I whittled together a little solution to my problematic rubber bumper strips on my 85 300TD.

The previous owner looke like he had fun too, it was stuck on with wire all twisted up behind the bumper, and it looks like an attempt was made with some kind of adhesive that stuck to the bumper and is still there.

I even went and bought a new set of plastic rail strips that worked for about 6 or 7 months and starts coming loose again... There goes $100

So finally today I spent a portion of the afternoon slapping together this fix:

Basically a few bolts welded to pieces of flat bar that fit nicely into the bumper strip groove.

The flat bar is a piece of 3/4" x 1/8" I picked up at the local hardware store.


yup, fits just right

Next I cut up the flat bar into 12 pieces, Now I wish I would have done 14, It would have been even more secure.. but its still fine with 12.


I used stainless steel bolts and stainless nylon locking nuts, I went all out. But I forgot to get stainless washers, so used what I could find in the shop here.


I cut off the bolt heads, and welded them in the middle of each piece of flat bar.


There we go. 12 little brackets. waiting to be painted up. (I would have like to use stainless flat bar too but its not as easy to find around here. )

Then I painted them up, fiddled around with the long list of fiddling that needs to be done, and came back to put on a second coat. Yellow is all I had for a rust paint...

The once dry, I slipped them all on like a little train. They fit just right.


Lined them up in their approximate positions with the holes meant for the plastic rails.


Started with the end one and one by one fastened them on loosely then when it was looking well aligned tightened them all up.

Then as easy as it seems, just bolted the whole thing on, and drove away knowing I will not need to look at this again until that steel flat bar rusts in another 20 years...



Now why didnt I do this before spending $100?

Wow! Nice fix there!

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Ingenius work!

However, that will work for W123 bumpers that use the plastic rails. Older versions (1980 or 81 to 1977) use bumpers that have metal rails, part of the bumper bar itself.

I replaced the plastic rails on mine and haven't had them come off. Mine is a 1983 so similar to yours. I drilled the inner 2 hooks and zip-tied them before applying the impact strip.

In your case, if the impact strip was nudged loose, you'd have to remove the bumper again to reinstall the "train" to the strip, fasten the strip + welded pieces to bumper bar then reinstall the bumper.

Does the impact strip feel loose between the sections of the "train" (welded pieces) due to the lack of the impact strip material between the metal and rubber?

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There is a bit of play in between the little metal brackets, I could have made them a little longer, or as I mentioned, used a couple more. But where the brackets are, its very tight.

I don't see how a nudge would loosen any part of it.

i love this idea and intend to steal it.
tell us about your reverse lights!
those look a lot tougher than the stock versions

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they appear to be HF LED fog lights...

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1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

I fixed my loose bumper strip May 2013 using a different method and it is doing just fine. I simply screwed the plastic strip to the bumper with sheet metal screws so it cannot flop or come loose from the bumper. No parts to buy or make.

Loose rubber strip on rear bumper 85 300D

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Nice job. I did mine with galvanized fender washers that fit the grove snug and galvanized carriage bolts pressed into the washers. Why couldn't MB have figured it out better ?

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I've got to get a new track for my front bumper. Did you not use the factory supplied screw and just zip tie it?

I only did the rear bumper, not the front yet.

Fronts have a supplied screw?

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Yeah, right before the corner starts there is a screw to fasten the rail to the bumper. A nut and bolt would have been smarter since it's a tiny screw and will probably corrode easily.

There are "pins" on the rear strips too but they are nothing like screws you describe.

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