IanT
Active Member
Finally, after four weeks, I’ve got my car back from having its rust removed / treated.
When I picked it up from the dealer, at first impressions, it looked very good, but then I found some surprises.
The work that was carried out was as follows:
Replace both offside doors
Sandblast rear corner and top of NSR door
Sandblast top of NSF door
Sandblast lip of NSF wheel arch
Sandblast bonnet seam at OS hinge area
Walking round the car it became apparent that this wasn’t quite what the dealer had led me to believe – an almost complete respray. Indeed a lot of the car has been re-lacquered, however, where there were stone chips before, the lacquer has simply been applied over the top.
The NSF wing had a ding in it – which had broken the paint. I was expecting to be asked to contribute towards the cost of a new wing, but it came back repainted with the ding still there.
The two offside doors look fine, being new, they are a good fit and look as good as new.
The nearside doors have had the sandblasting treatment – let’s start with the front. This looks pretty good – from a brief check over it, it’s been treated and there’s very little evidence it was ever rusty when viewed from the outside, but oddly the colour coat doesn’t extend right up to the base of the rubber when pulled back – there’s primer under there. Sure, it’s a difficult place to get paint into, moreover it’s not somewhere you’ll be able to see unless you look carefully. The rear door had a big bleb of rust around the rear corner (nearest the handle), which has been sandblasted, but only the outward facing part has been filled, look inside the door shut and you can see the pitting where the rust was. This is also true of the area around the top of the door under the rubber. The ding in the rear door has simply been painted over, but is still there.
The bonnet had rust starting in the seam at the rear hinge area, which had bubbled out onto the bonnet shut face. This has been treated and I think I can see how big the sand was because some is still in the seam, which has been opened up slightly to allow access (presumably) to the sand. Of course this has been painted also, but the area between the sheets of metal is still brown in colour – how could you effectively treat rust here anyway (without lots more work)?
It’s probably worth saying before I go any further that I definitely wasn’t looking for (or expecting) a completely new looking car out of this. I am disappointed though as this looks like a cheap job done at a good bodyshop. Considering I’ve been driving a Smart ForFour for the last 1,450 miles I was really hoping for something pretty special.
While walking around the car with the service advisor, I pointed out a dark mark/deposit on the NSF bumper corner that wasn’t there when it came in, he tried to pick the deposit off the bumper with his fingernails but it wouldn’t all come off and sent me round to the bodyshop locally where I was met by a nice chap, who I took to be the boss of the company.
He sent the car off to get the mark looked at and all the deposit came off, leaving a small area about the size of a 5 pence piece that is darker and looks like the lacquer has been rubbed through. We talked about the job in general and he explained that MB UK are cutting the hours down so much now on these corrosion repairs that he literally can’t do anything more than is specified. Therefore he has to do the job in the minimum of time, hence cheaply. Even though I see his point, I have to question what extra effort it would have taken to sort the stone chips, given the area had to be thoroughly rubbed down anyway before the lacquer could be applied. He’s being screwed to the floor, wants to do a good job but is being paralysed by the system.
Talking about the bonnet, he said he was of the opinion that he would be chasing that rust around it over the next few years, the only sensible cure would be to replace the panel. It’s clear to see that this is going to cost MB much more in the end and I wonder when they will see the light and stop this from happening.
I was also shown an Audi that was about to go back to its owner following repair – it was as perfect as I could see, so I took his point that they were a decent quality shop.
So, the question is – should I be happy with this?
I’m not really a big complainer and in this instance wouldn’t really know who to have a moan at, since the common denominator seems to be somewhere in Milton Keynes, rather than Kent.
The options open to me now are to sell the car while the paint all looks fresh, keep it and try not to care too much what it looks like, or have a moan at someone until it gets sorted out properly.
Selling feels dishonest.
Keeping it as it is, well that’s disappointment.
Moaning at someone, well that has to be hassle!
I know, I know – another thread on W210 corrosion. If anyone wants pictures to make it more interesting, give me a shout!
