Is this a gap

[diselsam]

Good evening

While looking at car pictures I have the feeling I see an irregular gap on the back left of the body, probably from a hit. Do you see the gap between the rear bumper and rear left light (the black car)?

I took a look at another car, this time grey in colour, and noticed the same thing at the same place.

Is this how these cars are with such a gap, or it is some optical illusion, or it is a hit?

Any comments will be highly appreciated!

Thank you

 

[190]

I see the gap on the left. The right side is how it should be. The problem is that the when the panel gaps are so tight any deviation becomes readily apparent. The bumper needs to come back a touch and probably also the light unit and maybe even the boot lid. Plastic bumpers are not always a perfect fit and often not a perfect colour match as they are painted separately from the car. The slight difference in colour tends to highlight any misalignment.

When I bought my 5 year old W204 one of the very first things I did was to adjust the bonnet shut lines properly so they were dead parallel. It obviously never bothered the 2 previous owners.

 

[Ted]

It's definitely misaligned on the nearside - you can see that the bumper is forward on the wheelarch too.

 

[diselsam]

Thank you. How is the bumper connected to the body (plastic bits, metal bolts)?

How would you get this gap in the first place in your opinion? Was it a hit or it is because of the low car clearance and not optimal visibility?

The thing is that I was looking at another car and it had the same type of gap on exactly the same spot.

Is this an expensive repair and is it likely that the body was warped?

I am enclosing pictures of the second car as well.

Thank you

 

[190]

I've no experience with that particular car but the bumper will almost certainly be bolted on and I would imagine it's just a quality control issue rather than the result of a bump. Perfection may not be possible but some adjustment might improve it.

 

[grober]

Usually bumper assemblies contain crash box mountings designed to concertina with a big impact to reduce loads on the main structure. Its possible the rear bumper has taken a hit in the past and the outer shell replaced. Minor internal deformation may have occured or it simply needs adjusted/shimmed to get it to sit correctly.

 

[diselsam]

I understand. What is the likeliness to hit the lower part of the rear bumper on a curbstone when backing up?

I know curbstones are a problem for the front as the car has a surprisingly low clearance for this type of obstacles.

Thank you

 

[219]

Could be down to car parking nudges ; or perhaps bumper has been taken off and painted .

 

[diselsam]

Yes, it seems it can be due to several causes. 2 different cars, the same thing at the same spot. I hope it is not a QC as 190 suggested.

 

[diselsam]

It seems that the rear bumper on W210 is held in place by 2 bolts. Probably the W 211 is similar.

Video shows how to dismantle the rear bumper of W210 (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ozx6kBgzlug)

 

[diselsam]

Looks like this is a common thing and may require rail allignment as per WIS. this thread is interesting. Bumper alignment - MBWorld.org Forums

 

[S205-FTW]

Fuel flap on the W205 always looks like it's proud of the rest of the bodywork. Might just be the angle of it.
Made of plastic I think.

 

[diselsam]

This must be a very special angle I reckon ...

I mean, I have seen this on several cars now. I am starting to think that the driving rail of the bumper on that side (the left one) is weak and gets misaligned easily. Or visibility is not great and people bump it when backing up. It is a mystery.

 

[Ted]

Don't think it is common or 'normal' on a clk. This is mine - one of the things I have noticed about the facelift clk is the consistency and good fit of the panels/gaps. View attachment 54042


View attachment 54043

 

[diselsam]

Good morning Ted

Exactly, it is not "normal". Especially for a facelift E class from 2007 as seen in the pictures above. I have seen this on 4 or 5 facelift cars I saw in the last 2 weeks. Even my father's E class from 1996 has no gaps like this.

I know that any gaps or irregularities are a no no. The last time I heard about QC problems was with the M class made in Alabama. But at the same time this type of gap on this spot occurs on US cars for some reason. Same for here.

Somewhere in the previous posts in this thread I posted a link where people are discussing the problem of having to align their rear bumpers. Honestly, I cannot draw a definitive conclusion but I do not find it normal as you said to have such gaps on a 8 year old car.