1970 280SL Carpet Snaps?

[Pawel66]

Yes, on the 49er picture they seem to be nickle matt, but I wonder if it is because of wear.

As for 17mm: I did some search already and already found the male parts with DOT letters even here. The upper part - I saw several standards, including 17mm. One may do some cheating and use DOT marked male part with other, not DOT, but 17mm top part.

[49er]

The “button” is polished and this photo was taken of one on the original carpet that was up under the dash which has minimal wear. Picture number 2 is of the new “button” and the 3rd is of the original floor "stud"

John

[mrfatboy]

@49er

Can you confirm that the cap/button in your first pic is 17mm in diameter?

[49er]

@49er

Can you confirm that the cap/button in your first pic is 17mm in diameter?

I’ll check it for you tomorrow morning. Cold and dark out in the garage now

John

[Pawel66]

John, thank you for the pictures - fantastic help! Do I recall correctly that your 280SL was 1968?

[49er]

 Hello Pawel, always glad to be of help anyway I can on some of these originally issues that come up. My car was built (according to VIN) in early July 1968 but did not make it here to California until early September 1968 when it became a "1969" model. The car had no headrests so it is essentially a '68 but registered as a '69. Mrfatboy, 17mm it is.

John

[Pawel66]

Thank you!

Your car has the "early" mechanism for snaps, as you showed: rubber washer + male snap part. As per my theory it this mechanism might have been replaced with the black Druckknopf, I think. Maybe.

[Desertpagoda]

R these reusable? I have an old carpet set with them.

[mrfatboy]

Not really. However, I would think you could at least salvage the most important part - female receiver part that says “Dot Durable”. Then just get a new 17mm button head and put them back on the carpet.

[Pawel66]

I think you could try to drill out the DOT marked part, like any rivet. 17mm caps you can just buy it is one of the standards.

[neelyrc]

The cap I have has a chrome like finish. You would have to compare to 49er’s picture above. You could also compare with the snap on the spare tire cover. I don’t know if the would be the same.

Maybe it’s a brushed nickel or stainless finish..........

Just to finalize this one point.  The original 17mm carpet snaps are identical to the 17mm snap on the spare tire cover.  It is definitely not brushed nickel or matt finish, it is a chrome like stainless finish.