Rust!!!!

[lenchoy]

Just been washing my new pride and joy (1989 W124 300E) and noticed a couple of rust spots. One the size of a 5p on the front corner of the passenger wing, one on the offside front wing and a rust spot the size of a 10p on the offside windscreen pillar. I took it down to my local paint shop and they quoted me £350 for getting rid of the rust and respray both wings and the pillar. Is that a good price?

 

[alexspurs61]

That's not too bad if it's a good job. I'm looking at £900 for respraying and fitting two wings which I'll be supplying. They're talking about respraying the doors for a proper colour match as well, mind you.
I also have a quote of £500 or refurbishment and respraying of two existing wings.

 

[turnipsock]

W124 wings cost about £125 but there are cheap ones at £25 each out there. Take them to the paint shop and have them painted before you fit them yourself. You are probably talking about £100 all in.

 

[television]

Getting rid of the rust, what does that mean, the rust on the wings has come from the back side, so the metal is no more, if you cut it out and weld in a patch, it will go again around the outside of the weld. It must be better to fit a new wing, the cost is almost the same, and rust treat it from square one.
Re respraying, It is normal practice these days to do any panels on the same plane, that is panels where you could put a straight edge down, or you could say that if your lit up the side with a flood lamp, you only do the panels reflecting the same.
Malcolm

 

[clive williams]

W124 wings cost about £125 but there are cheap ones at £25 each out there. Take them to the paint shop and have them painted before you fit them yourself. You are probably talking about £100 all in.

Care! Depending on the colour, painting individual panels and then fitting them may result in making the vehicle looking patchwork. When a good bodyshop paints a bonnet for example, they will often blow over the tops of the wings to blend the new with the old even though the colour is properly matched.

Clive

500E
E320CDIT210

 

[clive williams]

Hi Turnipsock,

Is that avatar of yours topical or what!

Clive

500E
E320CDIT210

 

[asahartz]

Getting rid of the rust, what does that mean, the rust on the wings has come from the back side, so the metal is no more, if you cut it out and weld in a patch, it will go again around the outside of the weld. It must be better to fit a new wing, the cost is almost the same, and rust treat it from square one.

Not if it's done properly. It will only go again if rusty metal is left in and/or the paint coat is not done thoroughly. I speak from experience of working on classic cars, where wings cost £450 if you can get them at all, and they're welded. A properly cut out. cleaned, welded and painted repair can be completely invisible and last as long as the rest of the wing (as per those on my Austin A40).
However I would agree that it's hardly worthwhile on a W124, where the compound curves in the rust area are difficult to match, the wings are bolt-on and relatively inexpensive. I suspect I would still attempt it for me, but otherwise it makes more sense to replace the wings.

 

[photographer]

Rust

This is my first post on this site and i am sorry to say guys, but you have it all wrong about rusting E classes!!:

My nov 2001 52000 mls E class estate is in John Weirs Inverness having the front/rear wheel arches, tailgate, and sub frame resprayed, this is after they refused to replace them, so i contacted MB and they told me that they were not aware of any rust problems with the E classes of my vintage!!!!!!!

To get back to my car i told MB that the dealer has shotblasted the rust of the selected parts of my car, and it will be resprayed, this is not the way in which the repair should be done as the thickness of the metel has now been reduced after the shot blasting, and is now not up to standard spec.

I was told to send my complaint to cust sevice, so watch this space!

 

[jberks]

My nov 2001 52000 mls E class estate i... they told me that they were not aware of any rust problems with the E classes of my vintage!!!!!!!

Funny - oh how we laughed. Admittedly they were getting better by 01 but they problems were still around.

the thickness of the metel has now been reduced after the shot blasting, and is now not up to standard spec.

Not sure I'd agree, unless its really severe and deep. Shot blasting is the normal method to remove surface rust.

 

[Retired]

Shot blasting / replacement seems to be a case by case basis. Door frames (E240 est 1998) done some while ago were blasted as they were not too bad.

Went in to have wings repaired with the notion that they too would be blasted. In the event it was decided they were too bad for this to be a good solution and MB authorised new wings.

 

[kyoto]

I am surprised with this news, in my innocence (and having bought a CLK in last 6 months), I thought MB's were galvanized. I would be grateful to anyone who knows about thsi as I have recently sold a 1986 Porsche 944 Turbo and despite its age have never thought of rust, they have been galvanised since early 1980s.

 

[jberks]

They used to be and are now as far as I know (those panels that aren't aluminum), but unfortunately some idiot left the workshop door open sometime around '98 and a couple of accountants sneaked in. It took them until late 01 to repair the damage. Cost cutting measures resulted in 98-01/2 cars having a tendancy to rust.
MB will repair it FOC if you have any. The worst hit by far was the 210 E class, though its not unheard of on the clk so I'd bob it down to your local dealer and have them do a corrosion check. Just to be sure.

 

[AdrianDW]

Repairs to rusting 210's...

On the question of rusting 210's (not a question perhaps, but a standard feature...), mine is due back from M-B having had, gritblast and respray attention to all doors, all wings, bootlid and part of the bonnet. I'm presuming they only treat the affected areas, and so only do a partial respray. Is this the case? If so does your collective experience suggest I'm going to end up with a sort of silver camoflauge effect Benz?

 

[Blobcat]

On the question of rusting 210's (not a question perhaps, but a standard feature...), mine is due back from M-B having had, gritblast and respray attention to all doors, all wings, bootlid and part of the bonnet. I'm presuming they only treat the affected areas, and so only do a partial respray. Is this the case? If so does your collective experience suggest I'm going to end up with a sort of silver camoflauge effect Benz?

If they have done the boot lid, all the doors wings and bootlid then the only bit they haven't done is the roof. So you should not see any colour differences. Thye will spray all of the treated panels not just the bit's they have treated.

 

[jberks]

When the did the boot lock on mine, the also painted the whole boot lid, the 2 rear wings and the outer area of the roof, to blend it in. They should paint more than just the affected area.

 

[clive williams]

When the did the boot lock on mine, the also painted the whole boot lid, the 2 rear wings and the outer area of the roof, to blend it in. They should paint more than just the affected area.

I agree, one test to see if the paint matched is to view the car under sodium street lights as these are notorious for showing up differently painted sections. This is most useful for metallics as the metal particles in the paint can align differently depending on how the vehicle is sprayed - automated manufacturers paint shop .v. hand sprayed bodyshop. Always check this out soonest and complain if there is an obvious difference.

Clive

500E
E320CDIT210

 

[asahartz]

This is my first post on this site and i am sorry to say guys, but you have it all wrong about rusting E classes!!:

My nov 2001 52000 mls E class estate is in John Weirs Inverness having the front/rear wheel arches, tailgate, and sub frame resprayed, this is after they refused to replace them, so i contacted MB and they told me that they were not aware of any rust problems with the E classes of my vintage!!!!!!!

QUOTE]

Hang on a minute, we were talking about W124s before you came along. The rust issues with W210s are well-documented. My '93 W124 doesn't have a mark on it, which is one reason I prefer the older model. W124s are Mercs as they used to be.