W124 bumper strength: <1990 vs >=1990
 

Does anybody know if the 1990-up bumpers are as strong as the 1989 and earlier?

I have an 88 300TD and the bumpers are impressively strong. Given that it has the way-low German sport suspension, strong bumpers are a great thing in case I catch a boar or other wild animal we have running around the forests where I live (we don't have tall wild beasts like you guys in the US do. We killed the big ones centuries ago).

In 1990 the W124 got new color-keyed bumpers. Anybody know if Benz dialed back the thickness on the newer bumpers, or are they as strong as the older dark gray bumpers? I've seen a few newer W124s with pretty serious bumper manglement, especially in Paris, where W124s still make up a large portion of the taxi fleet. Mine still look like new after 16 years.