Hi all. Long time browser, new 6.9 owner, and first time poster.
I recently acquired a decent 1978 6.9 and have started making it my own. It's a little rough, some rust in the usual spots but I'll have it for a while and with more time and money it'll get there. If you're interested in looking at the car, I posted some shots in the Gallery section. Look for the pics under MercedesMike.
The 6.9 is a US model and I recently replaced the bumpers with the euro-spec versions. Many thanks to all those who previously posted all the tips. It sped up the install immensely (although I bailed out and went to a body shop to hack out the US bumper brackets).
With the Euro bumpers now in place, I'm now acutely aware that my car needs a front spoiler. I've seen a few past postings from Styria and others regarding some molds being taken of an original AMG spoiler but the posts were 2 years old. I'm REALLY interested in finding an AMG spoiler and was wondering if anyone out there knows where I might be able to source one. I've been stalking eBay for the past few weeks but no luck there. I've even searched the German, Austrian, UK, France, and Australian eBay sites and nothing is coming up. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
(http://gallery.w116.org/dl/20102-3/MikeMercedes69-6.jpg) (http://gallery.w116.org/v/show_room/MercedesMike/MikeMercedes69-6.jpg/) (http://gallery.w116.org/dl/20098-3/MikeMercedes69-5.jpg) (http://gallery.w116.org/v/show_room/MercedesMike/MikeMercedes69-5.jpg/)
Great looking car, styra has moved on and found another forum . you can find the link to that forum on wikipedia. He should be able to get you what you need.
The body shop who did my bumper conversion hacked the 6.9 bumpers. I was inexperienced in the model and didnt know any better at the time. Great catch.
My 6.9 has one of these spoilers and I know there were a couple of copies left in Sydney not that long ago.
Bill
Congratulations - black on black - that is super cool.
You can send an email to
[email protected] and he can advise you the cost of the reproduction spoiler.
He has started up another forum at www.topklasse.net.au if you want to see current postings on the spoilers.
By the way, what wheels do you have on the car, please post a close up photo.
Thanks for the reply. I also got the same advice from WGB to email Styria which I've now done (he should be waking up in Australia by now).
The wheels were purchased aftermarket. They required spacers to fit given the wheelwell and suspension clearance issues. It took a bit of math and a very useful website to figure out how big a spacer I need (and the right length lug bolts -- as I found out if they're too long, the rear wheels will not rotate due to some hub clearance issue).
I purchased the wheels at the following site: http://www.lakeshorewheelandtire.com/specials/mercedes.shtml
They are 17x8s (on the site they are ITN # 275). You can get a close up picture of the wheel there.
These wheels have a 37mm backspace which won't fit without a spacer. I needed to get 25mm spacers to effectively decrease the backspace of the wheel to 12mm. There are plenty of vendors on eBay offering spacers with a 5x112 bolt configuration. The guy I bought it from is eBay member: maco1962. Search for him on eBay. Absolutely the best. GREAT service. Really high quality product. When I first installed them, the lug bolts he provided were too long. If you go this route and have a 37mm backspace wheel with a 25mm spacer, you will need 2in long lug bolts (approximately 50.8mm). maco1962 responded immediately to the issue and shipped out 20 lugbolts of the right size. Perfect.
Another really useful site out there for you guys to look at (also discovered through researching this excellent blog) is: http://www.rims-n-tires.com/rt_specs.jsp It really helps you to visualize different wheel sizes as well as tires.
I hope this helps.
There is also a gentlemen on www.star-lounge.ca (from memory) that has new old stock of various AMG parts. It may be worth a look for him.
Otherwise they do appear from time to time on the various online markets.
If I were you I'd be tempted to contact Styria and ask for him to forward a call for the spoiler to all his purchasers.
A dime bets a dollar one or two of the buyers just haven't gotten around to putting them on, or chose not to once they got a price from their body shop. The repro spoilers are perfect copies and the originals are scarce and rarely in good shape - unless you're lucky enough to find a used one.
Quote from: MercedesMike on 05 November 2008, 11:22 PM
With the Euro bumpers now in place, I'm now acutely aware that my car needs a front spoiler.
Let me be contrary here, I don't understand the enthusiasm for the AMG front spoilers. I can understand it for AMG steering wheels and penta road wheels, both are attractive and improved designs but in my opinion the AMG spoiler looks trissy.
Maybe it's an appreciation of function over form where the beauty an object's design comes from how well the object is suited to it's purpose as opposed to how "pretty" or "nice" it looks. A classic case is the 116 door locks with exposed peg and striker, not attractive but solid and safe.
The standard steering wheel is too just big, like a leftover from a bus, was it a legislative requirement in Germany that they had to be huge? The standard bundt wheels are pretty but difficult to clean and don't appear to have any advantage over a more traditional 5 spoke design like the penta style.
Have a think about the standard black spoiler like a "proper" car would have ;)
koan
"Trissy"............Now there's a word I haven't heard for years!!!!!!!!! Hahaha.
