Hi all, I've been off the forum for many months - my apologies ! I own a 2013 X351 V6, and now also an 2015 X351 4 cylinder (much tighter interior - improved)... Anyway...

My new car to me (2015) sat outside for 4 months before delivery, and when I got the cream front leather seats had partially faded in the sun (Hmmmn?) and..., there was evidence some water had come in through the roof somehow - not enough to ruin the car at all, but it made the fabric on the B pillars look messy and start to peel off. Does anyone know how to clean (or replace) the internal B and possible A pillar fabrics...? Related to this (I am sure) the driver seat belt no longer retracts very well.

Also, are there drain channels that might have got clogged that led to the water intrusion issues, or would it be more likely faulty seal on the sunroof itself? Of note, when we had a heavy downpour recently my 2013 X351 V6 experienced some similar water intrusion issues...

All ideas and suggestions welcome. Thank you !

 

QP7. yes, there are drains. They happen to run down the B pillars as I recall. If you open the sunroof and then kneel backwards in the drivers seat, you can look into the opening around the edge of the sunroof. If you look in the back corners, you should see some small holes there. Those are the drains. If you pour a little bit of water into that tray, you should see where the water comes out (should be right there by your driver's door, but it could run back to the C pillar and then drain out near the rear tires. If you have the car parked on a flat surface, you should be able to pour in a quart of water slowly and you should get equal amounts of water out each side of the car. May want to consider adding a little bit of say Lysol to the water to help flush out the line and kill any growth int it. If you do this, run a second quart through to 1) help flush everything out and 2) clear out the Lysol so you don't smell that every time you get into the car. Worst case, I have used a can of compressed air and then built up a bit of tape on the end of the straw and pushed the straw against the opening and then gave it a quick blast of air. That helped to push any junk in the line out. This is especialy helpful if you can get a bit of water in the line and use the air to push it through the length.

As for the fabric, I would say to find an upholstery shop for cars and see what they say. Finding the fabric is going to be a PITA as it is some special "double weave" and getting the exact color is going to be hard. But, they may be able to take the whole piece, add a thin layer of foam and then glue the fabric back on to the foam. If you need me to give you an example of what I am talking about, let me know and I willl find a link to what I am talking about.

 

Easy to redo those A pillar covers yourself. Your right that if you look at them wrong that nice soft material starts wrinkling up and it's very fragile.
I found it's better to remove the materiel completely and then clean and use the proper 3M spray glue (I like the 8090 one) to reattach the material. Takes a bit of skill but not too much.
I redid the drivers side as I had touched it a few times and got some waves and looseness in the covering.

The material seems pretty strong but it's not attached very well to the cover.

Give it a go and try to stretch the material slightly as you press into the contact cement. I usually need to peel it back off a bit and re-lay it around some of the curves on the A pillar.
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Thank you gentlemen - you guys are the best.