W211 Rust issues

joderest

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we had a Landrover Discovery TD5 for 10 years, it was a brilliant car, tow vehicle, work horse, only let us down once in all that time, which was fuel pump gave up the ghost. It died due to chassis rust in the end, ( so much so it was not worth welding) People used to moan about their reliability, we only had good things to say.
We bought the W163 as a replacement, it only had 35,000 miles on it, but had loads of issues i had to sort out in first month of ownership, but since then, except for a dreaded water ingress issue, been very good ( now i have said it). These cars also have a reputation of not being reliable.
I some times wonder if peoples expectations are just too high
 

Blobcat

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we had a Landrover Discovery TD5 for 10 years, it was a brilliant car, tow vehicle, work horse, only let us down once in all that time, which was fuel pump gave up the ghost. It died due to chassis rust in the end, ( so much so it was not worth welding) People used to moan about their reliability, we only had good things to say.
We bought the W163 as a replacement, it only had 35,000 miles on it, but had loads of issues i had to sort out in first month of ownership, but since then, except for a dreaded water ingress issue, been very good ( now i have said it). These cars also have a reputation of not being reliable.
I some times wonder if peoples expectations are just too high
You get a "good one" or a "Normal one" when you buy a Discovery... ;) or any JLR product for that matter...:shock:
 

kotecki

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You get a "good one" or a "Normal one" when you buy a Discovery... ;) or any JLR product for that matter...:shock:
SWTA

JLR=John Lewis Retro?
SWTA= Dyslexic SAWT team member or... Stop With the Acronyms :) Why oh why can't we speak English instead of ACRO-nese? :D:D
 

Blobcat

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S500 Pete

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I agree about rust coming from the inside out but not so sure about your statement regarding stone chips.. Our S210 suffered from stone chips, our S211 was one of the first to get that nano-paint technology.. No idea what that paint is but in 17yrs of ownership, I could count the chips on one hand!! Were we lucky?? Possibly or even probably but the very instance we found a chip, I treated it. Yes we looked after our car but I would challenge anyone to find rust on the bodywork, be that from the outside in, or the inside out. I just hope our new S213 bodywork fairs as well. Oh and our 9yr old Sprinter has a huge frontal area, but so far, no chips. No 'f' in fish either
That Nano paint was fantastic on my old S211. !4 years old and no chips on the bonnet although the windscreen looked like it had been shotblasted. My new S222 has modern water based paint and is already getting chips. Apparently the old oil based nano paint was bad for the environment when being applied but I wonder if they balanced that with the car staying on the road longer so not needing to produce a replacement
 

joderest

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I used to spray cars with Cellulose based paint, this was before a clear coat became the norm, after spraying i always looked forward to the polishing to see end result. Is that what you are referring to with the term NANO ? I hated doing metallic as then a clear coat was applied.
I have to confess, cant really remember bonnets chipping up as much as they do now .
Water based paints ?, what happens if you put water on steel ?, rust.
I do not do resprays now, but still do a bit of paintwork on the cars when needed, i never buy water based rattle cans, i just cannot get on with them.
 

kotecki

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I used to spray cars with Cellulose based paint, this was before a clear coat became the norm, after spraying i always looked forward to the polishing to see end result. Is that what you are referring to with the term NANO ? I hated doing metallic as then a clear coat was applied.
I have to confess, cant really remember bonnets chipping up as much as they do now .
Water based paints ?, what happens if you put water on steel ?, rust.
I do not do resprays now, but still do a bit of paintwork on the cars when needed, i never buy water based rattle cans, i just cannot get on with them.
Copied from a Mercedes-Benz 2003 document. The 211 had it from either very late December 2003/January 2004 Build date::

After four years of development work, an innovative new clear lacquer is set to go into series production at Mercedes-Benz at the end of 2003. Ground-breaking nano-technology ensures that the new product is substantially more scratch-resistant than conventional paint. The E, S, CL, SL and SLK-Class model series are the first cars in the world to be available with this new paint system, whilst customers of other Mercedes models can look forward to the increased scratch resistance of nano-paintwork from spring 2004.

