I took my wagon to a local MB shop for an alignment and they gave my car back with the star adjusted just right. Seems I was adjusting it too erect It must slant to the rear a little.

I would like to buy a new one and see if it stays in place better... My TD lays down at 70mph when I pass a truck(pushing lots of air), 300d does it at 90mph, 400e has only laid down once and I may have been traveling in excess of 110mph. My SD... I don't remember.

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08 R320 CDI current

Past
95 E420
87 300D Turbo 5spd
90 300TE
83 300SD
85 300TD
92 400E
85 190D

An om617 turbo is fun at full throttle in reverse... that turbo screams.

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08 R320 CDI current

Past
95 E420
87 300D Turbo 5spd
90 300TE
83 300SD
85 300TD
92 400E
85 190D

Glad I'm not alone

haha at that point I might as well just get out and pull it off by hand.....interesting thought though



Generally yes but I prefer to have mine vertical like the Mercedes of old

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1982 300GD Carmine Red (DB3535) Cabriolet Parting Out
1990 300SEL Smoke Silver (Parting out)
1991 350SDL Blackberry Metallic (481)

"The thing is Bob, its not that I'm lazy...its that I just don't care."

The car wash guys always seem to screw mine up; but I feel like a jerk walking around the car to fix it with them standing there.

I've pulled off the road into a service station to get out and correct the star before. My 240's has an annoying tendency to rotate sideways... the vertical adjustment is correct but it angles itself towards the driver or passenger. I check them all before I drive away. Both 126s seem to stay in line no matter what the wind is doing.

I can't STAND the SUVs that don't have a star. I'd love to save up and buy a GL320 CDI someday after they get as cheap as our current fleet -- but I don't think I can stand driving it without a hood star instead of a grille star. It's just not a Mercedes without it out there.

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~Michael S.~
Past cars:

1986 300SDL
1987 300SDL
1982 240D
1982 300SD


Current:

1987 300SDL

Shouldn't be too hard to drill a hole to put one in....(Shoot i've seen someone do that with a Chevy before)

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1982 300GD Carmine Red (DB3535) Cabriolet Parting Out
1990 300SEL Smoke Silver (Parting out)
1991 350SDL Blackberry Metallic (481)

"The thing is Bob, its not that I'm lazy...its that I just don't care."

My hood star corroded at the base. When I was wiping the snow off of my car a few weeks ago I knocked the star out .

Right now I just have a circle hood ornament and a dented passenger fender

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-Typos courtesy of my mobile phone.

Hmmm. All of this gives me a good idea. How about attaching one of those four-way directional motors, like for the adjusting the orientation of the side mirrors, under the hood to the base of the star. That way you don't have to stop and get out to adjust. And then, maybe you could even lay the star back a little while going through the car wash.

Probably wouldn't hurt to keep it heated too - for the winter months, so it doesn't freeze in place and break off if bumped.

Yeah, that sounds good.

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'95 E300D ("Tank") - 231,000 miles
'79 240D ("Biscuit") - 197,250 miles (Sold)
'83 240D ("Ding-Ding") - 217,000 miles (Death by deer)
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"Back off, man. I’m a scientist” ~ Peter Venkman

I have a separate insurance policy on the hood star by itself...
Not! But I do put it back to normal when I notice someone has knocked it sideways when they're cleaning the snow off the driveway.

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[/SIGPIC]~cirrusman

1983 Mercedes Benz 300SD - Wife calls him "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"
[SIGPIC]




1983 Toyota Tercel (Tommy, The little Toyota that could)
1965 Ford F100 (Grandma Ford)
2005 Toyota Sienna (Elsa, Wife's ride)


Gone:
1988 Toyota Pickup
2004 Subaru Outback

1987 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham
1986 Volvo 740 GL Station Wagon - Piece of junk.
1981 Volvo 242 DL 2 Door - Hated to see it go. R.I.P.
1987 Pontiac Fiero GT

A w123 without a star on the hood----Just Aint Right--What are you gonna do now, put a 5" star in the grill

I am guilty too. I can NOT drive with it tilted in the least bit. I have pulled over more than once to correct it.

Really odd though since I drove many Lincolns and they never had issues. In fact it was hard to position them any way but he right way. The MB design seems, I hate to say, inferior.

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1991 560 SEL / 185k miles
1992 750il / 17k miles - project car

I designed some of those Lincoln ornaments!

The 124 star only goes one way, and the stiff spring will keep it there through everything short of a car-wash, after which it will almost always resume its proper stance.

After enough years and corrosion though, some of them are weak and the detents get worn, so they are able to stay in an improper position. The $30 or so that the dealer gets for a new one is IMO worth it at that point.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

My 83 has always been perfect, after reading this thread I thought...why have I never had to do this? My 77 did whatever it wanted to, it was never perfect.

Don't think my 95 has ever been off either.

X2 on the rear view mirror idea....thats almost as bad as this



remember in the episode, they took off the star and put a spinning S. For Spechelle.

wow.

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77' 300D, "Cartman" SOLD @ 150K (didn't know what I had)
83' 300SD, "The Superdon" 325k+ @ 28mpg
95 E320 wagon, "Millennium Falcon" 231k+ @ 24 Mpg
95 E300D, "Sherley" 308k @ 33.69 Mpg, currently anticipating a head
99 Suzuki Intruder "Trudy" @ 45 mpg

Heh, funny this thread pops up. I was just thinking of making one just for this subject, while on my drive to work this morning!



Yep, yep and yep on being OCD with the star!

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http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7271/7...144c3fc1dc.jpg