Rusty Mercs

[hoddy8770]

I Write This Is In A Very Very Disapointed Mood?i Have Had My Car Looked At By Mercedes Around Rust Issues And They Passed Me To Customer Service Who Have Now Told Me No Contribution.the Car Is Rusting Around Wheel Arches And The Boot,customer Services Have Told Me This Is Not Common???? They Are Going To Write To Me About This And Why No Contribution.my Car A C Class 70000 Miles 1999 T Plate W202 Estate Outside The 8 Years Inside The 30 But Prove It??? I Look On The Forum And See Rust,rust And More Rust.my Wife Has A A Class With No Rust Are They Bothered No.has Anyone Had A Similar Issue As I Think It Is A Joke,i Used To Have A Old Shogun With No Rust And You Know What That Used To Be Classed As Jap **** Hope Someone Can Asist Me In A Way Forward.

 

[ssc]

I know the feeling,I have a W210 300TD 1998 noticed bubbling last year on rear wings, car has MB history, so took it to MB and they said thecar is too old so can not fix under warranty.

Wrote to MB customer services and they asked for the car's details reg, vin etc sent them all the info they asked for however the reply I got was "Thank you for letter I can confirm the rust warranty would have expired in 1999"....????

I thought the car's where sold with a 30yrs rust warranty? My W124 1987 (21yrs old) car has no rust on it!!

Surely this is manufactures fault they used streached steel to cut costs and the results.....!!!!

We'd be better off with Ford they give a 10yrs warranty even though Ford stands for "Fix or repair daily"

 

[jberks]

Sorry, but I don't agree.

Over the years I've run many cars 9 years and older. When rust broke out, as it invariably did, I took this as a downside of running older cars and just dealt with it. It never crossed my mind to approach the manufacturers. Ok, they were covered under a 'corrosion from the inside' warranty but that doesn't cover surface rust. True, we all know of cars that are mint at 15 years old, but most have the odd bubble here and there if you look closely and many have long since gone to the scrapyard with wings dropping off, despite being built at the same time. Some last, some dont. All last for 7-8 years without issue, that's reasonable and I'd expect the manufacturers to guarantee this, but at some point all cars decay.

When the rust issues came up, and people with 3-4 year old cars had issues it was fair to blame MB and expect them to sort it, but surely there has to be a limit? Your cars are 10 years old now. There are common weak spots sure. Boot locks, door edges etc but if they'd rusted through manufacturing issues they'd have gone long ago. Most were bubbling nicely by year 3-4. The fact that yours were fine until recently implies that they weren't badly affected by the build issues.

I'm sorry but MB can't be expected to maintain your cars forever. If you want paintwork perfection you need to either run newer stuff or else you take the risk yourself. When you do, some you win, some you don't.

 

[MarkCL]

I agree with jberks - I have some small bubbles of rust popping up in a couple of places on mine now and all I'm thinking of doing is taking it to a body shop that I trust and getting them to sort the problems at my own expense. Rust is a fact of life on any car made with steel parts - as they get older it's bound to pop up I'm afraid. Ok, within warranty periods and also for cars dealer serviced their entire lives who have the mobilo life warranty then fine - go to the dealer to get it sorted as there's specific guidelines re issues like that but otherwise it really is your own responsibility - it is unreasonable to expect MB to fix things like this on cars of this age. All IMHO of course

Cheers,
Mark

 

[twixfits]

hmm.... so why offer a 30 year paint warranty if your not going to allow customers to claim against it. After all it was a selling point that Mercedes made great deal of noise about, and still do.

 

[jberks]

its not a 30 year paint warranty - never was. Read your Mobilio booklet.

It's a 30 year warranty against corroding through from the inside. The exact same warranty you get with most modern cars, only they generally run for a far shorter time.

For example Vauxhall give a 3 year paintwork warranty and a 12 year anti perforation warranty, BMW and Audi surprisingly are the same. Fiat and Mazda as you'd expect, are even worse with 3 years paint and 8 years perforation,

So in comparison, MB's 8 year paintwork warranty and a 30 year anti perforation warranty is very impressive.

 

[twixfits]

As an owner of two Mercedes, both well under 6 years of age I’m well aware of the Mobilio booklet. In my case it's the most read pages in the manual as both of my cars are rotting nicely. The service representatives at Green Oaks and I are nearly on first name terms due to the amount of repairs my cars have had.
Even after the repairs the general consensus of the approved repair shop was, “These cars are a nightmare mate, sell it in the next couple of years as the rust will be back”...Made my day that remark.
Whilst we may scoff at other car manufactures inferior paint warranties we have to remember that some of those cars cost a lot less but seem to be more durable in the body department, well they are in my case. Eight or thirty years, mine didn’t even make four before the rust struck. I can only sympathise with other owners .
Will I invest another £40K in the Mercedes brand..... No...It’s a shame as I enjoy the driving experience.... Not the repairs, Impressive...afraid not!

 

[jberks]

Will I invest another £40K in the Mercedes brand..... No...It’s a shame as I enjoy the driving experience.... Not the repairs, Impressive...afraid not!

Ok - each to their own but - at the end of the day you should buy a car you like driving, and you say you do. Yes I agree - if someone told me that a new E class would rust or be unreliable, I'd walk away. As much as I like them, I'm not going to buy a car that spends it's lfe in the workshops.

But it wouldn't.

