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-   -   W123 Upper Door/Fender/QP Mouldings & Trim - Difference in Price/Quality? (http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=376672)

Sev 03-27-2016 03:44 PM

W123 Upper Door/Fender/QP Mouldings & Trim - Difference in Price/Quality?
 
I'm looking to replace all the upper mouldings/trim pieces for my 1983 300d. This car has a black rubber & chrome mouldings all around the car. As I was shopping for them, I found brands such as EZ and Ziegler. As a note, I couldn't determine which brand Pelican uses, perhaps someone can clarify.

But generally speaking, I was wondering if there were significant differences in quality between the brands. And is this a category of item you maybe only want to buy original Mercedes brand, or are the aftermarket ones just as good? Or is there a particular aftermarket brand that is far better than the others, but maybe a bit cheaper than original Mercedes?

As an example in price difference, one moulding made by MB costs about $57 plus tax and shipping, whereas one by EZ brand costs about $20 plus tax and shipping. Is the chrome going to wear out faster, or is the Mercedes one just better in quality to justify a 3x price difference? I'm guessing the curved quarter panel pieces, which cost about $50 each from EZ will cost about $150 for the Mercedes brand. Add in all the clips and that's a difference in price of about $500 between OEM and aftermarket

BWhitmore 03-27-2016 03:59 PM

The bright metal on the mouldings is stainless steel and not chrome so the issue of chrome going bad over time is not an issue. The differences I have found over the years involves the black rubber and fit. Aftermarket mouldings seem to have an inferior black rubber that begins to go bad fairly quickly and I have also found the fit not to be the best. If you sre building a show car I would recommend MBZ parts. If a daily driver, the aftermarket parts will work.

Sev 03-27-2016 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BWhitmore (Post 3584556)
The bright metal on the mouldings is stainless steel and not chrome so the issue of chrome going bad over time is not an issue. The differences I have found over the years involves the black rubber and fit. Aftermarket mouldings seem to have an inferior black rubber that begins to go bad fairly quickly and I have also found the fit not to be the best. If you sre building a show car I would recommend MBZ parts. If a daily driver, the aftermarket parts will work.

Very good to know. Could I ask what brand of aftermarket mouldings you installed? Was it either Ziegler or EZ, by chance?

BWhitmore 03-27-2016 10:39 PM

I installed genuine MBZ parts after looking at some of the aftermarket brands. Sorry, I do not remember the brand name.

Sev 04-07-2016 12:15 AM

Was wondering if anyone else happened to have installed non-Mercedes moldings and can give me a review of their quality and brand name?


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