123 Door Seals - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

#1 03-11-2003, 10:42 PM

Anyone replaced these? Is it fairly straightforward? my front door seals are pretty well shredded. Another question - when looking for replacement seals, the parts catalogs want to know if my chassis is "pre 067049" or "067050 and above" - how do I find this out? Probably a dumb newbie question, but I'm a dumb newbie, so be gentle

Larry Delor · #2 03-11-2003, 11:03 PM

Take a look at your VIN number. The last six digits are the ones in question here. Example 123.133.12.xxxxxx

Hope this helps,

-Larry

irianjim · #3 03-12-2003, 01:34 AM

Andy,

I've also got an 81 300D and I am in the process of replacing my door seals as we speak. I ordered the complete set from Phil at Mercedesshop.

I am not a very talented DIY, and this is my first real project on the car that I am attempting to do myself. So far, I've found a couple of glitches that you may want to prepare for.

1. The snaps that hold the weatherstriping on are pretty fragile. I broke a few as I removed the old strip from the door, so I've ordered all of them and expect them in tomorrow. They are pretty cheap. You should make sure you have them before you start.

2. The weatherstrip goes into a steel channel all around the door. When I removed the old one, I found that the steel strip channel at the bottom of the door had some rust on it. I had to cut take a steel wheel to them and get rid of the rust and repaint the strip. I was finally able to repaint it today as it was finally warm enough for painting.

As far as which strips to order, Phil can tell you easily. He gave me good service on the strips and they were much cheaper than the dealer. They seem to be of high quality. Ask him to label or tag which strip is for which door when he sends them to you. Believe it or not, it took me awhile to figure that out.

As of now, I've taken the old strip off of my right rear door and am waiting the new clips to put on the new weatherstrip. I'll let you know how this goes. This is taking me a few days to learn and hopefully will go pretty fast after I struggle with the first one.

Anyway, hope this helps.

Jim

#4 03-12-2003, 07:26 AM

Larry - thanks, I never knew how to read the VIN till now

Jim - thanks and good luck with yours - I would love to hear how the rest of it goes for you.

samiam4 · #5 03-12-2003, 01:23 PM

irianjim

Let me know how it goes!! Did you order the Meyle aftermarket or purchase factory seals? Ie $35 or $70 seals???
If they are aftermarket- I'd be currious on how fit and finish is.

I did the passenger door with a factory seal. It's easy and yes order 5 new plastic rivets! A little adhesive around the door strap and the rest of the seal pushs into the opening. Benzs have the easiest design I've ever seen!!

Michael

#6 03-12-2003, 02:47 PM

I did all four doors about 1.5 years ago. get the little plastic holders cause you won't be able to reuse them as they will break off after all these years. Also the one thing I noticed was factory seals have a fabric cover on the top of the rear door seal at the point that first makes contact. My rt. rear came with this fabric, my left rear did not. Both had the same fit, but the one without the fabric has started to show wear at this one point. This may be the difference between factory and after-market parts.
As far as the wind noise it went from new american car whistle to zero, zilch, nada wind noise at full steam ahead highway speeds. It was really hard to believe that a 20 year old car could still fit that tight. After thinking about it I remember my old 67 200d had no wind noise at speed and people always remarked about how solid the doors felt when they shut them.

engatwork · #7 03-12-2003, 07:27 PM

I just recently replaced the one on my drivers door on the 240D. Not much to it if you take your time. The one I replaced had a section missing about mid-ways up the front side and it would whistle like all get out at 70+. Made for an unpleasant freeway ride.

#8 03-13-2003, 08:15 AM

Thanks all for the replies - anyone know what the "official" name of the plastic clips is? I guess I ought to order some right away...

Jim - I have the exact same issue - chunks missing on both front seals about midway up... sounds like the door is half-open at freeway speeds, it's unnerving

#9 03-13-2003, 10:33 AM

Call Phill at fastlane from this site. He can give you the correct part number for the little nylon clips. I would have to look at the doors but if I remember it right it took more for the front doors than the rears.

irianjim · #10 03-15-2003, 08:27 PM

Andy,

Well, I did put the weatherstrip on my right rear door on Wednesday before I drove down to Austin to see my son. It was kinda a good news/bad news scenario, but I am sure most of my problems were due to my inexperience with this.

The good news is that I did get the strip on and it worked just fine once I figured out what I was doing. I managed to rip it at the top across the door by the upper corner because I was trying to pull it up the channel - bad idea. I finally figured out that the way to do it is it to try and roll them in and finally push them in using a flat blade such as a screwdriver, starting at the top upper corner. You should use one with a rubber tip so you don't poke a hole in the weatherstrip, though. There is actually a tool for this I am told, but I don't know what it is. You have to be careful or you will put a hole in it, though.

Disconnecting the door stop was easy to slip the weatherstrip around it.

The other problem I had was that it appears that the weatherstrip was a little long (marginally) on the inner part of the door where it goes next to the b pillar. I think I can glue it down and it will be ok, though. Perhaps I stretched it - I don't know, but it will be ok. If the one for the left door is long as well, I'll know it is the weatherstrip itself and not because I pulled on it.

Anyway, I put them on but did not glue any of the strip in the chanels or on the inner part of the door. I figured I would let it set in and then glue it later. I wanted to see how it did on the way to Austin. At any rate, the seal eliminated all the wind noise and the car was very quiet all the way down and back. I do know that I have to replace the driver's door seal as it does whistle when the climate control fan is on. However, i didn't run the cc any during the trip (the fuse keeps tripping - another story), so the strip on the rear window works fine (even though I broke it into two pieces). However, it didn't matter as it sits in the rail up top where I broke it and there was no whistling noise. If I need to put some glue up there to connect it, it will be an easy fix. It didn't seem to matter as far as the insulation goes and it was totally quiet.

Bottom line is that it was pretty easy to do, once I figured it out. I am the most unskilled DIY in the entire western world, but I am starting to do things on this car as it is giving me a great deal of satisfaction once it is done.

Good luck. Hope this helps.

Jim

irianjim · #11 03-15-2003, 08:30 PM

Michael,

I got the aftermarket seals - but not sure of the brand. I got them from Mercedeshop and they were about $70 apiece. Pretty good quality, though.

Jim

#12 03-15-2003, 09:09 PM

Thanks Jim for the followup on your seals. Anyone have a recommendation for what adhesive to use in the spots where the seal is outside the channel (around the door stop, etc)?

samiam4 · #13 03-16-2003, 12:56 AM

Belvario,

Glad to hear you got the strip installed. I think your just pulling on it a little too much. Decide about how much of the seal goes where.. may have to "bunch it a little". Use weatherstripping adhesive(you can find it at autozone) by 3M. I can be used to re-glue the molded end too.

irianjim,

Jim, I think Merlye(sp?) is the aftermarket supplier, but I had in my mind they were about $40 where mercedes was $77 for my passenger front door W123.130.

Michael

#14 03-17-2003, 01:34 PM

Anyone know offhand how many clips it takes to do both front doors? I'm at the office and I want to order them, can't run out and check :/

#15 03-17-2003, 06:02 PM

I just did the driver front door on my 240D yesterday. 5 clips. Not sure if other models are different.

Incidentally, the whole project was quite easy. And the results are amazing--no wind noise!