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

[rx6180]

I was wondering if anyone else had a rust hole like this one, in the corner of their boot floor on a W202.

It is in the corner under the rear light, beneath the battery tray. It isn't caused by spilled acid as there has never been any, and the battery tray is pristine. I made the hole last year, but the photo is recent, hence more rust spots after winter in spite of the silver Hammerite. I'd been seeing the spread of what I thought was surface rust, under a 'scab' of flaking paint, for ages, then decided to scrape the scab off with a screwdriver and put some paint on. Unfortunately it went 'crunch' and the screwdriver was through. Since it is in a double skinned area, I didn't go through to daylight, and by the same standard, I think the rust is caused by trapped condensation between the two skins and possibly poor rust proofing in this area. Last year I just cleaned it up as best as I could, vacuumed out the loose scale, and slapped on some silver Hammerite I had, and tried to work it under the hole with the brush. In view of the fact that the area has been damp again and the paint is rust stained, I don't hold out much hope that the same Hammerite paint I used around the windscreen flange is going to hold back the rust under there. Last summer I had the screen changed because it cracked at the top. I got a phone call from the screen fitters after I took the car in, saying a bulge of rust in the screen frame had cracked the glass, they couldn't put a new screen in, nor were they equipped or authorised to repair the rust! I had to drive the car screen-less back to my house, clean up the flange, and I painted on the supposedly rust-proof Hammerite as an emergency repair so I could get the car back to the fitters and get a new screen in. I reckon it'll still be rusting under the new screen.

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.

 

[Suki]

I had mine w202 for 12 years and saw no hole!
I did wax oil the base a numeb of years previous though!

 

[anyweb]

i had my W202 for many years and while it had holes of rust in each door, front fenders and rust everywhere, i didn't notice any holes through the boot floor..

i wouldn't bother repairing it, it's just going to get much worse, sooner than you think, hows the rest of the car (doors etc...). sell it while you can and get one with no rust, or less rust, or if you can't afford to then try and repair it by cutting out the rust and replacing with clean steel, might be an idea to paint it with zinc prior to anything else

 

[rx6180]

I had mine w202 for 12 years and saw no hole!
I did wax oil the base a numeb of years previous though!

Ah. I 'waxoyled' (with that brand) a Triumph I owned as a classic, about four or five years ago. I hated the smell that stayed with the car afterwards. I also did what I thought was a very thorough job on a small Toyota my sister owned in the mid 80s, admittedly it did have some rust beforehand (after all, it was a 70s Toyota!) but it looked tidy. It carried on rusting and some time after she sold it, I saw it in a car park and it was like a colander!

 

[rx6180]

i had my W202 for many years and while it had holes of rust in each door, front fenders and rust everywhere, i didn't notice any holes through the boot floor..

i wouldn't bother repairing it, it's just going to get much worse, sooner than you think, hows the rest of the car (doors etc...). sell it while you can and get one with no rust, or less rust, or if you can't afford to then try and repair it by cutting out the rust and replacing with clean steel, might be an idea to paint it with zinc prior to anything else

Well, at 13 years old my car has got minimal resale value. I do a reasonable amount of maintenance and inspection myself and to my knowledge, there isn't any rot anywhere else. The paint coating keeps breaking down at the edges of panels as it gets older, and I keep touching it up with varying degrees of success. It keeps it tidy but the rust comes back, and new areas start. Little bubbles start at the corners of the doors and where the plastic bumpers rub on the front and rear wing edges. The rusty windscreen surround that cracked the glass, unseen from the outside, was a shock and that was one of the times I decided to get rid. I had a brief look around for similar models and did go to someone's house to look at an 'immaculate' C200 that was better specified than mine. There were less rust bubbles, but it was not immaculate and there was a lot of scratches on the car. Since I know the mechanical history of mine, including some work on the auto box which was expensive, I decided it wasn't worth taking the risk. I currently take the view that I'm going to run this one for as long as I can. I don't know what I'll buy if and when I change it, but it'll most likely be for something more economical.

I've seen better W202s than mine and I've seen worse. I just wondered if the perforation in the boot floor was a reasonably common weak spot. The hole isn't big and doesn't affect the MoT. One of my first cars was a MkIII Cortina in the late 70s and that was full of little holes, boot floor included, and it was only 7 years old. The paint on my car has been disappointing and I learned about 5 years ago about the issues MB had with poor quality paint around the time my car was made, and in my opinion this is why my car suffers. But it is an 'old banger' now and while it keeps running well, and looks clean and tidy from a few feet away, I can't see myself selling it. It is more useful as transport than the few hundred pounds it would bring in a sale privately or to the trade.

