I looked at the Elring gasket set I kept, unfortunately I guess I didn't keep any of the other Reinz gaskets I had gotten.

So to re-cap what my experience was:

1. Elring is the factory gasket (or at least what my local Benz dealer sells and is also the brand of the first replacement gasket that went on my M103 that was done by the dealer in 2001).

2. The Elring gasket put on my car in 2001 did not have an extra sealing bead around the oil hole. The Elring gasket in the set I got in 2009 also did not have the extra bead either.

3. Some Victor-Reinz gaskets I got had the modification (the extra sealing bead around the oil hole) and some didn't (old stock still on parts shelves?).

4. The Reinz gaskets [that I recieved] that did have the modification were also made from a darker gasket material. However, Ps2cho's photo shows a Reinz gasket with the mod in the lighter grey material.

5. I was informed by a few sources (including the Benz dealer) that they could no longer get individual head gaskets, only gasket sets (Elring or Reinz).

6. I have no knowledge whether the extra sealing bead around the oil hole is actually an intended improvement by the maker, and if it is, I do not know whether it does indeed improve the life or performance of the job. The same comment applies to the darker gasket material.

I can't recall with any certainty what was commented in my conversation with the gasket designer at Reinz (actually now owned by Dana corp I think). I thought I had posted about that conversation or made some notes but I can't seem to find them. Anyway, I seem to recall that he had no info or knowledge about the mentioned "modification" or the darker gasket material but he was able to ascertain (I think by some numbers I gave him) that the lighter grey colored gaskets without the mod were made in the US or Canada and the darker ones with the mod were made in Germany. I remind that this info is loosely recalled.

That's about all I can contribute except to say, that considering the notoriety of the M103 head gasket failure, when I saw the small modification in the first gasket I got, the impression in my mind that it represented an improvement in durability was strong enough (perhaps actually so, perhaps not) that at that point I would not settle for any other gasket. So even though I slightly damaged that first gasket (in an innocuous spot), I tried very hard to get another such gasket, and not being able to get one, elected to repair the damaged one rather than use one without the "modification".

In retrospect, I'd probably try to get a gasket with the mod, but I'm not sure I'd be that anal again.

Good luck