Any feedback on Uro Door Seals W123?
 

I started a thread on Lemforder door seals for the W123.

Has anyone actually purchased and used Uro Door Seals ? I see a lot of folks bash Uro products, but the $64K question is "has anyone really bought the door seals (less than $35 bucks a pop) and had a good, bad, or ugly experience?

I am guessing that the Mercedes' seals are NOS, so they have aged to some degree. The Lemforder's are about double the price of the Uro's, and I am guessing that the Lemforder's may or maynot be NOS. Not sure if they are really making them in Germany or not these days, or even making them so these could be leftover NOS.

Since Uro actually has a "usable" web page, I am going to contact them with my market reseach results and I will post my questions and their answers. Maybe Uro's are getting a bad rap? OR, maybe they need to re-vamp their quality control ? Personally, I hate being the guinie pig, especially since 4 Uro seals are around $150 smackers vs. $240 smackers for the Lemforders and Mercedes are around $800.

Please post your experiences and news at 11 ...:)

With most things in life you get what you pay for. I would not spend your money on anything sold under the URO brand. Having said that, I would opt for the Lemfoerder door seals before spending the money for genuine MB door seals.

Thanks for the input. After tinkering with Uro's webpage, I was finally able to get the following message thru -- one has to break-up the message into chunks since Uro's web page only accepts 100 digits or so. I guess they might be tired of the ranting by unhappy customers ? Here is what I sent:

Hello,

I am a MB fanatic. I have a 1983 W123. I am looking for door seals. I am a frequent flyer on the Mercedes forums, and I see a lot of members simply bash your products. Can you tell me about your door seals, their warranty, any customer feedback, et cet. It makes little sense to buy a product where the quality is suspect. Further, pricing is a consideration. I know that the Lemforders are around $65-70 a piece yet your door seals are around $30-$35 a piece. And Mercedes OEM, they are silly at $200 a piece. Further, I doubt Mercedes is still making theirs; rather, they are NOS, so they have aged to some degree. If Mercedes is still having some made, I am guessing they are being made in China, Argentina, et cet. Lemforder could not verify true German-made products, so I am guessing they are re-packaging Chinese made goods. I am a fan of real German made MB parts. There is something to the quality. So, can you tell me where your door seals are really manufactured? I read your web page and advertising, however, that really does no one any good if I go foward and buy your products only to find they are ill fitting or poorly made. I will demand a refund, and because I am member of all the MB forums, I will simply join the ranks of those who bashed your products. I can say that the tie rods on my MB were replaced by the prior owner about 2 years ago, and they are Uro brand. And, the rubber is completley rotted all the way around and one could say they are junk. I owned a set of Lemforders with some MB items for front end items on my prior MB and they lasted for years and years without any signs of any wear, so there is something to be said about the bashing Uro products receive since I have at least seen one instance where there is a real differnce in quality and wear.

So, please let me know and please share with me any comments. I am getting my car painted, and it's almost done so I really do need new door seals.

Thanks,"


Let's see if I get any response or a real response. I am hoping to get something a little more than broken English where I am told to re-vist the web page to see Uro's warranty, et cet. So far, that has been my experience with Ebay on a few items.

Any feedback on Uro Door Seals W123?
 

After all the tales of woe posted to this & other forums about URO, to even consider their parts, or to waste the time to try to contact them, is a comical exercise. And a futile one.

Lemforder is a true MB OEM and their parts are generally fine. And several orders of magnitude better than UROjunk.

Yes, they're noisy from my experience.

Well, I got a "meaningful" response, and here it is from Uro:

"Thank you for taking the time to write us with your concerns. The overall
quality of our products has significantly changed in the last couple years.
We have 4 highly skilled engineers at our headquarters in Simi Valley, CA
that are constantly testing and improving different attributes of our
products on a daily basis. This process does take time for the results to
filter down to the end user that is actually installing our products, but we
know it will not go unnoticed.

To address your specific concern with our W123 door seals, we have been
selling them for over 15 years and have sold thousands with no issues or
problems reported. Our W123 door seals are manufactured in Thailand by a
factory also producing seals for OEM's, Febi, and Meyle just to name a few.
If you are unhappy with them we will make sure you are refunded through the
distributor where you purchased them with no questions asked.

I am also a MB fanatic and can tell you that our company cares deeply about
our products meeting your expectations and strive to do just that.

