my one was the same worse even , alot worse , the rebuild thread is on here , i had the car sent to CKLCLIVE on here to get it fixed , and he is doing a great job so far .....
My other half's Honda is peppered with stone chips and shows no rust.
I can remember spending a week sanding down, filling and painting a MK4 Escort (only to then write the fecker off a week after ), and even bodging the wheel arch of a MK2 Astra GTE in the mid 90s.
To now see cars built in the current Millennium showing rust - like below the lights on the front of a W210 down the road from me - is utterly bizarre.
I thought rust had been left behind in the 90s - left over from 80s cars...
It's not just Mercs either, I've known of smart 56 plate 3 series BMWs with rust as well...
I can understand it if it was all from damage but this isn't the case always.
Lexus RC300h F-Sport, Yamaha XVS 1100, Toyota C-HR GR sport
JohnEboy
I was thinking EXACTLY the same thoughts yesterday.
I remember working for Mercedes in the late 70s and thinking to myself that these cars would almost last forevever -they couldn't possibly rust with the amount of protection, and the build quality.
My wifes SLK is a lovely car - no issues in over five years, but there is major rust on all wheel arches (spreading further on the front) and the boot lock.
I have been only partly sucessful in keeping it at bay on my CLK
To be in this millennium and have rust issues on (relatively) new cars is a real disappointment.
I took my CLK to the MB approved bodyworks when rust spots appeared on both sides of my car which was new in December 2005.
To be fair to MB, they approved my claim and repaired both sides of the car. The bodyshop reckon from measuring the paint thickness of modern MB's it is very thin, that and water based paints don't inspire confidence in long lasting paintwork.
I def did not have this rust issue before when I owend a 190E or W124, I will not be upgraing in a hurry untill i know the new e-class coupe will not have similar issues.