The Big Rust Debate .. .. ..

[PJTaylor]

Bonsoir people,

I bought my 1995 E320 about 2 months ago. Went to view the motor, seemed ok. Service history ..full MB still ok. Bit of rust on the boot lid, still ok my dad's was the same. Wings bin sprayed at some point, nice job though all still OK. Mechanically sound .. i bought it Happy Days..

First mag i bought Mercedes Enthusiast, big article about E320 coupe's and what to look for when buying one............

'Check jacking points for rust, big give away to the rest of the car'

Checked mine .. .. rust... (

Now the rest of the car underneath is sound, where the front struts bolt through the body are all solid. Under spare wheel sound. No signs of crash damage.

So what exactly should i be worried about ?

At best i thought i'd be looking at a new boot lid and 2 wings, but this jacking points thing is really bugging me. . . . . . .
Have i bought a load of trouble ? Should i get the car waxoyl'd ? What other problems occur if u have rust round the jacking points ?

I really love the car.. just don't want it to turn into a money pit.

Is there any help out there guys ??

 

[anyweb]

i assume by the jacking points they mean the 4 circle holes you insert the mercedes jack into, if so, then you should try and get the rust treated in those areas as it will eventually (5 years from now or so) start to spread into the underside of the car.

can you post a photograph or two of the rust ?

 

[Scop]

Its the same on my estate. I didn't know anything about it until the car went in to have some accident damage seen to. Once the bodyshop had removed the plastic cill moulding they pointed out the rusty jacking point, luckily the cill had to be replaced as part of the insurance claim, which only leaves the other side now. But like yours theres no rust anywhere else on the car. I am going to pop it into a bodyshop to get the rust on the other cill treated and depending on how much my 108K service costs I may get it professionally waxoyled later this year.

 

[Ade W124]

Just checked mine (90 300CE 24)

There was none when I picked the car up at the end of December but there is now a teeny bit of surface rust on the lip of the jacking tubes to the front points.. rear is fine and coated in what looks like old waxoyl - which covers the underside and wheel arches..

Will attempt some form of treatment over the weekend.. whats the best thing to stop the rust spreading..

Ade

 

[PJTaylor]

Well i've just took the sill cover off and had a look at the problem. It sems to be isolated at these points, the rest of the sill is fine. Gonna invest in some waxoyl this weekend and stop it getting any further. I thought that the jacking point rust would have flagged up problems elsewhere but i don't think that's the case. I've been over the car thoroughly and i'm happy

Cheers Fella's

 

[Parrot of Doom]

POR15 is a good rust paint. Its hard as nails, and can be painted directly over rust.

If you get it on your skin, your skin will come off before the paint comes off.

Do a google, its sold at Frosts in Rochdale, its ****** good stuff. I used it on my last car, its lethal.

I'm going to buy some more and use it to treat the rusty bits in my engine bay, and generally around the underside of the chassis.

 

[David124T]

I posted a thread last week on this subject. If anyone is considering fixing this themselves then this is what you should be doing:
Get the plastic sill cover off. I will post instructions if requested. You can't see the full extent of any rust with it still on the car.
Have a good poke around the jacking point. It will probably look as if the end of the jack tube is only affected. Especially check the sill about half an inch under the tube. If it has rusted through you will end up with a smiley face shaped hole. It will need to be welded.
If there are no rust holes then you need to rustproof it from inside. The only access to inject is through the hole where the large plastic plug is situated. These are removed by first pulling down the central plug about an inch and the pull out the whole thing. Repaint the outer sill before replacing the plastic cover.
I don't think that this area was done in the factory because I couldn't find any rustproofing compoud when I did mine.

David

 

[anyweb]

POR15 is a good rust paint. Its hard as nails, and can be painted directly over rust.

If you get it on your skin, your skin will come off before the paint comes off.

Do a google, its sold at Frosts in Rochdale, its ****** good stuff. I used it on my last car, its lethal.

I'm going to buy some more and use it to treat the rusty bits in my engine bay, and generally around the underside of the chassis.

i googled and found that por15 is just the brand name,

so which paint are you referring to exactly Parrot ?