I bought a w129 last night.....
 

Pictures to follow really soon. But first..... I bought a 2001 SL 500 from a Mercedes Benz dealer last night and in part of the deal they are going to replace my glass because it had a bulls eye. 1st Q. I'm supposed to schedule an appointment with the dealer so they can replace the windshield, do I need to remove the hardtop for this procedure? Also, looks like a tough glass to remove, lots of $$$ looking trim around it and I've seen guys take glass out before should I be worried about them damaging my car? 2nd Q. When you guys drive in top down mode do you pop the roll bar up? My wife thinks it looks silly, honestly I don't think I've ever seen an SL with the roll bar popped up. Heck around here I almost never see one with just the soft top up, almost everyone leaves the hard top in place.

-Ryan

It won't matter if the top is on or off for the windshield, I'd call around and get quotes, the dealer is the middle man in the windshield fix marking up the cost.

Listen to your wife, it looks silly to me also with the rollbar up, it pops up when necessary, its not a security blanket.

Where is around here? Put that in your profile also, it can be helpful.

wow, roll bar up is a must for me

To me, driving with the roll bar up, is like walking on a beach with a bonner, ie you look silly :)

Dont worry about the windshield, it doesnt matter if the hard top is on the car or not.

maybe you would, :naughty:

I thought the roll bar is for safety reason.. in case you roll over.. I guess it show how newbie thinks.. :confused: I just got my R129 couple of months ago.. I have been tinkering with it in the garage and with couple of long drive (6 hours long) and Italian tune ups on it's belt.. I am pretty happy with the performance.. :D I already rack up 2,000 miles since I got it.. :p:

whats an italian tune up??
RRV

Italian Tune up is taking your car and opening up for as long as you can feel comfortable.. to say the least breaking the speed limit on many states to clear up all the carbon build up in the valves and piston heads.. :topic:

I remember this one time in 1992 driving my 87' 190E 2.6/5 Speed in Italy.. I was doing an average of 70-90 miles an hour on the Tangetiale Southbound near Rimini and San Marino.. I noticed this yellow dot in my rear view mirrow.. In couple of seconds, this yellow dot overtook us.. it was Testarosa doing at least 140+ MPH.. He passed me like I was standing still.. Now, that's an Italian tune up.. giving the car the speed it needed to clear those build up of carbons.. :zoom:

No offense or pun intended, it was a compliment to Italian built cars for speed..I worked side by side w/ Italian Navy officers and members of the Italian Gendermarie in Afghanistan (Nov/06 to Dec/08)and they were all professionals..

The rollbar automatically deploys when a rollover is detected, as posted earlier. Top on or off makes no matter on replacing windshield.

What is important is that they install Genuine MB glass and not some aftermarket windshield. Don't let the sales dept cheap out here. Repairs like that come from the Sales departments cut on the car and they have been known to try and cut corners.

-Jim

They're wonderful cars. Enjoy it. I keep mine down (rollbar) as I don't feel it's necessary to draw additional attention. The car is definitely meant to be driven and it's truly a pleasure to drive. Just watch out for those potholes. The car's a lot lower then it looks.

bar up
 

regardless of the beach appearance, I use the roll bar down with the windscreen up to control the air flow on the hair. If I need more air, I raise the bar and the flow is under the screen and up past the seats.

Be careful about keeping the hard top on the car in the winter if you live where its cold as it will quickly destroy your soft top window. I live in CT so the winters up here are harsh and since the rear window in the 2001 SL is plastic, the colder the temperature gets, the harder the plastic gets and if your hard top is on, the plastic is folder, which is now going to create a permanent crease that can crack the plastic window. I'm not saying that it will but i am telling you that it can happen (it did for me) and then you have to replace the entire top. even though the top is two pieces, it's likely the original so getting off just the back piece and matching the color exactly will be close to impossible.

With that said, i love my car and drive it every chance i get. It's a work of artistry. As for the roll bar, i prefer it down by my son likes it up. Either way, in the event of a rollover, the bar will pop up faster than you can blink so as to protect you. That's why they don't make seats in the back of the car becuase if they did and someone was sitting back there and the pop up bar popped up becuase it sensed a rollover, it would decapitate whoever was trying to squeeze back there.

Enjoy your car. Mine is a silver '01 with a black top and black interior. 55k miles to date and i can't wait to drive another 55k on it.

Soft top plasyic window
 

I have used a soft cloth towel rolled to make a 2-3 inch diam. tube that is placed in the fold of the Eisenglas plastic. The net effect is no sharp bend. I only put up the soft top in a warn environment. I have replaced the back panel in several SL's and after 10-15 years I want the clear plastic back, anyway. The back window panels have all been very well matched, and the new interior liner is always an improvement. Benz owner since 59.

Great idea about the towel!
 

That's a great idea about the town and I will definitely give that a try this winter. Thanks.

rollbar
 

I had 1997 SL320, beautiful car be careful, use rollbar as suggested if it gets stuck in up position the cost is $1400 module is the part, also be careful hydraulic locks leaks on front roof locks $500 each:topic:, dealer got me for $3300 to fix, later i traded for R230 body type:topic: