Anyone else got a holey rusty boot floor in a W202 C Class?

[FIBAMAN]

I agree, the money boys caused the fubar.
But if you get the prep right and the coating right, then you have a good chance.
I dont think they got anything right during the whole "rust" era.
My old 202 had 213,000 miles on and no rust anywhere.
In 1974 I bought a new OPEL MANTA and had the ZIEBART treatment, that car stayed in the family for over 12 years with no rust anywhere either.

 

[rx6180]

its not his battery which is causing the rust, it's the crap steel in combination with humidity.

I also own a mercedes made with real steel in 1962, that's right, 1962, and the front fenders (wings) are made with such thick steel they feel like parts of a submarine more than a car. That car is always out in all weather (as in outside unprotected) and its got little to no rust. The car is from 1962, that's 50 years ago...

I love old cars and you are absolutely right about the late 90s/early 2000s Mercs being very cosmetically rust prone, though I do think the underneaths are normally about as resistant to serious rust as their competitors and the situation is much better than with cars of the 70s/80s that were usually rotted out after 8 years - one of my first cars was an 8 year old Cortina with holed sills and filled, bubbling wings. But surely old 60s Mercs were as rust prone as anything else of the period, despite thicker steel? I didn't think the steel preparation and body coatings were that good back then.

But you are right about my boot floor. No dripped battery acid. The metal was eaten from UNDER the paint. Water still builds up in that little rust hole in cold, damp weather, and it doesn't come from a leaking rubber seal or badly fitted tail lamp.

I need to inject that area with wax to preserve it, and I intend to get some POR15 anti rust products to try on the external cosmetic rust in the near future.

 

[turbopete]

I love old cars and you are absolutely right about the late 90s/early 2000s Mercs being very cosmetically rust prone, though I do think the underneaths are normally about as resistant to serious rust as their competitors and the situation is much better than with cars of the 70s/80s that were usually rotted out after 8 years - one of my first cars was an 8 year old Cortina with holed sills and filled, bubbling wings. But surely old 60s Mercs were as rust prone as anything else of the period, despite thicker steel? I didn't think the steel preparation and body coatings were that good back then.

But you are right about my boot floor. No dripped battery acid. The metal was eaten from UNDER the paint. Water still builds up in that little rust hole in cold, damp weather, and it doesn't come from a leaking rubber seal or badly fitted tail lamp.

I need to inject that area with wax to preserve it, and I intend to get some POR15 anti rust products to try on the external cosmetic rust in the near future.

por 15 isnt as great as the marketing blurb would have you believe. i used it on my 210, and sang its praises until about a week before i got rid of the car as i saw rust starting to return on the treated areas then

 

[rx6180]

Basically nothing kills rust then The Hammerite anti-rust primers certainly don't. Plus they brush on like treacle.

 

[three pointed star]

I was wondering if anyone else had a rust hole like this one, in the corner of their boot floor on a W202.
Okay, this boot floor hole is trivial really, but it was the first time I had to acknowledge my old Mercedes had body rot, and not just numerous spots of surface rust and spontaneous paint blisters.

Just picked up this thread. In reply, no rusty hole in a 202, but one big enough to put your fist through in a 2000 vintage 210 E class boot! Pretty poor realy.

 

[rx6180]

I can't remember who or when, but someone once asked me if I'd got an E Class when I was on about rust in a late 90s Mercedes. It might have been when I was inquiring at the dealer about their 'goodwill' repair policy they once had, which will make it about five years ago as my car was four months past the 8 year cut-off date for making a claim on paintwork.

Yes a fist sized hole in a year 2000 E Class boot floor isn't good. It reminds me of my first car, that I only had for two weeks back in 1978. It was a 'Hunter' bodied Singer Vogue and I found a hole under the boot mat that exposed the road and the inside of the box section that was the rear leaf spring hangar. Previously I'd had no idea cars could rust so bad!

Currently my Merc is sporting some grey primer and filler/stopper patches where I've sanded off the rust in preparation for some aerosol paints, a pre-winter damage limitation exercise that has become an almost annual event. Now all I need is for it to stop raining outside....

 

[brianbrian]

My neighbour had a 1995/ 202 had to get rid of it, as when he changed the battery he poked about and finished up with a 4inch radius hole and could see his drive through it. When he asked his local garage to check the car over for rust he could not believe the report and the car was only 8yrs old. Hope this helps

 

[rx6180]

Now, I've heard some people say that the earlier 202s are okay and it is only the facelift ones that rust badly. I'd call a 1995 car an early one. For my part, I've seen tatty early 202s and immaculate later ones, and vice versa. I might be forgiven for thinking that the nice ones for any given year are probably more likely to be cherished, always garaged low-mileage cars instead of ones left outside in all weathers like mine.

In all fairness to Mercedes, given that my car is 13 years old and has 135,000 miles on it, a Ford or Vauxhall a couple of decades ago wouldn't have existed by this age. It's just that Mercs seemed to have faired less well than some of their rivals in the paintwork department in more recent years. Having said that, there aren't many 'T' reg Mondeos, Vectras, or BMWs around these days either.

I just hope the current Mercedes models have better paint preparation than mine had when it was built.

 

[grahamcol]

202's seem to be very vairable in the rust department. Generally (and only generally) I tend to think that the pre-facelift ones rust less. However, as per the post above, some early 202's rust and others dont. Likewise some facelift ones seem to rust and others don't. I used to think it was the water based paint which caused the rust on the facelifts. However, now I'm not so sure. After all, other manufacturers seemed to manage water based finishes without problems and used similar / same materials. Elsewhere I've read about poor quality steel and I tend to feel this is most likely the cause. I'm very lucky with my 1996 pre facelift 202. Almost totally rust free. I say almost because this year I've had to treat the very edges of both front wings and also had to rectify a very small patch of rusting (thunb size) around one of the grommets in the boot floor. I still feel more confident about the bodywork on this car than I do about the year 2000 facelift C280 V6 I have. That has already had (and been rectified for now by me) silly areas of rusing in both rear wheel arches - outer surface rust only + a silly scab in middle of one of the rear doors. To be honest, it was showing signs when I bought it 6 years ago but the rest of the car was immaculate so I went ahead anyway.

 

[rx6180]

I can sort of understand rust starting from the edges of panels like a wheel arch return lip, once a few winters have passed (though on my Fiat Punto the painted bodywork NEVER rusted, though some underseal peeled underneath) but the spontaneous eruption of little spidery runs, with a micro dot sized orange spec in the middle, in areas not subject to stone chips, is what set my Merc apart from the previous two cars, the aforementioned 1997 Fiat and a 1991 Toyota Corolla. It's either porous paint or rust already in the steel under the paint.

 

[Xtractorfan]

All paint is porous ..that is why the first electro coat dipping process is sooo essential, it stops the micro dampness getting to the metal..air and moisture cause metal to rust..
The metal itself is not of a quality that one would expect a prestige motor vehicle to be made from... Poor russian or indian steel has already been ruled out as a cause by a few members , based on a 'I dont buy that, the old russian or indian steel thinggy..so you cant argue with thoughts that just pop up in ones head .haha.. actually .. I dont buy it myself ..personally I think MB done a good deal with lancia when they stopped making rusty cars, well lancia didnt need their rubbishy steel anymore..
So less than good quality steel..and yes it is different when you work with it..
followed by a poor quality metal protective coating..ie ecoat application and a less or even lesser quality subsequent painting process with a greater emphasis placed on the lacquered finish, basically Fur coat and no knickers...
The thing about it .. it works for some cars, and they remain fairly rustfree, but hey when they start to rust they really go for it