2 year old C Class Coupe paint problem!
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I have just have just learned that my 2015 Coupe has this problem, just about to start the warranty claim process
However, I’ve had it from new on a PCP and I have no equity in car, any thoughts on handing it back unrepaired.
However, I’ve had it from new on a PCP and I have no equity in car, any thoughts on handing it back unrepaired.
TacomaSailor
New Member
Mercedes Service Bulletin LI 98.00-P-058914 Published June 24, 2017
Here in Southwest Florida - I purchased (May 4, 2018) a 2014 One Owner, lease return, Fire Opal Red (paint code 590U Unilac) C-350 coupe from the original Mercedes dealer who leased it to the first owner. The car had 35,000 kilometers on the speedo at the time I took delivery. EIGHT (8!) days and 400km after the purchase - the dreaded micro-bubbles first appeared in small quantities on the front of the hood. Now, a week later, the entire car is covered with micro-pits and bubbles. And, there are now three medium size spots on the hood and the passenger door where the clear coat and pigment have flaked off leaving a hole with white undercoat exposed. The car is under warranty for four more days but the Mercedes dealer is a 250km drive north of me. The MB dealer gave me paperwork showing the car had never been damaged and had no repair work done other than normal maintenance at their facility. The car lives in a spotlessly clean, air-conditioned garage when not being driven.
The car now sparkles in the sunlight due to the thousands of pin head sized and smaller pits and bubbles. And, all painted surfaces are noticeably rough to the touch.
Two high end independent paint shops have both told me the clear coat is defective and the entire car needs to be taken down to bare metal and repainted. A total of eight painters and paint supervisors examined the car.
I am having difficulties in finding the text for Mercedes Service Bulletin LI 98.00-P-058914 Published June 24, 2017 - can anyone point me to that information?
Here in Southwest Florida - I purchased (May 4, 2018) a 2014 One Owner, lease return, Fire Opal Red (paint code 590U Unilac) C-350 coupe from the original Mercedes dealer who leased it to the first owner. The car had 35,000 kilometers on the speedo at the time I took delivery. EIGHT (8!) days and 400km after the purchase - the dreaded micro-bubbles first appeared in small quantities on the front of the hood. Now, a week later, the entire car is covered with micro-pits and bubbles. And, there are now three medium size spots on the hood and the passenger door where the clear coat and pigment have flaked off leaving a hole with white undercoat exposed. The car is under warranty for four more days but the Mercedes dealer is a 250km drive north of me. The MB dealer gave me paperwork showing the car had never been damaged and had no repair work done other than normal maintenance at their facility. The car lives in a spotlessly clean, air-conditioned garage when not being driven.
The car now sparkles in the sunlight due to the thousands of pin head sized and smaller pits and bubbles. And, all painted surfaces are noticeably rough to the touch.
Two high end independent paint shops have both told me the clear coat is defective and the entire car needs to be taken down to bare metal and repainted. A total of eight painters and paint supervisors examined the car.
I am having difficulties in finding the text for Mercedes Service Bulletin LI 98.00-P-058914 Published June 24, 2017 - can anyone point me to that information?
MikeJenner
New Member
Good morning I have had the exact same problem that you are describing. I took my car to my local Mercedes-Benz dealership which happened to be the dealership that I bought the car from. My car is a C220 coupe 2012. My local dealership inspected the car took photographs and measured the paint depth and submitted a paint warranty claim on my behalf to have the effected panels re-sprayed. Subsequently my car had a full respray at a Mercedes-Benz approved body shop.
MikeJenner
New Member
Hi well I can tell you is this is a well known and documented problem with Mercedes-Benz cars in the fire opal colour. My local dealer submitted a paint warranty claim on my behalf and my car was re-sprayed by Mercedes-Benz
MikeJenner
New Member
Ask the dealer to submit a paid warranty claim on your behalf to Mercedes-Benz and they should pay for the car to be re-sprayed
MikeJenner
New Member
There is a long well-known documented problem with Mercedes-Benz cars painted in fire opal. My car was fully re-sprayed under the Mercedes-Benz paint warranty free of charge. I would be quite happy to explain my experience to help anybody else resolve their insues with this problem
grober
MB Master
I have yet to find a copy of Mercedes Service Bulletin LI 98.00-P-058914 Clearcoat peeling/flaking/bubbling --June 24, 2017 online. Mercedes TSB information tends to be closely guarded due to its financial implications. Its only available to MB dealers or costly subscription services such as alldata.
TacomaSailor
New Member
I talked to Mercedes North America Customer Care in New Jersey who told me: "We are unaware of any paint problems"
I then asked the MB representative about TSB LI 98.00-P-058914 and received the following answer:
"We are not aware of that TSB but if there were such a Technical Service Bulletin addressing paint problems it would have to be dealt with at the dealer level and is of no concern to MBNA."
I called the MB dealer who sold the C 350 to the original owner and is the dealer closest to us.
They deny any knowledge of the problem or the service bulletin and I was told. "I've been a Mercedes service adviser for 8-years and have never seen this problem nor have I any knowledge of any service bulletin about Mercedes red paint"
Gave him the bulletin number, he looked it up and then told me he had never seen that bulletin nor did anyone in the shop no anything about it.
The dealer subsequently called me back and told me I would have to bring the car to the dealer next week for an inspection.
I then asked the MB representative about TSB LI 98.00-P-058914 and received the following answer:
"We are not aware of that TSB but if there were such a Technical Service Bulletin addressing paint problems it would have to be dealt with at the dealer level and is of no concern to MBNA."
