Get your car checked before it's to late

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Matt32AMG

Active Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2007
Messages
667
Location
Dorset UK
Car
June 2002 SLK32///AMG. OCT 2007 CLK350 AMG Sport Convertible.
Well as I was cleaning my car this last weekend gone, I elected to take all four wheels off in turn and give them a thorough clean and polish inside and out. Being I had the wheels refurbed about 18 months ago It made sense anyway to take them off and give them a good inspection for any corrosion:thumb:

In the process of doing so, I started to cast an eye around the wheel arches thinking I’ll touch in the unavoidable stone chips that have appeared. Well, on closer inspection I found that every wheel arch had been affected by the dreaded worm, :eek: the rears more than the front arches. So what to do...

Being my car has a FMBSH, I’m reasoning it must qualify for the 8 year anti perforation warranty, so I drove down to the dealership, (much as it pained me), this morning to see how my theory stands up. :dk: Well just in the nick of time as it would seem, the 8 year cover expires at the end of the month.

The chap who deals with warranty issues agreed that, while the rust was not serious, the rust is only effecting the inner most return leading edges, (if that makes sense), it’s not effected the bodywork on the outside at all, it therefore will not require every panel being painted. :thumb:

Anyway, having completed his inspection that included testing paint thickness or depth on every panel to ensure the car had not been re-sprayed, he said he would make his report to MBUK and he’ll let me know the outcome..........

Two hours later, I’ve been given the green light and MB will pick up the tab for repairing or making good, every corner. :thumb:

The wheel arches themselves after being painted, will be treated with Stone Guard plastic coating on the inside edges to minimise future stone damage, thereby reduce the risk of future rust intrusion.

So the moral of this is that provided you have a FMBSH with your car and you have rust it might just be worth your while getting it checked if it is 8 years old of less. ;)
 
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Did exactly the same with my C Class W203 a while back and got the same result. However has had to go back on 3 times as the rust reappeared within months of being treated.
Make sure that you keep looking at the repairs on a regular basis and record all conversations via email both with the Dealer and the Body shop if they are different companies - mine were!
Last visit I made they paid for cost of insurance on courtesy car and petrol used whilst they tried again. Be prepared!
 
Did the same with my C270 last June (MB Ashford) - and had completely the opposite result. Was offered a 10% "goodwill" contribution towards the £800 + VAT cost of the repairs, got absolutely nowhere with MB Customer "Services". Car has full MB service history from supplying dealer MB Brentford.
Read the rust threads here and on t'other side and you'll soon see how lucky you've been - there's about an even split between your luck and mine.
 
Did the same with my C270 last June (MB Ashford) - and had completely the opposite result. Was offered a 10% "goodwill" contribution towards the £800 + VAT cost of the repairs, got absolutely nowhere with MB Customer "Services". Car has full MB service history from supplying dealer MB Brentford.
Read the rust threads here and on t'other side and you'll soon see how lucky you've been - there's about an even split between your luck and mine.

Wow I'm really sorry that sucks...:(
Was your car still within the eight year warranty period with a FMBSH? If neither apply, I suspect that was the reason only a 10% "goodwill" contribution towards the £800 + VAT cost of the repairs was offered, (though if it had gone to a merc specialist for servicing it shouldn't effect warranty).

The only other reason would be if the car had been sprayed before outside the MB network by a non MB approved bodyshop in which case, so I was told, would make the bodywork warranty void. MB checked the density of the paint finish on my car all over just to see if it had been painted for that very reason.
 
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cant believe they got back to you in two hours !! they took over a month to reply to me.
 
Did exactly the same with my C Class W203 a while back and got the same result. However has had to go back on 3 times as the rust reappeared within months of being treated.
Make sure that you keep looking at the repairs on a regular basis and record all conversations via email both with the Dealer and the Body shop if they are different companies - mine were!
Last visit I made they paid for cost of insurance on courtesy car and petrol used whilst they tried again. Be prepared!

Thanks for the heads up and fingers crossed they get it right first time.

The dealership said, I had caught it early and the rust wasn't that bad and easily repaired. Theory always sounds much easier than actually doing the job me thinks, certainly where paintwork is involved.

Rest assured, I will be watching it very closely for any signs of rust reoccurrence as well as paint match. ;)
 
I guess if MB are happy to have thousands of fairly new cars being seen out and about with rusty wheel arches, then I guess they don't really give a damn about their customers once they've got their money, but it will come back to bite them in the future, lets face it, you very rarely see a rusty Japanese car, or a Vauxhall for that matter.
If MB want to keep their "high end" status, then they should start acting like a High end manufacturer, instead of a rogue trader!
 
cant believe they got back to you in two hours !! they took over a month to reply to me.