 

[anyweb]

i had the same view with regards to mine until i had no choice but to sell it, it needed a new exhaust and one of the 4 jacking points (at the front) had crumbled when i jacked the car up, with rust damage of course,

so i took the executive decision to sell it at that time and buy a W203, which turned out also had rust (well hidden)

the w202 didnt suffer from bad paint, it was bad steel, lacking in copper i think, which meant that it could rust from the inside out, and it did shame as it was a fantastic, economical, nice to drive car, my kids loved it

 

[rx6180]

Yes, well I think that bit of corrosion on the boot floor of mine is rusting from the inside out so there are parallels there. It is interesting that you mention bad steel. I've not known about the lack of copper before but I have been aware of something lacking in the build quality of these cars, especially since looking up the rust issues about five years ago. After a tip-off I went along to my MB dealer to try to claim, and they spent some time taking digital photos but unfortunately when I handed over my documents, the age of my car was about three months past the deadline, so I couldn't claim on the 'goodwill' policy MB had adopted for paint repairs. My car, like others, develops spontaneous 'spider runs' from the middle of a panel with no chips. Thankfully most of them appear then get no worse. There were quite a few when I bought the car at five years old, which were picked up on when I had the car RAC inspected AFTER I bought it (to try to help resolve another issue I was having with the dealer). I did find it amazing and disappointing that MB had such build quality issues for a prestige make.

Once upon a time I used to change cars frequently but many years ago realised the futility of that. At least that's the theory I subscribe to now. This W202 is my first Merc and I've kept this car longer than any other I've owned. Because of other issues I once had with it, I considered swapping it after six months, and then after about a year (once for a Fiat Punto Sporting and then a Mazda MX5) but the p/x offers were derisory in my opinion. I bought the Merc with 68,000 miles on it and also once thought I'd p/x it before it reached 100,000 miles, but it's now coming up to 133,000 miles, is 13 years old and so to the trade is worthless. My stepfather, who is retired, has had three cars in the last five years, and I've been stunned by the low p/x offers he's accepted on cars he's paid £6000-7000 for a couple of years earlier. My reluctance to deal with the motor trade may be the biggest single reason why I hang on to this car. I've driven other cars; I once had a W203 as a courtesy car before the W204 came out, and it was nice but the rack and pinion steering made it feel like a 3 Series BMW, the three pointed star was loose in the bonnet and I thought the boot was smaller than mine. And some aspects of the interior don't seem as well screwed together. I also recently hired a Honda Insight hybrid to try one out. I was hooked for a while and it did do 60mpg, but the seats weren't comfortable on long journeys and the rear visibility was poor. Plus at about £12,000 at the time, for a used model, I could still buy an awful lot of petrol. So that's why I keep stuffing unleaded in the C Class with its winter time 24mpg fuel consumption (40mpg on a run to Goodwood Revival in the summer!) and keep trying to touch up the rust spots.

 

[anyweb]

the copper comment is what i've read before, i don't know if it is the case but it makes sense to me as the W202's seemed to rust in a lot of places, doors, wings, you name it and always starting from the inside out,

i think the steel was of poor quality (cheap) and therefore prone to rust as soon as it got wet which in europe is all the time,

adding copper to the steel helps prevent rust but increases cost, and i'm guessing that in order to reduce cost, some bean counter decided to go with cheaper steel during this period...

it's a shame because now Mercedes is viewed the same way as Fiat was back in the late 80s (Fiat=rust), Fiat worked long and hard to repair that image now it's mercedes turn....

 

[rx6180]

Yeah dead right. My previous car was a Mk1 Punto, made in '97 and owned from '98 to 2004. I did touch up the odd patch of flaky underseal underneath, but the paint was virtually indestructable. In seven years the paint on the vunerable wheel arch return lips never flinched, and any stone chips on the bonnet just stayed grey, even if I didn't touch them up. Very impressive.

 

[scottish_don]

I'm tidying up the boot in my '95 W202. there are small bits of surface rust but no hole where you have described....

 

[rx6180]

A '95 was probably made of better steel then, or given more thorough cavity protection.

Okay, I've got the message - I drive a rust bucket! :roll:

I always knew something was wrong from the outset, the way paint puckered up in the middle of panels when the car was only five years old. The RAC inspection man did say in his report, "Paint defects that may be expensive to rectify in the future". He also said the car should give good service though, which it pretty much has.

I wonder what it would look like brush painted army khaki green? That'd hide the rust and be cheaper than a respray

 

[yorkshire1]

rustproofer

best odourless rustproofer is veg oil, spray or brush it on and as the solvents in it evaporate it leaves a sticky residue that beats any waxoil

waxoil may work on new steel and in protected areas with no bad rust but everywhere I used to use it on undercar bodywork come the cold weather it just dropped off utterly useless

 

[grahamcol]

This rust problem is such a great pity. My 1996 W202 C200 is totally rust free whereas my "facelift" 2000 W202 C280 has started to show signs of rust on the rear wheel arches and other "silly" places. The C200 is 4 years older and has covered twice the mileage of the younger car. There was definately a steel / paint / protection problem from the time the facelift model appeared. Pity because in all other respects the facelift one drives beautifully.

