Do I dare use URO window seals
 

The 85SD needs a new rear windshield gasket.
The 85TD needs front windshield and rear tailgate windshield gaskets.


Do I dare use URO? Some of their parts are reported to fail almost immediately. Others (door seals for example) are reported to be good.


Anyone have specific experience with the glass. I'll be paying a shop so it's real dollars and not me just spending a couple hours trying to figure the process.

Save your money. They're garbage. After many frustrated, hope filled attempts, I gave up and purchased MB seals.

The windshields are big, expensive items and very important to keep leak free (especially the rear since the window surround is rust-prone from leaky gaskets). If it's a car you're keeping and MB seals are available, you're a fool to buy anything else, regardless of the cost difference. If you're paying a shop to do the work, you lost any savings if they have to pull the window and redo it because the aftermarket seal didn't fit.

FWIW, I used a Uro rear seal on a W123 before I knew any better. Ironically, I think it was the only Uro part I never had problems with.

Dkr.

I vowed several years ago I’d never again use a “Uro branded” anything after the very untimely failure of several parts I replaced with that god awful brand. Because of the very real consequences of a poorly fitting front or rear glass seal (moisture related electrical issues and leaks causing rust) I personally would never use anything but Mercedes factory gaskets.

J.G.

• We sell about 250 of windshield seal 123 670 0139 annually with no defect returns or complaints in the last 12 months. Review on Pelican: "Good seal - This seal is a little different from the original style in that it doesn't have a rubber flange that goes over the chrome trim but it fit well and it's been great to drive my car again!"
• We sell about 200 of rear glass seal 123 670 0239 with 3 returned as "defective" in the last 12 months.
• For the (300?)SD, we sell about 40 of rear glass seal 126 678 0120 annually with none returned as "defective" in the last 12 months.

If anyone can provide any specific details on these seals could be improved, please PM us - we'd love to hear from you.

I've tried those on my 91 SD - save your money. The seal does not fit at all and don't even think about fitting the trim.....

Hi Don, we actually don't make a windshield seal for the 1991 350SD, any idea what other brand your seal could have been? We do make rear window seal 126 678 0420 for that car and sell about 30 annually with no complaints or returns, what specific issues did you encounter with it?

My URO radiator hoses are still doing fine 5 years on.

In the words of Harry Callahan, "You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?"

Bought at the same time as the trunk seal which I never used after the experience with the rear windshield seal. There's one on eBay right now.


http://rover.ebay.com/ar/1/711-53200...AAAOSwghpe7ZAGhttps://www.ebay.com/itm/Mercedes-w126-86-91-Windshield-Seal-Rear-FRESH-rubber-weatherstrip-gasket/233624578812?hash=item36651c2afc:g:16AAAOSwghpe7ZAG



Both seals came in URO parts plastic bags. The seal was attempted to be installed after a paint job, by a guy who does windwhields every day. I have no experience with that kind of work so I do not touch it. I had to move the car and due to that left the ill fitting seal in. Too many projects to fix it right now. Someday I hope to get to it.

^ Thanks, we'll have engineering compare that rear window seal to our OEM sample.

The sad thing is OEM seals from MB are NLA. If you can find OEM seals, they're probably NOS that's dry-rotted from sitting on a shelf for 30 years. I need to replace my rear seal on my 300SD at some point since the seal that's been on there about 20 years is showing some age and some rust needs repairing, and my options for an OE or OEM seal are slim to none.

I'm not knocking URO, but the one year return/complaint metrics don't tell us much about the durability of the product. You may have people who buy the URO seals and don't install them until over a year after they've purchased them, after the warranty period is over. The better question is 5-10 years later when the warranty period is over, how are they holding up? What is their long term durability like when compared to OEM seals?

Windshield & Backlight Grommets
 

FWIW ;

The original M-B replacement ones were very well made and came coated in paraffin to prevent degradation in storage....

I'd look on E-Bay.de for an N.O.S. one, I've used quite a few N.O.S. ones to very good effect .

Unfortunately for URO, no matter how hard they may be trying, it is very difficult to overcome the 'first impression' that lingers in everyone's mind about the quality of their product. Although name brand recognition is usually a desirable asset, URO might consider a new name to match their current consumer outreach and quality improvement efforts.

