w124 side skirts, rocker panel interchange?
 

Hi all,
Looking to paint the 300td and I'm toying with some visual changes. One of which is possibly adding lower rocker cladding from a later series car.

Do the later sill covers work on an early car? Are the mounting points available in the earlier chassis? Im not interested in doing the door and lower cladding, just the sill/rocker cover. Anything I should know?

thanks

Another question if anyone can share their thoughts. I would like to paint the lower rubber cladding /seal on the bottom edge of the doors and fender body color, possibly also the door impact strips. Other than adding a flex agent to the paint, any concerx or negative experience that you'd like to share?

I like the look of the rocker cladding.. but I also like the older bumpers with the black rubber. Personally i think I looks better than having the whole lower painted a solid color. On my 95 the po painted the lower a satin black. Looks good on gloss black car.


As far as the mounting interchangeable.. I would imagine everything is the same. The w124 didn’t change too much over the years aside from the facelift and plastic body covers

When I painted my 190D, I added the sill cladding from a later car. (Mostly to cover my amateur welding.) It was tough to find the panels, and the clips cost a bundle. But there were no special "mount points." I suspect the same would be true of the 124's.

Thanks for the input. I'm torn on the color scheme. the 300td has the old style but with the body in silver, the black trim etc. Contrasts nicely. The cabrio has the two tone finish with no black trim. Both look good. Unfortunately due to age, my rear bumler cover on the 300td broke and I had to obtain another. The only reasonable replacement was an AMG gen 1 cover, whjch I painted body color, but left the impact strip in bkack. Bought a new front bumper cover and painted body color while leaving the impact strip in black. It looks good, but with the body color bumper covers, the lines of the side of the car look odd with the bkack rubberized sill and black lower door rubber trim.


I'm thinking, tbat if I leave the imoact strips on the bumpers in bkack, I should also leave the middle of the door impact strios in black, but paint the lower door and sills in body color to tie them into the bumpers. Will post some pics to demo what I'm contemplating to get your thoughts

drilling required
 

Well after a thorough inspection of the 300td sills there are no existing mounting point or holes. The plastic sills from the later cars seem to have at least 7 mounting points the come up from the underside into the body. Thus drilling into the body sems to be required in order to retrofit to tge earlier bodies. I have little appetite for introducing new opportunities for rust and will pass on drilling.

Curious to know if the plastic cladding sill covers have any effect on rust, do they trap dirt and exacerbate the problem or are they an effective deterrent? Gluing is always an option, byt my primary concern is the rust effect. Thoughts, observations???

I considered adding lower cladding to my 87, even acquired a full set in good condition. But after looking at the car more critically, I decided to leave off the cladding. I like the original look. BTW, painting the rubber trim pieces will be a challenge. Thought about that too, but the body paint people I talked to said don't do it. Paint won't stick well and in a hot climate the rubber is pretty soft and pliable and that doesn't work well with paint.

I'm trying to fully understand the info in this thread. I have an '87 300TD and I'm considering adding the panels. I gather from this thread that:

• If you have the cladding and the clips from a later model wagon they will mount using the same holes as the rubber strips on the early model
  
  
• The rocker panels (or sills) below the cladding do not interchange and/or mount easily.

Assuming those statements are true then it is possible to add the cladding to an early model w124, but the early model rockers will not match the cladding. Is that correct?

Has anyone installed the cladding on an early model w124 without also updating the rockers and have pics? Or figured out a way to attach the later model rocker panels to complete the update?

thanks