Customer Support
sales@uroparts.com"

So, the question is should I be the guinie pig ?

Hmmmm ...................

On one hand I say its a simple door seal, how could they mess it up. On the other hand a friend brought over a URO windshield seal for his 280SL, it fit the glass, and it got the frame, but it couldn't accommodate the trim that presses in to lock it in place. We ordered up a dealer part at 5x the cost and had it together in 20 minutes lol.

However I'm more apt to drop big bucks on a vintage SL than on a 123. $800 for door seals on $3-5k cars is unreasonable.

How about picking up 1 seal and giving it a shot. $32 or however much they are for URO isn't a huge loss. Please post your results if you do. If I end up picking one up ill post my results.

My dads 123 needs at least two done and weve been eyeing the UROs but the windshield seals incident put me off.

It sounds like you've bought some URO parts in the past, like me, and have had better results than the forum hype on average. Which makes me want to try the door seals. The only URO stuff I've had fail instantly was anything with a bearing in it like we did a carrier on a friends car and a belt tensioner and pulley on my 60X and both lasted a matter of weeks. In both cases we got full refunds and bought replacements at the dealer.

Often the issue with URO products relates directly to rubber or polymer parts, they seem to be just as cheap as they can be.

My rule of thumb is that if it's (1) a relatively inexpensive part that (2) is pretty easy to install and (3) is not mission-critical, it's worth a shot.

I wouldn't use a URO tensioner, because it's mission-critical. But I would buy a replacement roof mobile antenna gasket (208/210), since it's cheap ($26), easy to change and meaningless (not to mention that you can't buy it separately from the dealer).

I bought a transmission mount that was URO and it was replaced in just over a year. I'm not sure when it had failed, but as it was after a year I had no recourse for the junk part...and yes, it was the rubber part that failed.

If you decide to go that route, do be sure to follow up.

Good luck.

You're going to notice a noise difference between a genuine MB door seal and URO. Trust me I've seen it. Inside the cabin it's a lot different with URO vs MB seals. You'll see.

The platitudes a company like URO spews and the realities experienced by dozens of URO buyers here on a wide variety of URO parts should scare you far far away

Why play with fire?

Well, I am going foward and buying one Lemforder and one Uro, different doors and I will see for myself. Worst case is that I am out $35 bucks and about an hour or so or labor on a weekend. Overall, I could not find one person who said anything positive about Uro products. If that is the case, how can they stay in business ???????????

OMG You!!! YOU are keeping them in business & validating their business model.

*facepalm* *facepalm* *facepalm* *facepalm*


I think ÜROcati is a Yurro Yuser & booster.

While I usually stay away from URO products I do have a URO windshield seal in my 240D that I installed about 3 years ago and it is still holding up just fine. I got it with the understanding that it would be coming out again in the near future when I start stripping down the 240D for bodywork and had to expiation of it being a durable product. That being said I am impressed at how it still is soft and looks like new however my car is a garage queen and has spent maybe 1 week outside overnight in the past 3 years combined (mostly during the move from Mississippi to Delaware) so your results will most likely vary. I couldn't see dropping $200 for a seal that I knew was only going to be in the car for 6 years tops so I got the $35 at the time cheapo seal.

+1. Here maybe 2 or 3, considering how many folks are desirous of Üro parts despite the stories & warnings.

Well, has anyone actually bought a door seal for a W123 and if so, what was the experience? Can every concievable part made by Uro be total junk ? From various forum members comments, I would never buy a suspension part of any kind from Uro. I would never buy a bearing or critical part which bears stress or movement either. I have heard a mix bag about windshield seals, some good some bad. However, I still have not heard a peep about door seals. Anyone ... ?

The window seal is the first and only URO product I have ever knowingly purchased so it isn't a habit by any stretch. If it fails then its no big deal since it will just cause a leak which again is no big deal for a car that is always stored inside. Now a URO flex disk is another matter... :D

Intentionally installing URO = intentional vehicular desecration

LOL ...:)

I ordered all four uro door seals a several months ago and installed them. I didn't know anything about the quality of uro parts.... As with any new seal, the doors are harder to close. Even after a few months a real effort is required. One seal had to be exchanged because it was starting to tear after a few weeks of use. My seals HAD to be replaced, and I couldn't spend a grand on the Mercedes seals.

Excluding one which started to tear, how are they? It is troubling to hear that one only lasted a few weeks, however.

