First, a little background. I bought an aftermarket pad for my 380SE in 2001, from a distributor on EBay. The first picture shows the pad today, with a huge layer of the coating peeled off/disintegrated! Now this is on a car that has been driven less than 1500 miles/year since installed, and only in summer in Canada, not known for blistering heat at any time of year! This is a crappy product, to say the least. I'm sure that current EBay and aftermarket stuff is the same (for example, http://www.***************/secure/PartImages/1076820326.jpg or the one shown below on EBay. From what I can tell, these are little more than heavy duty pieces of cut carpet underlay. The cost for my 560SL would be over $120.00 delivered, and no different from the junk in my 380SE. F**k that.

Way back in 1999 or thereabouts, I was looking for something to line the hood of my 1940 Pontiac streetrod. I found a product by accident that was described to me as 'cab liner', used to line the inside of trucks and heavy equipment cabs. It's 1/2" thick foam with a layer of black perforated vinyl bonded to it. (second pic below) It's still under the hood of my rod today, in perfect shape. I'm running a hopped-up 350 with headers, so there is lots of engine heat, so this is the stuff to get! It's about $12.00/sq ft here. Go to your local auto upholstery shop and they'll probably have some scrap around. I found it in 2 local ones, no problem.

After doing a search here, I came up with this thread, which I think is an excellent how-to of this job with the hood on the car Hood Pad Replacement (pics)

I'm going to describe how to cut one from your own pattern, using this super material, and how I did my 560SL hood. The 380SE job was done with the hood on the car, mainly because it has 2 removable metal strips that hold the pad in tight, making the job much easier. But after doing this job, I'd highly recommend removal of the hood instead of all the mess, and messing around and awkwardness with it on the car. Your choice though.....

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__________________
1986 560SL
2002 Toyota Camry
1993 Lexus

So here is a step by step of what I did on my 560SL. I don't see where there would be much difference in the hood attachment on many Mercedes before 1990, maybe even through the '90's as well.

1. Remove the hood (bonnet I guess if you're not reading this 'in the colonies')
This is quite simple. First, drill a small hole through the hinge arm to make re-alignment on re-installation a snap. Loosen 2 bolts on each side at the hinge, then with a yardstick holding it up, and cardboard to protect the paint at the corners, undo the clips at the spring retainers, remove the bolts. The SL hood is aluminum, very very light. I did get my son to assist though, as it is too big to handle alone. I also disconnected the washer hoses and disconnected/cut the wires to the nozzle heaters (like I need heated windshield washer fluid in SL driving season here. You year-round drivers might spend a little more time at this point disconnecting the wiring for replacement though).

2. Move the hood to a work area, and support upside down, of course with padding to protect the paint. Scrape off as much of the old pad/cement as you can, then use a wire brush to get more residue off. I finished with a good scrub with Spray-9 and some rags.

3. Get some kraft paper to make your pattern. (I'm describing the operation referencing the hood in the position shown, ie, 'right side' means the driver side). The pattern for the main section (the SL has 2 pieces) is made by referencing the center line of the hood, do 1/2 of the hood, then flip this over and use the right half to trace the left half. Lay down a piece and cut the right edge to fit. Tuck the front part under the forward crossbrace and trace a line at the edge, so you'll have about 1/2" under the brace.

4. Mark about the centerline of the hood on the paper, then cut the paper along the rear crossbrace. The pad will tuck under the front brace 1/2" or so, but will fit tightly to the side of the rear brace. Cut the paper along the centerline of the hood. Flip the piece over and trace the left side on a new piece. Tape the two pieces together when they are aligned along the rear brace and the 2 sides. You now have the pattern for the main section.

Your hood may be different, allowing you to tuck both front and rear edges under the crossbraces (giving you some leeway in the final pad fitting), or you may have to cut accurately with all edges exposed. Use masking tape to get the nice fine edge fitting, instead of trying to cut the paper too accurately.

5. For the rear piece (on the SL hood)(this BTW is over $40.00 from the aftermarket! Absurd for a piece of foam that you hardly see ), decide which edges you can tuck the foam under and which ones you need to cut accurately to fit against the metal framework. Play around with the paper until it fits nicely.

I'd estimate it took about an hour to remove and reinstall the hood, about an hour to clean the surface, and maybe 1 & 1/2 to make the patterns.

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__________________
1986 560SL
2002 Toyota Camry
1993 Lexus

6. Transfer the patterns to your foam. I used a metal marking pencil to make a nice white line on the black vinyl surface, and a standard cutting knife with retractable blade to cut. Put the foam in place and check for final fit, trimming as needed. Remember that the foam/vinyl will stretch, so best to be a smit shy of the final edge than too big. I punched 1/2" holes where the windshield washer nozzle tubes were on the small rear 'hood seal' piece.

