108 Door seal sources?

[vandor]

Hi,

I am looking at a '72 280se, and all the door seals are shot. I heard that OEM seals are ~$240 each.
Are there any aftermarket seals that work, or is OEM is the only way to go? If I buy OEM, should I get it from the local dealer (I may get a discount, as I have a parts business), or the Classic Center?
Thanks,

Csaba in Texas

[JMela]

Miller's has rubber packages for the 108 and others (4 doors, f & r glass, trunk latch and mirror gaskets for right around $1k. Not sure if these are factory or not, might be worth a call.

[EurekaBenz]

I used the ones offered on eBay by a guy in Turkey. Great price and nice fit. He also does trunk seals and exterior mouldings and other items for the W108's as well.
dws

[vandor]

Originally Posted by EurekaBenz

I used the ones offered on eBay by a guy in Turkey. Great price and nice fit. ...

They fit OK? I heard that they don't fit well, glad to hear otherwise.
Thanks,

Csaba

[tram]

Originally Posted by vandor

They fit OK? I heard that they don't fit well, glad to hear otherwise.
Thanks,

Csaba

I've used tons of his stuff, and have a huge load of parts coming from him including w110 door and trunk seals, and W108/9 long door/ trunk seals.

One of our posters here had real issues with a headliner from this guy, along with aftermarket windshield seals from another seller, but that hasn't been my experience. Of course, I've been doing this for a living for 35 years so that may help. The seller's name is Sellahattin Turna, and he sells under W114selo on eBay.

[twinockchef]

My experience has been that all after market rubber is extremely dubious in its quality. Also it is hit and miss if will fit properly and its longevity will be short at best. The OEM rubber is expensive because it is of a higher quality. Cheap rubber is cheap. Don't be a cheap scape.
Get a Mercedes Club membership and the Classic Center will give you a 15% discount.

[werminghausen]

I had tried the Turkey seal. To be honest they are bad seals. It took me hours to make it fit and in the end it is wasted money. I ripped the cheap seal out after one week and ordered from Mercedes. Best fit.

[gingerkid]

I've seen the front and back windshield seals on sale at Rock Auto's website for like $40 each. Its aftermarket and i dont know the quality.

I'm looking too and namely the seals that go around the door windows, mine are probably original and practically all worn away.

[ATATEXAN]

For what it is worth I bought seals for my W201 16 Valve from Performance Products. Around $300 as I recall but they fit perfectly.

[tram]

Originally Posted by werminghausen

I had tried the Turkey seal. To be honest they are bad seals. It took me hours to make it fit and in the end it is wasted money. I ripped the cheap seal out after one week and ordered from Mercedes. Best fit.

I'll report back on how these latest ones fit. I've had no issues before, though. Usually, Turkish- made MB parts are reasonably good in my experience, but I don't doubt that this could change at any time.

[werminghausen]

Did someone try the rear door seals from Turkey.
The front ones are total trash I can confirm but I have still the rear ones on the shelf and if they kind of fit I'll try and install them.

[alabbasi]

I think that a lot of the times, aftermarket seals will work just fine if you have someone who knows how to install them. I had the glass replaced in my 6.9, the guy who came to do the seal could not make it work so he took it to another guy who installed it in about 40 minutes. I never had a problem after it was installed.

OE parts will certainly fit better and will be of a higher quality but you certainly have to pay for what you get.