well, wonder, i'm sorta with you in that the plastic seems to be performing well. it's kinda funny, i drove out to los angeles to see my daughter and the first thing she said when she got in the car was eewwww-plastic. well, ok but so far it has none of the scratches i would expect with genuine aluminum and none of the oxidation or other stuff that has always shown up on the parts that get touched in the luxury cars i've had in the past. whatever it is, and i really don't care what it is, it's working fine for me so far. if it does start to fall apart then there will be "real metal" aftermarket parts available and for a small extra fee i'm sure they can be protected with the 3-m coating. what's it called? oh yea, plastic. :lol: :lol: :wink:

dan

 

There are three levels of the silver finish:

1: Worrisome paint with no coating....the HVAC rotary ***** and all buttons. These worry me the most as they get the most use.

2: The surrounding trim encircling all the buttons and HVAC, radio and continuing down the console. This is heavily coated with a poly or resin and seems durable enough as long as sharp or hard objects stay away.

3: The shifter (6spd), door pulls, door handles, and trim around door handles. This all seems like metal to me and very durable. My shifter has an invisible bur that I can feel. I've tried to scratch it off as it's tiny feeling but I can't. Whatever it is, it's strong.


How hard would it have been to produce all of #1 out of the mystery material of #3? It seems that it would've made more sense.

I purposely "tested" the metalic finish in the G35....it scratches with just a look!




Dallas

 

You know what they say about opinions? Anyway, enjoy your Crossfire, do whatever it takes to make it you! If you check my album, you will see what just how much I changed the look of my PT, and I have had nothing but good comments about it! spent $10k on it!

 

andrew is right it is plastic or some nonferrous metal, a magnet will not attract to it, I believe it's a type of plastic though. Not much else in the cockpit is ferrous metal either, it's either aluminum or plastic, great for weight saving but not for durability in the long term.

 

I was thinking about mounting a big alumium wing to the crossfire wing, so that when the crossfire's wing comes up, the aluminum wing raises too... wouldn't that be sweet? :wink:

 

Thought you folks might like to see another style SLK shift **** (German made, sold from IL in US) on my Crossfire, from the wide selection at http://www.formymercedes.com/mb_resu...ry=Shift+***** (thanks to DFWSBR). The service was excellent as was the quality. They have them for Auto and Manual. This one is chrome inlaid carbon fiber. That is not dust on the radio, etc.; it's a reflection of the flash off the carbon fiber. :shock:

 

What is all that dust???? :shock:

 

Looks nice!!! Any trouble putting it on???

 

That does look good!

 

No trouble. The hardest part is remembering to screw the bottom collar in a clockwise (counterintuitive to me) direction looking down from the top. It was on tight so I started it with one of those rubber strap devices that looks like an oil filter or jar top remover. Once the collar drops down, the **** is just held on by friction, but mine was also on quite tight and my hand almost hit the headliner when it finally popped off. :shock: To do it over, I'd work it a little more with my thumbs, etc.

The new one goes on in reverse. Drop the collar on the shaft, push the **** on as far as it will go and screw the collar on. The whole procedure takes about 4 minutes max.

I believe it is actually designed to go on pointing in the opposite direction, but I thought it looked like Big Bird trying to peck the radio panel. :lol: If I had a manual transmission, I would probably put it on the "right" way just because of the ergonimics of shifting.

 

i added a picture of the leather slk **** to my original post for ease of viewing.

 

Check my album for an all chrome ****. It matches the console well.

Bought it from www.formymercedes.com

 

 

I changed my auto **** to a black and chrome one. I like the silver but the plastic is so cheap looking and it was way to slippery.

 

Any pics????

 

Picture of my **** (that doesn't sound right)....
Would be perfect if I cut the shift shaft down a couple of inches




MOMO Raptor Alcantra Grey Gear ****

 

You wouldn't want to go there unless you wanted it to look like this NSFW example...

 

You've got way too much time on your hands.

 

First **** I've seen that's got a NUT.......my bad

 

Looks even better with a matching custom alcantara boot

In my last XF: