My W210 lug bolt fiasco (five of them broke) made me wonder about the W124. I know the W210 bolts are notorious...so I replaced them all. But the bolts on my 91 300D have been there for 24 years and who knows what stress they've undergone. I can replace them all for $65. Should I? Or do they have no history of problems even after many years?

__________________
14 E250 Bluetec 4Matic "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 154k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 172k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver, 142k mi, wastegate conversion

19 Honda CR-V EX 61k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

I don't think 124 bolts are suspect at all. I still have mine on my 87, and they are fine.

__________________
1959 Gravely LI, 1963 Gravely L8, 1973 Gravely C12
1982 380SL
1978 450 SEL 6.9 euro restoration at 63% and climbing
1987 300 D
2005 CDI European Delivery
2006 CDI Handed down to daughter
2007 GL CDI. Wifes

On my 210, I had to drill out eight, count 'em 8, wheel bolts. the 210 has a special problem because the bolt design is crazy bad...the thin neck is highly stressed when they're under the wrench. And the torque spec is too high, given the design of the bolt.

Never had an example of a broken wheel bolt on my 124, 201 or 123, not ever. I recently replaced all the bolts on the 190 because they were getting ugly, but no breaks.

I had W210 wheels on my 190D with the W210 bolts and that was awful. My hubs were screwed up so they would become stuck frequent;y. I eventually replaced 3 of the hubs and used the standard style lug bolts then later went away from those rims entirely.

IIRC, if you have a car that needs the flush mount bolts, Classic Center's eBay sells an updated version for not too bad.

__________________
Current: 1975 450SEL, 83 300D, 88 Yugo GVX, 90 300D OM603 swap, 91 F150 4.6 4v swap, 93 190E Sportline LE 3.0L M104 swap, 93 190E Sportline LE Megasquirt, 03 Sprinter, 06 E500 4Matic wagon.

I've not had problems with the long-necked 210 wheel bolts but make sure I keep them clean, occasionally add a very light coat of anti-seize to the threads, always tighten with a torque wrench (and re-check occasionally), and never let anyone else touch the bolts.

__________________

"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970