 

[Frontstep]

You have no real rust, genuine Mercedes Stuttgart Rust, till you can see the floor.

 

[rx6180]

best odourless rustproofer is veg oil, spray or brush it on and as the solvents in it evaporate it leaves a sticky residue that beats any waxoil

waxoil may work on new steel and in protected areas with no bad rust but everywhere I used to use it on undercar bodywork come the cold weather it just dropped off utterly useless

Veg oil, yes, that's an idea. I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion most of the rust prevention products marketed under the Hammerite or Waxoyl brand aren't much use. I've used the rust converter primers, also the stuff that turns rust into a black phosphate. Very few of the areas I treat don't bubble up again after a few months in the wet. Maybe the aerosol top coats aren't as durable as a professionally applied spray job, but around a year ago I inquired at two places about a respray and both quoted £1500 to £1800 just to do the sides, and wouldn't offer any warranty against rust coming back. In view of the car's age and the fact someone could run into it tomorrow and write it off (whereupon I'd get little from the insurance company) I decided to carry on with the DIY approach.

 

[rx6180]

You have no real rust, genuine Mercedes Stuttgart Rust, till you can see the floor.

The carpet and underlay is too thick for that. :neutral:

 

[tomba]

I'm tidying up the boot in my '95 W202. there are small bits of surface rust but no hole where you have described....

Ditto in my C200 1996. But then again...it was waxoyled from new
The only rust is the usual (on the wheel arches)...thinking of those aluminium clip-ons for the arches but can't decide whether they look tacky or not...also £75 a set and a bit of diying

 

[rx6180]

Yes they look tacky. I've considered them myself but at the time hadn't seen any for the W202. Then when I did, I thought they looked awful. I'm not sure if MB deliberately fitted earlier cars with this type of thing from new, but I'm sure they didn't make any for the W202 and I think they are an accessory that has come into being deliberately to hide the rust. Plus, they are still going to trap moisture and the arches will rust even more rapidly underneath.

A couple of weeks ago I had to re-apply some waxy underseal to an outrigger under the front floor, where grit thrown up by the tyres had penetrated the coating and surface rust had got under the factory sealant. I took the rubber bung out of the drain hole in the outrigger to clean the area up reasonably thoroughly and shone a torch inside the hole. Inside was still factory applied wax and the inside of the outrigger looked mint. I feel sure that little hole in my boot floor, in a closed section, is a result of inner coatings missing the area, probably as a result of an air pocket during the dipping process. I've every reason to believe most of my car is structurally almost 'as-new'. Unfortunately it stands outside in all weathers and the poor quality paint from 1999 has allowed certain areas on the visible body to rust.

 

[FIBAMAN]

I was wondering if anyone else had a rust hole like this one, in the corner of their boot floor on a W202.

It is in the corner under the rear light, beneath the battery tray. It isn't caused by spilled acid as there has never been any, and the battery tray is pristine. I made the hole last year, but the photo is recent, hence more rust spots after winter in spite of the silver Hammerite. I'd been seeing the spread of what I thought was surface rust, under a 'scab' of flaking paint, for ages, then decided to scrape the scab off with a screwdriver and put some paint on. Unfortunately it went 'crunch' and the screwdriver was through. Since it is in a double skinned area, I didn't go through to daylight, and by the same standard, I think the rust is caused by trapped condensation between the two skins and possibly poor rust proofing in this area. Last year I just cleaned it up as best as I could, vacuumed out the loose scale, and slapped on some silver Hammerite I had, and tried to work it under the hole with the brush. In view of the fact that the area has been damp again and the paint is rust stained, I don't hold out much hope that the same Hammerite paint I used around the windscreen flange is going to hold back the rust under there. Last summer I had the screen changed because it cracked at the top. I got a phone call from the screen fitters after I took the car in, saying a bulge of rust in the screen frame had cracked the glass, they couldn't put a new screen in, nor were they equipped or authorised to repair the rust! I had to drive the car screen-less back to my house, clean up the flange, and I painted on the supposedly rust-proof Hammerite as an emergency repair so I could get the car back to the fitters and get a new screen in. I reckon it'll still be rusting under the new screen.

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.

Sorry dont mean to be negative, but there is no such animal as rustproof paint. Hammerite is surface tolerant (to a degree) which means it will stick to poorly prepared surfaces, for a while.

If you ever tested your battery with a hydrometer, then the slightest drop from the tip could have iniated the corrosion

 

[anyweb]

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, it has

* no wheel arch rust
* no rust on the undersides of the door
* very little rust indeed and any there is just stays there, it doesn't grow to an epidemic like you see with W202, W203 and many other cars from 2000...

The steel is better made, thicker. Back then, in addition to using real steel they also sprayed thick coating (almost like TAR) to the inside of the back of the steel and that no doubt also prevents rusting from the inside out.