Mercedes-Benz Owner and Buyer's Guide - Rust Areas and Prevention on R129 and W124

[@markbaker6029]

Your correct Val - I had to go into each of my R129 wheel wells and reattach the rubber piece some time ago as they all had detached and were useless flopping around. I used 3M Weather strip adhesive to attach them into place permanently. I also clean my wheel wells each month just for safe keeping plus it keeps them nice. Good information Val - thank you as usual!!!🙏

[@HandyVal]

Mark - Much appreciate your comment. Your work on fixing e-attaching the rubber piece is smart and your preventative maintenance on the cleaning of the wheel wells will keep the car looking good for a very, very long time.

[@As_129sl]

Thanks great video once again! I have seen rust on my petrol cap)very minor, rear tail light trim ( the whole light housing must come out and check the edges) Finally, rust can form on the a pilliars internally, this is when I got my windscreen changed.

[@HandyVal]

Thanks for sharing your experience with these additional areas of rust. I've seen rear tail lights showing rust on some on R129s, but I've yet to experience the petrol cap or the pillars. Thanks again.

[@ronaldneehao9723]

Thanks for your great advice on the r129

[@HandyVal]

Any time! 👍

[@felix1628]

I recently rust protected all four wheelarches on my r129 and I found some rust behind the plastic/rubber panels on the rear axle. I don't know if thats a common spot, but it might be worth taking a look at, before its too late

[@HandyVal]

Thank you. It’s great advice you give. I don’t know if it’s common. A good time to check would be when brakes and/or tires are being replaced.

[@rioraton]

good content...however for me I live in the desert so my issues are heat related.

[@HandyVal]

The desert brings its own set of problems but rust isn’t one of them. 😃

[@fixingandmore4776]

Thank you very much Sir for this helpful video. Sir unfortunately when I check under the door panel there was a rust I think for long time So now there is many gaps in the door metal. How can I close these gaps? and then how I can protect this area for future?

[@HandyVal]

Sorry to hear about your rust situation. With rust acting sooner is always better than waiting. If you have rust holes at the bottom of the door panel, you’ll likely need a body shop to remove the rust and then use bondo to fill the holes. If the rust holes are small, you can DIY it - 1) you need to completely remove any rust, using sand paper or a Dremel tool and 2) use rust prime and rust paint the area. I would then ensure the area is always well lubricated with Fluid Film, both on the bottom part of the panel and from the inside. For the inside you need to remove the door panel and then you’re able to spray a Krown rust spray (Fluid Film may not get everywhere). Doing this is cheaper than an auto body, but not as good. You’ll likely stop the rust from spreading. I hope this helps.

[@fixingandmore4776]

Thank you Sir for your reply and help. I will try to take photo for the door panel and then upload it to you.@@HandyVal

[@oleskeetercars]

Why no one ever mentions these cars look like a Benz mixed with a 3rd gen iroc convertible....ijs

[@HandyVal]

I wouldn’t have put the two together without your observation. There are some similarities on the side profile but not from the front or rear. I also think some of the Iroc had two tone paint too. Thanks for sharing.

[@oleskeetercars]

@@HandyVal yup even the more pronounced slope in the grill, headlamp angle, taillight design all seem inspired. But if you look at Cadillac allante, it's designed is definitely inspired by the previous Benz grand tourer. Think GM and Mercedes were inspiring each other in this timeframe

[@billrbca]

I doubt that Bruno Sacco was looking at GM for inspiration, he was head of MB design from 75-99 and the design cues were there in the W126, W124 throughout the eighties that lead the rest of the industry and other in 90's copied MB design language...I do agree with the similarity of the IROC with the solid block look