Repairing small rust spots

[jeremy156]

Hi,

I'm hoping for some guidance regarding making some repairs to rust spots on my W210 myself.

I have some real blisters on one panel and I'm having that one panel in for a re-spray at £100 locally..... but there are small rust spots all over the place and I can't imagine I could afford a complete re-spray, so I'm thinking of the halfords touch-up pen approach.

If I scrape off the damaged paint, treat with Kurust and touch in with these paints, I know it's OK on the edges of doors etc, I've had good experience there.... but in the middle of a door panel? Has anyone tried this and been pleased or horrified with the results?

I couple of photos to illustrate the damage so that anyone knowledgable can comment. The thick red oval is the damage I'm having done professionally... the thin parts show the places I'm thinking of trying myself as they're such small spots on so many different panels:

I'd welcome any advice especially tips on how to do a good job - or indeed warnings not to even try it!

Cheers,
jeremy

 

[Satch]

Before you start, are you sure there is no chance of getting this done by or at least some contribution from MB?

Others on this forum have had some success on this very issue but it depends on the service history

 

[SSBB]

I bought my E300TD six months ago. Its got full MBSH from the previous keeper and is a 1999 'T' with just 43000m on the clock. Both front wings have perforated through with rust, the boot has several rusting areas, the drivers door has perforated along the top window guide and the bonnet has in excess of 50 small rust spots.
Its taken me four months of pestering MB but they have now agreed to do most of it under warranty, were just arguing about the bonnet, they say the spots are stone chips but they are clearly rust perforations from inside out.
Im informed that this is a massive problem for mercedes who switched to water based paint and reduced the paint thickness from 250 to 100 microns to save costs.

Im afraid that if you repair the rust spots yourself, many more will appear. The job needs to be done properly, and that means a proper respray.

Get on to Mercedes and pressure them to sort it. Their reputation is plummeting and if they want to keep selling new cars they are going to have to ensure that the ones currently on the road dont look like early 1970's fiats at just three years old.
Fortunately, the mechanical side of things seems to have escaped the beancounters wand....so far!
Good luck.

 

[Shude]

Im informed that this is a massive problem for mercedes who switched to water based paint and reduced the paint thickness from 250 to 100 microns to save costs.

Costs were not the main issue, it was environmental reasons. It was also environmental concerns that caused the mid 90s wiring harnesses to decompose in the engine bay!

 

[jeremy156]

I already got MB to pay for the bootlid respray, but they said the other damage was from stone chips and neglect. To be fair I think the car had not been well looked after before I got it and there are many signs of re-spray work, so not all original paint anyway.

I don't know a realistic price to get the whole car sprayed, but I'd imagine it's immense.

 

[SSBB]

This wiring harness problem is news to me. Where do I look and what am I looking for?
Are there any other 'common' faults to look for on this car (my first Mercedes)

 

[GregE240]

Jeremy,

Main panels are only for the experienced, or the foolhardy, in my experience. Unless you're good with a spray gun, forget it.

As you're in Southampton, is it not worth a call to Mercman to see if they can recommend a good bodyshop for you to go for an estimate?

It may not be as expensive as you think - last summer I got a LOAD of paint done on my girlfriends MX-5. In all they ended up painting everything apart from the passenger door, perfect paint match, car (still) looks A1. Cost was a shade under £700. I was well pleased with that. Bear in mind Mercedes of Brum wanted £300 to do my bonnet.

Good luck,
Greg

 

[Dieselman]

Costs were not the main issue, it was environmental reasons. It was also environmental concerns that caused the mid 90s wiring harnesses to decompose in the engine bay!

I disagree.
The whole paint process was scaled back to the minimum. One poorly applied coat of primer, one of colour and one of lacquer. This adds up to 60+ microns.
This wil never protect steel adequately as it leaves pinholes and doesn't cover the sharp edges.

If MB had coated the cars with 2 coats of each the protection would have been much better but cost more.

 

[hocky]

Hey I have a 1994 C180 and it had stone chip damage to the roof just around the sunroof. They started growing chicken feet under the paint surface so I scraped them into the metal, got rid of rust looking dark stuff and dropped heavy doses of the carpaint into the spots. Had a lot of clearcoat in the paint. Stood up a bit when dry and I sanded smooth and light touch up again over the spot. Looks ok now, no more "rusting" there now. My colour is blue teal metallic. The bonnet and front bumper was too obvious so I had them resprayed 3 times due to bad finish. Now ok, but door sides I can't hand-do so leave them cos the touchups will run.