what year is safe rust wise

[Martin Wildsmith]

Had a left hooker W124 E250D until last year until a Ford Ka shortened it by a foot. Rust was just beginning to catch hold at the interface of the front wing with the front plastic skirt and at the top of the rear window and on the exposed part of the cross member (which I effectively treated with Comma Stoprust) but it was a 1993 car and had endured German winters until 1999. It was an excellent car and I really miss it.

I then searched for a replacement W210 and could not find a single one without significant rust on the front and rear wing lips including one as new as 2001.
I eventually plumped for a 1999 W202 C250TD with 84K on the clock on the basis that it was built to the old design and might therefore be better manufactured. It is also manufactured in a different plant from the W210 (Bremen). There is about 3 inches of rust on both rear wheel arches which I have treated this summer, a small patch on the lip of the front nearside wing, and rust on both front doors where the rubbing strip is clipped to the door panel in the centre of the door . All the suspension components have some rust on them, the rear brake calipers particularly so. I'm hanging on to the car for a while until I can replace it with a post 2003 MB as I understand that the corrosion proofing was improved (back to old W124 standards i wonder ???) as Daimler Chrysler were getting panned for poor quality. We'll see. If things have not improved though it will have to be a BMW instead.

In comparison with my wife's 1997 E36 BMW which has done 132K the W202 is not faring well. Food for thought MB!

 

[yellowspringuk]

This poll is biased towards rust, it is assuming that all Merc no matter what year or age has a rust problem, I think it needs to be done in a fair way, i.e. give a yes or no button and year of make options under each yes or no button

 

[anyweb]

yes it's biased towards rust, guess why ? because SO many people are complaining about rust on their mercs, me included. If i can raise the cash to get a newer merc, i sure dont want to get one that will rust, hence the poll.

the poll should indicate which year is safe rust wise, and i think it's doing a good job of that

cheers
anyweb

 

[yellowspringuk]

the poll should indicate which year is safe rust wise, and i think it's doing a good job of that
cheers
anyweb

i dissagree because it just lump all the models together, it might be one or two models that are having rust issue in a particular year and the rest or one paticular model is good rust wise, so how do you buy a car from that year if you money doesn't strech to say a newer model, and i can see that the result is showing no rust on newer models are you going to base your buying decision on that just because no one bother to vote for that year. we still need to be fair in dealing with things like polls ortherwise their would be no point.

 

[rf065]

yes it's biased towards rust, guess why ? because SO many people are complaining about rust on their mercs, me included. If i can raise the cash to get a newer merc, i sure dont want to get one that will rust, hence the poll.

the poll should indicate which year is safe rust wise, and i think it's doing a good job of that

cheers
anyweb

I do not have any rust on mine, but the poll has no option for cars without rust, so owners with cars that have no rust, don't vote. How does that help anyone decide which cars/years are worth buying?

 

[anyweb]

edited the poll

now you can vote that you have no rust, and make a comment to say what model/year it's from

cheers
anyweb

 

[JEZ.S320L]

now you can vote that you have no rust, and make a comment to say what model/year it's from

cheers
anyweb

I voted - but no option for model/year.

 

[rf065]

I voted - but no option for model/year.

Me too, 2005 CLK

Russ

 

[deejaybee]

1998 CL420 (C140) 64k miles - no rust, almost as good as new!
1995 W124 E280 Estate 176k miles - small area of rust on front OS wing appeared in last few months and some surface rust around jacking points

Dave

 

[duncanh]

I have no rust

C220cdi manual estate 2002 (June) - W203

I have no rust that I can find. All body panels are intact.

Loads of stone chips (what else would you expect after 126,000 miles), but no "spiders web" rust apparent.

Looks OK underneath.

I am hoping that reports of rust on W203 are greatly exaggerated. Being an estate, mine was built in Germany - I don't know if it makes a difference.

Also - contrary to common belief, and what is reported on the forum - it has been totally reliable, cheap to run and maintain.

I am sick of hearing about unreliable rusty Mercedes.

MINE HAS BEEN RELIABLE AND RUST FREE!! (and I make no apologies for shouting about it).

 

[Laughing Gas]

More rust.....

W210, 1997 (polled as 1998 as no 1997 button). Rust blisters on the lips of the rear wheel arches and spiders webs on the front arches. Engine cross-member rusty. MB refused to contribute. Blisters now also emerging from beneath the boot release button - I daren't look too close!
W203, 2001 (not polled - I can only vote once). Spiders webs on 3 wings and a 1" blister on the bottom of the boot lid.

 

[100%Bitch]

I have absolutely no rust whatsoever. :grin:

 

[rf065]

I have absolutely no rust whatsoever. :grin:

But is your Mercedes the same?

Russ

 

[JEZ.S320L]

I have absolutely no rust whatsoever. :grin:

Me neither.

It just wouldn't DARE to have..!! Grrrrrrrrrrrr :twisted:

 

[sussex202]

'99 202 estate: rust around handle and number plate on boot lid, plus the familiar patches at the bottom of front wheel arches. I've had the car 6 years and it's been mostly trouble free. The rust is irritating though.

 

[cinecymru]

My C270 Elegance estate (first reg. 14/2/2002) has a very small spiders web rust spot on roof dead centre above fron windscreen!
Chips Away won't touch it.
Don't know if I should go back to main dealer (SG Cardiff) as I've just had a super B service with Stuttgart the local independent!

 

[eGuru]

My C270 Elegance estate (first reg. 14/2/2002) has a very small spiders web rust spot on roof dead centre above fron windscreen!
Chips Away won't touch it.
Don't know if I should go back to main dealer (SG Cardiff) as I've just had a super B service with Stuttgart the local independent!

No harm in trying. Last two services on my car car were by independents yet MB fixed all the rusty bits last month.
Good luck

 

[Blobcat]

09 / 2000 W210 - Top of doors under rubber trim, inside of wheel arches & underneath bonnet - fixed by MB
12 / 2006 W211 - None

 

[bacoms]

Mine's an X Reg w210 E320 CDI estate with just under 90,000 miles. I've owned it for just under a year and the only thing I'm disappointed in is the rust.

There is rust around the rear number plate light, a small bubble in the middle of the driver's door, (no sign of a ding), both trailing bottom corner of the front doors (again no sign of these being damaged), various small blisters close to the rubber trim around the doors (very unlikely to have been caused by dings).

I had expected these to have been fixed by MB under the warranty but they claim that they all must have been brought about by damage to the paintwork and therefore not covered under the warranty.

Should I push harder or am I being unreasonable?

 

[Morzine]

Rusty.

Hi,

Mine's a 1998 W210 E320 estate.

It had rust on the doors, look under your seals, I mean peel them back and have a good luck.
It had rust on the tailgate by the number plate lights.
It had rust on the cross member.

All sorted for free by MB here in Frankfurt. Since then it has nothing new appearing, even my stone chips are holding up nicely.

As for the reliability factor, well 1 breakdown in 9 years, serviced as required a couple of new bits required here and there but other than that it's a dream.

Funny but I do get tempted by the new ones only to think no save the 70K Euro's and keep this for another few years. It does put a smile on my face doing 220 KPH (120 ish) on the autobahn


Whatever you buy, check it over carefully, then check it over again. Get a second opinion and look after it.

Regards.