comment on paint-bubbling attention pls, + repair/replace cracked rear bumper insert?

[hannay]

Five fingerprint-sized-or-smaller areas of paintwork are bubbling just ahead of the front wheelarch as shown, with rust staining/seepage though this is just surface streaking and quickly wipes away ... the area actually looks very little affected when wiped clean. The rest of the bodywork is blemish-free, car has always been cared for.

My first encounter with rust, I am not sure whether this is classed as wing-replacing or repairable, however the pennies aren't there anyway to replace the wing and have it finished so I am proposing to trackle it by taking it down to bare metal just locally, see how far the rust has affected the area, and be guided further by that.

If penetrated, then rebuild as appropriate and bring back to profile with filler, and then paint and finish.

I am hoping to find no penetration, and in that case will be going the marine clean/metal ready/POR15 route before recreating profile if/as needed and then finishing (Polar White)

I am aware of the careful attention needed to apply filler if called for, in layers with correct rubbing-down inbetween. I suspect I will be able to deal with the strip/clean/treat/reprofile part okay depending on the actual requirement of the rusted areas once discovered.

I am also pretty confident about the basics of painting/finishing afterwards, but this is the one area where unfamiliarity with insider-tweaks could lead to a less-perfect result than I want to achieve. If therefore there are useful comments about the finishing stage then I would very much appreciate having them .. For example I have in particular seen Malcolm's comments elsewhere about the darkening effect of the conventional clearcoat, and his advice to avoid that entirely ... though, I would then be wary of the longevity of the "soft" area?

Any similar comments about the strip/treat/fill part would also be welcomed if useful.

*****************

Quite separatrely, just a few weeks ago I lazily broke my own reverse-in and forward-out rule of parking for the first-ever time, when in a hurry and in anticipation of a particularly loaded supermarket trolley to eventually put in to the back anyway so it made sense to have the tailgatge more accessible and load-friendly (car is a '96 124 Estate).

However, when reversing out of the bay one of those low bollards defining a motor-bike parking area was concealed by my reversing angle and just as I turned back around in my seat ready to drive forward again and out, the last couple of inches of roll took me in to the bollard which cracked the insert in the rear bumper, see photograph.

Is something like this a candidate for plastic-welding? Is that however a successful result? I am not interested in leaving a scar. If this is not suitable is the insert available on its own or is it a sub-assembly of the bumper panel/valance and so costs probably a mint and a half? Easy/difficult to fit?

And to sidestep the obvious suggestion, which I would love to be in a position to do, yes it would be perfectly sensible to give it to a bodyshop and have both things taken care of, however the reality is that I am quite skint and simply don't have that option but don't want to leave the rust in particular to its own devices ...

Thanks for any input.

 

[turbopete]

i think you basically have the rust problem covered with the por 15 etc. however, if you find penetration, its best to cut out the affected area and weld in a new section if possible. however por15 treatment to both sides and if necessary, a little fibreglass filler should help you out ok on such a relatively small area! regarding paint, if its not a metallic paint, and in the pics it doesnt appear to be, depending on how you paint it, it may not require clear laquer. many aerosol paints are designed to be just sprayed on as opposed to a basecoat/ laquer situation, as is the case with metallics etc. hope this is of some help

 

[w211-e-class]

if u do service your merc regulary u will know that mercedes do do a 30 year paint work gurantee for rust or bubbling .

email mercedes directly n tell them.

otherwise for rust use some kind of rust remover gel . u can get that from halfords.leave on for a day and then it should come off.use touch up paint -available from mercedes to cover on top and sand

as for the bubbling i remember it happend to my merc too so i scraped the bubbling off (the colour underneath was the same as the top layer)and used some very very very fine sand paper/abrasive paper between 1700-3000 grit and slowly sanded it.at first the colour went white but that was the paintwork that had come off. so i then wiped it off and put some good polish on a few times that made it look as good as new.
if the bottom layer is not the same colour then i recomend u to use some touch up paint then sand over and then use laquer on top .

 

[Xtractorfan]

The area on the wing edge has rotted away and is coming thru from behind the wing,
Two possible means of repair, ideally the area should be trimmed back to good metal and a patch welded in, other way is to wire brush or sand blast away the rust from the area..back and front of wing...dont attempt to use an angle grinder cos you will end up grinding away good metal and the rust will return with a vengance.... once you have the area cleaned up and all rust pores gone.. you can now fibre glass the area and sand to the correct contours..if you now liberally paint POR15 on the back of the wing and allow it to dry this will stop dampness and air getting to the repair.. no need to use POR15 on the front of the area, as you will be priming and painting it as normal..also spray some waxoyl on the back of the repair.. I will do a write up later on the bumper repair, tho there should be a few of those bumpers around the breakers yards..
The 30 yr merc warranty only applies to the promotional literature as published by MB.. it is pie in the sky..

 

[turbopete]

i think that you will find that the rust warranty on a car of this era is 20 years, not 30

 

[simon_wall69]

The front wings aren't as expensive as you might think to replace; and they bolt on so it is quite easy to change.

 

[White230CE]

I've just done that very same job to the Arctic White wings from my donor car to put on my cannibal. From how it looks in your photo, I'd say that you need to take the wing off to do the job properly. It's also much easier anyway when the wings are off. I can tell you where the bolting points are for my wings, if that helps (not sure if my 1989 CE has the same set-up as your 1996 TE but they should be very similar if not identical). In fact, my wings are still off, so I can take and upload pics of the bolting points if you want. With my wings off, I took the opportunity to clean out and rust-treat/paint otherwise inaccessible areas - I've described this in a separate thread on this forum - and also the bumper mountings as well as some of the internal bits of the bumper.