This new technology represents the Stuttgart-based car maker’s latest significant contribution towards considerably enhancing the already exemplary long-term quality and value retention of its passenger cars.

The newly developed clear lacquer, which contains microscopically small ceramic particles, hardens in the paintshop oven, forming an extensively cross-linked network. The paint is thus more effectively protected against scratches caused by mechanical car-washes, for example. The nano-particles provide a three-fold improvement in the scratch resistance of the paintwork and ensure visibly enhanced gloss over an extended period of time. Following extreme tests in a laboratory car-wash, Mercedes engineers noted an around 40-percent improvement in paint gloss compared to conventional clear lacquers.

Mercedes-Benz carried out extensive testing on the nano-particle clearcoat both in the laboratory and under everyday conditions. Even after several years of use, the more than 150 test cars involved in the long-term testing programme displayed significantly greater scratch resistance and enhanced paint gloss compared to vehicles with conventional paintwork. Added to which, the newly developed paint system also meets the stringent Mercedes standards in terms of the protection it offers from chemicals in the environment.

New nano-particle clearcoat will be introduced as standard for both metallic and non-metallic paint finishes.

Microscopically small ceramic particles provide a layer of protection

Remarkable advances in the area of nano-technology have allowed tiny ceramic particles – each less than a millionth of a millimetre in size – to be integrated into the molecular structure of the binding agent. These particles float around freely at first in the liquid clearcoat, before cross-linking as the drying process takes effect. The particles link in with one another in such a way as to create an extremely dense and smoothly structured network at the paint surface. This provides a protective layer and ensures that the new nano-particle clearcoat is considerably more scratch-resistant than conventional paintwork


The effectiveness of the new technology was borne out by the results of an extreme test conducted in a laboratory car-wash according to DIN standards. The water used in the test contains a precisely measured concentration of fine particles and is spread over the paintwork by the rotating washing brushes, leaving behind scratches. After ten wash cycles in the laboratory car-wash – reproducing the degenerative effect of some 50 to 100 regular car washes – the nano-painted sheet metal emerged with around 40-percent greater gloss than samples with conventional clear lacquer.

Mercedes-Benz is the world’s first vehicle manufacturer to offer this more scratch-resistant clear lacquer. Nano-particle clearcoat serves as an early indicator of the huge potential of nano-technology for the future, techniques which allow scientists to reach into and alter the atomic structure of materials. Indeed, it will also be possible to give materials in other areas of automotive development new properties which allow them to carry out particular functions. The term ”nano-technology” is rooted in the Greek word ”nanos”, which translates as ”dwarf”. Scientists generally use the term to describe a billionth of a unit, one nanometre equating to a billionth of a metre.
 

joderest

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OK, think my old ML is September 2003, so missed it !!!!
 

Paul Garrett

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As someone who was a proffessional at bodywork and refinishing, the only way to erridicate rust is to chop it out and put new metal in if its quite bad? There are other methods but as quoted in previous posts, bodyshops cannot warranty any rust work where not chopped away and new metal put in, i know i never did, ive got two rusty wheel arches and at some point il chop out rust and put new metal in whilst before hand sorting out the inner panels for any problems too
 

Rockron

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Myth or fact? But it is said of Mercedes (and probably other manuf.) that they use either virgin
steel ie sourced from iron ore or alternatively recycled scrap. This scrap source contains
impurities, despite strenuous efforts at quality control. Anti rust treatments such as weld thru
primers, etch primers, electroplated phosphor coatings, galvanising, sheradizing, hot blasted zinc,
get separated from the steel either through chemical reaction, or the slightest scratch permitting
H2O ingress and do it's worst at a much more rapid rate than the impurity free areas.
Perhaps explains why some cars seem to resist rust better than a batch of other similar cars
manufactured just a few months apart and being used over the years in similar circumstances.
 

Uncle Benz

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Places you want to look on a 211, just below the inner mountings of the front suspension upper wishbones are some dirt traps. These can be packed with wet mud and can get quite rusty. Repair in thiese areas is difficult. Also worth taking out the rear arch liners. You’ll often find them quite rusty both directly behind, but particularly at the edges where they fret against the join between the outer and inner arches and where the floor meets the inner arch.
 
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