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rear seat spring frame

Started by rumb, 24 June 2018, 07:14 AM

rumb

Anyone know why the rear seat spring frame is different between the 450SEL and the 6.9?  both the bottom and the back frame.

'68 250S
'77 6.9 Euro
'91 300SE,
'98 SL500
'14 CLS550,
'16 AMG GTS
'21 E450 Cabrio


rumb

Yeah, different part numbers, but what is physically different? They both use the same pad. 

more cush in the 6.9?  taller?

The leather pattern is different on a 6.9. 

does that mean a 450sel cover wont fit on a 6.9 spring?
'68 250S
'77 6.9 Euro
'91 300SE,
'98 SL500
'14 CLS550,
'16 AMG GTS
'21 E450 Cabrio

raueda1

Rumb, you seem to be doing a reupholster job?  If so please continue to share your issues!  I'll be doing the same at some point soon.
-Dave
Now:  1976 6.9 Euro, 2015 GL550
Before that:  1966 230S, 1964 220SE coupe, 1977 Carrera 3.0

rumb

I am doing my seats in a year plus when body work is done. I am asking now as a person wants to buy rear seats for a 450SEL, and I have 6.9 parts.  Trying to figure out any compatibility issues.

Your best choices for seat leathers are GAHH, World Upholstry and cabrio.de

'68 250S
'77 6.9 Euro
'91 300SE,
'98 SL500
'14 CLS550,
'16 AMG GTS
'21 E450 Cabrio

Squiggle Dog

I believe the difference is that the 6.9's rear seat is stiffer due to the fact that it's more likely to be chauffeur-driven and have adult passengers in the rear.

Normal W116 seat back:


6.9 seat back with coil springs for extra stiffening:


Besides that, there are also differences in the seat frames and pads between the above and reclining seats.
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1967 W110 Universal Wagon, Euro, Turbo Diesel, Tail Fins, 4 Speed Manual Column Shift, A/C
1980 W116 300SD Turbo Diesel, DB479 Walnut Brown, Sunroof, Heated Seats, 350,000+

rumb

awesome, Thanks the pictures make it clear.
'68 250S
'77 6.9 Euro
'91 300SE,
'98 SL500
'14 CLS550,
'16 AMG GTS
'21 E450 Cabrio

raueda1

>BUMP<   ....because our late friend Scott posted some good pix on the subject.  I'll soon be redoing my seats and there doesn't seem to be much info on the rear seats. 

First, is it the case that the rear seat bench bottom is extremely soft in all these cars, whether 6.9's or not?  Mine certainly is.  The whole thing practically bottoms out.  My neighbor had a 300TD and his did the same.  I'm not talking about the disintegrated cushion but rather the spring box itself.  It seems to be a joke.
Second, has anybody tried to stiffen it up using additional springs, pool noodles or other methods?

Any experience or knowledge would be helpful.  Thanks and cheers,
-Dave
Now:  1976 6.9 Euro, 2015 GL550
Before that:  1966 230S, 1964 220SE coupe, 1977 Carrera 3.0

daantjie

I tried the pool noodle trick but ended up with a seat that was way too hard, so the total opposite of what I had before.  The horse hair pad on mine was completely gone and I was lucky to score a NOS one on ebay at the time.  The new pad made a huge difference.  I'm 250lbs so not exactly light and it holds me up fairly well but it does almost bottom out with that kind of weight ;D

I think this is another area where one should taper the expectations compared to modern car interiors a fair bit.
Daniel
1977 450 SEL 6.9 - Astralsilber

raueda1

Quote from: daantjie on 16 April 2023, 01:44 PMI tried the pool noodle trick but ended up with a seat that was way too hard, so the total opposite of what I had before.  The horse hair pad on mine was completely gone and I was lucky to score a NOS one on ebay at the time.  The new pad made a huge difference.  I'm 250lbs so not exactly light and it holds me up fairly well but it does almost bottom out with that kind of weight ;D

I think this is another area where one should taper the expectations compared to modern car interiors a fair bit.
Thanks Daniel, super helpful.  Just wondering, do you remember how many noodles you used?  And did you remove them?  If you did it to the max, I'm wondering if just a few would be beneficial without going overboard.  To be sure, my expectations aren't very high. And in reality it doesn't matter that much anyway, since the back seat is almost never used, and certainly not for a long trip.   Still, even a small improvement would be nice.  Thanks and cheers,
-Dave
Now:  1976 6.9 Euro, 2015 GL550
Before that:  1966 230S, 1964 220SE coupe, 1977 Carrera 3.0

daantjie

Well what i did was in retrospect pretty dumb but...I basically cut a length of pool noodle to fit the height of each spring then I jammed the length of pool noodle into the spring in a vertical configuration.   Took a hell of a long time and resulted in no spring action to speak of so it resulted in sitting on a board essentially.   Pretty stupid I know  :o

So after all that I got annoyed with the whole thing and had to rip out all the pool noodles again then just went with a new pad.  Not great and not awful but I was not going to bugger around with those noodles again :-\
Daniel
1977 450 SEL 6.9 - Astralsilber

raueda1

Quote from: daantjie on 16 April 2023, 04:22 PMWell what i did was in retrospect pretty dumb but...I basically cut a length of pool noodle to fit the height of each spring then I jammed the length of pool noodle into the spring in a vertical configuration.   Took a hell of a long time and resulted in no spring action to speak of so it resulted in sitting on a board essentially.   Pretty stupid I know  :o

So after all that I got annoyed with the whole thing and had to rip out all the pool noodles again then just went with a new pad.  Not great and not awful but I was not going to bugger around with those noodles again :-\
You just saved me a lot of trouble.  I was planning on trying exactly what you did.   I've got a feeling that the rear seats were just designed to be very soft.  Ugh.  Best,
-Dave
Now:  1976 6.9 Euro, 2015 GL550
Before that:  1966 230S, 1964 220SE coupe, 1977 Carrera 3.0

john erbe

Currently working on the project but in this case installing (making it fit) the rear seat from a 126/420.A brain teaser.