Buyer beware - a cautionary tale with Mercedes
Discussion
Not the best day I’ve ever had.
Bought a 2nd hand 2006 SLK privately in Dec 21. Good service history, lots of expenditure. Pretty clean MOT history. Rear subframe replaced. Balance shaft issue resolved. Ergo, on paper a decent buy.
SRS warning light came on, so off to a MB specialist to rectify.
Will probably need an ECU which is buried somewhere inaccessible, so that got me riled.
Then I was pointed out about 700 worth of other work (mainly suspension related, knackered bushes, arms, damaged springs- including one he doesn’t even think is correct for the car.)
So by now I’m very riled.
However.
Far worse was to come.
He said it was the most rotten SLK he’s ever seen at the front. Rust eaten through both suspension turrets from the inside. All hidden out of sight under bits of the wiring loom etc.
Which would appear never to have (amazingly) been picked up on an MOT.
Car is booked in with Mercedes on Monday in the hope that the anti corrosion warranty will be some use, even though the car doesn’t have a full dealer history (its part dealer, part specialist, part generic.) If its even repairable, I would guess the bill would be eye watering.
Hence to say tonight I’m very sad.
Moral of the story.
Mercedes’ of that era appear to have the structural integrity of a wet cardboard box.
An MOT test doesn’t seem to mean much (it passed with no related advisories 7 months ago)
Buy a 2nd Merc of this vintage, prepare to write the purchase price off
Still, there will be some lovely refurbed Brabus monoblocks on eBay soon.
![](https://thumbsnap.com/sc/jNZSuE1p.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/C5wYmhDb" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/C5wYmhDb.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/C5wYmhDb" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/C5wYmhDb.jpg)
Bought a 2nd hand 2006 SLK privately in Dec 21. Good service history, lots of expenditure. Pretty clean MOT history. Rear subframe replaced. Balance shaft issue resolved. Ergo, on paper a decent buy.
SRS warning light came on, so off to a MB specialist to rectify.
Will probably need an ECU which is buried somewhere inaccessible, so that got me riled.
Then I was pointed out about 700 worth of other work (mainly suspension related, knackered bushes, arms, damaged springs- including one he doesn’t even think is correct for the car.)
So by now I’m very riled.
However.
Far worse was to come.
He said it was the most rotten SLK he’s ever seen at the front. Rust eaten through both suspension turrets from the inside. All hidden out of sight under bits of the wiring loom etc.
Which would appear never to have (amazingly) been picked up on an MOT.
Car is booked in with Mercedes on Monday in the hope that the anti corrosion warranty will be some use, even though the car doesn’t have a full dealer history (its part dealer, part specialist, part generic.) If its even repairable, I would guess the bill would be eye watering.
Hence to say tonight I’m very sad.
Moral of the story.
Mercedes’ of that era appear to have the structural integrity of a wet cardboard box.
An MOT test doesn’t seem to mean much (it passed with no related advisories 7 months ago)
Buy a 2nd Merc of this vintage, prepare to write the purchase price off
Still, there will be some lovely refurbed Brabus monoblocks on eBay soon.
Mikebentley said:
My mums just purchased a 2004 SLK off a family member 1 owner, from new. I will be having a good look underneath it this weekend.
I would. It wasn’t until it was up on a lift with the load off the suspension that it was easy enough to spot. I’d definitely recommend moving the wiring harness about on the top of the struts too. The worst part was hidden directly under part of the loom. Jamescrs said:
Ouch, sorry to hear about your car, I fear MB will be less than accommodating considering the service history, if you had full MB you may have had half a chance.
The MB Indy I used said they have been replacing subframes on cars without a complete history on a case by case basis. Given this is so bad I’m hoping they take pity on it. After all full service history has nowt to do with a suspension turret as best I can work out. Albeit I stand to be corrected.Gmlgml said:
Not the best day I’ve ever had.
Bought a 2nd hand 2006 SLK privately in Dec 21. Good service history, lots of expenditure. Pretty clean MOT history. Rear subframe replaced. Balance shaft issue resolved. Ergo, on paper a decent buy.
SRS warning light came on, so off to a MB specialist to rectify.
Will probably need an ECU which is buried somewhere inaccessible, so that got me riled.
Then I was pointed out about 700 worth of other work (mainly suspension related, knackered bushes, arms, damaged springs- including one he doesn’t even think is correct for the car.)
So by now I’m very riled.
However.
Far worse was to come.
He said it was the most rotten SLK he’s ever seen at the front. Rust eaten through both suspension turrets from the inside. All hidden out of sight under bits of the wiring loom etc.
