Is this rust something to worry about?

[DREAMER NO2]

Sure is .

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

Agree with the above, I’ve owned a 124Te and if it shows through the paint you know it’s bad

 

[DREAMER NO2]

All depends on what kind of life the car went through to start with .

 

[mioba]

.... And to add salt to the wound, mechanically, it was probably in perfect condition?

Yes. Still to this day I think its one of the best engineered mercs that I have owned. Simpicity of the highest pinnacle.
A very tightly build car.

 

[Jim2]

Jim I did replace both front wings due to the bottom corner rust ..I was lucky finding the passengers side wing .A seller on Ebay had his car wrote off by a run away lorry . And then he listed the W124 to sell it whole .. I told him if he did not sell it that i needed just the front passengers wing ..It was the same paint code as mine.Well a week went buy , and i had a message to say he was stripping it down for parts no one wanted it whole .. and i could have the front wing .He removed the wing and listed it on Ebay . I bought it .It came ,I bolted it on to the car after i waxed the back side of it along with the body of the car . pics . Had wors on Christmas Eve about the wing on the dinning room table haha no safer place at the time .

First off, you live in a very understanding household.......now in my case, if the war department arrived home and saw a wing sitting comfortably on the dining room table as yours was...by the time she would be finished with it, it would resemble one that had come off 2nd best after a run in with a Scania,,,,,because thats what it would look like, only after being in collision with me............
The valance is heavily coated in rust protection ( was it like this when you removed the old wing? ) I'd say that most of the wing was like that too, except for the part that rusts..the fact that all of the 124's rust in tbe same place indicates to me at any rate, the the real cause of the rusting is the protective coating has a "blind spot" in its application....and this can be seen in the underside of the wing too when its removed. But everywher else it was OK? Sill panels ? Light recesses? What mileage is on it now ? As I said before, its a stunner.

 

[DREAMER NO2]

Jim The under body coating is only applied through the indicator hole ,or marker light as some call it . poor way to do it . Not a lot of protection on the inner wing . The under coating is thick in places, and nothing in others .They all go in the bottom corners .Reason is, its the rubber seal under it that cushions the bumper it get lots of dirt build up , and then it gets wet , from there on the rust starts it job, rusting away most of its life if dirt it is not removed manualy .Also this car lived its life outside all its life .And its weathered the seasons very well .. Mileage right now is 97035 . The wings i fitted will out last the car -and me. . My wife [ war depot ] is so understanding , it was her idea to put that lovely wing on the d/ table for safe keeping .. so i did . But after 3 weeks it was taking things a bit too far ..But there again the weather out side - December was not realy wing fitting weather . But you know what , that was only the passengers wing ,, and we went through it again with the drivers side wing as well .. The car is nothing special just a base W124 260E with a few mod cons . Pic 1 wing off and black waxed waiting ready . Pic 2 wing getting 3 good coats of primer before wet and dry finishing .