The nearside wing had a couple of holes which I had to patch with fibre-glass, but it was otherwise not bad at all. The offside wing just had surface rust in one small area. It was my first ever attempt at anything like this, so I'm no expert, but with time and patience, I managed to achieve a pretty decent paint finish using an aerosol (official Merc, very good match. Tried the Halfords 'mix to order' but the match was not great, so don't go there). As it's white, no clear coat needed. The insides have been covered with yellow waxoyl - a hairdryer really helps to run it into the lip and the various nooks and crannies - and now that that is dry, I'll be painting black waxoyl over the yellow, before putting the wings back on.

 

[hannay]

turbopete - thanks for the steering, it is appreciated ... no not metallic, straight Polar White so I note your thinking there. Thanks.

w211-e-class - '95/6 doesn't qualify for the 30 yr g'tee I believe, plus in the year it would take to argue the toss anyway the wing will get to the state where it just might NEED replacing! Thanks for the first-hand info, I'll have that in mind as I go along.

Xtractorfan - I'm hoping that it will be that straightforward, thanks for the great handhold! I'd certainly be interested in the bumper repair/replace thoughts, that palm sized "flap" always shouts out to me so loudly!!

simon_wall69 - I know that's the best way to go, and it is interesting that you say that, thanks. Depending what I find I may well need to explore that a little more, but I'll see how it looks first I think as the pennies are just not there in large numbers right now!

 

[hannay]

White 230CE - nice to know a non-expert with enough courage/ignorance to jump in with both feet can stand a chance of doing okay! Well done.

Yes I'd love to see what you describe if it is no great trouble for you to arrange, thanks! I note your recommendation about the paint!

 

[White230CE]

otherwise for rust use some kind of rust remover gel . u can get that from halfords.leave on for a day and then it should come off

I used exactly that stuff from Halford's - green, made by Hammerite. I found its effectiveness to be variable. The dip version, on the other hand, is pretty good. If you immerse a rusty object for a couple of days, changing the dip once, the outcome is pretty remarkable. A rusty battery tray is starting to look very shiny. Pity I couldn't find a [cost-effective] way of dipping the wings in the stuff!

 

[White230CE]

White 230CE - nice to know a non-expert with enough courage/ignorance to jump in with both feet can stand a chance of doing okay! Well done.

Yes I'd love to see what you describe if it is no great trouble for you to arrange, thanks! I note your recommendation about the paint!

If you're near Hertfordshire, you're welcome to drop by and view/discuss my learning curve!

 

[White230CE]

Is something like this a candidate for plastic-welding? Is that however a successful result? I am not interested in leaving a scar. If this is not suitable is the insert available on its own or is it a sub-assembly of the bumper panel/valance and so costs probably a mint and a half? Easy/difficult to fit?

I wonder if it's possible to remove the bumper, push the plastic out from the inside until it's flush again, stick it in place with a fibre-glass matt and resin, then use some stopper on the outside to seal the crack before painting. Might work? Or would the bumper flex too much for this to last?

 

[w211-e-class]

I used exactly that stuff from Halford's - green, made by Hammerite. I found its effectiveness to be variable. The dip version, on the other hand, is pretty good. If you immerse a rusty object for a couple of days, changing the dip once, the outcome is pretty remarkable. A rusty battery tray is starting to look very shiny. Pity I couldn't find a [cost-effective] way of dipping the wings in the stuff!

yeh mate thats the one

 

[turbopete]

I wonder if it's possible to remove the bumper, push the plastic out from the inside until it's flush again, stick it in place with a fibre-glass matt and resin, then use some stopper on the outside to seal the crack before painting. Might work? Or would the bumper flex too much for this to last?

flexing shouldnt be too much of a problem in that location on the bumper. you could remove the trim etc as you describe, but ive seen many successful repairs carried out by simply roughing up the paint in the damaged area, smoothing over with filler then painting, in much the same way you would a dent in a metal panel. cant say ive ever seen any problems afterwards regarding flexing etc.

 

[SilverSaloon]

pigs will fly before MB will pay for a rust repair on a W124.

 

[White230CE]

pigs will fly before MB will pay for a rust repair on a W124.

:lol::lol::lol:

 

[w211-e-class]

pigs will fly before MB will pay for a rust repair on a W124.

that is true ,when i emailed MB they asked me to go to a dealer , then who took a picture of the rust , then said they are going to send the picture to mercedes in germany .then tryed telling me to pee off in other words , after a while they said they are still waiting for mercedes to reply back .i didnt then bother ,my car was a w211

by then i did it my self .

 

[hannay]

A hectic schedule with work late Thurs and yesterday kept me getting back until tody, so ...

Thanks for all further comments

White230CE - Thanks for the super offer! ... I'm seriously thinking that the day it would wipe out to come down from Chester might be a cheap price for some positive learning-curve input. I'll know which way my options are running over this coming week so don't be surprised if I might take you up on that, thanks.

turbopete - Hadn't thought of treating it just like a dent! A little nervous however about the *flap* underneath having the ability over time, either from mobility or from any inherent *spring*, to eventually undo/overpower the fill. I'm interested to read Xtractorfan's offered writeup on the bumper repair first however.

Generally:

Any comments at all on the issue of the subsequent paint and finish?? I am assuming that appropriate care and numberous light blow-overs from an MB aerosol can, with flat-backs at a couple of stages, and eventually cutback, polish and wax, will do it, but I am on the lookout for tips and useful pointers as the location is prominent and I don't want ultimately to just repalce a physical blemish with a cosmetic one!

 

[brandwooddixon]

It is possible to get dents in plastic "ironed out". Had a similar repair done to my wife's car. I assume that application of gentle heat and pushing it from the back is enough to remove most of the dent.

 

[White230CE]

Weather and work permitting, going to put my fresh wings on tomorrow (Tuesday). Will take pics as I go along, to show where the bolts go.