Rusty Merc Estate
Discussion
Why oh Why Oh Why is my merc rusting....
Its a T '99 C220 estate in black.Its been kept in reasonable condition throughout the time I have had it, always cleaning during winter to get any salt off it, and often polished and waxed it! grrr. Then all of a sudden in the last few months, all this rust has appeared at once... grrr The rear passenger door is rusting in the corner where it meets the body at the bottom, the front wings are rusty and the same rear door at the top... grrrrrrrrr... Wa sit Normal for Merc to produce crap cars (compared to previous cars they have made) in this period of production..
So Frustrating....
Its a T '99 C220 estate in black.Its been kept in reasonable condition throughout the time I have had it, always cleaning during winter to get any salt off it, and often polished and waxed it! grrr. Then all of a sudden in the last few months, all this rust has appeared at once... grrr The rear passenger door is rusting in the corner where it meets the body at the bottom, the front wings are rusty and the same rear door at the top... grrrrrrrrr... Wa sit Normal for Merc to produce crap cars (compared to previous cars they have made) in this period of production..
So Frustrating....
The specific problem is attributable to a change in the painting and protective treatment processes implemented at this time. Needless to say, the idea was to save money. Mercedes thought that its new, cheaper process would offer just as good or better corrosion resistance than whatever they'd previously done. They were wrong.
The really irritating thing is that Mercedes gave (and continues to give) its cars a 30year warranty against corrosion from the inside out, but it has welched on the deal and proves very difficult to cooperate on cars more than 8years of age. Even when repairs are carried out, they are often inadequate in order to save more money.
You'd think they'd admit the problem and solve it with as little inconvenience to customers as possible. But no. They don't seem to care. I have never owned a car other than a Mercedes-Benz, never had work done other than at a Mercedes dealer in accordance with Mercedes' service schedules, at huge expense... and they just don't want to know.
It is very disappointing.
The really irritating thing is that Mercedes gave (and continues to give) its cars a 30year warranty against corrosion from the inside out, but it has welched on the deal and proves very difficult to cooperate on cars more than 8years of age. Even when repairs are carried out, they are often inadequate in order to save more money.
You'd think they'd admit the problem and solve it with as little inconvenience to customers as possible. But no. They don't seem to care. I have never owned a car other than a Mercedes-Benz, never had work done other than at a Mercedes dealer in accordance with Mercedes' service schedules, at huge expense... and they just don't want to know.
It is very disappointing.
r129sl said:
The really irritating thing is that Mercedes gave (and continues to give) its cars a 30year warranty against corrosion from the inside out, but it has welched on the deal and proves very difficult to cooperate on cars more than 8years of age. Even when repairs are carried out, they are often inadequate in order to save more money.
That's the attitute of Mercedes Benz UK, but on the continent and in the US they are a lot more helpful when it comes to repairing rust. There are also plenty of other issues that are official recalls by Mercedes Benz (especially MB USA), but are somehow not considered faults by MB UK so the owners have to pay for it. I guess people in this country don't like complaining, whereas the yanks always kick up a fuss about everything, so that drives the difference in attitude between the two.I've had my C43 repaired for rust on all 4 arches, 2 doors and the bootlid and had to fork out for it myself as MB didn't want to hear a thing, despite the car having always been serviced by either Mercedes Benz or by an approved independant. Their initial excuse was that my car had already been repaired for rust, and claimed the repair wasn't done by a MB approved shop. I showed them the receipt for the rust repair that was from MB themselves, they then claimed it wasn't on their system so didnt realise they had done it, but still refused to repair the rust as it wasn't from the inside out.
There are several things causing these cars to rust, it's not just cost cutting by MB. They also had to change to a water based paint to respect the German ecological legislation, and that gives a much worse protection than their previous paint.
The rust protection however has improved since 2003 as all the cars are now fully galvanised.
r129sl said:
The specific problem is attributable to a change in the painting and protective treatment processes implemented at this time. Needless to say, the idea was to save money. Mercedes thought that its new, cheaper process would offer just as good or better corrosion resistance than whatever they'd previously done. They were wrong.
The really irritating thing is that Mercedes gave (and continues to give) its cars a 30year warranty against corrosion from the inside out, but it has welched on the deal and proves very difficult to cooperate on cars more than 8years of age. Even when repairs are carried out, they are often inadequate in order to save more money.
You'd think they'd admit the problem and solve it with as little inconvenience to customers as possible. But no. They don't seem to care. I have never owned a car other than a Mercedes-Benz, never had work done other than at a Mercedes dealer in accordance with Mercedes' service schedules, at huge expense... and they just don't want to know.
It is very disappointing.
I think the major change at this point was the change to Water based paint, there was a lot of learning after the early implementation. My 99V C250 Estate has had a few bit repainted under the Mobilolife scheme.The really irritating thing is that Mercedes gave (and continues to give) its cars a 30year warranty against corrosion from the inside out, but it has welched on the deal and proves very difficult to cooperate on cars more than 8years of age. Even when repairs are carried out, they are often inadequate in order to save more money.
You'd think they'd admit the problem and solve it with as little inconvenience to customers as possible. But no. They don't seem to care. I have never owned a car other than a Mercedes-Benz, never had work done other than at a Mercedes dealer in accordance with Mercedes' service schedules, at huge expense... and they just don't want to know.
It is very disappointing.
I had a 2000 CLK 430 AMG and it was ROTTEN WITH RUST
I took it to MB Edinburgh and they wee going to fix it but the more i looked the more i found, inner wings, doors, boot lid, front wings, sills ect
I was so f
ked off with it i traded it in for a 330 D BMW, Lost a fortune.....
But I have just bought a 2003/4 C320 and its not got any rust at all! so perhaps all is now fixed, IT HAD BETTER BE!!!
I took it to MB Edinburgh and they wee going to fix it but the more i looked the more i found, inner wings, doors, boot lid, front wings, sills ect
I was so f
ked off with it i traded it in for a 330 D BMW, Lost a fortune.....But I have just bought a 2003/4 C320 and its not got any rust at all! so perhaps all is now fixed, IT HAD BETTER BE!!!
Gassing Station | Mercedes | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff