Tips on ordering complete interior?

[ghenne]

I'm about to order new seat covers, door skins, replacements for the rest of the vinyl bits and new carpets. Since my vinyl is NLA, I'm switching to leather. Any tips about what I should be sure to mark down on the order?

It's for a 230SL.

[ghenne]

For example, should the edging on the carpets be the same material as the seats? If not, what?

[66andBlue]

Hi George,
the binding around the carpet is either a vinyl or woven fabric ribbon and its color should enhance the look of the carpet. Some companies will let you pick the color, others use what they believe looks best.
The edge, or welt, in finished leather pieces on our cars is always made from the same leather as the rest. I have seen seats where the welt has a different color to outline the contours but that was never done for Pagodas. Be sure to find out whether the company will provide you with finished "wind laces" that run down on the A-pillar and B-pillar along the edge of the door opening. If they don't (for example, GAHH) , then I hope you kept the old ones because inside is a long solid foam tube that is tapered on one end. If you have those tubes you can always have a lace made up from the new leather. Also buy sufficient raw leather - at least a half hide - to cover the dash, window frame and all the panels in the footwell.
I bought all the leather and the carpets for the 280SLfrom GAHH, not directly but from a supplier whom you know quite well.  
It makes no sense having new door panels shipped, just use your old ones as a template and cut new ones from some fiber board of equal thickness, and don't forget to bevel the edges. Send me a PM if you have more questions.
When I restored my 230SL some years ago and when the $ was stronger I had bought all the material from the Werner Company
(http://www.werner-interieur.de/index.php?cat=4&content=Willkommen-Welcome-beim-Spezialist-fuer-Interieur)
and they included ready-made wind laces (#27-30) as well as the completed glovebox covering. Attached is a sketch that shows how many different pieces there were in the set.

[Gerry]

George; have you tried World Upholstery & Trim for the MB Tex ?  www.worlduph.com     800-222-9577 


Good luck, Gerry

[ghenne]

So far, I have been most impressed by the price and service from German Auto Tops (http://www.germanautotops.com/). One of their guys used to assist GAHH years ago. They have asked the right questions and their samples have been good. They were recommended to me by Mr. Gallon.

66andBlue, thank you for your tips. I couldn't help but notice that that diagram (very useful!) is missing a piece: the sill on the hardtop. :-)

[Rolland]

I used GAHH for my leather interior, carpet, hardtop liner, etc and am very happy with the service and product they provided.  When ordering it all together, they volunteered an additional discount for getting it all at once.

Alfred, you brought up a question I was about to search out on the wind lacings, but don't find the topic from the past.  About a month ago, with my car nearly finished at the body shop I had to pull it away (long story for a later time) and it won't be going back.  One of the things they messed up was the wind lacing.  I believe mine only had the lacing on the front of each door opening and not the rears.  After having the original lacings recovered, the idiot cut them down to length and installed them on the rear openings.  In doing so, just left the open cut end exposing the foam inside portion.  You mention the piece is tapered, how much from the top to the bottom does it taper.

Thanks,

Rolland

[66andBlue]

Hello Rolland,
the solid foam tube of the longer lace is about 60cm long and I am estimating that the first 13 - 15 cm are tapered, from a ~5 mm diameter to a ~10 mm diameter.  I cannot be precise because mine are already finished - see photo.
The shorter lace has a straight, not tapered, core.

[Rolland]

Alfred,  A big fat THANK YOU for all of your information, work and photos provided.  I really appreciate it.

Take Care,

Rolland

[dldubois]

I would also highly recommend world upholstery.  I replaced ALL my interior including new horsehair pads.  Perfect match to my original parchment mbtex