W204 2012 has micro-blistered paintwork

[woodymark]

Hi. This is my first post. Having read through previous posts I see that some MB owners have had problems with their paintwork coming out in micro-blisters. Did MB help out with remedying the defect for anyone? Did you have to go to Court to get their attention?
My 2012 C180 estate in solid red was bought from a MB franchise dealer in 2012 when it was about 6 months old. I noticed that after it was pressure washed a few big flakes of lacquer came off the roof. A closer look revealed thousands of tiny blisters under the lacquer on the roof, bonnet and tops of the side panels. The is usually hand washed, has not been re-sprayed whilst I have owned it and has never been under a cover.
I have had it serviced as per schedule by a Mercedes specialist once the warranty ran out.
Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[Craiglxviii]

What colour is it..?

 

[daveenty]

What colour is it..?

OP mentions Solid Red, so I'm assuming Fire Opal Red Craig.

First course of action is your local dealer. Be pleasant but firm, don't go in with all guns blazing, this will not help your cause. It is a known issue though the dealer, unless familiar with it, will probably deny knowledge of any problem.

If this is the case, suggest that they take photos and send them to their head office to let them look at it.

It will hopefully get resolved amicably, though don't hold your breath waiting for a result, and if you get no joy from your dealer then don't hesitate to try another one. A friend of mine has a C Class in the above colour which is currently undergoing a full bare metal respray, courtesy of Mercedes Benz...

 

[bembo449]

I had paint issues on my new 2013 astra vxr , ended up with a full respray under warranty , shocking that modern cars suffer with such poor quality paintwork

 

[Craiglxviii]

Ah I missed that Dave, that's what comes of scanning rather than reading

OP- we have recently had one member here win a case for a full body strip and respray. They even offered to do his car seriously, microblistering is a known issue with Fire Opal Red, something to do with paint-water interaction, I think it's down to the formulation of the paint.

 

[woodymark]

Hi. This is my first post. Having read through previous posts I see that some MB owners have had problems with their paintwork coming out in micro-blisters. Did MB help out with remedying the defect for anyone? Did you have to go to Court to get their attention?
My 2012 C180 estate in solid red was bought from a MB franchise dealer in 2012 when it was about 6 months old. I noticed that after it was pressure washed a few big flakes of lacquer came off the roof. A closer look revealed thousands of tiny blisters under the lacquer on the roof, bonnet and tops of the side panels. The is usually hand washed, has not been re-sprayed whilst I have owned it and has never been under a cover.
I have had it serviced as per schedule by a Mercedes specialist once the warranty ran out.
Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated

Hi. Thanks for replying. Yeah, it is indeed Fire Red Opal!
Car will be a year or so out of warranty now, but really interested to hear that you think this is going to be known to dealerships already.
The dealer has asked me to go to their 'partner' body shop first to get the problem diagnosed as they don't have a body shop facility as it is a 'wee' dealership, so I think I'll pop along and like you say try to charm them a little bit before letting this evidence out of the bag

 

[Craiglxviii]

Some posts:

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=155899&highlight=opal

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=157129&highlight=opal

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=153981&highlight=opal

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=130981&highlight=opal

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=122746&highlight=opal

 

[sus]

i have same problem on 2012 fire opal red its booked in for full bare metal respray under warranty going to take 4 to 5 weeks
it went to main dealer where someone from a mb approved shop came out to look measure depth of paint ect

 

[Rotorhead500]

Hi. Thanks for replying. Yeah, it is indeed Fire Red Opal!
Car will be a year or so out of warranty now, but really interested to hear that you think this is going to be known to dealerships already.
The dealer has asked me to go to their 'partner' body shop first to get the problem diagnosed as they don't have a body shop facility as it is a 'wee' dealership, so I think I'll pop along and like you say try to charm them a little bit before letting this evidence out of the bag

Warranty will be the bodywork one, so 12 years I think on MBs of this vintage?

As above, keep pushing the fact it's a known/acknowledged issue by MB.

 

[television]

I feel sure that this will get a respray, shocking that it can still happen.