87 300E side panel question
 

My 87 does not have side skirt panels! It's got door bumper strips instead. Can the regular side skirt panels replace the strips? It looks like it's a standard swap. Is it?

Thanks
Jason
PS I'll do a search on this one too

Jason, yes it is. When you remove the strips, they will reveal holes, into which you can put the plastic clips for the cladding. Under the cladding on the doors, you will put the 'rocker panels' (aka side skirts) which are supposed to flow with the shape of the cladding. Just be sure to take your time removing the cladding from the donor car, so you don't brake any of the plastic clips.

You have to paint the side skirt in a color maching your paint too, not necessarily the same color. Part and painting will not be cheap though.

The side skirt and its color nuance apart from the body is characteristic for w124, which has been imitated by Lexus.
Btw Lexus's imitation of MB car makes me wonder whether some MB designers have been recruited by Lexus. The similarity of some Lexus cars to Merc is obvious.

Jason:

My 300CE has the plastic cladding. The 300TE does not.

I am not too crazy about the cladding.

If you park your car "too" close to the curb and you have a passenger on the right side, or the curb is "too" high (older neighborhoods in L.A. have really high curbs, reflecting the the fact that cars used to sit real high off the ground on the old days) the cladding can scrape the curb. If you try to close the door, it will snag on the curb and possibly break the attachment points inside the cladding. Then the cladding will be loose and look like hell. The only repair is to get a new cladding.

Bruno Sacco got a lot of ribbing for the cladding.

I prefer the cleaner look of the cladless W124.

Just my 0.02 centavos worth.

you meant 2 centavos? :)

Lower Body Cladding Panels
 

I agree that they are a pain with high Los Angeles curbs. I learned to deposit riders at driveway entrances and then park at curbside. I assumed that the panels clip into the same points that the strips use. Wanted to make sure before checking out options for w124 panels. Not sure if changing to panels is all that important. I want to see what the car looks like after its been set on lower springs and sport shocks before doing anything cosmetic. I kind of appreciate the contrast of the Arctic White paint and all the dark gray and black trim pieces. It all works together to give the car a purposeful yet sleek look. Maybe it just seems cleaner to me since the panels on my old coupe were such a pain with the long doors getting caught in the dirt on high curbs.

Thanks
Jason

I like the cladding. Depending on the paint color, contrasting color on the cladding dresses up a 124 nicely, imo. Especially the coupe.

EJ, your red CE looks fine with the solid paint scheme. I don't think I'd like the look of mine if it were solid burgundy/garnet. I just think the tan/sand/gold whatever it is cladding gives a handsome contrast.

And I did the too close to a curb trick (on an angle) last summer. The gf got in the pass. door and after I sat down. she couldn't close the door without popping the rear door nipple out of the clip. Fortunately, it was on grass and no scratches and with a tap of the fist it popped back in. whew!;)

Can the cladding be converted to the rubber strips?
 

My 92 300TE has the claddiing. I'd prefer the rubber strips. I wonder is it possible to retrofit? One problem I can think of is that the paint below the cladding may have a different shade as it was not exposed to the sun?
Thanks, Bruno

Hey Bruno, I'll trade you my strips for your cladding!

Zack

89 TE

I think you're right. In my former 1991 420SEL the contrasting cladding looked fine because it lessened the car's "bulk"

The 300CE is smaller, so the contrasting cladding does not really add, or subtract, much.

You're lucky that you were able to pop the cladding back in place. When it happened to my 420SEL the plastic strip, inside the cladding, to which the clip itself attaches broke off. So I had to use epoxy to glue the cladding back on. It was a somewhat unelegant solution to a potentially expensive problem. The glued spot, however, was invisible and it held for many years.

In an article recently published on MERCEDES ENTHUSIAST, it mentioned that the cladding was one of Sacco's a design features. According to the interview, the cladding would first appear on the more expensive cars and then eventually it would makes its way down the line as each "lesser" model was facelifted. I think that the 300CE got cladding before the 300E--reflecting the 300CE's more expensive "pedigree."

The cladding on the Benzes is more discreet than the cladding used on Pontiacs. Still, I don't like it. I prefer the cleaner look of plain old sheetmetal.

i like the cladding on our CE. We have a black car with the grey cladding and grey leather interior.

my son's very dark grey 300e doesn't have cladding and he has dark tinted windows so that looks good.

my lighter grey 260e doesn't have it... i don't think cladding would help it. it looks good the way it is..