Members help please!

[buccal]

Need your input guys:

Just back from viewing an E55 today (6 hour round trip).

The car is a W210 big spec nice colour etc etc. Owner was nice chap who's spent serious money recently on struts, tyres disks and pads all round.

I'm happy with the car in all aspects but you all know whats coming next:

looks like fairly minor (to my untrained eyes) blistering circa 3-5 inches (at worst) on 3 out of the 4 arches.

Last service was nonMB so hasn't been near a dealer in last 3 years.

Therefore i am assuming there is not a hope of getting this done on goodwill?

How much would tht cost ball-park to fix out of my own pocket?

Also command disc is missing so need to budget for that too????

I really really don't need to hassle of body shops etc so not sure if i'm over doing it or whether its a deal breaker.

Over to you !!

 

[wemorgan]

The recent money he's spent has been on maintenance, which is great to see, but not a deal maker, since you could easy do this yourself.

However the rust is an issue, in so much as it will detramentally effect the price.

I've heard figures of £150 per corner to respray, which sounds roughly right to me, if a little cheap.

Ultimately, if the price is right I'm sure a deal can be made.

 

[Shude]

The navigation disc is about £110 from teleatlas or a bit more from MB. Other deals are to be had with at least one forum member if you search

 

[hawk20]

There are plenty out there. Why buy one without full MBSH?

 

[GordonTarling]

Find another! The worst part of the wheel arches is usually on the inner lip - it seems that area starts to rust first on many cars that I've seen, Just got a quote for doing mine - replace both front wings, repair both rear arches, respray bonnet and one door mirror - £2500

 

[bpsorrel]

I don't know if this has been asked before, but where did MB go wrong with these cars??? I've seen so many 210s, even late model 2002s peppered with rust and yet other "less prestigious" cars at similar age and older show no signs of corrosion at all! I mean, this is supposed to be an up-market car, not an eastern block rust bucket!

The only other time I've seen a rust problem like this was during my first job from school - working for Lancia, where almost new cars were being brought back with rust holes in the bodywork - but, they had the excuse (like all Fiat products at the time) of being made from inferior, pre-rusted Russian steel.... what's MBs excuse??

 

[wemorgan]

In my 1998 CLK the rear wheel arches rusted. This looked to be in part due to poor design.

The plastic wheel arch liners did not overlap the metal flanges. So the flanges gathered dirt which trapped moisture, which I believe led to the rust.

 

[Shude]

...what's MBs excuse??

To maintain their German "green credentials" they changed the type of paint and the quantity of recycled steel they used. Result is a few years later the paint fell off and the panels rusted themselves inside-out.

They did the same thing in the early 90s with the 124, 129 and 140 (among others) where bio-degradable tape was used on the wiring harnesses and rather than degrading several decades later as planned the wiring was gone within about 10 years!

You're quite right though, it's poor for a "premium" manufacturer. My W202 is showing signs of the tin worm in places (the places where a good, healthy oil-leak hasn't protected the metal!).

 

[buccal]

Thanks for all the replies as always.

Still mulling it over but i reckon its a non starter.