Body quality

[alabbasi]

I have not seen any rust on any of my w210's, 211's, 215's , 220's and 230's. But then again, I live in Texas, and it was 24 degrees C yesterday

 

[Riva811]

Just a comparison here. My 2004 w211 E240 bodywork is streets ahead in comparison to that of my 2003 w203 c class as it was when I owned it 3 years ago.
Has anybody else noticed this on similar year cars?
I spent a small fortune remedying the rust problems on the w203 door bottoms and rear wheel arches in particular.
The E240 has only one small bubble on one of the rear wheel arches and nothing anywhere else btw.

My 2003 S500 is such a solid car in comparison to the 2010 CL500. Not complaining much to be honest, the CL500 has a lot of fibre glass to reduce weight if anything. Probably being unfair as one is a limo and the other a sports car.

 

[renault12ts]

Two things:
Mercedes had a problem with their accountants for a few years when build quality could be compared with the Alfasud, Lancia Beta, Morris Marina.
The other thing: people don't clean wheel arches properly. There's usually a lip just inside which collects crud and nobody cleans it. Of course it's bad if the crud contains salt. One of my favourite showroom wind-ups is to scrape my finger round the arch and see the crud fall onto the glossy floor. Freaks the sales people.

People don't clean wheel arches properly on all cars...but only MB is badly effected. MB are just bad (or were...is it better today?).

 

[renault12ts]

My 2003 S500 is such a solid car in comparison to the 2010 CL500. Not complaining much to be honest, the CL500 has a lot of fibre glass to reduce weight if anything. Probably being unfair as one is a limo and the other a sports car.

Sports car?? Grand tourer maybe...but defo doesn't go round corners like a Boxster. Anyway composites (not gf) doesn't rust.

 

[renault12ts]

I got rid of my rust free 1993 BMW in 1999 and bought a 210 estate. I thought rust was a thing of the past...but I bought an MB. So frustrating! Even my galvanised and composite CL has "corrosion".

 

[KennyN]

Had exhaust brackets rusting off my CLS at four years old , metal brake pipes showing corrosion , brake calipers looking decidedly second hand at a similar age so it is not just their panels / chassis where the poor quality metals are being used to save ££.

I was considering another MB in the future (ML 05->13) but looking at some of the corrosion around the rear arches and lower doors I am having second thoughts.

The 10 year old Subaru Forester diesel that I purchased to use as my daily has 100k on the clock and has zero corrosion , anywhere.

K

 

[m80]

Mercedes paint and body quality started to take a dive during the Schrempp era from 95-2005 and their ill-fated partnership with Chrysler.

I'll agree MB's suffered worst in the period. But Larisa's 2003 Gr Cherokee (Chrysler) is rust free, each year come MOT time I think this'll be the last one, it goes up on the ramps I get a good luck and each time it still fares better than my 07 Vito , 09 Viano and present 06 Vito.
It seems MB can't get right now what Chrysler did then.

 

[Bowen22]

I worked in a merc body shop for 6 years dealing direct with MB UK on warranty claims. On any of the older models rust was always a huge issue! Apparently it was to do with where they were sourcing their raw materials but can’t confirm! Now they are much better and issues on newer models are far less common than before. On anything before say 2010 you were guaranteed rust on doors and arches. Nothing to to with people not cleaning them, just poor quality from merc. Not in the trade anymore but the amount of replacement panels/repairs merc had to pay for would blow your mind!!!!!!

 

[cws196]

I was also told about sourcing of steel from someone who worked at MB during the bad period. He told German steel was always Nr1 choice but if they couldn’t source enough they’d switch to Italian steel which has a lower carbon content (?). I also recall a conversation with an MB body shop assessor who lined up a row of around 10 W210’s to be assessed for rust and got through them in a morning as he’d become so slick on the process!

 

[Londonscottish]

You missed one, bad preparation before paint when sprayed in the factory.
My CLK had paint blisters that eventually burst open, apparently caused by moisture on the panels when paint was first applied.