We actually have a two year warranty on all URO Parts products, and our upgraded URO Premium line has a lifetime warranty. We're pretty easy to work with on warranty issues though, and normally aren't sticklers on the two year period. We take everything on a case by case basis, thoroughly evaluate the circumstances (and reject the occasional fraud attempts), and do our best to be fair.

Have heard good things about URO's W123 blower motor but sadly that's an exception. The W114/ W115 blower motor is NLA, widely sought after, and could use your focus.

Just as an example the genuine Mercedes w126 trunk seal (126-750-00-98) lists at $164.75

The ÜRO equivalent at $28.00.

I for one would be happy to pay ÜRO, say, $50, $75 or even a $100 if they'd sell it at equal or better quality - fit, finish, appearance, durability than the original Mercedes item.

I'd be surprised if most w126 owners wouldn't agree. Have you ever considered that as an alternative business model - going for top quality, charge more, and get everyone to sing your praises and leave the problematic quality reputation behind for good?

I would second that. Double or even triple your prices. I could care less. Spend the money on QA and testing and quality materials and I would be happy to buy Uro. Keep in mind that each failure of a "cheap" part will cost the owner a lot extra on the back end. As stated here, a seal failure could generate rust, suspension part failures could cause an accident, etc. Many of these jobs are not easy to do and nobody wants to do them again for a long time. I never bothered contacting Uro for warranty issues because when you see that your part has a problem and other people are complaining about the same thing, I wouldn't want a replacement part. And for the low cost it is often not even worth the time to pick up the phone unless you are flaming mad and even then, I don't see the point other than to vent to a customer service person who has probably no idea what the part is or does to begin with.

I just replaced the front windshield seal on my W123. I spent about $175 for an NLA OEM seal I found on eBay. It fits and looks perfectly. I paid to have it professionally installed and I am very happy with it. If it started leaking, I wouldn't use the same brand as I would have to pay double in labor to have it reinstalled.

Dkr.

I absolutely, 10000% agree with your assessment here. Scrap the entire idea of "cheap" parts, these cars are entering into "classic" car territory and have moved out of the mainstream "disposable beater" territory. Forget the "cheap parts" crowd, it doesn't matter how cheap the part is, it's still "too expensive". The type of people who own these cars tend to be older (or even original owners) or the younger crowd that maintains and drives their vehicles.

I fall into the latter category, though I'm approaching middle-aged at this point. I tend to keep cars long-term, and I don't appreciate re-doing repairs every couple years because some cheap aftermarket part didn't last. I've used a precious few Uro parts over the years, my first bad experience was 10+ years ago with a relay for the 500SL that had pins that were too small to stay latched in the socket.

Since then I've had several "meh" to downright "bad" experiences with Üro and joined the "friends don't let friends buy Üro" mentality.

One thing I've been very vocal about on this forum and elsewhere is their Gen II W126 sunroof seal. The one I received absolutely did not fit the car. It was so long that I couldn't ever work enough slack out to close the roof panel. Üro sent a replacement that while still too big, at least let me close the roof panel with some judicious use of force. The seal was too big, the rubber too firm, and the tab that gets stuffed in the slot was too thin to stay secure. That car got totaled in January of last year and spent the 3 years I owned it without the sunroof ever being opened because of that seal.

More recently, Üro released a replacement ignition lock cylinder for the early R107's which has been NLA for years. They sent me an engineering sample in exchange for an unbiased review http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/mercedes-benz-sl-discussion-forum/402431-review-%FCro-ignition-lock-cylinder-116-462-02-79-a.html It's items like this that Uro needs to be focusing on. Fill a gap in the market with a quality item and fix that reputation as purveyors of poor-quality aftermarket parts that don't fit, don't work as intended, or don't last. Considering the longevity and popularity of the diesel cars, they'd have a market for a long time to come.

Agree on quality. A long or even easy to use warranty means absolutely nothing if there are repeated failures. I buy remanned calipers locally because some are so bad they don't work out of the box. I test any remmaned alternators or starters before leaving the store for the same reason. I've also learned the hard way to keep cores until I have some mileage on the new part because, stores ship cores soon and they have no way to give a core back once it's shipped which is a problem if you ever get a cash refund.

