dashboard lights 2000 mercedes kompressor

I first sprayed all the pieces with SEM adhesion promoter and then applied the silver gray paint. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the exact shade of gray I needed for my SLK, but I found a near-perfect match in their BMW Silver Gray color. I covered parts in tape that weren’t to be painted.įor paint, I turned to SEM - which has a large selection of OEM colors, including some for Mercedes-Benz models. All parts were sanded with a 3M scuff pad, cleaned and degreased. Any paint left on the plastic was scrubbed off with a rag or blown off with an air gun.Īfter the pieces were completely stripped of their original paint and allowed to dry, I began to prep them for paint. After 24 hours of soaking, the paint practically peeled off on its own. Knowing that harsh chemicals in paint-strippers could damage the plastics, I decided to soak them in water to remove the old paint. To avoid further problems down the line, I decided that the best course of action was to completely strip the plastics of the factory paint. It was sticky, hard to clean and scratched at the slightest touch. However, the paint Mercedes-Benz used wasn’t like anything I’ve seen before. In most cases, you really don’t need to do much more than sand and clean a plastic panel to prepare it for paint. The door panels, glove box, center console, instrument cluster bezel, and all remaining dash pieces had to be separated from all electrical and other accessories mounted to them and pulled from the car. To solve the problem correctly and permanently, I needed to disassemble the interior and repaint all the affected panels. Without a doubt, it wasn’t something that I was going to tolerate in my car.Īlthough touch-up paints are available for a quick fix, they only mask the blemishes without preventing new ones from occurring. Evidently, Mercedes-Benz used a low-quality paint on the cabin’s interior plastics that scratches easily, leaving SLK owners with an ugly interior unbefitting of a luxury car. I recently purchased a 1999 Mercedes-Benz SLK 230 and discovered a major interior defect that owners have been struggling with since the vehicle debuted in 1996.

Dashboard lights 2000 mercedes kompressor