Lacquer peeling on four year old Jupiter red A class

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Jana NI

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A200
Hi there

I have a four year old A class which I bought two years ago from a MB dealership as an approved used. I also paid for the paintwork to be treated.

In December 2016 I noticed that the bumper lacquer was peeling. I took it to the body shop at the dealership and they took photos to send to MB. They came back and said that the whole back bumper needs replaced and that they would cover 75% of it and I had to cover the remaining 25%. I wasn't happy as 1. The car was only four years old 2. I had bought approved used 3. It was obv a manufacturing issue 4. I had paid for the treatment and 5. I was on maternity leave and couldn't afford it. I contacted the dealership about it and they were not interested in helping me at all. Any how I decided to suck it up and get it fixed over the summer.

My car came back from its service from MB and obviously been washed by them. I noticed that the front bumper is now peeling. I am humping mad about this as it will cost a fortune to fix!!

Has any one else got this problem with a four year old car and how much did MB cover. I sort of want to get an idea before I go back to MB.
 
Are you sure the bumpers were not painted before you bought it.
I would assume that front and rear bumpers would not have been painted at the same time at the factory, so it would seem unlikely for both to suffer the same defect ?
 
I don't believe there has been as I was told they were testing the thickness of the paint to ensure that hadn't been resprayed. I haven't been told otherwise.
 
I don't believe there has been as I was told they were testing the thickness of the paint to ensure that hadn't been resprayed. I haven't been told otherwise.

I'm not sure if this is true but someone else posted On another thread that you can't measure thickness of paint on plastic parta

Could be car was hit from rear and subsequently pushed into car in front therefore both bumpers resprayed?
 
A similar thing happened to my mums bumper on her polo. Took it back to the dealership and turns out that bit was resprayed after it was handed back from lease and then sold onto us. The dealership put their hands up straightaway and had it resprayed, good customer service!
 
If the car had been hit front and back I should have been advised when I purchased the car!!
 
If the car had been hit front and back I should have been advised when I purchased the car!!

The dealership won't necessarily know about it

plus as long as it has been fixed properly why would they tell you?
 
Also if MB were willing to pay 75% of it and it is in both bumpers it makes it very likely a manufacturing problem. I have never had any issues like this with my fords. I was also told by the service dept that there is an issue with red paint.
 
Also if MB were willing to pay 75% of it and it is in both bumpers it makes it very likely a manufacturing problem. I have never had any issues like this with my fords. I was also told by the service dept that there is an issue with red paint.

75% is a good offer either way.

I'd just stump up and pay for it

Nothing really more you can do???
 
The problem is it is not a respray. MB want to replace the bumper so it is approx 250 cost to me for the back bumper. The front bumper is probably going to be more expensive so you are talking at least £500 to get bumpers fixed. Why should I be out that sort of money for a four year old car. I was prepared to pay the 250 and suck it up.

The point of my post was that I wanted to know if anyone had any similar problems as me and how they got them resolved.
 
The problem is it is not a respray. MB want to replace the bumper so it is approx 250 cost to me for the back bumper. The front bumper is probably going to be more expensive so you are talking at least £500 to get bumpers fixed. Why should I be out that sort of money for a four year old car. I was prepared to pay the 250 and suck it up.

The point of my post was that I wanted to know if anyone had any similar problems as me and how they got them resolved.

If your not happy call the main customer services and voice your concerns

I don't understand why they don't just respray them?

It will cost you more than £500 to have them resprayed elsewhere so either way it's better to have it done with MB
 
This has been done to death.

You've a Fire Opal Red merc. They all peel, it's a known recall problem. Go to your nearest main dealer and they'll take pictures to get the full respray approved under warranty. I don't know why they're suggesting replacing bumpers. It seems you've gone to a crap dealer who's not seen many of these. Manchester will be taking pictures of it and getting you some biscuits before you've even parked up.

Have a search for peeling lacquer and you'll find plenty of threads including mine.
 
I paid for them to remove the few dents I had in the process, but it wasn't much and I was very happy to. It took a bit of persuasion to paint the bumpers because they were plastic, they were suggesting they're not covered, but they agreed to do it, and replaced the sills entirely, including new badges rather than sticking the old ones back on.

Search for the entire saga of this topic. Every question you have has already been answered.
 
There seem to be loads of people with problems on red paintwork. Have a look at this thread.

As mentioned above by i-CONICA, Manchester seem to have a good record in dealing with it if that's anywhere near you.
 
This has been done to death.

You've a Fire Opal Red merc. They all peel, it's a known recall problem. Go to your nearest main dealer and they'll take pictures to get the full respray approved under warranty. I don't know why they're suggesting replacing bumpers. It seems you've gone to a crap dealer who's not seen many of these. Manchester will be taking pictures of it and getting you some biscuits before you've even parked up.

Have a search for peeling lacquer and you'll find plenty of threads including mine.



Not quite done to death.
This thread is a Jupiter red car and the lacquer is peeling from the bumpers.
Micro blistering is on fire opal red and does not appear on the plastic panels.
:)
 
What a stupid comment. :doh:

The micro blistering is half the problem. Some only experience that, for some, like me, it peeled off until my car was a patchwork of missing lacquer.

As someone who's been through the process myself and followed the progress of the process for many others on here, I was trying to get across to the OP that he's not alone, experiencing a new problem, there's a wealth of threads that'll answer every question he has to ask.
 
I am a she :)

There appears to be no blistering and the lacquer problem is only on the bumpers. I read through the very long thread and it appears that no one else was expected to cover 25% of the cost with the full costs covered by MB. I am just confused why I am expected to cover 25% and why they insist on replacing the plastic bumper and won't do a simple respray. This makes me think that this is a separate issue with Jupiter red paint.

I am dealing with a dealership in Ireland so a bit out of the way from Manchester.
 
I do apologise miss. Didn't pick that up from your username.

Anyway, here's the thread on my journey. You'll see my disaster is very similar to yours.

Pitting and peeling lacquer on my red one - MBClub UK - Bringing together Mercedes Enthusiasts

I don't know why they're talking about you covering part the cost. Maybe they're just handling it differently. I was told it'd be sorted under warranty, but not the bumpers. I paid some money for the car's dents to be fixed (clearly that's not their problem).

Where is your peeling confined to? If it's just the bumpers, that could be why. Mine was on the bumpers and the rest of the body, but mine's much older.
 

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