As with a lot of 1990s Mercedes, the W202 C-Class is prone to rust around the front wings. Today I will be giving you a close look at the dirt, rust and cobwebs of my car, to show how to remove your wings if you want to replace or restore them.
To remove your wings you will need a Phillips-head screwdriver, a 10mm socket and spanner, a 13mm socket and an extension bar for your ratchet. It’s a lot easier if you take the front wheel off, so a jack, axle stands and a 17mm socket and breaker bar will also be useful.
The most difficult bolt to remove is behind the bumper as highlighted below, this is the one we will be starting on.
If you are replacing both front wings and have a friend helping you, then you may find it easier to remove the front bumper entirely. I was working on my own though, and I found that simply moving the bumper out of the way to be sufficient.
To loosen the bumper you will need to undo four 13mm nuts. The first two are located just inboard of the headlights.
The second pair are actually behind two flaps in the bumper. Just either side of the number plate you’ll see these two fake vents. These unclip and fold forward. One will contain the outside temperature sensor, so just be mindful of that as you work.
Remove the bolts with your 13mm socket. This is where the extension comes in useful as the bolts sit pretty deep into the car.
Next you want to take the front of the arch liner off to get behind the bumper. There are two small 10mm bolts holding the top of the arch liner to the bottom, and I also removed two 10mm plastic nuts holding the arch liner to the car.
This area picks up a lot of moisture as the car is moving. Be very very careful when undoing these bits as they might have rusted.
The bumper is held on at the sides on a plastic runner. It has a release tab that you push in and then you push the bumper forward. Once the bumper is off of the runner, you will be able to access the bolt.
The next tricky bolt is just beneath wing under the side skirt. Carefully remove the plastic clips that hold the side skirt to the car and remove the bolt.
Two more bolts sit between the door and wing. You’ll need to open the door wide open to get to them.
Next you’ll want to remove the indicator. Behind the indicator, next to where the bulb is inserted There’s a plastic tab. Push that tab inwards and push forward and the indicator will pop right out.
If your car also has a wing mounted indicator then now would be a good time to remove it from the wing. Simply push it towards the back of the car and it will pop out.
Behind the main indicator you will find four Phillips head screws. one holds the trim around the lights to the wing, and the other three hold the plastic indicator mounting bracket to the wing. When you remove the bracket, make sure to note it’s orientation to save yourself a few seconds of confusion when you go to put it back on.
Remove the five 10mm bolts from the top of the wing. I found this easier to do with a spanner as I found that the bonnet hinges, fuse box, washer bottle and air filter all got in the way of a ratchet.
Between the back of the indicator and the wheel arch you’ll find a little weather strip. This is clipped into the wing with 5 rubber clips. Carefully pull them out.
Your wing is now off!
I removed the ‘Sport’ molding with the wing off of the car. It’s held on with three plastic clips and needs to be prized off. I’m sure it would have been fine, but I felt as if it may snap with the wing on the car. So I waited until had the wing off so I could gently remove it.
Installation of the new wing is the reverse of removal. Make sure you remember to feed the wire for the wing mounted indicator though the hole before bolting the wing on. If you do forget, a coilover C spanner makes for a great hook haha!
Thanks for reading! Best of luck with your wings if you are planning on changing them. Hopefully this guide helped! If you would like to stay up to date with all my blog posts please subscribe to the blog via email (from the box at the bottom of the page).
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By Richard Francis