The 85SD is about to come out of the shop after a complete repaint needs rear windshield seal and trunk seal. Both cause problems when they leak.

The 85TD needs windshield seal, trunk window seal and the trunk seal. I'll bite the bullet and go OE if available. These particular cars are too good to let leaks rust them away and I'm getting too old to do things twice.

The PO said that sunroof seals had been replaced twice. The seals were too thick in the corners and held the sunroof off from where it is supposed to seat. I replaced with OE and it works fine. This car has multiple rust holes from neglected or improperly replaced seals. I don't know the brand that I replaced but even paying a glass man for windshield R&R would have been cheaper than replacing the floor.

My W126 trunk seal is almost 40 years old and aside from some cracks in the bottom, it's still intact and doing its job. Same for 3 out of 4 of my original door seals. Only one has a small tear. Judicious application of Gummi Pflege Stift is keeping those seals pliable. I don't think a $28.00 seal is going to give you the same longevity. FYI if you're in the market for a genuine W126 trunk seal, I've found it listed under another part number (126-750-03-98) at a list price of $112.00 and can be found at 26% off list from MB of Naperville (MBOEMParts). I can't find the difference between the two part numbers, but some parts houses list both numbers interchangeably.

As I've gotten older, I've fallen into that category too, especially when I've been able to get OEM parts from MBOEMParts at prices that are not that much more expensive than aftermarket. The only Uro parts I've put on my SD are air cleaner mounts and the hose from the coolant reservoir to the bottom of the radiator. With the air cleaner mounts, I didn't care because I've found regardless of brand, I'm usually replacing them every 3 years due to heat and vibrations. I've had the Uro hose for well over 5 years and it's holding up well. I forgot why I ended up using the Uro hose, but I inspect my hoses frequently and it's holding up just as well as my Gates/NAPA hoses, which are already known for quality.

There are so many parts going NLA that they could fill a need for and I know people would pay top dollar if the quality was equal to OEM. Right off the bat I can think of the W126 lower windshield seal, transmission VCV, bowden cable. There's a company selling the lower windshield seals aftermarket on ebay.de but they won't ship to the US. W126 owners have been trying to get that seal for over 10 years. If Uro could produce and sell a quality version of that seal, they'd be a life saver. Uro's been the butt of jokes here for years, but maybe they can finally turn that around?

I'm pretty sure it's at the point now where you can't really get in the middle. You can do dirt cheap or extremely expensive.


If it's built in China or similar I'm sure no matter what you tell those factories no matter how much extra you pay them the quality is still gonna be garbage.

And then if you want good quality you have to spend the money to completely change your business model build a factory in us or Germany or similar, do the r and d to insure a great product. Not to mention Mercedes and similar have been in the high quality world for a long time, I'm sure the connections they have are getting them what they need for cheaper than what URO could get it for starting out.

They may not even be able to meet MBZ's price point. (Although yes I'm sure MBZ is charging a premium, but it may be for the above stated reason)

But then here is another kicker, the labor force in America, is completely crap these days. You can't find a good worker that actually shows pride in there work to save your life.

Ive been looking to good guys at work for close to 10 years now. They are few and FAR between.

I'm going on 9-10 years on the URO windshield seal in my 77 240D and its still in good shape. In full disclosure though the car lives under a cover in the garage and hasn't spent more than 20-30 nights outside in that entire time so YMMV. At the time it was the only one available so I didn't have any other option.

even communist tires smell different

Not that its necessarily pertinent, I've heard the stories of failed URO parts, primarily engine mounts and steering components.

But I have also seen that it looks like they are trying to improve and reach out to the communities and make parts that are NLA from every other source and would end up landing all our cars in the scrap pile when the NOS stuff finally is tapped out.

I've put URO windshield (front and rear) and door seals in both of my 82 300Ds, and I have zero complaints past its incredibly hard to get the aluminum trim back in, but both cars are dry as a bone inside.

The grey car has had those seals since 2013-14ish, still holding up great, the blue car I put in last year after finding a back seat full of water. Now its dry inside and I just have one last piece of trim I've been mustering up motivation to put back in without getting frustrated and ending up with an aluminum pretzel.

