SLKs prone to stone chipping?

[Rainman]

My Nov 2000 SLK 230 seems to attract a lot of stone chipping. The first was seen after just 10 miles or so, and since I have recorded over 15, from various locations around the body. Is this normal, or is it a function of the aerodynmamics of the car? Also the paint seems to be less "resilient" to objects encountered during normal B-road driving.

 

[Guy]

I had a C280 that suffered - go back to the dealer under warranty. If they knock you back ask for someone from MB to come and view it. They will talk about road surfaces where you live, how you drive etc, but if you stick to your guns they may meet you at half cost as they did for me. Thereafter its down to looking after it as best you can. If you´re really keen visit this site and enter STONE CHIPS in the search engine and lose an evening.
Good luck.
http://216.147.22.29/forum/search.php3?s=7993f1130770fd0eb21b5c1c431386c2

 

[simon]

Welcome to the stonechip club Rainman! Its the wretched waterbased paint & clearcoat.Lead has been removed from paint(which was an elastomer) thus it becomes embrittled & also is only 60% thickness of the older leadbased paint. Environmental necessity accepted
it is still a cheap & nasty finish that is certainly not durable.I personally am disgusted that MB has allowed this to be produced(To this unsatisfactory standard) on
their cars. Metallic silver, in my limited research, appears to be the worst.
The answer/palliative action is the plastic film (Armorfend in UK,produced in kit form but pricey or Excel in USA either kit or basic material) that is made by 3M.Some basic material(4"x6 feet  circa 15 pounds from
specified retail outlets) but anything wider is available to Excel/Armorfend etc. only, in large quantities.
Owners in USA regularly have leading edge panels resprayed
as an alternative to the plastic bras but obvious & ugly though it may be I am using it for both economy & an adverse
attention getter to an inferior product.

 

[Rainman]

Thanks guys for the feedback. I'll be writing to the MD soon, this just isn't acceptable on a £30k car. What are they thinking? I don't give a hoot about the environment, I want a fast, gas guzzling sports car!And I want it covered in paint!!

 

[simon]

Good for Rainman, I wish you success but I have experienced very little success with the sharp suited moguls in Milton Keynes myself & in Germany they have got other things on their minds...like Chrysler!

 

[moss1]

I have experienced similar paint problems on my Dec 2000 E240

It is shocking that a car which was listed at £35K at the time suffers from such chipping problems.

I too wrote to MB and they came to look. The guy was very sympathetic and agreed that it should be fixed but the budget was with someone else.

The long and the short of it is that they didn't want to know.

I was told by the guy from MB that this is a widespread problem which would cost them millions to fix so they very rarely do anything.

So much for German quality and customer service.

Needless to say they will not be getting my business ever again nor that of my family.

That said the best of British to you!

 

[Andy]

Hi Moss,

I sure youre MB representitive dosn't know what he's talking about. Ernest reply earlier in this posting is closer to the truth.
(In my humble apinion)

Regards
Andy@www.mercedesservicing.com

 

[Andy]

Hi Moss,

I sure youre MB representitive dosn't know what he's talking about. Ernest reply earlier in this posting is closer to the truth.
(In my humble apinion)

Regards
Andy@www.mercedesservicing.com

 

[moss1]

Andy,

That's always possible of course but he seemed genuine enough and also said he would recommend a goodwill payment to help with the cost but the reply from the Directors office was pretty negative.

You only need to look at forums on other site such as honestJohn.co.uk to see that stone chipping is becoming more of a serious problem with modern paints. This suggests that to fix such problem would mean either a lot of goodwill payments, a major new innovation in paint technology or protection applied at the factory as standard. Either way it adds up to a lot of money for car manufacturers who claimn to be hard up.

I am of th opinion that MB is in a mess due to their purchase of Chrysler.

At the end of the day however when I purchase a car with a selling price of £35000 I expect better quality.

 

[Andy]

Hi Moss,

Have a chat with those envoiromentalist, chappies. Once the earth isn't going to go supa nova, and the ozone isnt going to disapear overnight. Then we might just be able to use paints which are tougher.

 

[simon]

I dont know about enviromental chaps Andy,Arent they the ones that hug trees? but I do know that I am really diappointed with this waterbased paintwork.There is talk in USA of thickening up the clear coat with additional coats being sprayed on by body shops.Should this be a practical answer/solution why on earth did MB not consider it ? I suspect that its economy that lies behind it but whatever the answer it is pitiful & of course we have to pay!

 

[Rainman]

Thanks everyone for the discussion. Personally i don't give a hoot about the environment, I want paint that sticks to the car and keeps everything else off. Not too much to ask for is it. There's nothing in the car brochure to suggest they are using this paint, so I think I have a case. No doubt MK will be hard nosed about this one, but I will stick to my guns. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. So if any of you from MK reads this, you will have a fight. And by the way, I am an Aerospace Engineer, so any tech speak will have to be accurate or I ain't buying it!!!

 

[LeeJSquire]

Just seen thos forum - you'll be glad to hear that the problems is still as bad as ever - I have a 4 yr old SLK that now looks 10yrs old on the front end. I do drive to work via country lanes, but MB aren't interested. Just worried about when I have to sell the old girl ...
LJS

 

[Paintshield]

HI Guys I have posted a thread on this subject entitled paint protection film 101 if you have not read it I would suggest you do so, it will help you indeciding what to when you have it repaired.


We are about to do a design for the SLR next week looking forward to getting close to that, anyone driven one?


Best Wishes


Tom