Soft top boot gasket/Trunk leaks

[luca67]

Hello,
I’ve been restoring a 1968 280sl (silver/black; manual 4sp)for some time now and I have a problem that probably many have already encountered and solved.
I recently replaced the soft top boot gasket: it came with 2 slots corresponding to 2 holes in the gasket channel. I thought they would drain water in the soft top boot (and from there to the outside via the 2 well known grommets/rubber hoses). Instead I think the holes in the channel are connected directly to the trunk, above the wheel well!! The result is that last weekend I had quite some water in the trunk. Is my diagnosis correct? If so, should I plug those holes?
The trunk gasket, as well as the rear lights rubber (new), are in good shape, so I'm not thinking these are the problem (I may be wrong).

Thanks for your help

Luca
Columbia, SC


Luca

[Ben]

As far as I know there is nothing connected to these particular holes, they literally DO drip onto the top of the wheel wells which have a groove taking the water to small holes at the lip of the wheel arch !

Your water ingress may be from water entering the soft top well near the front chrom peices and working its way back into the trunk, there is nothing there to stop this happening !

Regards,
Ben in Ireland.
'64 230SL 4sp.

[Mike]

Your problem is quite timely for me.  I am doing a bare metal repaint and the areas of rust that I have encountered are directly related to the holes to which you are referring.  It is an obvious design flaw that should be addressed.  The hole drips water onto the fender well and onto the double walled steel that the fenders are made of.  The water has no where to go and makes its way to the fender lip and this is why the fender lips are so often rusted. In my case, it also caused rust in the floor of the trunk that I also am replacing.  I had some metal cutting/welding to do on the fenders solely as a result of this design flaw.  Strangely, there is a hole in the soft top compartment that is connected to a tube that carries the water down and out of the car.  Why the holes in the soft top gasket area were not hooked up to a similar hose arrangement is beyond me.  I am planning to weld a metal tube to the hole and direct the water out of the car by the same path as the arramgement in the soft top compartment.

Michael L. Hund