Hood Emblem Replacement??
 

Is there a safe way to remove the hood emblem on 560 SL without paint damage?? Is it held on with 2 pins and 2 grommets??

Thanks.....

jtu
'89 560 SL

A Credit Card Can Help...
 

I saw a friend use a credit card of perhaps it was just a heavy plastic ID type card to do this on a 450SL years ago. He just carefully used the plastic card to lift up enough to get cloth under a flathead screwdriver an that was pretty much it. I think it will be best to use a new plastic grommet for the new one...they're really cheap. Gut Luck!

Oh...there's only ONE plastic grommet
 

you kinda just work it around with the plastic till it's loose enough for cloth and screwdriver and eventually it'll pop out of the grommet. Being careful...it might take 10 min.

Yikes! A screwdriver? Try dental floss.

On my 1990 500SL I tried 10 times, on the 11th it just poped off. My finger nails must have grown just enough to be able to grab it. Once the seal was broken I just rocked it back and forth pulling up gently. I would have used the dental floss idea if I knew it then
The old one was all silver, like it was sand blasted, no blue at all. Pushed the new one in , $13 at the dealer.
O how I wish all my projects were that simple.

Hood Emblem Replacement??
 

Thanks for the ideas, I'll give it a try.

jtu

Emblem replacement.....
 

Got my hood emblem changed....used the credit card technique to loosen it, the used a teflon spatula to get more leverage to remove the old one. Use rubbing compound and wax to clean up the paint underneath. Replaced with new emblem...looks great!!!

jtu
'89 560 SL

But....
 

...will you ever be able to use that card in an atm again?

Glad you got 'er done!

This is the safest way to remove the emblem. Dental floss is extremely strong, won't scratch or break and the emblem comes off undamaged. Place a blanket or thick towel over the hood as these emblems can come off at speed and land on the hood on the way down.Just get a length of floss, double it over, slide under emblem and pull upwards.

Old and new style emblems Causing confusion.
 

There are 2 style emblems used on SL's. Ealyier SL's use the newer style as a replacement so a 107 may have eather style. I'm not sure when the new style was introduced, most likly with the introduction of the 129. Early style emblems are very difficult to remove because they have a barbed pin that fits into the plastic grommet. It is unlikely these can be removed with dental floss. I have attached pictures showing the difference in the old and new emblems. The way you can tell if you have an old style is that the old style has a painted and wider star.

The old style is no longer available from MB. In my efforts to remove an old style emblem, I was sucseful ith one car and I slightly bent the emblem on the second (mostly because I dident care because I was replacing it).

My proceedure for the old style removal is to open the hood and remove the hood latch. With the latch removed you can see the barb and grommet through the hood latch hole. I push on this with a rod and keep working it while rocking it up top with my other hand (for about an hour) it will finally yield to presistance.

I believe the proceedure of the day was to drill it out through the bottom and replace the emblem and grommet. That would have been a cost effective method 20 years ago, but today those original NOS 107 emblems are getting very difficult to find and are selling for 3 times the price of the new style emblem. I paid $50.00 for the one in the photo. They generally sell in the $25 to $50 range, as compared to $8 to $16 price range for the new ones.

John Roncallo

Guess I'm Lucky...
 

My 88 560 has a MINT looking old-style emblem on it! And they are much better looking and more detailed than the new replacements. They are also made of metal...not plastic.

Well this is all true, but remember they are not as aerodynamic and they are not as light. I'm willing to bet that you will get an extra 1/100 of a mile/gallon by installing the new one. So very carefully remove your old style mint one and send it to me. I will send you a band new never been installad on a car new style hood emblem.

Honest John

Gosh John....
 

That's amount of fuel savings in today's market could really add up! I better get rid of that thing ASAP...LOL.

Hey I'm only here to help.

Honest John

Hopefully not too stupid of a question....
I just had the hood repainted and need to mount a new hood emblem on my my '85 pre-MOPF. Is the grommet set first from the top of the hood and the pin pushed in, or is the grommet pushed over the inserted pin from the bottom side of the hood? Tx, Jeffrey