I would say that they are decent. The factory seals were made of a different material that felt a little better. The uro's fit ok - nothing bad about them. I think that the rubber used on the front part of the door near the stops/checks is a little hard, which causes the door to be hard to shut. I know that new factory seals would be better, but for the cost I think that the uro's are a decent alternative.

The only URO parts I bought were exhaust hangers for the 190E and air cleaner mounts for my 300D. I gave the exhaust hangers to my mom for her use in her 300TE. Not 2 weeks later the left side was hanging lower than the right already, and true enough the mount broke that quick. Put on a simple rubber donut hanger and added a zip tie for good measure. So far it's been holding longer than the URO mount.

I guess for door seals the longevity factor also has to be tested, not just the initial fit and finish. But from what others have said they didn't last long.

Any alternative to the uro door seals? I paid $1900 for the car. It seems silly to spend about $1100 on door seals. That is what the dealer quoted me anyway.

I agree it's silly. I called a few dealers, and the cheapest is in the ballpart of $200; however, by the time you add taxes and shipping, your at $900 easy.

I am really perplexed by the idea that virtually every single item made by Uro is simply junk. However, that is sure the flavor of things.

Hmmm ...

Because its true and they are utter garbage. Don't get sucked in by the sales pitch.

The only sales pitch needed is real user reviews. And they are beyond appalling. Stay away.

Ps2cho ... glad to see you have joined the anti-junk-parts crusade !! Welcome aboard !

Hey, my Uro flex disks (front) is still in excellent condition and I installed it 3/2011 and it has over 65k miles on it. Still no signs of wear. Also, just scrolled through my list of parts replaced and realized my strut mounts are also Uro, put them on 2/2013, they have 17k on them and haven't had a problem yet. Though 17k isn't really a lot, I can report back later or post when they begin to fail. Only manufacturer or parts I've had problems with is with a company called Meistersatz that makes the coolant level sensor and the company that makes the heater valves....I think its MTC. These 2 parts have failed on me twice within months of installation, I even wrote Meistersatz an email and they had no comment. Other than that, I will keep a close watch on my Uro parts. And as you can see from the dates of installation plus the mileage on the part since installing, I drive a lot.

I bought a URO driver's door seal, but haven't installed yet since the 1984 with the bad seal hasn't returned home yet. It looks OK in the package and will certainly be better than the cracked one I will replace, and the price was right. I am happy when anyone makes parts for my classic cars, and I have installed other URO products on mine and haven't seen a failure yet.

They have a vested interest in making quality products. If not, people will return them to the distributor, which will cost them in refunds or losing listings. If parts fail, I return them, even if it costs more in postage and hassle than it is worth. That is the only way to train manufacturers. If nothing returns, they assume everything is fine.

Knowingly and deliberately putting URO parts (particularly critical parts like flex discs) on one's Mercedes is, in my opinion, intentional desecration of the vehicle. Why would you put parts that you know to be sub-standard on your car?

Would you install appliances in your house that are not up to code?

Would you construct your house out of sub-standard building materials because they were cheaper than spec-compliant materials?

So, why would you do this to your vehicle?

I've got a nice pile of dog poop that I could package and make look like pumpkin pie. That doesn't mean that it's quality, or edible for that matter. But the price would be right !!

MB and many OEMs make most all the parts for your classic cars that you'll ever need, without having to stoop to buying outright junk.

This is exactly the point. The junk manufacturers have a vested interest in NOT making quality products, because suckers continue to buy their junk, which they mark up at 900% higher than their cost to manufacture, and then they laugh all the way to the bank. And most people don't bother to send the junk back -- what's the point? It's junk, and people want their car fixed, and don't want to waste a single penny more than they have to, to get the job done. So why waste money sending junk back to a manufacturer, when all they will do is continue to pump out junk?

When you're rolling in dough, and your business model seemingly works better than your wildest dreams imagined it could, then what's the incentive to change?

Why do you think I'm on a jihad against these purveyors of junk? And against the vendors who deliberately and knowingly sell it? And against the car owners who ignorantly (and sometimes knowingly) buy the junk, and then brag about how great these junk products are?

Many vendors don't even defend the quality or reputation of said manufacturers. They openly admit that they carry junk because there's demand for cheap parts. Someone built it and they came :(

Sixto
87 300D

This TUT (totally unhinged troll) thinks that the vendors and distributors of these parts are the most egregious offenders.