W210 vs V124 Window Winders

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mj2k

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Joined
Feb 7, 2017
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425
Location
Herts
Car
2000 Subaru Legacy GT (remapped to 300bhp)
Hmm, repairing my S210's numerous window winder faults and scrapping my W124 gave me a good chance to compare the window winders, and there's not much difference at all, so why are the W124 ones regarded as 'good' whereas the W210 ones are 'bad'? I know this is a slightly unfair comparison because the W124 was 10 years older, but ultimately it did have more faults than the W210...

The rear winders are all-but identical, except that white bit on the W210 winder which always breaks is grey on the W124. The grey and white plastic seem similar quality and I can't belive the v slight difference in cable routing (vertical on the W210, slight triangle on the W124) would cause all the issues, so why are the W210 ones so breakage-prone? Also I know the W210 has all the can-bus trickery, but the motors seem equally prone to failure from damp - one of my W124 rears was shorted, just like the W210.

Also the front winders also seem to be very similar, except my W124 ones had both chewed through the winder's metal gear so no longer did anything.
And I know the switches in the console are equally likely to get damp damage on both cars, though the W210's microcontroller makes the failure total (and catastrophic) rather than intermittent.

So what causes the W210 issues?

  1. Is it because the W210's CAN bus makes fault diagnosis more difficult?
  2. Could it be felt stuff in the window channels is inferior on the W210, putting extra stress on the motors and cabling?
  3. Or is it purely people's perception of the quality?
 
Last edited:
...And the answer is...

Wait for it...

...

Yes, it is the poor quality felt. I was dismantling the W210's door today ready for swapping and saved the felt when I dismantled the old 124's door a couple of weeks ago, so I was able to compare them.

The W210's felt on the external seal / wipey thing / whatever you call it was seriously deteriorated, whereas the same seal off the W124 was still pristine even though it came off a neglected ex-taxi.

Same story for the felt on the window runners. Think there must have been some sort of change to the manufacturing process for the felt stuff in the late 90s, late Pug 306s have the same problem, whereas early ones are fine.
 

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