C180 W202 bodywork

[Jamesie]

The rust on my wheel arches is starting to get quite heavy and I was thinking about getting a pair of new wings fitted. I see you can pick them up for about £35 each + pp from various outlets.

What would you say would be a reasonable price for fitting these?

Cheers

Jamesie

 

[Will]

The rust on my wheel arches is starting to get quite heavy and I was thinking about getting a pair of new wings fitted. I see you can pick them up for about £35 each + pp from various outlets.

What would you say would be a reasonable price for fitting these?

Cheers

Jamesie

Hi Jamesie,

The wings that you have seen for £35 will probably be copy wings, aka 'pattern parts'. Generally, as a rule of thumb, these are usually of poor quality and don't fit as well as proper MB wings. Most of the ones I have seen have had larger gaps between the wing and the bonnet, or they don't sit properly around the indicator lenses etc. Often much thinner and tinnier compared to the proper ones too.

Better off sourcing some good secondhand genuine wings and having them painted.

Fitting is quite easy relatively speaking as they only bolt on

What will be the most expensive part is having them sprayed by a bodyshop. Labour varies enormously around the country, but typically bodyshop prices can vary at anywhere between £100-300 a panel depending on many factors. Best to see if you can get a quote from a local place if you have any recommendations.

Will

 

[Jamesie]

Hi Will

Thanks for your response - good to know re the copy parts.

I spoke with a local bodyshop last year and they were wanting roughly £1k to put new wings on and tidy up the rust, which I don't think is *that* bad - hence I want to test the water a bit more before proceeding.

As the car has only 130k on the clock and recently passed its MOT without needing a single thing done (a first for any car I've owned) I think it might be worth investing.

Jamesie

 

[Jamesie]

E-mailed quite a few locals yesterday and the first to come back is quoting wings at £59 each (I presume that these are the "tin" ones to avoid), labour would be £360, materials £120 therefore total including vat would be £702.65.

Seems quite steep for labour if they're just a bolt-on affair? Can appreciate they need to be re-sprayed. I guess the ideal would be to get wings from a well kept 1995 black model like my own so they would be a like for like replacement!

I have an Esprit - is there any difference betwen the wings on the C180 W202 Esprit, Elegance or Classic i.e. can I look for wings from any of these models from a scrapyard?

Thanks

James

 

[d w124]

James:Yes you can fit wings from other w202s,but the only prob is to find rustfree same colour as yours

 

[Jamesie]

Thanks dw124. If I get a rust free, same colour version would it be a difficult job to remove and re-fit without involving a bodyshop?

 

[d w124]

Thanks dw124. If I get a rust free, same colour version would it be a difficult job to remove and re-fit without involving a bodyshop?

If you`re handy with tools,is a simple job