Ian.
When I picked it up from the dealer, at first impressions, it looked very good, but then I found some surprises.
The work that was carried out was as follows:
Replace both offside doors
Sandblast rear corner and top of NSR door
Sandblast top of NSF door
Sandblast lip of NSF wheel arch
Sandblast bonnet seam at OS hinge area
Walking round the car it became apparent that this wasn’t quite what the dealer had led me to believe – an almost complete respray. Indeed a lot of the car has been re-lacquered, however, where there were stone chips before, the lacquer has simply been applied over the top.
The NSF wing had a ding in it – which had broken the paint. I was expecting to be asked to contribute towards the cost of a new wing, but it came back repainted with the ding still there.
The two offside doors look fine, being new, they are a good fit and look as good as new.
The nearside doors have had the sandblasting treatment – let’s start with the front. This looks pretty good – from a brief check over it, it’s been treated and there’s very little evidence it was ever rusty when viewed from the outside, but oddly the colour coat doesn’t extend right up to the base of the rubber when pulled back – there’s primer under there. Sure, it’s a difficult place to get paint into, moreover it’s not somewhere you’ll be able to see unless you look carefully. The rear door had a big bleb of rust around the rear corner (nearest the handle), which has been sandblasted, but only the outward facing part has been filled, look inside the door shut and you can see the pitting where the rust was. This is also true of the area around the top of the door under the rubber. The ding in the rear door has simply been painted over, but is still there.
The bonnet had rust starting in the seam at the rear hinge area, which had bubbled out onto the bonnet shut face. This has been treated and I think I can see how big the sand was because some is still in the seam, which has been opened up slightly to allow access (presumably) to the sand. Of course this has been painted also, but the area between the sheets of metal is still brown in colour – how could you effectively treat rust here anyway (without lots more work)?
It’s probably worth saying before I go any further that I definitely wasn’t looking for (or expecting) a completely new looking car out of this. I am disappointed though as this looks like a cheap job done at a good bodyshop. Considering I’ve been driving a Smart ForFour for the last 1,450 miles I was really hoping for something pretty special.
While walking around the car with the service advisor, I pointed out a dark mark/deposit on the NSF bumper corner that wasn’t there when it came in, he tried to pick the deposit off the bumper with his fingernails but it wouldn’t all come off and sent me round to the bodyshop locally where I was met by a nice chap, who I took to be the boss of the company.
He sent the car off to get the mark looked at and all the deposit came off, leaving a small area about the size of a 5 pence piece that is darker and looks like the lacquer has been rubbed through. We talked about the job in general and he explained that MB UK are cutting the hours down so much now on these corrosion repairs that he literally can’t do anything more than is specified. Therefore he has to do the job in the minimum of time, hence cheaply. Even though I see his point, I have to question what extra effort it would have taken to sort the stone chips, given the area had to be thoroughly rubbed down anyway before the lacquer could be applied. He’s being screwed to the floor, wants to do a good job but is being paralysed by the system.
Talking about the bonnet, he said he was of the opinion that he would be chasing that rust around it over the next few years, the only sensible cure would be to replace the panel. It’s clear to see that this is going to cost MB much more in the end and I wonder when they will see the light and stop this from happening.
I was also shown an Audi that was about to go back to its owner following repair – it was as perfect as I could see, so I took his point that they were a decent quality shop.
So, the question is – should I be happy with this?
I’m not really a big complainer and in this instance wouldn’t really know who to have a moan at, since the common denominator seems to be somewhere in Milton Keynes, rather than Kent.
The options open to me now are to sell the car while the paint all looks fresh, keep it and try not to care too much what it looks like, or have a moan at someone until it gets sorted out properly.
Selling feels dishonest.
Keeping it as it is, well that’s disappointment.
Moaning at someone, well that has to be hassle!
I know, I know – another thread on W210 corrosion. If anyone wants pictures to make it more interesting, give me a shout!
Ian.
. Mercedes do get into the blood I feel and anything else dosn't cut the mustard so to speak
