Hey Strife,

I'm getting ready to do a valve job on my 380sl with about 200k, and I plan on replacing those junky, plastic guides with the metal ones while I'm at it. In fact I have three of the latter here in front of me.

I wouldn't worry too much about the timing chain catching on them any more than i'd worry about it catching on the plastic guides, as there's really no place for it to catch. And the metal can't wear off because hard rubber is bonded to the upper surface, where the chains rides. What I was a little concerned about was the possibility that the rubber could wear off or separate. But the Meyle rep assured me that they've been making and selling these things in Europe for quite a while, and nothing like that has ever been reported.

Whether that's true or not remains to be seen. But we all now for a fact that the plastic ones are problematic. So i'd say it's worth taking the chance. In any event, the metal ones are really far more substantial and seem to be far more appropriate for these cars than those crappy, little plastic ones,and I assume that MB originally used metal guides, and maybe even those that Meyle now sells? The cost probably led to the switch: retail price for the plastic ones are ap. 3.00 vs app. 20 for the metal ones times 5 per car times how many cars?.

If i'm correct, maybe someone here knows when they switched and in which cars?