Were these originally black from factory (now worn away) ?

[RichardPercival]

I believe these maybe called window whiskers from reading in the forum but can't see much info on originality. Also I'm concerned about the visible material at the top, and not sure if that is separate from the brushes against the glass, or just a sign the whole thing is worn out.
Mine appear to be white cloth that has got stained over time, but I wonder if anyone else has seen these or if they should have been black and sort of velvet/felt covered from the factory, with that just having worn down to the base material. White/natural would seem an impractical edging!?

Any idea what it might cost to have new ones put on both doors - don't know I can face taking yet another thing apart on the car right now lol.

[dirkbalter]

These are available but if it’s just the color that’s bothering you, I would consider just staining or painting the fabric instead of taking them apart.

[thelews]

just use black fabric dye and a small brush

[RichardPercival]

Thanks guys -I get the impression replacement isn’t simple!
I’ve bought a thick black fabric dye marker and will give that a go.

[Pawel66]

What I have recently experienced is that when you buy these whiskers from MB, you get a good quality and good looking part. Trouble is that it is quite thick and it squeezes the glass too much.

Replacement can be done at home in my opinion (I did it), but I would suggest you buy all new clamp set. You have to remove upholstery and you have to be very careful not to scratch the door paint.

If you can color them and they will look ok, I would also just color them.

[Benz Dr.]

We use black shoe dye. Seems to work well enough.

[RichardPercival]

This worked great!

One thing I noted was that my driver's side door glass sinks lower than the passenger side. They both go into the door, but the passenger glass sits just in the whiskers at the front (so I had to run the ink pen on either side of it) whereas on the driver side it goes right down below the whiskers.

Is the passenger glass maladjusted? I think it makes less good of a seal with the hardtop/softop rubber but assumed this was a problem with the age of those seals (all are in my opinion needing replacement but the drivers side sit better) but seems like the glass could be set wrong too - how low does everyone else's passenger door glass go?

[Tx246]

So, after seeing this, I went out to go look at my “whiskers”, and thought this seemed like a great idea.

Until you brought it up, I had never noticed that my passenger side window is exactly the same in relation to the driver side window as you pointed out.

[wwheeler]

To echo what Pawel said, the pieces from Mercedes have had issues. Being too thick is one problem and I bought some early on where the crimp at the bottom was not very secure. Not sure where they are now.

They sell these aftermarket in Germany and are better quality in my opinion. But they are just a bit thinner than the originals. I ended up using both the get the best fit. Being a bit loose is ok but being too tight is a deal killer.     

[badali]

Rich,  you don't want to adjust the glass without the hard top on.  If you move the stop you will have problems with the glass being up or down too far when the door is closed.

[Pawel66]

To echo what Pawel said, the pieces from Mercedes have had issues. Being too thick is one problem and I bought some early on where the crimp at the bottom was not very secure. Not sure where they are now.

They sell these aftermarket in Germany and are better quality in my opinion. But they are just a bit thinner than the originals. I ended up using both the get the best fit. Being a bit loose is ok but being too tight is a deal killer.   

As wheeler says, two whiskers from Mercedes on one glass would be too much. I have Mercedes ones on the outside and aftermarket on the inner side.

The Mercedes whiskers fit better 190SL and Pontons.

[Starchild]

  Is or was the car owned in a climate that was exposed to intense sunlight for a majority of the year. Just curious if that was the case to turn them white

My 1970 has been used and stored in Pennsylvania for my 35 years of ownership. Only gets sun from May to September and the color is still black.

[RichardPercival]

I don't believe so. It lived in Germany with it's original owner from 1966-1981, before moving to California where it had some restoration work done before being sold to a lady in Vermont who kept it until 2022.
I suppose it may have been left outside in Vermont some of the time. The dry leaves and pine needdles I find in every nook and cranny lead me to think so!