Just joined, having purchased a 2000 SLK 230 in March. Great car (as you all know) and it only had 29,000 miles on it! Drove it home from the Sacramento area to Vancouver WA...great drive! The car was perfect...the prior owner had been meticulous with it...the center console had only one or two nicks in it. It is my wife's daily driver, now...and it has been experiencing the dreaded paint flaking to the point now that I am going to have to do something about it. That's why I joined...I need to fix the center console. My wife cannot believe Mercedes would put such a crappy finish on such a nice car (she loves the car, by the way!). I am thinking a vinyl fabric cover would hold up much better. Does anyone know of such a thing? Taking the entire interior out, stripping and re-painting it as Brad did seems like WAY more work than I want to do. hand how long was the car out of commission?