My dealer insisted the plastic guides and arms for the deflector were not available as separate part and supposedly even checked with the mechanics.

I had to buy a complete new wind deflector assembly.

Once I got into it, I discovered not only one broken plastic part (which I "knew" about), but the other side was also close to failure. Now that I see how the design works it's no wonder the part fails. I could not see ANY difference between the original design (1999 ML430) and the new parts. The 2 arms that are attached to each side of the deflector itself came "attached" to the plastic pieces. They were not separate. There is quite a bit of tension on these plastic parts when the deflector is down/roof closed.

Part number for the entire assembly was 163-780-00-44. It was made up of one big bag with the deflector itself and another "parts bag" with 2 arms, 2 little retaining springs and an instruction sheet packaged within the big bag. The parts bag did NOT have any numbers on it but it seems to me that was really the only thing I really needed...the bag of parts, not a new deflector.

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Jim