Beyond A Joke

walkenblue

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cambs
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2002 w203 220cdi Avantgarde
Tried to get this part for my mirror as things get so brittle this time of year.This along with other plastic bits i seem to touch break as well.I went to MB and this cannot be purchased on it's own,i will have to buy a mirror frame at £227 + vat. Not the first time i have had to buy one because of a part needed,i had to buy one as a result of the auto wind in motor needed replacing.Really peeeed off ! This just is not good enough, Mercedes ripping off one of my conkers when needing to replace a piece of plastic.Wont be buying another frame that is for sure.Anyone know where i can get the plastic frame clip from without its metal attachment? Thanks for reading..
 

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television

Always remembered RIP
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Your Mercedes
2002 SL500, 216 CL500, all fully loaded
Yes taking the pee not selling mirror part,,, Ebay will be the only way, plenty on there
 
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walkenblue

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2002 w203 220cdi Avantgarde
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Yes taking the pee not selling mirror part,,, Ebay will be the only way, plenty on there

Been looking on ebay but no joy.Did you see any there ?
 

Benzworx

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CLK 55 amg
Give mercman a try he is very good and keeps loads of spares
 

rx6180

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Long Eaton, Derbyshire
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Ageing W202 C200 with rust
Tried to get this part for my mirror as things get so brittle this time of year.This along with other plastic bits i seem to touch break as well.I went to MB and this cannot be purchased on it's own,i will have to buy a mirror frame at £227 + vat. Not the first time i have had to buy one because of a part needed,i had to buy one as a result of the auto wind in motor needed replacing.Really peeeed off ! This just is not good enough, Mercedes ripping off one of my conkers when needing to replace a piece of plastic.Wont be buying another frame that is for sure.Anyone know where i can get the plastic frame clip from without its metal attachment? Thanks for reading..

Had similar experience with boot lock on my car this last week, small bit of metal broken and new lock from M-B costs £200. I'm starting to wonder if rival companies like Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen are just as bad these days because I'm starting to think about replacing my car. If I can find out other makes are as bad I'm likely to look around for another M-B, but if prices for bits are significantly higher than for other makes, I might be tempted to look elsewhere.
 

television

Always remembered RIP
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Your Mercedes
2002 SL500, 216 CL500, all fully loaded
I think in all fairness, stocking must be a huge problem of all the parts and there has to be a limit as to what can be sold on its own.
 

anyweb

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Sweden
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www.niallbrady.com
Your Mercedes
c238,w120 (diesel)
go to a breakers and you'll most likely get the part there, if not try another breakers, i got a replacement alternator for 25 quid from one for my W202 and that was after mercedes quoted 400 for the same part...
 

television

Always remembered RIP
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Your Mercedes
2002 SL500, 216 CL500, all fully loaded
No one is going to sell just that part as it will destroy the rest of the mirror so that it cannot be sold, unless you can pick up a broken one with that part intact
 

brandwooddixon

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Wolverhampton
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S63 Coupe 2014
Other companies are just as bad.
My wife's previous Micra required a replacement door mirror glass with mounting clip after some toerag stole it. The glass was available from Halfrods for £6, but you couldn't buy the clip from Nissan, you had to buy an entire mirror unit for around £100.
 
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walkenblue

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2002 w203 220cdi Avantgarde
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As i said in the original post,i had already had to buy a frame. Not good is it ?
 

Xtractorfan

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S class
I would suggest you have a troll round a few of the local bodyshops as they will have replaced broken mirrors and the piece you need will possibly be reusable ...
 

rx6180

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Long Eaton, Derbyshire
Your Mercedes
Ageing W202 C200 with rust
Breakers yards have been in business for scores of years because they sell spares for less than the dealer wants, and when you've got an older car like I have you become less willing (assuming you've got the funds) to spend a lot on parts for a car worth very little. The other aspect is that for things such as a mirror, 20 or 30 years ago it would be a bit of glass set in chrome, screwed to the door and moved by hand on a ball joint. Now it is all faired in mouldings, tinted glass, electrically adjusted, sometimes heated, sometimes folding in when you park - oops, broke a mirror - that'll be £200 please! Ker-ching!

