Fire opal red colour problem - HELP!

[ralph12]

Hi All, has anybody has issues with their Fire Opal Red colour? Apparently paint blisters are very common on them? Mercedes are doing full resprays on affected cars

Mine is covered with them does anybody has some more information?
Thanks

 

[jonnymerc]

http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/bodywork/181012-2-year-old-c-class-coupe-paint-problem.html

Hi Ralph there has been a lot of trouble with this colour and Mercedes do know about this problem , Hopefully this link will work it makes interesting reading
And good luck Ralph

 

[Pondman]

Good man Jonny
Ralph, welcome to the "opal flakey massive" you are now part of an ever growing club.
Good luck with it, do read all of the posts and follow the guidance; it will help you through the process. And don't take "no" for an answer, just be polite but FIRM!

 

[ralph12]

Thanks both,
Just spent the last few hours reading all the comments on the forum Jonny mentioned.

I can only echo what everyone else is saying, Mercedes knowing there is a fault but just won't officially admit it.

I’ve got no expirence in this type of matter, however the conclusion I’m reaching in my head is that I want a refund. I believe that Mercedes as the manufacture was aware that the car had the issue or was aware that it potentially had the issue at time of my purchasing and therefor it should never have been sold to me without me made aware.

They will probably hurry me out of the door, but I won't be giving in easily!

 

[Pondman]

If you are within your 30 day return clause, that should be "fairly" easy, if outside of that, I wish you good luck, and not in a sarcastic way. Be prepared for a lengthy "conversation"

 

[ralph12]

Hey Pondman, I've had the car about 13 months now. However I did flag this issue up with the dealer about 3 months after purchase. I've been fobbed off the last 9 months, and finally they are now starting the process of checking etc..

I'm sure I read somewhere (could be wrong) that if you flag a problem within the first 6 months of ownership, its down to the dealer to prove there is no problem.

As far as I'm concerned I believe the problem was there right from the moment the car left the factory! It might not have been noticeable to the eye, but there was always an underlying issue with how the paint was put on to give us this problem we can now actually see years down the line.

 

[Pondman]

Hi Ralph,
Interesting, your car came from the same dealership as mine, but I'm 3rd owner. The previous owner only had it for a few months before selling on and going for a C63. I only had mine for 31 days before I spotted the issue. I cleaned it for the first time them the bonnet delaminated! I do wonder if he spotted it an decided to move on before having to deal with the "issue"?
I found Solihull (Mo - salesman) helpful, and accommodating. Although they only supplied the loan car during the repair and not the assesment or respray.
The car is now "down saff" so it was not practical to deal with them as the repair agent. I went to a MB accredited repair center. I'm Pleased with it now, but it took a lot of effort to get it to where it is now.
Good luck with sorting yours. there has been good reports about Manchester MB as an accomadaing repair centre.

 

[ralph12]

Hi Pondman, good to hear from you. Thats really interesting that you brought yours from the same dealership, and I assume you've flagged the issue with the paint with them? It's just Loughton have said they've never heard of the problem with the fire opal colour before!? Solihull dealership though, they did admit straight away there was a problem with the reds.

I think your right about the 2nd owner on yours, it must have taken something strong like the issue with the paint to make you want to change after a few months of ownership.

 

[television]

Red has always been the weakest colour going, no matter if cellulose from the 60's to synthetics and 2k paint systems, and we are now on water based products. Even oil based red's have problems. In the event of a repair the correct shade of primer must be used or it will show in sunlight. Re the problems on this thread, its odd in that some cars are OK, and others blister, it cannot be the paint, more the preparation.

 

[rf065]

it cannot be the paint, more the preparation.

I'm sure someone from MB said the paint was reacting with the primer and only a bare metal respray would fix it.

Russ

 

[vtaylor78]

Hello Ralph, sorry to hear about your problems.
I had a Fire Opal C class 3 years ago with the same problem.
Mercedes paid for repair under warranty , only because the car had full service history.
I took it to my local approved Mercedes body shop and when they saw it got straight on the phone to the main dealer.
They painted almost half of the car ( back end ).
Looked great when it returned , only 3 months later I got shunted from behind on the M1 and it all had to be done again.
My ex Mrs has the car now :sad: so I'm not sure how the repairs are holding up, good luck.
Regards
Vince.

 

[ralph12]

Hi Vince, in all fairness Mercedes are good in just offering a respray with no real fight for it. Hopefully your one is still going strong, however I have heard many people say its come back or the the fact the blisters haven't come back but other problems have...

The problem I've got, is I simply don't want a resprayed car! The finish will never be the same as a factory job, and I'm not prepared to take the chance with the potential issues that could come. These cars have a fault, that Mercedes have admitted, or are starting to admit!

 

[television]

Hi Vince, in all fairness Mercedes are good in just offering a respray with no real fight for it. Hopefully your one is still going strong, however I have heard many people say its come back or the the fact the blisters haven't come back but other problems have...

The problem I've got, is I simply don't want a resprayed car! The finish will never be the same as a factory job, and I'm not prepared to take the chance with the potential issues that could come. These cars have a fault, that Mercedes have admitted, or are starting to admit!

With a good coach builder you could never tell that the car has been resprayed, things have changed very much during the last few years.

 

[vtaylor78]

Hi Vince, in all fairness Mercedes are good in just offering a respray with no real fight for it. Hopefully your one is still going strong, however I have heard many people say its come back or the the fact the blisters haven't come back but other problems have...

The problem I've got, is I simply don't want a resprayed car! The finish will never be the same as a factory job, and I'm not prepared to take the chance with the potential issues that could come. These cars have a fault, that Mercedes have admitted, or are starting to admit!

As Malc said there are some real quality body shops around that are passionate at what they do.
The work on my car was in the region of £2500 .

 

[ralph12]

Well the saga continues for me!

Actually had a phone call today from Mercedes HQ, the lady confirmed to me that there is NO manufacturing issue..... not quite sure how she reached that conclusion!

 

[Xtractorfan]

Well the saga continues for me!

Actually had a phone call today from Mercedes HQ, the lady confirmed to me that there is NO manufacturing issue..... not quite sure how she reached that conclusion!

Do you think that someone told her to say that lol...:lol:
You should always ask what her qualifications are to make such a statement.

 

[Frontstep]

Its a don't shoot the messenger scenario she probably believes there isn't because the "nice man from technical" said there wasn't.

I have had "Mercedes don't have a corrosion issue" from quite high up the food chain.

You just smile grit your teeth and keep climbing.

 

[ralph12]

Well guys it was from the customer services manager! So it must be right....
It's very clear there is a manufacturing issue, even the car salesmen in the dealership are all saying the same

 

[Pondman]

How are you getting on Ralph?
Mines all sorted now, even got the underside of the bonnet finished in gloss because it got scratched during the "prep" work

 

[Mark Thomas]

Good Evening All I know its been a year since the last post regarding the fire opal red problem, As I'm new to the site I purchased a 2011 C220 CDI Saloon in fire opal back in May of this year from MB Dartford and was very happy with my new chariot that has only covered 16000 miles from new and I'm the 3rd owner, Anyway on close inspection before any deal was done I noticed the dreaded poor paint quality with those blisters in various places, Cut a long story short after the issue was first raised with the dealer all was dealt with very quickly and I,m pleased to say it went in last week 06/07/17 for the respray.