Pagoda SL Group
W113 Pagoda SL Group => Body, interior, paint, chrome, and cosmetic items => Topic started by: Eryck on February 13, 2005, 03:10:34
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Does anyone know what material the horn pads are made of? Vinyl or leather? Thanks again.
1965 230 SL White Manual
Hong Kong
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Just dismantled the pad and found out it's vinyl. Anyone ever refurbed a horn pad before?
1965 230 SL White Manual
Hong Kong
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It's like talking to myself but...
I just refurbed my horn pad! Was about to order one (along with a million other parts!) from SLS when I started getting funny ideas. It's vacation time here, Chinese New Year, so I have time on my hands.
Took the horn pad out and next thing you know, I think I've reburbed it. All the parts came out easily. The emblem, I scraped off the paint and sanded it. Then repainted it with (plastic model - Testors) paint and it looks brand new! Spent 3 hours trying to whiten the pad with paint thinner. Worked a bit but not quite back to new. On a break, I tried dripping some laudry bleach on it and the rest is history. All of the 40 years of grime are off and the pad now looks like a 5 year old pad vs a 40 year old pad. I think I'll cancel the order for the new pad (Euro150!) for now. Until the rest of my car catches up!
1965 230 SL White Manual
Hong Kong
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Eryck, I redid my hornpad a few weeks ago--same design as yours, I expect, with chrome rings around outer and inner edges. I actually used black leather, rather than vinyl, and it came out very well. You need a small screwdriver to bend out the metal tabs that hold the inner trim ring and to pry out the plastic tabs that hold the backing into the outer trim ring. Be careful; it's tough plastic, so the screwdriver can easily slip and couge your fingers.
Not a complicated job, as long as you make certain to line up the star badge carefully before reinserting the inner metal trim ring and folding down the tabs. I also found that with leather, it helped to dampen it with water in order to stretch it evenly over the rubber padding when replacing the chrome rings. Finally, it's a little tricky to make sure your leather (or vinyl) piece has enough extra material on the outer and inner edges to be held in by the chrome rings, but not so much that the trim rings fit too tightly to reinstall onto the plastic backing.
I got a new star badge on eBay cheap--I see them often. The badge is the right size, but the star is larger. An OEM part, but not exactly the same, and perfectionists would not like it. Overall, though, it looks fantastic and a major improvement.
Rick
Dallas TX
1967 250SL, 4-speed
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Hi Rick,
Glad I have company. Thanks for all the tips. I will look out for the badge on Ebay. There's a few cracks on mine.
It just dawned on me that the biggest satisfaction of owning this car is like having a long term project. A friend told me to send the car to Germany to restore and others tell me to bite the bullet and do it all in one go. I now disagree, it's the little experiments and discoveries that makes it all that much more interesting!
1965 230 SL White Manual
Hong Kong
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quote:
Originally posted by Eryck
I think I'll cancel the order for the new pad (Euro150!) for now.
You can get a whole new steering wheel (I assume with horn pad) for about that much.
www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=1294
Rodd
Powell, Ohio, USA
1966 230SL, Euro, Auto, Leather, both tops
1994 E420
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I just checked with SLS and the prices are:
Euro 360 wheel only, not including the horn pad
Horn pad alone is Euro 160
Horn ring is Euro 65
To buy the entire set would set one back over Euro 500!
It is interesting to note the that later steering wheels (some 250 & most 280sl) are somewhat cheaper. Wheel for Euro 240 and pad for bargain basement of only Euro 60!
1965 230 SL White Manual
Hong Kong
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I noticed two different horn pads from my 1968 280SL. the orginal one has a smooth cure surface black the later style is flat witha more grainy finish. I have both but have put them away. I choose the ivory steering wheel and pad for my interior.
Bob Geco
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Hi, Eryck
Just be sure to put some nice vinyl conditioner on that horn pad; now that you've bleached it, it may crack with time because of the dehydrating effects of bleach.
Gung hay fat choy!
Trice
1968 280SL US, signal red/bl leather, auto, kinder
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Recovering the early horn pads 230 SL-250 SL (those have chrome bezels)is a nice job for winter time. I did it on an old pad as a test only using a piece of ivory coloured leather.
The result was so nice that I drive this old (new) pad for years now. I wouldn`t try this on late pads, because those cannot be took apart.
The late ones are quite cheap as well.
An overview of Merc part No`s & prices 2005 may show the difference:
Late pad ivory = 1154640442 = 51,27 Euro
Early pad ivory = 1114600742 = 141,28 Euro
Late pad black = 1154640342 = 51,27 Euro
Early pad black = 1114600642 = 137,17 Euro
Tom
www.pagode.info
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Thanks for that, Tom.
And gung hay fat choy to you too, Trice!
1965 230 SL White Manual
Hong Kong
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quote:
Originally posted by Eryck
.... The emblem, I scraped off the paint and sanded it. Then repainted it with (plastic model - Testors) paint and it looks brand new!
Eryck,
when you scraped off the paint on the back of the emblem did you also remove the silver that outlines the star and the ring surrounding it?
If so, how did you make it "silvery" again? Just using a silver spray paint??
Alfred
1966 blue 230SL automatic
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Hi Alfred,
Sorry for getting back to you late.
I was fortunate that the 'silvery' bit was still fine and I just removed the white paint. I didn't do anything to the silvery bit. Using silver paint wouldn't give you the same effect, I would imagine, since it's actually a 'chrome' silver. Sorry, not much help here....
1965 230 SL White Manual
Hong Kong
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Thanks Eryck.
I guess there are no easy solutions to "silverize" the star. Perhaps I check with a mirror repair shop and see what they suggest.
Alfred
1966 blue 230SL automatic