Same with my boot lock - I bet BL wouldn't have charged the 1970s equivalant of £200 for the lock on a Morris Marina, or even a Jaguar, but then you just walked to the back of the car with a key and opened it up. Minimum technology. But now its all power-this, power-that. It's just annoying that a 50 pence part fails and causes £200 worth of financial damage.
 
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walkenblue

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cambs
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2002 w203 220cdi Avantgarde
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Breakers yards have been in business for scores of years because they sell spares for less than the dealer wants, and when you've got an older car like I have you become less willing (assuming you've got the funds) to spend a lot on parts for a car worth very little. The other aspect is that for things such as a mirror, 20 or 30 years ago it would be a bit of glass set in chrome, screwed to the door and moved by hand on a ball joint. Now it is all faired in mouldings, tinted glass, electrically adjusted, sometimes heated, sometimes folding in when you park - oops, broke a mirror - that'll be £200 please! Ker-ching!

Same with my boot lock - I bet BL wouldn't have charged the 1970s equivalant of £200 for the lock on a Morris Marina, or even a Jaguar, but then you just walked to the back of the car with a key and opened it up. Minimum technology. But now its all power-this, power-that. It's just annoying that a 50 pence part fails and causes £200 worth of financial damage.

Yes i agree as i had fords galore in the early 1980s and was so affordable to get parts from breakers etc for very little compared to today.Ok so mercs are upmarket but problematic,and i remember the technology of 70s and 80s cars ,simple to get going if you had a problem trying to start it ,see if fuel is getting through,seeing if you had a spark and clean the plugs,the rotor arm in the dizzy cap, put some fuel or easy start in the carb,i even bump started an old escort i think with no starter motor in.I dont claim to be a technical person or too mechanical minded but wasnt it easier and simpler back then ? I never knew anyone back then who took their car to a garage to be fixed and fixing their own engine and gearboxes,and clutches .No part on cars then could'nt be found and done diy....Sorry to ramble on but....Rant over :Oops:
 

rx6180

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Long Eaton, Derbyshire
Your Mercedes
Ageing W202 C200 with rust
i remember the technology of 70s and 80s cars ,simple to get going if you had a problem trying to start it ,see if fuel is getting through,seeing if you had a spark and clean the plugs,the rotor arm in the dizzy cap, put some fuel or easy start in the carb,i even bump started an old escort i think with no starter motor in.I dont claim to be a technical person or too mechanical minded but wasnt it easier and simpler back then ?

I've always liked old cars...so I thought. When I was very young, my granddad had an Austin Seven. I was always known at school as the kid who liked vintage cars when all other lads were into football. I have an uncle in his late 60s now, who in the 1970s swapped cars like changing socks; always turning up in different Triumphs, Rovers, Zephyrs and Zodiacs, Minis, Maxis, there is little he didn't own. I think it is due to him my vintage car obsession turned into one for classic cars during the 80s and 90s. But in 1986 I owned a Jaguar Mk2 for six months and since 2003 I've had about half a dozen classics from a Mini to a Triumph 2000, with a Viva and Cortina inbetween. Truthfully, I've not had much fun with ANY of them! It is probably due to the advanced age of the cars - they aren't new or even five years old any more - but each and every one has had engine problems and they frequently smell of fuel or fumes. No, I don't recall them being this way in the 80s when I had Cortinas and Vivas, but I've found it impossible to get something I truly like as a classic hobby car. My ECU controlled Mercedes on the other hand, has only ever stopped running right in almost nine years, just once, and it still started and ran, and that's when the Air Mass Sensor failed. So despite my attraction to the old cars and grumbling about dealer parts prices and the complexity of modern cars, I dispute arguments I've read in classic car publications about classics being more reliable or easier to fix than moderns. My personal experience has been that modern cars hardly ever go wrong on the big things. Even accepting that my C Class has annoying rust and is beginning to look a bit shabby close to, it is nearly 14 years old and not many Cortinas and Escorts reached that age without being basket cases. In 1981 I went to a scrap yard to get a rear hatch for my 1970 Hillman Imp (welded up to the eyeballs) and got my prize off an 'N' reg '74/'75 model, sitting on the roof of a Mk1 Cortina. The seven year old Imp hadn't been scrapped through accident, the inner sills were rotten!
 

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