I wouldn't worry too much about the cost of that hose, I got an OEM for $10 or so. The stuff you should worry about is all the other black hoses, plenum donuts, isolators and injector tubes on the engine, they have a tendency to get brittle and crack as well. I just got done replacing all of them on my 420, lots of little bs parts that add up quickly, the lower half of the upper intake is made entirely of the same black rubber, don't know why they did that, all the earlier engines were aluminum.

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Chas

Had a 380SL, 450SL, 380SEL, 420SEL, 500SEL

Got a Euro 500SEC right now.