Mercedes - utter cr*p!!!

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colin.dillon

Active Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2004
Messages
92
Location
Liverpool
Car
E320CDI Sport Estate
Can't believe what's happened! Going home last night in R reg E300 TD loud bang & front of car drops. Have a look & nearside front right down on wheel. Car recovered this morning to local independent - up on lift & the whole of upper spring mounting has corroded & sheared off inner wing!! Mechanic couldn't believe it - I couldn't bloody believe it!! I didn't buy this car for this to happen - wouldn't expect it to happen to an R reg Daewoo never mind a Merc.

Booked it in to Road Range in Liverpool for assessment on Wed & to see if Mercedes will do anything for me.

Still can't believe it's happened!

Anybody got any pointers as to who I should shout at? - probably won't get me anywhere!

Anyway - can't see me buying another one.

Thanks for reading & rant over!


Col
 
It's not just the busted bit that needs assessing. They need to look everywhere. The W210 can and does rust as numerous previous threads have described. If I were you, I would be looking at these threads to see how to successfully screw as much from DCUK as possible. Start looking out all your service history documents and print off threads to provide additional evidence.
Do your research online in the forums before going into the dealers.

Rgds

Les
 
Yes, check the threads. Someone else (can't remember who) posted some nasty photos of the corroded suspension on their W210. That will show it's not a one-off or poor accident-damage repair, or whatever else might spring into the MB's mind when trying to deny liability.

Those penny-pinching accountants have a lot to answer for!
 
Sorry to hear of your problems, not good at all.

The best course of action would be to keep a cool head, you may want to rant and shout at the dealer but it will not help, (maybe later!). Better to be polite and get the dealer on your side and they will help you. Good luck.
 
Given the number of threads on this subject I'm amazed anyone here or indeed a mechanic is surprized when this happens !
Here's one from 2 weeks ago:
http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=24652

I've emailed Honest John a collection of pics.He writes about cars for the Telegraph and has his own buyers guide website
for second hand cars.He says he is going to include the info.

adam
 
Last edited:
colin.dillon said:
Can't believe what's happened! Going home last night in R reg E300 TD loud bang & front of car drops. Have a look & nearside front right down on wheel. Car recovered this morning to local independent - up on lift & the whole of upper spring mounting has corroded & sheared off inner wing!! Mechanic couldn't believe it - I couldn't bloody believe it!! I didn't buy this car for this to happen - wouldn't expect it to happen to an R reg Daewoo never mind a Merc.

Booked it in to Road Range in Liverpool for assessment on Wed & to see if Mercedes will do anything for me.

Still can't believe it's happened!

Anybody got any pointers as to who I should shout at? - probably won't get me anywhere!

Anyway - can't see me buying another one.

Thanks for reading & rant over!


Col

Col,do you still have steering lock? I've posted before wondering what would happen at motorway speeds and this happens.
Many failures in the States seem to occur reversing out of steep parking ramps.


adam
 
big x said:
Col,do you still have steering lock? I've posted before wondering what would happen at motorway speeds and this happens.
Many failures in the States seem to occur reversing out of steep parking ramps.


adam


Had very little steering lock - indy put packing pieces on damper I think to raise it up so we could at least steer the thing back onto a low loader.

Now that things have cooled down I've decided to be pragmatic about the whole thing now that the indy has confirmed that the top mounting assembly is available seperately & has quoted in the region of £200 to put it back together again.

Road Range want £90 to do the inspection & then they send their findings off to Milton Keynes & then we wait & wait & wait. Then we'll probably disagree, then they may make a goodwill contribution to the repair which will probably mean I'll end up paying more for my part of the bill than to have the job done @ the indy. Indy way & I'll have the car back by Friday - MB way & who knows when it'll get done - £200 is worth it for the lack of inconvenience but it still grates that I'm letting MB off the hook!

I'll get pictures taken & send them off with a letter to MB HQ just to make myself feel better!!

Anyway, it's time to get to the pub & drown my sorrows!!

