Vlad
MB Enthusiast
Well,
Yesterday, I picked up our 1999 E240 Estate that has been at the bodyshop for a month or so for warranty work, re Rust!
There has already been a lot of talk re the well known rust problems on the w210 range especially, but it also relates to other models within the MB range, which is clearly a situation most owners never thought they would find themselves in by choosing a Merc.
My particular story relates to our Imported 1999 E240 Classic Estate with 105,000 miles on the clock, non mercedes service history for the last 18 months which I found was rusting in the usual places, ie
1) Tops of the doors under the rubber door seals.....not too bad
2) Rear tailgate, by the number plate and also in the lower corners of the window under the sealing strip.....not great
3) Front cross-member.....very rusty
4) Wheel arches.....not too bad
5) Bonnet...lower edge under grill....not too bad, but the actual bonnet was covered in stone chips which up close had loads of spider webs of rust creeping out from them
Took the car into my local dealer and asked them to inspect it, which they did and then submited a rust claim to Milton Keynes.
Took a month before I got a response, as I was told they only have 3 people working on claims and they are up to their eyes in claims....interesting!
Eventaully told that all items that had been claimed for, would be rectified free of charge, except for the tailgate which they said had had a replacemet window at some stage and that this was the reason for the rust in the lower corners of the window under the rubber......the fact that this rust was minimal and the rust by the number plate lights was bad, was rather annoying as they used the window to get out of the main rust problem.
I was also told that the bonnet would only receive a local repair to the affected area and would not include a full bonnet respray, which seemed a touch petty.
But all things considered I was pleased that they had agreed to the other areas especially when you bear in mind, the age, import and non mercedes servicing.
The car was duly dispatched to a Mercedes approved bodyshop in Slough....R&C Motors.
They started stripping down the car and a couple of days later I got a call to say that the front suspension spring cups were badly corroded and needed replacing otherwise the front suspension was in danger of collapsing!!!
A further claim was put to MB and after 3 weeks was finally approved.
Finally got the car back yesterday and what a lovely job they have made of it and they also fully resprayed the bonnet as it turned out there was no way they could blend the paint in on a local repair without respraying the whole bonnet....result!
Front cross member + spring cups have been done
Doors have been resprayed as have the wings....all four and a very good job has been done too.
In conclusion, whilst I accept that this should never have happend in the first place, I have to say that I don't think that there would have been many other manufacturers that would have rectified this problem in the manner that MB have done....I think most would have stuck two fingers up and told you to go away.
So what have I learned from all of this that may be of help to others, well......firstly the cut off date for cars requiring no contribution from the owners for warranty work appears to be 8 years old.
Secondly, do not go in all guns blazing shouting the odds...just let them subtly know during the initial conversation with the MB dealer that you are fully aware that there are rust problems with the W210 range etc etc.
Thirdly, accept the fact that you may not get everything you want....ie the tailgate was the worst bit of rust on my car....looks wise....and whilst I didn't get this fixed free of charge, I did get other areas sorted which on the face of it were not anywhere near as bad.....so you have to balance it all up and be realistic.
All in all I am very impressed with MB's handling of this and the finished job is top class.
Its just a shame that Mercedes in their wisdom decided to change to a new paint process in 1997 which did away with seam sealant to all welded areas...hence the failure of the spring cups.....In addition, lack of seam sealant and crap design/production of the door tops leads to rampant rust.
In terms of the cross member, thats just poorly protected by a thin coat of paint as are the wheel arches.
You just hope that MB have/are learning their lesson that Quality Counts and its what MB owners expect......not rusting heaps as per Lancias of the 1970's.
Yesterday, I picked up our 1999 E240 Estate that has been at the bodyshop for a month or so for warranty work, re Rust!
There has already been a lot of talk re the well known rust problems on the w210 range especially, but it also relates to other models within the MB range, which is clearly a situation most owners never thought they would find themselves in by choosing a Merc.
My particular story relates to our Imported 1999 E240 Classic Estate with 105,000 miles on the clock, non mercedes service history for the last 18 months which I found was rusting in the usual places, ie
1) Tops of the doors under the rubber door seals.....not too bad
2) Rear tailgate, by the number plate and also in the lower corners of the window under the sealing strip.....not great
3) Front cross-member.....very rusty
4) Wheel arches.....not too bad
5) Bonnet...lower edge under grill....not too bad, but the actual bonnet was covered in stone chips which up close had loads of spider webs of rust creeping out from them
Took the car into my local dealer and asked them to inspect it, which they did and then submited a rust claim to Milton Keynes.
Took a month before I got a response, as I was told they only have 3 people working on claims and they are up to their eyes in claims....interesting!
Eventaully told that all items that had been claimed for, would be rectified free of charge, except for the tailgate which they said had had a replacemet window at some stage and that this was the reason for the rust in the lower corners of the window under the rubber......the fact that this rust was minimal and the rust by the number plate lights was bad, was rather annoying as they used the window to get out of the main rust problem.
I was also told that the bonnet would only receive a local repair to the affected area and would not include a full bonnet respray, which seemed a touch petty.
But all things considered I was pleased that they had agreed to the other areas especially when you bear in mind, the age, import and non mercedes servicing.
The car was duly dispatched to a Mercedes approved bodyshop in Slough....R&C Motors.
They started stripping down the car and a couple of days later I got a call to say that the front suspension spring cups were badly corroded and needed replacing otherwise the front suspension was in danger of collapsing!!!
A further claim was put to MB and after 3 weeks was finally approved.
Finally got the car back yesterday and what a lovely job they have made of it and they also fully resprayed the bonnet as it turned out there was no way they could blend the paint in on a local repair without respraying the whole bonnet....result!
Front cross member + spring cups have been done
Doors have been resprayed as have the wings....all four and a very good job has been done too.
In conclusion, whilst I accept that this should never have happend in the first place, I have to say that I don't think that there would have been many other manufacturers that would have rectified this problem in the manner that MB have done....I think most would have stuck two fingers up and told you to go away.
So what have I learned from all of this that may be of help to others, well......firstly the cut off date for cars requiring no contribution from the owners for warranty work appears to be 8 years old.
Secondly, do not go in all guns blazing shouting the odds...just let them subtly know during the initial conversation with the MB dealer that you are fully aware that there are rust problems with the W210 range etc etc.
Thirdly, accept the fact that you may not get everything you want....ie the tailgate was the worst bit of rust on my car....looks wise....and whilst I didn't get this fixed free of charge, I did get other areas sorted which on the face of it were not anywhere near as bad.....so you have to balance it all up and be realistic.
All in all I am very impressed with MB's handling of this and the finished job is top class.
Its just a shame that Mercedes in their wisdom decided to change to a new paint process in 1997 which did away with seam sealant to all welded areas...hence the failure of the spring cups.....In addition, lack of seam sealant and crap design/production of the door tops leads to rampant rust.
In terms of the cross member, thats just poorly protected by a thin coat of paint as are the wheel arches.
You just hope that MB have/are learning their lesson that Quality Counts and its what MB owners expect......not rusting heaps as per Lancias of the 1970's.