Quote from: koan on 08 November 2008, 06:53 PM
Quote from: MercedesMike on 05 November 2008, 11:22 PM
With the Euro bumpers now in place, I'm now acutely aware that my car needs a front spoiler.
Let me be contrary here, I don't understand the enthusiasm for the AMG front spoilers. I can understand it for AMG steering wheels and penta road wheels, both are attractive and improved designs but in my opinion the AMG spoiler looks trissy.
Maybe it's an appreciation of function over form where the beauty an object's design comes from how well the object is suited to it's purpose as opposed to how "pretty" or "nice" it looks. A classic case is the 116 door locks with exposed peg and striker, not attractive but solid and safe.
The standard steering wheel is too just big, like a leftover from a bus, was it a legislative requirement in Germany that they had to be huge? The standard bundt wheels are pretty but difficult to clean and don't appear to have any advantage over a more traditional 5 spoke design like the penta style.
Have a think about the standard black spoiler like a "proper" car would have ;)
koan
One man's medicine is another man's poison.
I think the AMG spoiler sets the front of my car off perfectly - not so sure about the rest of the body kit but as i've just purchased the ex-Des-ex-13B rear "Black rubber sausage" off e-bay I'll post some pictures with and without spoiler for opinion before I drill any holes and then probably do what I want to anyway. ;D
That will have to wait for a couple of weeks as I'm off to New Zealand on Tuesday for two weeks for my Dad's Birthday and to attend the NZ Grand Lodge Installation.
As far as the steering wheel goes I really enjoy the steering response and tactile feel of my AMG wheel but the limited view of the instruments gets a bit wearying. I've left it on for the past year but when I fit my new hyper-expensive rubber band to the instrument panel I will re-fit the larger standard wheel for a while and try it out.
Bill
I actually don't know what trissy means. I presume it's not a synonym for attractive.
I've spent a lot of time researching W116 pictures online with the AMG spoiler. I'm more inclined to the spoiled look.
Trissy means effeminate......... ;)
Quote from: Bandolero on 09 November 2008, 12:59 AM
Trissy means effeminate......... ;)
I suppose it does, but I've always used it to mean overly pretty just for the sake of it and not very effective at doing what it should.
koan
I appreciate the aesthetic commentary. Very educational. Let me turn to a practical question. I've owned my 6.9 for only a few weeks and have had an opportunity to drive it around town quite a bit with no problems thus far. The Chicago area is relatively flat and frankly the only thing I really need to worry about are the potholes on our well worn streets. Have any of you had issues with ground clearance with an AMG spoiler that should give me pause?
The only problem I've had is maybe three times over the past couple of years I've scraped the middle underside whilst going into or reversing out of driveways. It only happens if going into (or reversing out of) a driveway square on. Hit them at a 45deg angle or so and there's no contact. The most annoying occasion was when it was newly fitted and the next day I drove square on into a service station's (gas station) driveway and scraped the underside of the spoiler.
Haven't worn a hole in it yet and the scrapes aren't visible except if your laying underneath it. So long as you remember the spoiler's there and don't hit driveways or speed bumps as though you're driving the General Lee, you wont have any problems. Pot holes wont be an issue regardless IMO. Also, keep in mind the change in clearance when parking up to cement or wooden barriers in car parks. On a flat surface like in a multi storey car park, none will be an issue. But other car parks if you're putting the front end over a gutter or similar there might be.
I have no grounding issues of any significance and my 6.9 is lower than specs but it does make the use of wheel ramps for servicing purposes impossible.
Bill
I am surprised to read that you scrape the spoiler so many times in common places like car parks.
I have one fitted to my 450SE and have yet to touch a concrete 'barrier' in shooping centre car parks in the Sydney area. Honest!
Has your car been lowered in any way or have you replaced the self levelling with a fixed rate shocker? If so it may be jacked up too high at the rear.
Definitely the rear is too high on my 350, it's a levelling valve problem, but the front still sits higher than a 6.9. The car park thing only happened once, the driveways for me were the issue but only driving in or out square on.
The car park incident was when I parked front-to-kerb with a boundary of the car park. The boundary was like a gutter about the same size as a roadside gutter I suppose and taller than the average concrete fence post lying down sort of barrier. I've eased my car in and have scraped over the top of this gutter. Any modern car with front spoilers that sit even lower than ours would have more of a problem. Also, any front-to-kerb kind of parking where the road cambers into the gutter has to be treated with caution. I've been more mindful after my few scrapes. Like any car with a front spoiler, just have to remember the spoiler is there is all.
QuoteHave any of you had issues with ground clearance with an AMG spoiler that should give me pause?
If your hydro suspension is on good shape and the front at the correct height (as appears to be the case in your avatar photo) then you will have no problems with the AMG spoiler. It only hangs down to roughly the same drop at the original black plastic spoiler anyway.
I.