I have a close family member responsible for importing aftermarket parts from China and Taiwan who claims that you can get any quality you want. He also says that he can buy a fender landed for less than he can ship it across the US.


As far as quality workers, depends on the skill level of the job requirements and pay level. Here, grunt labor ie yard work & general clean up gets $15/hr. It costs more to live than what they make working part time and they can get another job across the street so you're not going to find people at that price who will think like an owner. They need to be supervised. Those who don't need supervision will quickly raise prices or move on because they can.

@Jarod, did you put the chrome in before installing the glass?

I'm hoping my trim on the SD rear window isn't fubared by the incompetent glass man or I'll need to source a replacement.

China has satellites, manned space flight and a rover rolling around the far side of the moon. Rather large investments to leave at risk to "garbage quality".

It would seem, as Junkman points out above, "you can get any quality you want" is closer to the truth.

It's recommended to closely follow the shop manual installation instructions - step by step in the order indicated. Has helped me in situations where doing things by what seemed logical and obvious just didn't work.

No, I put the glass with rubber in and then installed the aluminum trim. worked flawlessly on the grey car, trying to install the window with the trim preinstalled felt like I was going to shatter the window trying to apply pressure and pull the rope.

I did it the "wrong way" on both grey car windows, and the front blue car window with zero issues, and zero leaks, but the RH rear trim refused to go in on the rear window of the blue car.

It was pretty cold when I did it, and I was outdoors, I'll get some lube and try it again now that its hotter out, I did all the other windows in 90+ degree sunny days and the trim popped right back in and snugged the rubber up perfectly.

I also never used any sort of sealer as suggested in the manual. Slow and steady has made all 4 window seals I've done go flawlessly in my mind, leaks gone, windows perfectly intact.

One day I'll try the book method.

So if I am reading this correctly, your parts are a grade lower than what you otherwise sell as premium.

I tried a W126 back glass seal on my 85 300SD and it was junk. I ended up pulling a used OEM gen II seal and painstakingly cleaning it. I installed it with gen II chrome (the FSM states retrofitting is an option) and it has held up without any issues for at least a decade.

I will pull and refurbish used OEM every time before resorting to aftermarket. I will NEVER install, or buy a car that has been serviced with URO parts. It is too much of a crap shoot, and by crap shoot I mean it is like shooting crap at your car.

Posts like the above make me run to OE. Time is becoming too short to experiment with the likelihood of a do over. I haven't gotten everything done and certainly don't have time to do them twice.

If your needed OE part is NLA, remember to contact these email addresses with your needed part number. They log each request and prioritize remanufacturing based on unfulfilled demand.

bernick.alvarez@mbusa.com
cc: classic@daimler.com

I have heard that URO means U Replace Often.

The one I put in works ok
 

I put one in probably 2+ years ago. It's obviously not as good as a MB one but the MB one was what, $240 vs the URO which was $32 or something?

I've had no leaks from it. Mine's a w124 so maybe that makes a difference. I see some of the remarks from others that they're junk but yours is a W123 model.

For the savings, try it and if it doesn't work, return it for a refund. Paypal gives you a 6 month warranty period on many purchases.

Yes indeed, URO Premium parts are better than OEM parts because we improved the design to address a common failure mode, or better materials are used (aluminum instead of plastic, silicone or Viton seals and diaphragms instead of natural rubber, etc).

Edit: All URO Premium part numbers have a "-PRM" suffix for easy identification.

Examples for Mercedes:

• Intake Manifold Actuator Repair (2005-2013 Mercedes M272 V6 / M273 V8)
• Shifter Lever Assy. Repair/Upgrade (2000-2011 Jaguar / Mercedes)

Can you list specific parts in the W114/W115/W123/ W124 where this is actually the case?

There’s only one way to find out what happens. Buy it and see what happens

We actually have a lot more "-PRM" parts for BMW and Audi/VW, but go to our catalog here: https://apaindustries.com/catalog. Then select Mercedes and your model in the dropdowns, and then type PRM into the search field to filter the results. We don't have a ton of Premium items, so plenty of of models will only have a few -PRM items, or possibly none at all.

I cannot find 300D in the MB model listing in the URO online catalog using PRM. So, I will not buy URO parts based on longevity reviews. Buying URO is like buying Auto Zone parts...how many times do you want to replace that part?