Which would appear never to have (amazingly) been picked up on an MOT.
Car is booked in with Mercedes on Monday in the hope that the anti corrosion warranty will be some use, even though the car doesn’t have a full dealer history (its part dealer, part specialist, part generic.) If its even repairable, I would guess the bill would be eye watering.
Hence to say tonight I’m very sad.
Moral of the story.
Mercedes’ of that era appear to have the structural integrity of a wet cardboard box.
An MOT test doesn’t seem to mean much (it passed with no related advisories 7 months ago)
Buy a 2nd Merc of this vintage, prepare to write the purchase price off
Still, there will be some lovely refurbed Brabus monoblocks on eBay soon.
It's a 16 year-old car so you shouldn't be that surprised.Bought a 2nd hand 2006 SLK privately in Dec 21. Good service history, lots of expenditure. Pretty clean MOT history. Rear subframe replaced. Balance shaft issue resolved. Ergo, on paper a decent buy.
SRS warning light came on, so off to a MB specialist to rectify.
Will probably need an ECU which is buried somewhere inaccessible, so that got me riled.
Then I was pointed out about 700 worth of other work (mainly suspension related, knackered bushes, arms, damaged springs- including one he doesn’t even think is correct for the car.)
So by now I’m very riled.
However.
Far worse was to come.
He said it was the most rotten SLK he’s ever seen at the front. Rust eaten through both suspension turrets from the inside. All hidden out of sight under bits of the wiring loom etc.
Which would appear never to have (amazingly) been picked up on an MOT.
Car is booked in with Mercedes on Monday in the hope that the anti corrosion warranty will be some use, even though the car doesn’t have a full dealer history (its part dealer, part specialist, part generic.) If its even repairable, I would guess the bill would be eye watering.
Hence to say tonight I’m very sad.
Moral of the story.
Mercedes’ of that era appear to have the structural integrity of a wet cardboard box.
An MOT test doesn’t seem to mean much (it passed with no related advisories 7 months ago)
Buy a 2nd Merc of this vintage, prepare to write the purchase price off
Still, there will be some lovely refurbed Brabus monoblocks on eBay soon.
If it's taken a decent clout to the front end at some point early in its life and been repaired, I'm surprised it's not more rotten
Ouch! It's always the worst-case scenario when buying a used car, that it turns out to be in such a bad state that it's not worth repairing! Really sorry to hear about this situation.
Tbh the £700 of suspension-related work is somewhat par for the course IMHO - springs snap, rubber bushes age and wear, etc. There seem to be a lot of different spring ratings for the various W203-based cars, so not entirely surprised if an incorrect spec one may have been fitted.
I think you've been really unlucky with the front suspension turrets though. While generally this era of Mercs tend to rust, and the rear subframe is known for it as you say, I've not heard of common problems with the suspension turrets. It does make me wonder if something specific has occurred with your car.
When the Cayman GT4 started fracturing its front turrets, I think it was possible to obtain replacement turrets from Porsche, cut the old ones off and weld them on. So possibly salvageable. You might find a donor car with solid turrets too, as I say I don't think most cars suffer this.
Tbh the £700 of suspension-related work is somewhat par for the course IMHO - springs snap, rubber bushes age and wear, etc. There seem to be a lot of different spring ratings for the various W203-based cars, so not entirely surprised if an incorrect spec one may have been fitted.
I think you've been really unlucky with the front suspension turrets though. While generally this era of Mercs tend to rust, and the rear subframe is known for it as you say, I've not heard of common problems with the suspension turrets. It does make me wonder if something specific has occurred with your car.
When the Cayman GT4 started fracturing its front turrets, I think it was possible to obtain replacement turrets from Porsche, cut the old ones off and weld them on. So possibly salvageable. You might find a donor car with solid turrets too, as I say I don't think most cars suffer this.
Gmlgml said:
Buy a 2nd hand Merc of this vintage, prepare to write the purchase price off
The previous owner of my S203 spent the purchase price again on repairing it, so yeah, entirely possible.Robbidoo said:
Really bad luck. There is another thread on here with an identical issue too.
If you mean this one: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...It is the same car/OP etc, however I think the point of this thread is more about OPs disappointment and frustration with mid-noughties MB build quality/corrosion resistance, and supposed MB quality..
OP.. ironically some of my mid 80's and 90's VWs and TVRs have had less issues than this :-(
You have sympathy :-( (I bought lemon once too )
Edited by HiAsAKite on Saturday 5th February 10:07
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