SL/R129: '93 500SL tonneau cover repair
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: May 2017
Posts: 39
Likes: 8
From: South East Texas
'86 300 SDL, '91 BMW M5, '91 BMW 735iL
'93 500SL tonneau cover repair
The vinyl for my tonneau cover is dried out, and ripped in places. I bought replacement vinyl covering, but am trying to figure out how to replace the vinyl. It appears as though there are some rivets around the perimeter of that might be there to hold the cover on, but there are also a bunch of nuts that appear to hold the metal piece on the back of the cover assembly.
If someone can point me in the right direction to get started I'd appreciate it...
Thanks in advance.
Mark
If someone can point me in the right direction to get started I'd appreciate it...
Thanks in advance.
Mark
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2019
Posts: 428
Likes: 96
From: Houston
001 s600, 94 sl600
A good upholstery shop can replace just the clear vinyl windows for a fraction of the cost of replacing everything. Be aware of potential wiring insulation failures as this car is of the vintage with self dissolving wiring insulation. Also, plan on rebuilding all the top hydraulic cylinders as they are 'long in the tooth. There is a good tutorial on removing the cylinders---send them out to the expert for the rebuild. IF the 'cloth' is in good shape, replace only the vinyl windows.
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: May 2017
Posts: 39
Likes: 8
From: South East Texas
'86 300 SDL, '91 BMW M5, '91 BMW 735iL
Thanks for the reply, but perhaps I wasn't clear - the vinyl I'm looking at replacing is on the tonneau cover that closes over the top when it retracts into the rear of the car.
My top is in great shape and I've replaced all my hydraulic cylinders since they were all leaking when I bought the car.
The piece I'm replacing is shown in the attachment (Not my car BTW.)
Mark
My top is in great shape and I've replaced all my hydraulic cylinders since they were all leaking when I bought the car.
The piece I'm replacing is shown in the attachment (Not my car BTW.)
Mark
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2019
Posts: 428
Likes: 96
From: Houston
001 s600, 94 sl600
I have no idea of where or even IF the upholstery on the tonneau cover is available from MBZ. A replacement can surely be easily manufactured by a decent upholstery shop, using pleather--which is a very close replica of good leather, but much better and longer lasting than leather in the auto environment
.Ouch ! REPLACING all the top hydraulic cylinders at Dealer prices must have hurt a lot $4000+/- for the parts !!! I wince with you. Even 'resealing' the cylinders I removed, cost me some $1300 which I considered fair for the seals and work involved in disassembling, cleaning, replacing seals on the piston, shaft and in the ports. .
IF one is very familiar with the task AND has the clip removal tools, R&R the cylinders is an 'easy 8+8 (16 hours) hour job not including disassembling all the parts necessary for access, but at least two times those estimates if this is first time, AND one has spent 5-10 hours reading and studying, rehearsing the tasks. Purging all the air and reassembling the vehicle is at least another 3-4 hours because of the complexity and attention to detail needed. I quickly realized it was essential to seal and cover EVERY possible crevice, hole, or escape path for a clip flying free.This meant using masking tape and kraft wrapping paper, to carefully and completely PLAN that at least one clip per cylinder suddenly springing away in an unexpected direction . Draping the whole area with sheets enabled 100% recovery of the two that just went 'ping' so fast I never saw them fly.
.
.Ouch ! REPLACING all the top hydraulic cylinders at Dealer prices must have hurt a lot $4000+/- for the parts !!! I wince with you. Even 'resealing' the cylinders I removed, cost me some $1300 which I considered fair for the seals and work involved in disassembling, cleaning, replacing seals on the piston, shaft and in the ports. .
IF one is very familiar with the task AND has the clip removal tools, R&R the cylinders is an 'easy 8+8 (16 hours) hour job not including disassembling all the parts necessary for access, but at least two times those estimates if this is first time, AND one has spent 5-10 hours reading and studying, rehearsing the tasks. Purging all the air and reassembling the vehicle is at least another 3-4 hours because of the complexity and attention to detail needed. I quickly realized it was essential to seal and cover EVERY possible crevice, hole, or escape path for a clip flying free.This meant using masking tape and kraft wrapping paper, to carefully and completely PLAN that at least one clip per cylinder suddenly springing away in an unexpected direction . Draping the whole area with sheets enabled 100% recovery of the two that just went 'ping' so fast I never saw them fly.
.
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: May 2017
Posts: 39
Likes: 8
From: South East Texas
'86 300 SDL, '91 BMW M5, '91 BMW 735iL
I have no idea of where or even IF the upholstery on the tonneau cover is available from MBZ. A replacement can surely be easily manufactured by a decent upholstery shop, using pleather--which is a very close replica of good leather, but much better and longer lasting than leather in the auto environment
.Ouch ! REPLACING all the top hydraulic cylinders at Dealer prices must have hurt a lot $4000+/- for the parts !!! I wince with you. Even 'resealing' the cylinders I removed, cost me some $1300 which I considered fair for the seals and work involved in disassembling, cleaning, replacing seals on the piston, shaft and in the ports. .
IF one is very familiar with the task AND has the clip removal tools, R&R the cylinders is an 'easy 8+8 (16 hours) hour job not including disassembling all the parts necessary for access, but at least two times those estimates if this is first time, AND one has spent 5-10 hours reading and studying, rehearsing the tasks. Purging all the air and reassembling the vehicle is at least another 3-4 hours because of the complexity and attention to detail needed. I quickly realized it was essential to seal and cover EVERY possible crevice, hole, or escape path for a clip flying free.This meant using masking tape and kraft wrapping paper, to carefully and completely PLAN that at least one clip per cylinder suddenly springing away in an unexpected direction . Draping the whole area with sheets enabled 100% recovery of the two that just went 'ping' so fast I never saw them fly.
.
.Ouch ! REPLACING all the top hydraulic cylinders at Dealer prices must have hurt a lot $4000+/- for the parts !!! I wince with you. Even 'resealing' the cylinders I removed, cost me some $1300 which I considered fair for the seals and work involved in disassembling, cleaning, replacing seals on the piston, shaft and in the ports. .
IF one is very familiar with the task AND has the clip removal tools, R&R the cylinders is an 'easy 8+8 (16 hours) hour job not including disassembling all the parts necessary for access, but at least two times those estimates if this is first time, AND one has spent 5-10 hours reading and studying, rehearsing the tasks. Purging all the air and reassembling the vehicle is at least another 3-4 hours because of the complexity and attention to detail needed. I quickly realized it was essential to seal and cover EVERY possible crevice, hole, or escape path for a clip flying free.This meant using masking tape and kraft wrapping paper, to carefully and completely PLAN that at least one clip per cylinder suddenly springing away in an unexpected direction . Draping the whole area with sheets enabled 100% recovery of the two that just went 'ping' so fast I never saw them fly.
.
For the Hydraulic cylinders, those came from Top Hydraulics (https://www.tophydraulics.com/19-r129-sl-97-02). Great service and seem to be high quality. I elected to have them send me rebuilt cylinders and return mine after changing them out. Cost a little more to do it that way, but made the job easier in executing. Cost me a little less than $1K to do.
As far as the little clips goes, what I ended up doing was taking a piece of safety wire and looping it through both clips, which gave me something to pull on for removal, plus made it easy to keep them together. That safety wire is still on the clips if I ever have to do that job again.
Again, thanks for your help on this.
Mark
