I did not like all silver either. So in 2006 I bought and installed a wood grain kit in my SE. No issues. I then installed 2010 a carbon fiber kit in my Srt6. No issues. much easier than paint and I paint my own cars. Each to his own. Gary

 

This looks great with the black buttons!!
I really like the spoiler button... Nice

 

Find someone with a base and swap them (black OEM lighter) the black looks out of place in a base b/c of all the silver, so a swap would work great for you and the other owner....

 

Done a while ago... It is gloss black from the base coupe but it still looks better than the silver!

 

Good call guys never knew the base lighter was black. Is it the exact same style? Only reason I didn't paint it was because of all the curves. Just checkin before I hunt one down vs generic black one.

 

Exactly the same style just black instead of silver!

 

Sexy, will be checking that issue off the list asap then. I guess I'll throw this question out as well. What color backlights did you end up with? I have a total mismatch right now because the a/c control I got was amber and I only swapped the face of the buttons.

I can buy a single merc button and go all amber or find green a/c control (not sure if there are any?)

 

I took the green lights out of the stock ac control and swaped the amber ones out. Green everywhere

 

Have you thought of another shifter? Here's mine in an auto, but you could put the pattern on yourself

John P
FTroopChief

 

Have you thought of another shifter? Here's mine in an auto, but you could put the pattern on yourself

John P
FTroopChief

 

Can't see the picture. Def on the to do list, I like the style of the original and was thinking about painting but figured it would prob wear down pretty fast and start looking ugly. Would go aftermarket but most are small or don't look right, def up for suggestions though, as that and the airbag light are the final pieces.

 

Hey Airscape what did you use? I have an older dodge with alot off scuff and scratches in the grey plastic dash peices and wanted to sand it all and paint it black and i like the texture look of the stuff you used. Let me know what products you used!

 

Nothing fancy, got all i needed from autozone I believe.
Dupli-color adhesion promoter: barcode says CP199 adhesion promoter.
Dupli-color import auto spray : 8801109 brilliant black (m)
Dupli-color truck, van & suv: T125 clear top coat.

Pretty much all the texture came from the clear coat. After about a year of daily use it has worn down a bit though. (right around the console door cover where my elbow makes contact when using it as an armrest). Nothing really noticeable unless you get right up close and inspect. I only used basically 1 coat (bunch of really light passes) so I would suggest doing a couple for longevity sake. I assume the more you put on the less texture and more shine you get though as it will most likely form a solid clear coat. (can't confirm though as I havnt tried)

Good sanding will make or break the project though, the only places I have issues are where I could have sanded better. (left some silver behind)

Let me know if you have any other questions

 

Good job on the mods. Winter is getting close and replacing the switches is a project. Please post the part numbers you used for your switches. I own a convertible and need an idea as to what i could use for that switch. My thoughs.......................use a window switch and paint the window out; just leaving the two arrows. My nexy question is; other than the climate control; did you just take the switch covers off? Any and all help is truly appreciated! Thanls in advance for your reply!

James

 

Plastic primer...no.

Adhesion promoter on bare plastic... Yes.

When painting over existing paint on plastic... light scuff with a white scuff pad and some scuff gel, clean with wax & grease remover and soapy water, rinse well, tack, paint with a quality interior paint.

 

I just need the part numbers or car model number and year to start procuring these switches for my winter project. The black definitely looks good!

 

It's my understanding the black switches are sourced from several MB models. Send Rudy (Rcompart) a PM, he may be able to help you out.

 

Already PM'ed Rudy. Just getting a little antsy as there are a few items on Ebay and I wouldn't want to miss them if they were the right parts! I guess I could PM Beaner also! Thanks for the heads up!

 

Beaner got his switches from Rudy. You might wanna give Rudy a call or send a message to him @ Speeddriven.

 

Sorry, totally forgot to respond to your PM. I'll have to dig them out to get numbers but you are correct on the cover part. You really don't need to worry about the part number so much, just getting the button faces you need. Basically all I did was jump on eBay and used the following searches to find what I needed.

Slk switch (this will pull up window switches as well as others)
You can narrow it down by selecting specific categories or searching more specific but I found looking through the many pages turned up more options.
Here are a couple examples I just found, (just examples, prob not the cheapest ones) a lot of times you can get the whole bezel cheaper than individual buttons.

Window switches

Heated seats etc

The trunk was the hardest. You can usually find a few but from older models so the button is really flat and angled, it doesnt have the roundish divot like the newer ones. May take some time to track the right one down. I searched Mercedes switch or Mercedes trunk switch. The one I ended up getting was from a clk so clk trunk switch will work but usually it returns results with the cluster of windows/mirrors and costs a lot more.

For the climate I searched Mecedes climate, slk climate, clk climate, and a few random variations with heater / AC instead of climate. I can't reccomend the one I got 100% as it will randomly turn on sometimes when in the off position. I don't know if this is a problem with the unit or because of the arm style in the back. On the Chrysler unit there is that big box on the back where the connector plugs in and the plastic arms swivel at the base. The plastic arms on the one I got are just straight plastic so they were more difficult to line up. I assume because they are so tight that the off setting may not be fully in its position leading to the random turning on. I just twist the dial to full and then back off so its not a deal breaker. The SLK ones seem to have the white circles for the most part. Mine was from a CLK and has the black faces. For the best setup I would try to find one that has the same back as the crossfire one but it's not necessary.

I will try to dig up the buttons and give you the numbers for reference but again you're basically just looking for the covers. If you want to do the full conversion using the Mercedes amber lights you will need the guts out of a 2 way switch for the spoiler (the MB trunk and wiper buttons are only one way) I'm not sure about the convertible top. I don't think any of the Mercedes sunroof or convertible top buttons are the same style as the xfire. Painting over an existing button would be very hard to color match. Might just want to paint the whole button and create a custom waterslide decal to put on top and live with no illumination on that one button.