I bought a used 2012 SLK.
Dark grey with black leather interior and the aluminum mid console like many other SLK’s
I never liked aluminum parts in any car. My favorite is the black wood console, but I cannot find it for sale on the internet.
the carbon versions are not bad but not fantastic and pricey.
I had the thought of removing the aluminum console and have it anodized black.
Anyone ever did this, are there any pictures available?
I had a friend who paints planes paint the bits on my car in gloss black, looks really good. I guess anodising would work but its not a deep gloss like paint.
I liked the idea to wrap the console.
This gives the advzntage to go back as the wrap can be removed. I asked a price at a local shop.
If it is ok I will go see what can be done.
The fake wood veneer console in mine is the saddest part of my car I am stuck with... I am absolutely NO fan of wood anywhere in a car and thinking to go with black carbon or CF wrapping for the console and door panels and then swapping out the steering wheel to the leather-wrapped option in standard R172s :grin:> (as this one for sale in EBay). Hmmm....
The fake wood veneer console in mine is the saddest part of my car I am stuck with... I am absolutely NO fan of wood anywhere in a car and thinking to go with black carbon or CF wrapping for the console and door panels and then swapping out the steering wheel to the leather-wrapped option in standard R172s :grin:> (as this one for sale in EBay). Hmmm....
Not sure what they sell up north, but I opted for the real-tree upgrade iwhich ncludes highly lacquered walnut door and center console trim as well as a wood/leather steering wheel and wood shift knob. Not fake wood veneer....lol
There certainly are some great wrap options out there.
I saw some other variants of carbon wraps and they do not look bad at all.
So the wrap is more preferable to me now and not anodising it.
Looking at utube on how to do this does not look that bad at all. I build models I think I can do this myself. Taking out the console worries me more than the wrapping. If I do I will post pictures.
It is a thin sheet of pressed aluminium on a moulded plastic base. It's not a foil layer as such but still quite delicate and can be distorted quite easily if care is not taken.
I assume by this observation that a wrap could potentially pull off the aluminium layer as it would be glued on and you will be using a hairdryer as a source of heat to fit and possibly later remove the wrap.
It may be worth while buying some second hand trim pieces to wrap? Doing this will also show you where all the clip points are when you come to remove the original.
I have put @Col on here as he has wrapped some bits of his car.
I have wrapped some areas of my interior but they are just silver plastic.
You won’t have any issues with damaging the aluminium if you wrap it and later decided to remove it, so long as you don’t use excessive heat or force. I’ve done this without issue.
Ok so anadising is oit of the question.
Thank you so much for your feedback.
I will by a roll of wrap and start with some other things to practice first.
Maybe it is not necessary to remove the console either.
Watch some online videos before you start.
Get some plastic trim tools and a sharp scalpel type knife.
A decent hairdryer to warm the vinyl wrap and enjoy. :grin:
I ordered a roll of wrap, black aluminum. So I will go for the wrapping. I bought enough material to do it again in case the first attempt fails. Plus enough to try first at some random pieces. As this thread goes about wrapping now and I cannot see it elsewhere in this forum I will post a new thread about the wrapping.
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