Col
 
big x said:
Given the number of threads on this subject I'm amazed anyone here or indeed a mechanic is surprized when this happens !
Here's one from 2 weeks ago:
http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=24652

I've emailed Honest John a collection of pics.He writes about cars for the Telegraph and has his own buyers guide website
for second hand cars.He says he is going to include the info.

adam

I trust you have not limited this to 210 models but the whole model range.

We might as well all see our residuals plummet together once this is national news..:(
 
Dieselman said:
I trust you have not limited this to 210 models but the whole model range.

We might as well all see our residuals plummet together once this is national news..:(

Seems mainly to be limited to heavy diesels and V8's or track day C36 W202.
In Germany it's high mileage Taxi's.Reading the German press and forums it's been common knowledge for at least 4 years.
One might imagine MB (UK) would be clued up on this but of course I doubt any of the senior management can speak German.:confused:

adam
 
If its bodywork damage too, then Road Range will send it over to Lloyd's Autobody. Road Range, Liverpool will give you an extortionate price of somewhere in the region of 700 to 800 quid for the damage, plus whatever it costs to replace the wing.

If its too expensive, take it over the road to Mercedes-Frenz, it is literally opposite Road Range and their prices are much more reasonable
 
NW_Merc said:
If its bodywork damage too, then Road Range will send it over to Lloyd's Autobody. Road Range, Liverpool will give you an extortionate price of somewhere in the region of 700 to 800 quid for the damage, plus whatever it costs to replace the wing.

If its too expensive, take it over the road to Mercedes-Frenz, it is literally opposite Road Range and their prices are much more reasonable

Hi
Already been to Lloyds, sent there by Road Range, who said that if it's to be subject to 'goodwill gesture' by MB they couldn't look at it - has to be Road Rage! - so on the way back to Road Rage I called into the bodyshop that we're using to have a new tailgate put on a Focus & they went down to look at the car in Gemini Motors, went to Road Range to price the parts & then rang me later that afternoon with a quote of £200 which I thought was very reasonable.

As an aside I don't think that there's much to touch the current Ford range, esp the Focus, for driveability, reliability & value for money!

I still miss the Granada!!!

Col
 
Was there any visible sign of corrosion around the spring perches before the seals were pulled away?
 
Parrot of Doom said:
Was there any visible sign of corrosion around the spring perches before the seals were pulled away?


Sorry for not replying sooner -been away. Wouldn't know if there were any signs as it's not somewhere that I look at very often! - it's lucky to get it's oil checked!

However just got it back & new perch, reinforcing plate put on & seam welded - £300. Other side was checked as it fine.

Let's see how long before something elase falls off!!

Col
 
Just wondering as mine appear fine to the naked eye. Wondering if its worth pulling the seal off, and providing theres no rust, covering it back up with POR15.
 
Parrot of Doom said:
Just wondering as mine appear fine to the naked eye. Wondering if its worth pulling the seal off, and providing theres no rust, covering it back up with POR15.

Certainly wouldn't hurt - mine rotted where the perch was spot welded to the inner wing.

Col
 
Hi Colin,
My 1996 E300D suffered the same fault on the drivers side yesterday.
Where can I get a replacement top mount?
Hope it's not a dealer only part.

Thanks

Karl
 
A customer into our Kwik-Fit has suffered this too,just a few weeks back.It was a 1998 E300TD. Admittedly it had over 400,000 miles on it,but the rest of the car was immaculate.Surely Mercedes should recall before someone is killed??
 
Got my local auto welding place to do the repairs on Saturday.

The suspension spring upper cup had rotted off the inner wing leaving a hole were the spot welds used to be, the passenger side was also very rotten.

No parts were required but quite a bit of metal fabrication and welding.
Certainly not a DIY job.

The owner of the auto welding shop said this type of catastrophic failure of a major suspension mount only happens on old bangers, enough said.

In my opinion this problem must be widespread and waiting to happen to many of the diesel W210 cars out there.

It's due to poor design and inferior materials I'm told.
 

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