My passenger door brake broke. A replacement can be found sometimes on ebay for + $50. or new from Tomkinson for over $90. I found a suitable replacement at a local “U-pull U-pay” auto recycler. It came off a 1989 Mercedes 300. I don’t recall the exact model but it was not an SEL. It was a smaller 4 door.
In the first picture you see the e9 door brake on the left. On the right is the Mercedes door brake. You can see it’s a different construct and in my opinion much more solid. Its made out of steel rather than aluminum as the e9 are. It’s the same length for door opening (unlike the 2002 door brakes) and fits in perfectly. On the Mercedes, the door brake is held by 3 bolts whereas it’s held by 2 bolts on the e9. So no problem.
To the right of the Mercedes door brake is a plastic cover, similar to the cover used on some window motors on the e9. While nice, this cover could not be used on the e9 because of space limitation of the e9 door. The 2-3 millimeters thickness of that cover does make a difference when trying to install on the e9. There is also a rubber cover that can be used to cover the part where the securing pin goes in.
The only issue I encountered was the “pin” itself. As you can see from the first picture the BMW pin is smaller than the Mercedes pin. So while the BMW pin would fit to secure the door brake arm to the car body, it’s too small in thickness for the Mercedes “arm” and leaves too much “play”. Because of that, there is a noise whenever the door is opened or closed. So you need to be creative here. If you look again at the first picture there is a “sleeve” (pointed out by the pencil) inside the e9 “arm” . That sleeve is also too thick to fit on the Mercedes arm so I had to make my own sleeve. Another option could have been to enlarge the holes where the pin goes in (at the car frame) but then you would be stuck in always having to use a mercedes door brake and pin. I didn't want to box myself in that way.
I went to Home Depot and Lowes to find something suitable and everything was either too thick or too small. I finally settled on a plastic/rubber cap that you can see on the second picture next to the straight blade. I cut the end off and inserted it fully into the “arm” as you can see in the third picture pointed out by a pencil. I could then use the BMW pin.
The 4th picture show the cover over the door brake. Since the e9 doesn’t use a cover there was no need to used it here either and it wouldn’t fit anyway as mentioned above. The 5th pictures show the small rubber cover for the pin section. Picture #6 shows the installed door brake and the rubber cover over the pin. Picture #7 shows it without that rubber cover. The last picture is a close up of the installed rubber cover.
The door now opens wide as it should in both positions. The red markings you see is the Mercedes body paint. That door had been repainted at some point. I’ll have to clean it up better.
The cost for the Mercedes door brake was $4.00 each so I got all four off the car. I’ll need the extra ones for my other coupe. $4.00 for a solid door brake vs $90.00 for a new one that may eventually brake again is a no brainer unless you’re a purist and must have an e9 door brake. There may be other door brakes that would fit our car.
Hope this helps someone.
In the first picture you see the e9 door brake on the left. On the right is the Mercedes door brake. You can see it’s a different construct and in my opinion much more solid. Its made out of steel rather than aluminum as the e9 are. It’s the same length for door opening (unlike the 2002 door brakes) and fits in perfectly. On the Mercedes, the door brake is held by 3 bolts whereas it’s held by 2 bolts on the e9. So no problem.
To the right of the Mercedes door brake is a plastic cover, similar to the cover used on some window motors on the e9. While nice, this cover could not be used on the e9 because of space limitation of the e9 door. The 2-3 millimeters thickness of that cover does make a difference when trying to install on the e9. There is also a rubber cover that can be used to cover the part where the securing pin goes in.
The only issue I encountered was the “pin” itself. As you can see from the first picture the BMW pin is smaller than the Mercedes pin. So while the BMW pin would fit to secure the door brake arm to the car body, it’s too small in thickness for the Mercedes “arm” and leaves too much “play”. Because of that, there is a noise whenever the door is opened or closed. So you need to be creative here. If you look again at the first picture there is a “sleeve” (pointed out by the pencil) inside the e9 “arm” . That sleeve is also too thick to fit on the Mercedes arm so I had to make my own sleeve. Another option could have been to enlarge the holes where the pin goes in (at the car frame) but then you would be stuck in always having to use a mercedes door brake and pin. I didn't want to box myself in that way.
I went to Home Depot and Lowes to find something suitable and everything was either too thick or too small. I finally settled on a plastic/rubber cap that you can see on the second picture next to the straight blade. I cut the end off and inserted it fully into the “arm” as you can see in the third picture pointed out by a pencil. I could then use the BMW pin.
The 4th picture show the cover over the door brake. Since the e9 doesn’t use a cover there was no need to used it here either and it wouldn’t fit anyway as mentioned above. The 5th pictures show the small rubber cover for the pin section. Picture #6 shows the installed door brake and the rubber cover over the pin. Picture #7 shows it without that rubber cover. The last picture is a close up of the installed rubber cover.
The door now opens wide as it should in both positions. The red markings you see is the Mercedes body paint. That door had been repainted at some point. I’ll have to clean it up better.
The cost for the Mercedes door brake was $4.00 each so I got all four off the car. I’ll need the extra ones for my other coupe. $4.00 for a solid door brake vs $90.00 for a new one that may eventually brake again is a no brainer unless you’re a purist and must have an e9 door brake. There may be other door brakes that would fit our car.
Hope this helps someone.
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