Sounds similar to my 1999 C43 estate. When you looked closely there were masses of "spiders" in the paint which would eventually lead to rust. The very experienced guy in the bodyshop had never seen anything like it but he put it down to poor adhesion of the base coat to the metal.

That car had traces of rust on all manner of places, not least the roof panel. I had the arches done but didn't want to the roof as that would have been an expensive job.

Then I had to get the underside welded for it's 9 or 10 year MOT and that was that. Warned everyone on here to avoid it and traded it against a 2005 211 which had perfect paint as does my current 212.

 

[Londonscottish]

Meanwhile, my wife's 20 year old Clio has outlasted both of my C43's and my first E500 and still has perfect bodywork.

it's going to be ULEZ not rust which gets it in the end :-(

 

[KennyN]

Meanwhile, my wife's 20 year old Clio has outlasted both of my C43's and my first E500 and still has perfect bodywork.-(

Similar with the wifes old Scenic and daughters / sons Clio , Scenic was traded in with zero corrosion and the Clio was scrapped with zero corrosion.

K

 

[markjay]

We still have our Toyota Previa which we bought new in 1997. No rust and no corrosion anywhere... and no faults either in 22 years (apart from the coolant expansion bottle which developed a crack last year and needed replacing). They sure don't build 'em like they used to anymore...

 

[Londonscottish]

Similar with the wifes old Scenic and daughters / sons Clio , Scenic was traded in with zero corrosion and the Clio was scrapped with zero corrosion.

K

I genuinely struggle with the concept of scrapping it. I've never scrapped any car.

But, then again, I've never run a car for 16 years, either.

Oh well.

 

[KennyN]

I genuinely struggle with the concept of scrapping it.

The was worthless , six owners / 110k on the clock / the entire LHS was scratched and dented as my daughter didn`t think to stop when the wing hit the corner of a multi storie car park / interior smelt of damp dog as it was only used to take him to the park / MOT had expired / it was surplus as our daughter moved to London and our son got her Peugeot 107.

Considering how it was treated it was a great car and coped with everything thrown at it, I actually mentioned to the wife that it was sad that it had to be scrapped.

Honestly , you could not have given it away unless Stevie Wonder was looking for a new vehicle.

K

 

[Eldomix]

I have notice some blistering on the inside edge of the rear doors on my 2007 GL320, i have rubbed it down and painted it with black hammerite for now as its not really that noticable and i dont want it to get any worse

 

[MrGreedy]

As an ex-corrosion engineer, the exact grade or quality of mild steel panelling shouldn't make any difference to the corrosion resistance. If you left any steel bodywork out unpainted it would be rusted to high heaven in days. It's all about the painting and design regarding retention of moisture (dirt).
Carbon affects strength of the metal.

Had a look at an 07 s211 today at a back street trader. Very rusty wheel arches, that have had liberal amounts of silver paint thickly applied with a brush over the bubbling paintwork. Felt up inside the wheel arch, and there must have been over an inch of mud stacked up on the inside lip of the wheel arch. It is noticeable that the lip of the wheel arch on the 211 is quite deep i.e. over half an inch, vs about 1/4 inch on my Vauxhall Insignia. Also noted that there is no wheel arch liner up against the inner lip, so mud can stack up as high as it can balance. I had a Volvo 440 and the wheel arch lips were rolled in, and then back upwards, creating a deep trough for mud to gather in. Guess where the terminal rust always was on those cars! Wheel arches as well. On the Insignia (pity me) the wheel arch liners are close fitting to the profile of wheel arch lip, and so can only retain what slither of mud that can work its way in. The mud/water sponge is therefore much less able to keep the system wet 365/24/7.

My suggestion is that a combination of poor design, coupled with paintwork at the limit of acceptability (thickness in this particular location) creates an environment conducive to rusting the arches. Paint doesn't stop water getting to the metal surface (water is a small, mobile molecule); it stops large metal oxides forming and moving, thereby halting or limiting the electrochemical reaction.

Recommendation. If you want to keep the car and due to the poor design, the arches must be regularly cleaned to get rid of the mud, and paintwork breaches rectified back to metal and repainted.