W126 B-Pillar trims

The W126 introduced a lot of new features for Mercedes-Benz.   A small convenience feature is the height adjustable seatbelt for the front seat passengers.   This feature brought with it a few problem.   The W126 B-pillar trims.   The MB-TEX on the B-pillar starts to separate from the pillar around the height adjuster.    Its an endemic problem and common to the W124 as well.     It was already occurring on my old 300E which was 15 years old at the time.

The W126 B-Pillar trims are quite easily removed.   I didn’t attempt to fix this job myself.  I would have only made it worse.   Instead, I took the car to a professional trimmer.   Its not a hard job for a trimmer and the results will be a lot better.

A friend of mine with a 420SEL, also with grey interior, had the same problem so we did them together.   The trimmer was able to made one order for both jobs.   Interestingly, his car was an airbag equipped 1989 model.   The inside of the B-pillar was different – mine was two pieces riveted together and his was one cast piece.  Perhaps a simplification for SRS.

In any case this small fix has really transformed the interior.   The old ripped trim was quite obvious, especially compared to the rest of the interior which is in very good shape.

While the car was at the trimmers I had another common W126 issue fixed.    It was obvious there was a broken spring in the drivers seat.  I could hear it grinding and one side of the seat was lower than the other.   The W126 seat bases seem more susceptible to broken springs than the earlier cars.   At the same time I had the ‘taxi blocks’ installed.   These are factory foam inserts that fit into the front spring coils to strengthen the seat.   They are still available from Mercedes and have the part number 126 914 22 15.    They will already be present if you have option 561 – Reinforced front drivers seat.

Now my drivers seat is much more comfortable, does not sag to one side, and doesn’t make noises.   These sort of repairs can make a really big difference to how the car drives.