I recently had the rear windshield installed on my 85SD that is just out of paint. The installer has done work for the panter for the last 20 years and worked for dealerships when these cars were new.

He cleaned the glass, installed the, inserted the chrome, then lubed the seal with WD40 from a can applied with a swab that comes with the can then wrapped a 1/4" cord around the seal.

He set the glass in place and used a suction cup to control it. He pulled the rope which forced the seal over the opening lip. He'd periodically slap the glass to cause it to drop into place. 30 minutes and $60 he was done.

Hes so inexpensive I'll never try installing my own. Brakes I do frequently so need to know how. Glass not so much.

I won't use anything from communist China, parts may have biological weapons grade virus

I actually took a look at your catalogue and found zero premium parts for sale for the above Mercedes Benz models. Combined the 3 models above sold over 4 million vehicles globally.

So, URO parts is posting about the benefits of a premium product line in a Mercedes Benz sub forum, and yet don't sell any premium parts (that I could find) for the most popular chassis models in the brands history. Unless you have specific parts in development that you are able to share, can I ask you to refrain from these obviously shallow marketing practices?

If you look back earlier in the thread, you'll see we were actually responding to H-townbenzoboy thinking our warranty was only twelve months. We didn't bring up any Premium products; we only outlined our warranty period for each line (so that folks know they can contact us for a warranty replacement if they have any issues) and the discussion went from there.

Saying, "our upgraded URO Premium line has a lifetime warranty" was meant to be helpful, and certainly wasn't a marketing pitch.

I mentioned before I used a URO seal on my 300d front glass two years ago. I’m satisfied with the result.

It was not as beefy as an OE. But it does fit and seal. My biggest complaint is because of the lacking thickness it fits a little pulled back on the body and exposes the masking line on the old respray job. Obviously the older one was wider on the margin.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4898/...4af6bdf2af.jpg

However, given this was the one available at peach and it was inexpensive I’m okay with it.

Sad to hear above the 126 one didn’t fit well. I fixed my 126 with an OE rear glass seal about six years ago. It was very thick and heavy. It’s still pliable and fresh. It did cost significantly more than the URO if I recall correctly.

I just ordered uro seals to try them out. One front, one rear. I will report back.

What is it with URO that they won't just simply make an exact copy of the OE original, pass the cost of the additional thickness i.e. more rubber on to the customer? Is this really so hard to achieve? Many of the members here already chimed in that they would be happy to pay more to get OE fit and quality!

I bought a rear glass seal for my 85 w126 several years ago.
 

I removed the anodized coating from the alum trim so I had to delay the putting the glass back until I finished the shine job on the aluminum. My son helped. It's a bit scary because I've heard that glass is pretty easy to break but it didn't take long to install. I felt quite accomplished to have done such a good job.

Now I have to remove the glass to paint. Real smart, right?

Huh…must be cost. The price differential was extreme. MB when available was 2x more money. You do that in manufacturing and you’re going to get a completely different outcome.

The thought of raising prices to raise the amount of rubber is an interesting one. It really is up to the marketing team. Do they think they can get the money or are they going to end up with a bunch of parts they cannot move? URO has a long history of making very low cost replacement parts…some of which I’ve personally been disappointed in.

However, as a guy trying to fix these old cars, URO supporting our market is a godsend. Even with their rock bottom pricing agenda and quality tradeoff. I used the window seal on the front. No it wasn’t as thick as OE. But it seals. And it is still soft two years later.

Being $50 cheaper than the past MB seals? Well I’m a pretty cheap bastard. I’ll take the cheap while being quietly accepting that it isn’t as thick. I’m too cheap to repaint my car and now I have a masking line showing where the lip of the URO seal is pulled back 1mm.

I used to have a volvo p1800 before I had the Benzes. Availability of rubber parts from URO is greatly appreciated compared to what the p1800 crowd was doing for those parts.

After hearing good things about the 126 door seal on a recent post I think I’m going to try one. What else am I gonna do? Sit around and get mad? Sell my car? Rub black silicone on the cracks?

It’s really clear MB has had a change of heart about maintaining stock of 40 yo parts. I am going to embrace reality and fit my car with URO so I can keep driving it.