[W126 Coupe] Wood Trim Patterns?

[gerryvz]

Hi Yousef:

Thanks for your note. I have owned several of the older-generation MB cars with macassar ebony, maple and other types of wood so had some good experience with those types of lacquered wood, as well as the later urethane-coated wood as found in the W116 and W126 models.

To be honest with you, I have seen many dozens of MB wood projects that people have refinished themselves. With one or two exceptions, all of these refinishing projects are very apparent that they were amateur jobs. Do-it-yourself refinished wood is NEVER as good as factory or professionally refinished wood. I'm very definitive with that statement because it really is true 99% of the time.

I have seen some decent home refinished jobs, but the texture and smoothness of the finish is just not all there. There are three main problems that typically crop up with home-refinished (do-it-yourself) MB wood:

a) Incorrect/incomplete preparation.  As with good paint work, preparation is almost everything. You can have the best base paint and clearcoat in the world, but if the surface is not prepared correctly, all of it will be for naught. This means that the old urethane finish needs to be removed correctly and the veneer prepped so that it accepts the new urethane. This is not as simple as it sounds.

b) Incorrect technique.  Often times people follow the wrong process to do the wood, particularly if a "factory original" type of finish is desired. Folks often treat automotive wood like other types of wood they've worked with -- they treat the technique of refinishing automotive wood like they would in refinishing/restaining an old antique coffee table.  Automotive wood has very different needs and lives in a very different environment, so a different technique must be used. Many if not most of the "do it yourself" techniques that you see on the Internet for refinishing wood are either incorrect or don't provide optimal results.

c) Incorrect materials. The urethane that is used for MB wood is actually quite toxic, and must be used with a respirator. Most people are not equipped with the tools and safety equipment to use this type of finish, and thus they substitute other finish/materials instead. Unfortuantely these "substitute" materials are not optimal for MB wood and won't hold up to the environment. Aftermarket businesses that specialize in automotive/MB wood (as I mentioned such as Madeira Concepts) are very well equipped with the needs of MB wood and have the proper materials/chemicals/techniques in place to do the job right.

This is all complicated if/when the veneer is damaged in any way. Most folks aren't equipped to repair damaged wood as an automotive wood specialist is.

When you combine two or all three of the common problems above, you have an absolute train wreck waiting to happen.  You will have wood that has the incorrect surface texture, wrong color, and often poor durability.  Having a furniture refinishing specialist shop (as many people do, if they don't want to do it themselves) refinish the wood is also most of the time not a good idea. You get what you pay for and so it's very advisable to do your research carefully and also to know in advance the exact outcome that you want.

Hope this helps!

Cheers,
Gerry


On Nov 21, 2011, at 11:15 AM, mbcoupes-request at mbcoupes.com wrote:


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> First of all .. WOOW very very knowledgable (esp on the history info)... I can't help but ask.. How do you know all this?? This is a great example on what kind of MB enthusiasts we have on this forum.. Ofcourse interesting info.. Checked out some examples on Maccasar, truly unique..

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> Now, I already found a shop that does auto wood trim . However what the do is completely remove the pattern and re-make a new pattern.. They had a very dark version of Zebrano but I wasn't convinced ..

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> My problem(s) with your solutions are 1) I live in Dubai (maybe I should put it in my signature :P) 2) My local place asked for 1500 AED = 408 USD for the re-trim.. So things are much cheaper locally .. Am gonna look for another place that could offer better options .. Going to the US would be my last resort financially .. Also am gonna go back to the scrap yards and find a reasonably good condition set of wooden panels

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