Do late W210's rust?

[mat59]

Hi all. Contemplating one of these. I've heard some rust very badly and know where to look. As the later ones are 2001 or so on do they rust as badly? Did Merc ever sort it out?

Thanks,

Matt

[iluvmercs]

Yes, all 210's suffer from rust, I'm afraid!

Despite the 30 year anti-corrosion warranty that Mercedes raved about, it was, in fact, only 8 years for bodywork.
You could always try a Mercedes dealer, as I've heard some will at least pay part of the repair.

Darren

[anonymous-user]

I've got a 2002 w210 which has been repaired foc by Mercedes. Wings, doors and c pillars had rust coming through, they repainted both sides of the car from front to back. This was when it was within the 8 year period mentioned by iluvmercs though. There are stories on the Merc forums of much older cars being sorted foc but it seems to be down to the cooperation and goodwill of individual dealers pushing Milton Keynes for a result rather than a clear cut policy.

Having spent some time crawling around under my car recently, it seems that the rust isn't confined to the bodywork as the subframes and various suspension parts have their fair share of corrosion although to be fair it's nothing that a wire brush and a can of gunge wouldn't sort out. The service guy at my local dealers says that they all rust to some extent, some have hardly any and others are rusted to buggery. He said they had one car in that had such a badly corroded front end that the engine was in danger of falling onto the road.
If you know where to look as you say, then good luck, despite their problems they're nice cars and I won't be getting rid of mine anytime soon.

[mat59]

Many thanks for the comments guys. May still consider one but the equivalent 5 series now looks pretty tempting. Would have to be full merc history I went for one to ensure I could get any corrosion issues sorted.