W124 wing replacment

[optimusprime]

Hi, Can i ask please ?. As i have just fitted this genuine mercedes front wing to my car .I thought it would be easy .Removal was, but not fitting new one. Had trouble gaping the new wing . The possition of the wing to the passengers door is spot on , and the same as the drivers side.But the bonnet ie high .Can i lower the bonnet heinge on one side only?The workshop manual said it had three bolts holding it and to open only two of them . Could someone let me know if it is possible to do this. I can not move the wing , as the gap is correct

 

[neilrr]

Judging by the dirt line at the bottom of the A pillar I'd say the replacement wing is sitting lower than the original.

 

[optimusprime]

neilrr no its waxoil i put on before i fitted it .Plus the levels of the door and the body line are right , if i lift it up it will be out on the door gaps down the side .Also body moulding will be out with the one on the door. Dont know what to do with it ,even the gap of wing to bonnet is smaller than other side fender.

 

[optimusprime]

Picture from the side .

 

[Marku]

Does the bonnet line across the windscreen appear level? If it is then it would seem that the fault is with the new wing. I think you would find it difficult to adjust the bonnet height using the hinge as I am not sure that there is even any facility bonnet to hinge. It would have to be hinge to body. If you have fitted the wing to body correctly and do not wish to remove it to access the hinge and really want to resolve it you might try getting a shim made to lift the bonnet on the hinge.

 

[coupe addict]

I would try adjusting the bump stop on the slam panel on the off ( ie opposite ) side upwards by 1 mm ( or perhaps even less ) which might be sufficient, and would be barely visible at the front of the other wing. Raising the wing by 1mm at the back but zero at the front would also help. This is a matter of a smidgeon here and a smidgeon there. The bonnet hinge fastening is a big brute of a thing, not lending itself to easy fine adjustment.

 

[optimusprime]

Does the bonnet line across the windscreen appear level? If it is then it would seem that the fault is with the new wing. I think you would find it difficult to adjust the bonnet height using the hinge as I am not sure that there is even any facility bonnet to hinge. It would have to be hinge to body. If you have fitted the wing to body correctly and do not wish to remove it to access the hinge and really want to resolve it you might try getting a shim made to lift the bonnet on the hinge.

Understand .But the manual said adjustment can be made from wheel well by removing the arch liner and detaching the bonnet spring .It has 3 screws that hold the hinge ,but only to open 2 of them so bonnet will stay in that same place and will only push down, to close the gap..

 

[optimusprime]

Must sort this out its playing me up now .I will wait for a nice day and pull it off again .I think the waxoil i put up there is some of the problem .I did paint it in and let it dry its hard wax now and the top rail fixing is holding it way , and the gap is small after this .So i will remove it again .Clean off all waxoil from the top fixing rail .Then just oil it .The clips slot in to the body in little hole made so it wont turn . Let you know how i get on

 

[brucemillar]

Playing with the bump stops may give you the same result.

Beware of trying to be perfect. I suspect that we sometimes recall perfection that didn't exist before we started to tinker. New wings are always a challenge as by default they will have a slightly different fit to the original. This is due to ageing, stretching, flexing etc.

On my 124 we had all sorts of issues with the doors when we did the body work. When the shut lines were perfect the doors would not shut correctly. When the doors shut correctly the gaps were out. In the end we went half way. Left a it couple of weeks and it settled itself.

 

[del320]

I wonder if this will be of any help? See from post #93. I certainly would not want to start mucking about with the hinges.

 

[grober]

Just a small video.
[YOUTUBE]aCAPb73VLhA[/YOUTUBE]

 

[syncropaddy]

I have just done this job on my '95 E200 with one genuine wing and one pattern wing. The pattern part aligns up everywhere except at the bottom of the windscreen by 'A' post. The genuine wing was much more difficult to fit and I had to file the bottom screw holes to get the height correct. It took quite a while to get it right but when I went to fit the indicator lamp it wouldn't fit as the gap was too narrow and it was fouling the headlamp. Got it sorted in the end though!

 

[optimusprime]

I wonder if this will be of any help? See from post #93. I certainly would not want to start mucking about with the hinges.

Del i will give it a go .Yesterday i gave it my all .And it still looks like your picture in no 93 thats after the second try. So i will give it another bit of spanner work next week. Thank you

 

[optimusprime]

I am reluctant to move the wing .As all the door lines are matching up and in line.One thing i found as i removed it yesterday was that it had been worked on at the factory .You can see a place on the rail where it had been hit with a slide hammer to close the gaps up in wing to bonnet .So i cleaned off all wax both from wing and the rail Then gave it a good pulling out to make the gap biger .But changed nothing realy..I have fitted wings to a few cars with no problem at all .But this is a pain.

 

[optimusprime]

This is the picture of the rail .You can see the rail is bowed this will close the gap .

 

[optimusprime]

Next nice day it will be removed again .And i will move the rail over some how to give me that gap i need .And on refitting put the card in as Del320 told us about in his post no - 93.Watch this for further improvement .

 

[optimusprime]

Weather was not very good to day .As it was raining on and off,till 4pm..Will have to put it off till next week now that my friend is away who gives me a lift to hang it on.Dont want to damage the door .

 

[optimusprime]

Job done .Holes in the bottom of the wing were stopping it going up anymore.So information on the forum gave me one or two options to try out .It worked , the holes i put the dremil in to open them up,and now are ok .And i adjusted the bonnet hinge bolts .Now all is fine . Thank you all for your help .

 

[brucemillar]

Great news. Well done you.