For that kind of money you'd be looking at a post 05 car (for half that amount even) which is reliable, has nano paint and galvanised panels, meaning that it should easily outlast its competitors (have you heard anyone with a 2004- car even mention the word rust?). You'd be buying a car built by a manufacturer that is now paranoid about reliability too.

So, aside from holding a grudge against a firm that admitted it's mistakes and spent a fortune correcting them - why would you buy something you like less?

 

[hoddy8770]

I think a few of you are missing the point,We all class mercedes as a quality product.But they have to live upto it?
How can they compete with some brand of car now who no quibble paintwork,i am talking about flaking paint off plastic bumpers etc THESE CARS ARE NOT RUSTING ANYMORE........WHY THEY WORKED HARD TO BUILD A REPUTATION AND WILL PROTECT IT........COME ON MERCEDES LOOK INTO IT.

 

[jberks]

How can they compete with some brand of car now who no quibble paintwork,i am talking about flaking paint off plastic bumpers etc .

Whose paint is flaking off the bumpers? News to me. I guess it could happen but I've been on here pretty much daily for a couple of years now and I've not heard of anyone complaining about that, even on a Y2000 model, let alone a current one. Tell us more.

 

[FIBAMAN]

I know the feeling,I have a W210 300TD 1998 noticed bubbling last year on rear wings, car has MB history, so took it to MB and they said thecar is too old so can not fix under warranty.

Wrote to MB customer services and they asked for the car's details reg, vin etc sent them all the info they asked for however the reply I got was "Thank you for letter I can confirm the rust warranty would have expired in 1999"....????

I thought the car's where sold with a 30yrs rust warranty? My W124 1987 (21yrs old) car has no rust on it!!

Surely this is manufactures fault they used streached steel to cut costs and the results.....!!!!

We'd be better off with Ford they give a 10yrs warranty even though Ford stands for "Fix or repair daily"

If I was you I would take a look at your subframes, when I saw the state of mine (same year and model as yours) the body rust issues paled into insignificance. I am talking major corrosion of the front subframe.

 

[ssc]

Thanks for the concern, I’ve always made sure that, that apart of the car is clean and sealed with a good layer of underseal. MB have been slapping some oily stuff on it too when it goes in for a service.

 

[The Gunslinger]

I know the feeling on all of this. I got very lucky on my 560SEL, which is why i Bought it. It was a texas car, had never been driven in the rain and always stored indoors. My dad and me spent a good 2 weeks ripping seals off and replacing them looking for rust. Ironically I have one little bubble spot about half the size of a penny under my driver side rear door handle, which is a strange spot. I also get it undercoated every spring, whether it needs it or not. Most of the things wrong with mine are all mechanical, though i am going to have it repainted the same color black as it is now, as it has alot of rock chips in it. Will be interesting to see it without paint.

 

[markie]

I am taking my 2000 x reg E240 estate into the dealers next week for them to have a look at the rusty wheel arches and the rusty handle on the tailgate. Will keep you all posted on the outcome of my enquiries. I will soon know all about the 8 year warranty, or not.

 

[poddack]

I really wanted a Mercedes E300 TD, I'm going to have to get a BMW 525 TDS Because they don't rust!

 

[television]

I really wanted a Mercedes E300 TD, I'm going to have to get a BMW 525 TDS Because they don't rust!

There are many fine examples out there,,loads where I live with no rust at all

 

[Silver_Star]

I am taking my 2000 x reg E240 estate into the dealers next week for them to have a look at the rusty wheel arches and the rusty handle on the tailgate. Will keep you all posted on the outcome of my enquiries. I will soon know all about the 8 year warranty, or not.

Good luck

 

[mandrake]

I really wanted a Mercedes E300 TD, I'm going to have to get a BMW 525 TDS Because they don't rust!

oh yes they do ,but it depends what year new ones havent yet but older ones most certainly do

 

[mandrake]

i have a 96 w202 and it has some ,not a lot of corrosion on the arches and the boot lock nowhare else . now as it was chucked together in 1996 and has seen many salty winters and more owners than billy bunter had sweets , i can expect a bit of body rust . the main thing is that other owners probably dident keep up with the stone chips and other related chips or scratches , after all a car thats looked after will last . they say mercs are covered for corrosion for 30 years .there are very few mercs or any other car for that matter last 20 years let allone 30 years without the tin worm making its home in the car .now if i had one a few years old mabey 3 or 4 years old that started to corrode then i would certainly complain ,but not over 10 years old ,if you drive an old car you must put up with problems .

 

[david arthur]

Hi

My W211 E200 is 8 years old now, its done 31,000 miles and the only rust it has succumbed to is a 20p sized bubble on the drivers door window trim.

Mechanically it has cost me about £5,000 in repairs in the eight years of ownership, would i buy another ? NO, i thought Mercedes were special, they are not, Ive worried more about this car than any other make i have ever bought.

Yes my car has a 30 year Mobilo warranty, which is one of the reasons i bought it, and that is why Mercedes offered it, that was there selling aid, look at the confidence in our cars we are giving you a 30 year anti corrosion warranty, they had to do something after the W210 rust bucket.

Mercedes are no different to any other maker, to stay alive they had to
make a car that more people could afford, it all comes down to numbers the more you make the cost comes down, but to say they are special is wide of the mark, they are undoubtedly nice to look at but the stress of ownership
is not worth the candle,