Comand wheel.

[Alpinaman]

My comand wheel has the common rotary fault....

£189+ vat from Mercedes with an hours labour it seems.


I can get a S/H comand wheel from a facelift W204,the wheel is a slightly different style.

Will it work at all? I think if there is a chance its worth a punt as its cheap..

Any info appreciated..

 

[Chrishazle]

Go to comand-knob-repair.com (https://www.comand-knob-repair.com/) and order their aluminium replacement for $49 delivered (and includes a set of 4 trim removal tools!). On their home page there are 2 youtube "how to" videos if you're feeling brave, The first is how to remove the module from the centre console, doesn't look bad. The second is how to totally dismantle the module to get to the broken shaft, that looks very finiky! I bottled it, took the car to a local ICE specialist who'd recently done a similar repair on a BMW I-drive, they charged me 2 hours labour - based on me giving them a job time estimate of 1-2 hours, so I don't know how long it actually took them. Cost about £140. When you see the broken plastic shaft you'll curse MB for using something so pathetic instead of the solid aluminium after market shaft!

 

[Alpinaman]

Thanks for the reply

Yea I have seen the shaft repair kits, and may just do that..

Actually if the bill was getting upto £150ish I would probably just buy a new one.

The 2011 rotary dial I mentioned is only £20, so probably worth a punt, and looks like the connection is near the gearstick, so will only take 2 mins to test without dial secured into console..

Will report back to see if it works

 

[Chrishazle]

At least with the aluminium shaft fitted I'm now confident I will not have the same problem again! I have the old broken shaft, and the plastic is so thin it's ridiculous. Fitting a second hand or new module I'd be worried about the shaft shearing again!

 

[Alpinaman]

Yep..

True enough

If the new version works,i will strip the old one and get some internal shafts made up.

 

[Alpinaman]

Just for information..

The facelift comand wheel works in the prefacelift cars.

I stripped out the broken plastic shaft from the old module,im going to see if its feasible to have some made up (cost wise)..

 

[MancMike]

I repaired mine. It's doable DIY if you're handy, rather than try to replace it, I epoxied 4 thin steel rods into those grooves in the X section of that shaft, and drilled tiny holes for them to plug into in the metal bit that the plastic X shaft snaps at.

 

[Chrishazle]

To see what's involved, see the link in post #2. As I said, getting the module out of the centre console is not too bad, but then dismantling the module to get at the shaft looks fiddly.

 

[Alpinaman]

To change the module took no longer than 10 mins


Stripping it.... maybe 15 mins tops

I just wanted to see the broken bits and see if a fix is feasible at right money ..

 

[Chrishazle]

Your fingers are obviously more stable and flexible than mine! I watched the 2 videos on the website, knew I could do the module removal OK, but the fiddly bits of accessing the rod looked too fiddly for my ancient fingers. The replacement shaft looks easy to replicate for someone with a metal lathe and some suitable aluminium rod, but I work with wood, not metal!!

I have the broken bits if you want to see them!!

 

[Alpinaman]

Thanks

I have my own set of broken bits now..

The only real fiddly but is getting the N E S W switches off the board, the rest is fairly simple

 

[MancMike]

When I did it, I laid all the pieces out on the table, and filmed myself doing it so I could refer back to it if I had any "spare parts" afterwards. I posted a thread about it I think.

 

[Chrishazle]

The seller of the parts I bought has just emailed me with a 15% discount code as a result of me posting a positive result from buying his kit.

"Hello Chris,


i have seen that you recommend my repair set in a forum http://mbclub.co.uk


I have an idea that the other forum members could also have cheap access to the repair shaft. I have made a discount code. The code is „mbclub“ and you will get a 15% discount.


I would be really happy if you change your post and share that discount code =)


Best regards
Julian "

 

[tylerdurden]

I have done the shaft repair on my W212.

On reassembly all working but the dial does not recognise the down movement (dial pushed south).

I have removed it again and checked everything. Reassembled and directional movement is no longer normal in all directions.

I will have to purchase a new module.

I have had differing views from different dealers. One saying it needs recoding. Another saying not.

Whats the forum view on this?