Yup they did all signed and sealed and booked in. It maybe something to do with the fact my warranty has only two weeks left to run :eek: so they pulled their fingers out and got a wiggle on :D.

They also know that I don't suffer fools lightly and I will throw my toys out of my pram if I'm getting BS answers to straight forward questions or lame excuses as to why XYZ happened. (Though that strategy didn't work out too well with regards my boot lid) Rule of thumb: to date I've been paying top dollar for the service I'm getting, so lets have a service that justifies that expense. That said after this gig I'm taking my cars elsewhere. :(

A month to get back to you is just plain shoddy :eek: I think I would have certainly got stroppy with them within that timeframe. It is simply not good enough. :( You spend the big buck on your cars and that's the service you get back? No no no no not this kiddie :crazy:
 
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As already said you will need to watch for when the rust reappears. It is not a question of "if" simply "when". They are not going to replace the panels I guess - they are going to grind away a bit and then re-paint in a very local area. The time taken for the rust to reappear will just depend on how much time is taken on the prep.
 
Thanks for the heads up and fingers crossed they get it right first time.

The dealership said, I had caught it early and the rust wasn't that bad and easily repaired. Theory always sounds much easier than actually doing the job me thinks, certainly where paintwork is involved.

Rest assured, I will be watching it very closely for any signs of rust reoccurrence as well as paint match. ;)

Suggest that you also ask for details of the repair specification before they do the work as well. I did on the last 2 attempts and surprise surprise the spec had changed!:(
 
As already said you will need to watch for when the rust reappears. It is not a question of "if" simply "when". They are not going to replace the panels I guess - they are going to grind away a bit and then re-paint in a very local area. The time taken for the rust to reappear will just depend on how much time is taken on the prep.

Yeah I guess they will grind the rot away and treat with some kind of rust kill solution before applying any kind of undercoat top coat and stone guard. I will of course be looking for some kind of warranty on any work carried out.

I agree with what you say though, as with any kind of paint work, PREP is the key to a satisfactory outcome long term. Fail to prep prepare to fail I think the saying goes.
 
My 32 went in today for its wheel arch fix and MOT, (not expecting anything untoward to be flagged on the MOT front), and directly afterwards it’s off to the body shop to have all the wheel arches repaired to neutralise the dreaded rust worm, all done under warranty. That said as indicated in ealier posts it’s been caught very very early and the repair will not impact the outside surface of the wings per say, just the return edges. The down side I suppose is going to be the finish of the stone guard. Having driven to the body shop in Salisbury earlier this week, they showed me the typical finish to expect. Sort of orange peel is the best way I can describe it, instead of a smooth finish you get direct from the factory. Apparently this is the standard MB fix. :rolleyes: Still better that I suppose than rust and at least all arches will be done the same so it will be consistent..

Anyway in order to do this, my car will be away for some six days including the bank holiday and I get no courtesy car. Is this standard procedure in other peoples experience when your car has gone in for warranty work done on the bodywork? I always get one if it is mechanical. Do you think that’s a poor show or am I just expecting too much? :dk:
 
Hi i was given a courtesy car for the same work

Interesting,
my MBdealership said they never give courtesy cars for bodywork repairs, the best the'd offer is an A class 150 at £35 a day hire. Which all said and done is not bad, but then I've spent thosands with them over the last 10 years and you'd kind of expect some kind of....:dk:

Guess that is why I will be looking at the alternatives in the future once the car comes back.
 
MB dealers typically don't give courtesy cars for bodywork repairs under goodwill, but the bodyshop often does. My local dealer out-sources - their original had Ford Ka's and Mitsubishi Colts - their new bodyshop is much much better in all respects, and has an A-Class and a Polo.
 
Rust repair under warranty

Just had my c class done last week, waited a month for MB to reply, rear wheel arches done,loan car for a week, no cost. Its well worth keeping a eye on your body work !
 
I guess if MB are happy to have thousands of fairly new cars being seen out and about with rusty wheel arches, then I guess they don't really give a damn about their customers once they've got their money, but it will come back to bite them in the future, lets face it, you very rarely see a rusty Japanese car, or a Vauxhall for that matter.
If MB want to keep their "high end" status, then they should start acting like a High end manufacturer, instead of a rogue trader!

I know it's not stricty speaking bodywork but the black door trims around the window frames on my 5 year old car are all corroding and look terrible.

The dealer dismissed it out of hand and so did MB when I contacted them directly. Other owners (according to the forum) have had there's replaced, so I'm not worthy of MB goodwill, apparently. I've spent a small fortune on ServicePlus while I've owned the car (since 5mths old) so it has full history.
 
I know it's not stricty speaking bodywork but the black door trims around the window frames on my 5 year old car are all corroding and look terrible.

