leather handles, otherwise it's vinyl. Never seen a cloth handle.

Gilly

Carlos

As Gilly said, the biggest problem will be that the MY 2000 handles will be a much lighter color than the rest of the trim in your MY 99 ML320. It might look a little strange. I would leave the fake wood ones in place unless you don't care about the color difference.

Re: Thanks for the advice....
 

Carlos,

I looked at the leather grab handles I pulled out of my ML and I still couldn't tell whether it's real leather or not:confused:
Timhcollins has a point. I think it's probably difficult to match leather color.

Good luck,

Fair enough.......
 

Fair enough..... guys, you convinced me.....on to bigger and better upgrades....

I just redid the plastic ones in my 98 with carbon fibre to match the console. I bought teh decal sheet from Tapeworks.com and di them myself. Real simple and took a bit over an hour for all 4. Looks great but carbon is a bit different design. Looks way better than the crap plastic they stole from a Neon or whatever.