Something worth checking on your W123's...
 

I was under my '85 300D this past Saturday looking at my flex discs. I found they were OK but then I saw my rear fender wells and they were caked with dirt and debris. It was especially bad at the inside of the lip. I never noticed them when just changing the tires or doing anything else. For any of you who have a W123 it might be worth looking into before it's too late and it starts rusting. I cleaned mine out in time and there was a lot of crud. Its worth looking in to while the weather is getting better.

bump

AGREED.. the most obvious place for dirt accumulation IS in the wheel wells. However, it seems to be overlooked more often than not. The best way I have found on all of my cars is to use Automotive strength Simple Green, spraying it generously behind fenders and throughout the wheel wells. Let it soak a little bit, and then BAM! Pressure wash all that crud out! Some cars have been undercoated, in which case im not sure if its safe to use the simple green on it, but on all of my CA cars, seeing as how we have very mild winters, dont have any extra undercoating.
Once all the crus is out its fairly effortless to keep them that way. Just spray in there every wash and youre set.

I wouldn't have noticed had I not been under the car to look at my flex discs. I thought it would be a great idea to share with the rest of the members here.

Here in the northeast, you have to take it to one of those do it yourself car washes, with the pressure washer, nearly every time you take it out in the winter. Those fenderwells are a perfect place for the salt to sit and work its magic:mad: :mad:

This applies to the W126 as well, I spray mine out every time I wash my car.

Most of those do it yourself spray car washes are recylcing their water now.
Doesn't that mean in the winter you would be spraying the salt all over your car?:eek:

Yep, that is exactly what it would mean, if the place recycled their water. But, after rinsing the car off, it is prefectly clean without any haze or residue. So, I am quite confident that they do not recycle their water. Hell, for $0.50 per minute they can certainly afford the cost of fresh water!:p

great idea.

sometimes in the winter i take mine to a self serve pressure wash and the only thing i wash is the underneath and the fender wells.
a regular car wash won't get the salt and sand out.

Oh, what the hell, you are there anyway, might as well do the topside as well and get to admire it for the first five miles.:D

While your on the subject (kind of).

There is venting behind the side windows on the C Piller on the 123. Where does it drain? I know mine was full of debries when I washed it, so it went somewhere.

yeah, lol - usually its covered about 5 minutes after you leave the car wash...
:eek:


this thread is inspiring me to do some detailing :p

Did you look in your trunk?

If you're looking for hidden dirt and crud, remove the front wheel well liners (4 or 5 screws hold them in) and check behind them in the area just above the rocker panel. Dead leaves, dirt and moisture from the fender well drain tends to accumulate in the place where you'd want it least -- right around the front jacking points! Many a Benz has died of rust due to garbage composting in this area.

Russ M
'82 300cd
'82 300td

Great tip Russ! It's well worth checking out as well.