The dealer dismissed it out of hand and so did MB when I contacted them directly. Other owners (according to the forum) have had there's replaced, so I'm not worthy of MB goodwill, apparently. I've spent a small fortune on ServicePlus while I've owned the car (since 5mths old) so it has full history.

That’s really bad news :( I would be having a serious chat with MBUK customer seer vices.

Of little comfort to you, I just got my car back, having had all four wheel arches treated. They even wax oil injected around the wheel arch area, sills and sub frames at no extra cost. They handed the car back absolutely immaculate with nothing to discuss. Paint finish wise, given it has been stone guarded, which tends to have an Orange peel appearance doesn’t look half bad.

Hope you get your issues sorted with your car :)
 
Well having got my car back from the body shop yesterday, they having just done the work on the wheel arches, today I thought I’d take all the wheels off and give them a birthday and afford them a thorough clean and polish. :thumb:

Imagine my horror when I was unable to undo the rear wheel nuts on the nearside rear wheel without getting an extension bar on my socket wrench. But worse still, having given cleaned that wheel and refitted, I moved on to the nearside front wheel. I undid the front nearside wheel nuts with my fingers! The only thing keeping the wheel on was the wheel locking nut, one of the five bolts holding the wheels on. The offside front wheel wasn’t much better and was clearly under-torqued as was the corresponding rear wheel. :crazy:

I rang the bodyshop at mid day yesterday, only to make them aware of what I had found. They totally dismissed what I was saying, insisting that the wheels were put on correctly. I said how can this be, I undid the wheel nuts with my bare fingers? :crazy: The chap on the end of the phone said “we check these things thoroughly,they are always checked and double checked and signed off with two signatures. :( I said “Well with respect, that maybe the process, but this simply can’t have been done as I would not have been able to do what I’ve just outlined . If the wheel bolts are tightened correctly to the torque settings, they would not come undone. He insisted they were fine. I said “So you are suggesting I’m lying to you? Why would I do that? There is absolutely nothing in it for me to do so, nothing to gain, the job was a warranty job, Mercedes were paying for it, it’s not like I’m trying to negotiate anything off the price, I’m simply drawing your attention to the fact I could have had a serious accident because of this, as of course your chap who delivered the car back to me yesterday”. (Salisbury is some 30 miles away from my home). I continued “If I was travelling at speed and the wheels came off, well ,I dread to think of the potential outcomes, I could have written the car off”. I went on, “If it was a serious accident it would be the simplest crash investigation the police would ever have had to do as to the cause, the multiple car pileup because his wheels came off. :( The man at the other end of the phone said “ Well I’ll tell my boys on Monday and I’ll get back to you.


He rang me back 10 minutes later and said tersely “I’ve pulled the job sheet and the wheels were fitted as I said so, one technician fits them and another checks that they are attached and tightened correctly and both have signed that they were. I said “It simply cannot be I’m sorry, I appreciate your shop is busy and under pressure, but I undid the wheel bolts on the front nearside wheel with my fingers, the torque settings were all over the show, they were not put on correctly”. His response then became aggressive and angry “I knew you were going to be trouble and impossible to please no matter what we did for you”. I said “pardon? :eek: I wasn’t critiquing the paint work, I was criticising the attachment of the wheels to my car, a really simple job, yet the wheels were loose, and I’m sorry, but it doesn’t fill me with the greatest of confidence if your people can’t fit a set of wheels back onto a car properly, particularly as you are an approved MB body shop. He replied angrily that the wheels were put on and tightened to 125 Newton meters, as all Mercedes wheel nuts. Strange I said I was told by MB some while ago the torque setting was 110 Newton meters for wheel nuts on both my CLK and SLK . So again you are suggesting I’m lying to you and making this up, why would I do that? There is absolutely nothing to gain” :mad:. At which point I bid him “good day” and hung up.

So the moral of this story is, if you go to MG Cannon of Salisbury, and have the wheel arches treated to remove the rust, or any job for that matter that require the wheels are removed, when you get the car back, hopefully in one piece, check all the wheel nuts are tightened as they should be. :thumb:

The sad thing is that the paint shop manager, (I think that is his position he can’t be the owner), missed the point entirely, that I was trying to inform him that something as simple as this, got under the wire and could have had serious outcomes. :doh: All he had to do was acknowledge what was being said and he would look into it and ensure something like this didn’t happen again. End of full stop. :) It’s called customer relations and after service.
Unfortunately I had the bare faced cheek to point out that they dropped the ball at the very last hurdle to which I’m then treated as a third class citizen.

Needless to say I won’t be using their services again.
 
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I don't think he would say sorry as that would be admitting legal liability.

The chance of many people reading this and remembering the bodyshop to avoid is slim. You should report them to Mercedes themselves as that would probably be the only way to put pressure to them not to do it again.

Hate to think that this place would continue putting out shoddy work and endangering other people on the road ...
 

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