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Why you shouldn't put drinks in the cupholder over Comand/audio

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18K views 25 replies 13 participants last post by  drone  
#1 ·
This Slk belongs to our new member SLKJanet. Unfortunately, condensation dripped on their Comand unit in their brand new to them 2008. I will let them jump in and tell the story when they can.
 

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#2 ·
jbanks15 said:
This Slk belongs to our new member SLKJanet. Unfortunately, condensation dripped on their Comand unit in their brand new to them 2008. I will let them jump in and tell the story when they can.[/QUOTE

How awful...

Our car seems to be missing the cup-holder and we were thinking about getting one... your post is well-timed for us...

good luck

Stella
Click to expand...
 
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#5 ·
Here's the story....I placed my water bottle in the cup holder. I noticed at times the water condensation would pool up at the bottom of the holder. I now realize when I slid the holder back there is a small space that the water was dripping through on to the top of the radio. The nav and radio started grit fritzing out until it finally quit. I took it to the dealer and they told me it was not fixable and to replace it was $6000+. (Oddly enough as I left the dealer the radio started working again!....but not for too long). We ended up taking the car to a shop. They sent it to Maryland to fix it ...cost about $1500. They have fixed it and we are just waiting now to have it put back in. ...lesson learned- don't use the cup holder!....Janet.
 
#7 ·
Sorry to hear you had that problem. Fortunately there are alternatives to the built in cup holder, which you can find in the forum through the search feature. Stinger came up with the best solution so far, but it requires a little modification on the side of the center console. But there are other solutions to be found on here as well if you decide not to go that route. At least you did not pay the dealer price tag on that fix....honestly, it really is disappointing that Mercedes never came up with an alternative for the cupholder as the one they stuck in it was such a flawed afterthought on their part.
 
#8 ·
Cup holders are afterthoughts in European cars, they used to not have them before they started selling cars in America.

The only way I use my cup holders is with a 'locking' water bottle that is well insulated so it wont get condensation on it. Not sure if I want to replace it with the compartment just yet but I am getting a bit unnerved by it as time goes on.
 
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#11 ·
I too am very surprised at Mercedes. Not up to their usual standard, as it is common knowledge that water and electricity make bad bedfellows...

After reading this lot, I don't think we will bother about a cup-holder.

Anyway, for longer trips we put picnic and drinks in the boot and we make regular leg-stretching stops, so no problem really. :smile::smile::smile:

Stella
 
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#14 ·
Well I like to keep my cars as original as possible. Also I realize that nearly all cars have some kind of idiosyncrasy, and the SLK is no exception. I always get a laugh out of it anytime I happen to notice that useless drawer!

I have the HK Logic 7 with the 6-CD changer and no navigation. I felt this was the best option, since I enjoy listening to music while my Garmin with LT maps is a far superior nav to the OEM.

For those who have a radio that was damaged by the cup holder or any other way, it is repairable. I have no problem finding electronic hobbyist who enjoy the challenge of fixing strange foreign objects!
 
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#15 ·
Fried COMAND update.... The bad news - $1,450 to clean and REBUILD, but it now works great. The good news - it wasn't the $6000.00 to REPLACE it like the dealer (Fields in Lakeland) wanted. AutoWorks of Brandon (Fl) took really good care of us.... Cost was a pleasant surprise because the dealer told me it couldn't be fixed and I would need to replace it. . Now I'm wondering what's going to happen next?
 
#16 ·
What next? That depends...if you never use the cupholders again, the restored head unit will probably function perfectly for the life of the car. The dealer was smoking crack or something with the $6k estimate; the parts cost of the head unit isn't that much and a direct replacement would be simple plug-and-play. I'd be wary of that dealer going forward. Perhaps they didn't want the job and hoped the estimate would scare you off; if so the ploy worked. But it also erodes trust in their competence and honesty.

Issues like this are, IMO, a consequence of setting speed limits far too low. If we could cruise at 100mph on the freeway, none of us would be sipping coffee or anything else...we'd be concentrating on driving, like the Germans do.
 
#22 ·
:D i took the extra 'm' out of comand for you :D

COMAND stands for COckpit MAnagement and Navigation Device
or COMAND stands for COckpit MAnagement and data system
 
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#23 ·
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