Install door window whiskers

[n/a]

I have new door window "whiskers" & need to know if the metal edge should be installed on the door in either the up or down position. They are rather thick & can't get the clips on the bottom edge (non metal edge) of the material. The clips will fit ok when installed on the metal edge, but it looks like they will be put on the door upside down. Help!!!

Paul, '63 230SL

[rwmastel]

Paul,
Are the originals still on the door to use as a reference?

Rodd
Powell, Ohio, USA
1966 230SL, Euro, Auto, Leather, both  tops
1994 E420

[Tom]

If I understand your question correctly, the "whiskers" are mounted with the soft part up and the metal part down.  They attach with clips that have sharp barbs that extend out-5 per door I think.  The clip is mounted to a thin metal edge of the door, and the soft metal part of the "whiskers" (bottom part) is gently tapped into the clip.  The barbs grab the soft metal and secure the strip to the door. Use a small strip of wood and place that strip of wood across the whiskers and tap on the wood.  In this way, you are spreading the load of each tap of the mallet across the piece so that you don't dent the strip in one place.  Otherwise you will get a ripple type of effect.  You have one chance to get this right-if you mess up, you will either need to live with the ugly mess or buy more strips.  

Here is a picture.  The whiskers go on the inside track of the clip between the window and the door. The outside track of the clip is used for the chrome strip on the door.

What confuses me about your question is that the soft part of this strip is exposed when installed so that if you had an example to look at, you would know that the soft part of the strip faces up.  You must have been missing this piece from both doors and thus don't have a reference point.  Hope this helps-if I mis-read your question, then igonore my ramblings.

Best,

Tom


1971 280sl Tunis Beige Metallic (restored & enhanced)
1971 280sl Tobacco Brown (low mileage stock)
1970 280sl Deep Red (Project Car)


Download Attachment: windowclip-small.JPG
31.34 KB

[n/a]

Thanks Tom, The original "whiskers" are much thinner & therefore the clips were attacted to the non-metal portion. The metal strip was installed in the up position. This is what confused me in that the new ones are much thicker. With this 230SL being a early production, the factory must have made the change later on.

Regards, Paul

[Naj ✝︎]

Paul,
Whishers on my '65 230, newly installed:

Download Attachment: whskr1.JPG
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Note: Inner and outer clips are different. Chrome trim fits to the outer clip while the door card hangs on the inner. Note how the barbs bite into the door metal.

Note the spurious clip used in the second picture. The top edge bends outwards and has actually scratched the glass as it rubs against it when wound up or down

Download Attachment: whskr02.JPG
37.88 KB

naj

[Benz Dr.]

There's a lot more to it than this. Yes the metal strip goes down but the fuzzy part goes towards the glass.
 But that's not all and if you miss this part the window will never quite go up all the way or the sliding blocks on the glass will get knocked off. What you have to do is cut away a small area of the bristle rail. I go in about 1 inch from the end and just remove the metal strip running along the bottom of the rail material. This leaves just enough room for the sliding blocks to clear as they come up very close to the end of their travel. The factory did this on all cars.

 The rails were installed wrong on your car. There is no early 230SL version as 190SL's are installed the same way.

Daniel G Caron

[Benz Dr.]

One more thing......
 You need to cut the rail so that it runs the entire lenght of the opening ( they come longer than you need ) I use a bolt cutter so that it makes a nice clean cut without any sharp edges. Failure to do this right will leave big gaps that can produce a lot of wind noise.

Daniel G Caron

[n/a]

Thanks Dr. Benz, I assume the metal edge is to be cut 1" from both ends?
Regards, Paul

[Benz Dr.]

Yes, you need to cut them on both ends and both pieces I think.

  It's probably less than an inch -
maybe 15 - 20 mm and only as much as the sliding blocks are wide. You only need to remove the metal part ( which is aluminum  BTW ) and not any of the fuzzy material. This metal part has a fairly strong wire inside which gives the bristle rail some stiffness. The wire can be hard to cut which is why I use bolt cutters - they tend to pinch everything tight as they cut leaving no sharp edges.

Daniel G Caron