7. I stupidly paid $30.00 for a spray bomb of 3M Super trim adhesive. This stuff is waaaay overpriced contact cement. I had to use it though, but there wasn't enough to coat the big piece, it ran out after 1/2 done. I fitted the large piece, then peeled back half the back part where it butted up to the crossbrace, sprayed the hood and pad surfaces and stuck them together before pulling up the front half and doing the final join. The front tucks under the front brace, so any stretch can be hidden easily.

I used 3M super 77 ($15.00) to finish the job after the $30.00 can ran out, as I had some left over from the softtop install. IMO, this is THE stuff to use, as it tacks up in 5 minutes and you can reposition the foam if you make a mistake, much harder to do if not impossible with contact cement.

8. The small rear piece was a bit tricky, but if you plan your cuts carefully, not really hard at all. I'd estimate about 1 1/2 hours to fit and glue everything down.

I don't know about you, but I think this hoodpad is much better looking than the original ever was (if you can find one still up there that is), 100 times better looking than the cheapo aftermarket crap, and will last longer and cost much less than either. You will need some upholstery skills, but really, it's a hood pad, not a door panel, so a mistake or two ain't gonna matter.

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__________________
1986 560SL
2002 Toyota Camry
1993 Lexus

Hey Don!

Don't know if you remember me, but I'm almost done with the rust repairs Should be going to the shop for some stuff i dont have tools for next week.

Great advice, step-by-step, pics, and materials list, thank you. The tip about drilling a hole is really smart. Aligning hoods is the devil's work.

For getting off the old hood liner and getting it clean, did you scuff the hood up a little bit before putting on the adhesive and hood pad? Or does the 3M 77 hold it pretty well? I might've used a cup brush on a drill to get the residual adhesive and pad stuff off, used some kind of adhesive remover, then scuff up with a 40 grit piece of sand paper and then clean off before using the adhesive stuff + pad.

Also, i have 3M 90 which they say holds better than 77. Why did you use 77 vs 90? I figure stronger is better.

Again, great work. This is something I'll do down the road.

Bob

Hey Bob, yes, I recall your gargantuan project, in the bodywork section. Glad to hear it's coming right along. What stuff don't you have tools for?
To address your questions, re. surface preparation, it would depend on the condition of the surface I guess. As long as there isn't any loose anything (paint, cement residue, old pad material), and it's clean, I don't think one need bother to do much more. Contact type adhesive sticks well to a smooth or rough surface, as long as it is clean. In my case, the old pad had long since deteriorated, way before I got the car. I was down to paint and bare aluminum with the scraper alone for most of it.
I would have got the 3M 90 instead of the 77 too, had I not already bought the 'super trim adhsive'. I just used 77 because it was already in my shop, and I liked how it worked.
I keep a large can of Ronson lighter fluid handy for cement removal.

__________________
1986 560SL
2002 Toyota Camry
1993 Lexus

Thanks for posting this after I've already replaced mine, Don.

Seriously, this is great. Thanks! I'm sure there will be more cars for me to do in the future.

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

Good job, the pad looks nice.

I'd like to hear how long your Super 77 adhesive holds up. With the engine bay heat and the fact that the 77 adhesive isn't made for that type of job, I imagine it won't hold for long. I've read about others (on other forums too) that weren't happy with the long term results. On the other hand I know of people who used the 3M super trim adhesive 08090 and the pad is still holding strong 5 years later in a diesel engine bay. I used the 3M super trim adhesive 08090 about a year ago and I can't peel it off anywhere.

BTW, I'm not trying to be negative, I really would like to know the long term results of the adhesive.

__________________
Chad
2013 Jeep Unlimited Rubicon
OBK#44
"Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work." - Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

SOLD
1985 300TD - Red Dragon
1986 300SDL - Coda
1991 - 300TE
1995 - E320
1985 300CD - Gladys
2006 Nissan Pathfinder LE
1998 Acura 3.0 CL

I don't usually like to revive old threads, but in this case, the Super 77 has been holding my SL pad up for a little over a year now....I'll report back next year.

__________________
1986 560SL
2002 Toyota Camry
1993 Lexus

I used a whole can of that on mine and noticed the other day that it is now sagging in a few places. Not sure what to do about that.

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

you can move up to super 90. It has a little more power, but I do think that the 3M solution is a more appropriate solution.