I called the MB dealer who sold the C 350 to the original owner and is the dealer closest to us.
They deny any knowledge of the problem or the service bulletin and I was told. "I've been a Mercedes service adviser for 8-years and have never seen this problem nor have I any knowledge of any service bulletin about Mercedes red paint"
Gave him the bulletin number, he looked it up and then told me he had never seen that bulletin nor did anyone in the shop no anything about it.
The dealer subsequently called me back and told me I would have to bring the car to the dealer next week for an inspection.
grober
MB Master
Lets just say someone's being economical with the truth. If you read this thread in its entirety you will find its a well known problem for certain red mercedes cars. Two things to watch out for
1. if the car has had any previous paint repairs due an accident or third party attempt to rectify the problem already. This may cause problems
2. if they offer to rectify only the parts of bodywork effected and not all of the cars paintwork- rest assured the unaffected /untreated bits will eventually succumb to the problem- a total back to metal body/basecoat respray is required ---- there appears to be a bit of controversey over whether this also covers the "plastic" trim = cladding and bumpers but its wise to get these done also even if it means paying some of the cost yourself. It seems it varies between dealers
1. if the car has had any previous paint repairs due an accident or third party attempt to rectify the problem already. This may cause problems
2. if they offer to rectify only the parts of bodywork effected and not all of the cars paintwork- rest assured the unaffected /untreated bits will eventually succumb to the problem- a total back to metal body/basecoat respray is required ---- there appears to be a bit of controversey over whether this also covers the "plastic" trim = cladding and bumpers but its wise to get these done also even if it means paying some of the cost yourself. It seems it varies between dealers
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I am guessing they will use paint stripper rather than sand blasting.....?
rf065
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Isn't the galvanising only on the inside of the panels? And thats why the 30 year warranty is from rusting inside to out?
[
An update - After a little negotiating MB agreed to fund complete respray of my car, the body shop said it would take 4 weeks & I'd have to wait 3 months as mine was the sixth in line for this work for the same problem, so any dealer that claims no knowledge is lying. Anyway I have all this documented by email. Anyway I decided to retune the car to MB Finance unrepaired at the end of May which was no problem. Nothing was mentioned on the inspection checklist, a man came & drove it away.
As a coincidence I was recently at an auction where MB dispose of some of their end of lease vehicles & two 2015 Opal Fire C class came up for sale, one a coupe and another an C63 saloon, both had the typical paint defect, but otherwise were very nice cars with reasonable mileage. The coupe was not sold as the bids were very low and a long way beneath the reserve. The C63 sold for around £10,000 below trade value ! Afterwards I wondered if wrapping the C63 would have been a viable option as maybe the wrap would keep the UV rays away
An update - After a little negotiating MB agreed to fund complete respray of my car, the body shop said it would take 4 weeks & I'd have to wait 3 months as mine was the sixth in line for this work for the same problem, so any dealer that claims no knowledge is lying. Anyway I have all this documented by email. Anyway I decided to retune the car to MB Finance unrepaired at the end of May which was no problem. Nothing was mentioned on the inspection checklist, a man came & drove it away.
As a coincidence I was recently at an auction where MB dispose of some of their end of lease vehicles & two 2015 Opal Fire C class came up for sale, one a coupe and another an C63 saloon, both had the typical paint defect, but otherwise were very nice cars with reasonable mileage. The coupe was not sold as the bids were very low and a long way beneath the reserve. The C63 sold for around £10,000 below trade value ! Afterwards I wondered if wrapping the C63 would have been a viable option as maybe the wrap would keep the UV rays away
I've been told there are independent dealers picking these up and having them replayed ready for sale
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Anchco
New Member
Hi Mike, I've just recently bought a vehicle in the same color and it's coming up with what feels like brail under the paint work. The one I have was registered September 2014. What experiences did you have while doing this?
Regards, Andy.
Just to keep this wonderful thread alive, I've just acquired a '63 fire opal red w204 FL and after a thorough wash and wax this weekend have noticed the dreaded tree sap spots on the roof, just like those in the pictures. Closer inspection shows that they're all up one side but over the drivers side, also noticed very small spot of lacquer peeling near the rear passenger wheel arch.
Bonnet and boot are ok, although at some point a goon with a mucky sponge has washed the bonnet.
Will have to pop into Cheshire oaks MB and see what they say, but can this problem be rectified any other way than a respray?
Honestly hadn't anticipated this sort of issue with a MB.... Last car I got rid of had the damn diesel gate engine.
Bonnet and boot are ok, although at some point a goon with a mucky sponge has washed the bonnet.
Will have to pop into Cheshire oaks MB and see what they say, but can this problem be rectified any other way than a respray?
Honestly hadn't anticipated this sort of issue with a MB.... Last car I got rid of had the damn diesel gate engine.
I think they will direct you to Dane Motors on Sealand Road in Chester as it is the local paint shop specialist for Inchcape. Good luck....
Nope, first response.... Take it back to where you got it from.
Great... Had this paint problem with our coupe (that we'd bought from them as a pre registered approved used with delivery miles only). In the end traded against our current car before the respray work was done. Got a reasonable deal that was essentially unaffected by the paint problem, so we ended up relatively happy overall.
As your car is out of warranty (not out of paint warranty though I think) and not purchased from them, I can understand why they wouldn't want to get too involved even though it's disappointing.
