went to look at a 300 dt elegance estate yesterday

[billy_bunter]

It had some rust on the back tailgate around the lock. My mate also spotted some rust on the top of the front struts area. I know this is fairly common. What sort of money does this cost to put right.

Could I get it done by MB on the body warranty?

 

[brandwooddixon]

I'm not sure of the cost, but it is unlikely that you'll get MB warranty to repair it.

Points to note:
30 year rust warranty came in to force around October 1998. Prior to this all claims had to be within 6 years of car registration.

For those after this date, you must have owned the car for at least 6 months before attempting a claim - a process which can be fraught with frustration.

 

[billy_bunter]

frustration LOL thought as much about the warranty

What sort of damage to get the strut tops redone? Just after a ball park figure!

 

[robs-mbz]

The front spring upper mounts are only about £16 each from Mercedes and are quite simple to fit yourself if you are a competent welder. The biggest problem is getting good access, the whole of the suspension has to be dismantled, again not a difficult job if you have the tools, in particular a suitable spring compressor. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that you need to take the car to Mercedes for the repair, if you have a local repair shop that you have used before and trust they will be able to do it, again I repeat, it is not a difficult job. One thing however, please don't put the job off for too long, if you can see rust around the mounts then they must be quite bad, mine looked perfectly ok until I stripped off the sealing mastic around them, I was horrified as to what I found! the whole design of the mount is very poor and it is only welded to the inner wing by three spot welds, get the welder to do a continuous seam weld all around the mount and then spot or plug weld it as well. The mount comes with pre drilled holes at the position of the spot welds. An experienced welder will make a really good job of it. Don't put it off though, the consequences don't bare thinking about!