2007 C55 AMG estate - buying advice

[Dammit]

Hi all, I've viewed this car once, and I'd like to buy it.

It has surface rust in all four wheel-arches, and the current owner and I have discussed this and negotiated a small reduction in price.

The two rear arches:




I've discussed the car (and sent the photographs too) the place which has painted my 911: https://www.flickr.com/photos/8131181@N05/albums/7...

They provided the quote which I then used to negotiate the price.

The concern of the body shop is that there may be more serious rust where it cannot be seen, further round into the wheel-arch - this (in their words) would be "walk away" rust.

What's the best way of making certain that this is just surface rust, which can be buzzed off with a wire-wheel, rather than deep rot?

Also, what else should I look at?

[martin mrt]

I can see why the body shop is concerned, that looks like it’s been repaired previously and breaking out again imo

[Dammit]

Is it worse that it's been previously repaired (poorly)?

Edited by Dammit on Saturday 17th March 19:07

[anonymous-user]

Your body shop would need to take the sill covers and wheel arch liners off before being able to make an informed opinion surely?

[Dammit]

Yes, I would think so, but that's not going to be possible before buying the car so I'm hoping that someone else has experience of this and can offer the benefit of it.

[Dammit]

What I'm most worried about is an un-winnable battle with rust that ends up here, despite spending £5,000 at the bodyshop:

[edc]

Check for the cam cover sealant/gasket leak. Not a massive deal and not particularly expensive to do.

[Dammit]

I remember that that was in the history as having been done.

[evojam]

Rust on all four arches is not good at all,need to do your due diligence very carefully on this one or you'll be forever chasing your tail..personally I would walk away.

How many miles and what's the asking price?

[Dammit]

78,000 miles, 11k

[anonymous-user]

Dammit said:

Yes, I would think so, but that's not going to be possible before buying the car so I'm hoping that someone else has experience of this and can offer the benefit of it.

There's no way of knowing for sure what lurks under the covers. My present S class had superficial rust on the rear arches, the body shop removed the sill covers before giving a quote, luckily the rest of the car is solid.
My previous W210 also had superficial rust on the front and rear arches, the sills were rotten, collapsing when lifting on the factory jack.

[evojam]

Dammit said:

78,000 miles, 11k

As a general rule if there's rust poking its ugly head out in the places you can see there will always be more rust lurking in the places you cannot..

Spending 11k and then a chunk on paint and rust repairs on a car that'll be soon passing 80k does'nt really make sense but then again C55 AMG estates are now on the endangered list so maybe worth saving before they become extinct!

[Dammit]

It’s low mileage for its year and I’ll only add 3-4,000 miles per year, I think it’s worth saving, there’s only a few of these that were produced- and likely fewer left of that figure (55 IIRC).

[evojam]

Sounds good,best of luck with the sale...please let us know how you get on and your driving impressions,C55 AMG estates are very nice things!

[ArmaghMan]

Dammit said:

78,000 miles, 11k

That seems steep, for a motor with that amount of rust.
I've a 98 E55 absolutely rust free and wouldn't see it at that sort of money.68000 miles
Are C55's that much more desirable?

[edc]

It's in the right ballpark for C55. Estate normally a shade more than saloon. I bought my saloon with 80k for £10k and sold privately for £8.5k 14 months or so later.

[Dammit]

[mini me]

So you went for it then? Congrats and welcome to the fold.

How are you finding it so far?

[Dammit]

Liking it a lot - it's fast and comfortable, has many more toys than the Volvo 850R that it replaced and whilst not, ultimately, as fast, it is significantly more comfortable and the automatic gearbox was a significant reason why I wanted to change.

= I'm no longer willing to drive a manual car through stop-start London traffic.

I think it's a really good partner to my 911, between the two cars I've got a lot of bases covered.

[edc]

C55 is great. I'm not sure if want to put up with he mpg corssing London traffic mind. I had C55, Boxster and a moped to cover all my bases and I went to work by train then