S210 and rust, or lack of!

[W210Virgin]

I think I must have the most unrusty 210 in existence. I've an MOT due in about a month so I've used a few days of the holidays to investigate and solve any rust issues that might affect an MOT. I also want to preserve the car as far as possible and deal with anything asap. I took front and rear bumpers off expecting to find a fiasco, but all I found was silver paint. No rust other than a few bits here and there. The rear inner and outer wings are close to being perfect, especially at nearly 13y old. Only the drain grommets had a bit of rust around them. The fronts were nearly as good. The wings must have been replaced at some stage; they're just too rust free to be otherwise. Only the exposed lip on the wings was a bit rusty but it hasn't really spread internally, yet. I used a bit of Hammerite on the exposed bits and plastered the rest of the rest with Waxoyl. I also spread as much as I could onto the rear floor, chassis components, brake lines etc. The only remaining area of concern is the brake lines and related gubbins immediately over the rear subframe. Definitely a bit rusty and scabby but not leaking. Hopefully not an MOT failure and short of dropping the subframe, I can't get at them!
So, all things considered, a useful couple of afternoons lying on the garage floor.

And I fitted a new battery.

 

[davidjpowell]

Check under the CD changer and spare wheel, and also behind the bumper in this location... Mine was definitely a little sort in those areas...

 

[W210Virgin]

Did all that. Clean as a whistle. ☺

 

[C36fan]

Most of the W210s only suffer of cosmetic rust ... Apart from the spring cups ,seals and stuff like that seams fine most of the times ,obviously there is one or other worst than that . I've owned about 10 w210's and never found them that bad.

 

[DSB SL AMG]

Did you remove the front undertray and check the front suspension crossmember? if clean it could have been replaced under MB warranty (known corrosion safety issue).

 

[W210Virgin]

No, not this time but have had it off several times to replace lower arms, ball joints and ARB bushes. Looks fine to me. Car had all receipts with it when I bought it back in January '14. To see the money spent on it, all with same MB dealer, would make your eyes water, so I expect such warranty related issues were done when required.

 

[DSB SL AMG]

Unfortunately due to the design the crossmember collected water and rotted, when i had my W210 i had it replaced FOC by MB even though the car was 8 years old at the time...to be fair it was ready to collapse... wise to spray lots of wax oil over it pre-winter.

No, not this time but have had it off several times to replace lower arms, ball joints and ARB bushes. Looks fine to me. Car had all receipts with it when I bought it back in January '14. To see the money spent on it, all with same MB dealer, would make your eyes water, so I expect such warranty related issues were done when required.

 

[C36fan]

Unfortunately due to the design the crossmember collected water and rotted, when i had my W210 i had it replaced FOC by MB even though the car was 8 years old at the time...to be fair it was ready to collapse... wise to spray lots of wax oil over it pre-winter.

I had similar problem with mine but luckily was only the bottom plate corroded so I bought the plate of mercedes and replaced it didn't need the crossmember.

 

[W210Virgin]

Holy crap. That's scary looking. Wouldn't like to be there if that collapsed!

 

[Steve320]

Unfortunately due to the design the crossmember collected water and rotted, when i had my W210 i had it replaced FOC by MB even though the car was 8 years old at the time...to be fair it was ready to collapse... wise to spray lots of wax oil over it pre-winter.

Back in my 'yoof' that'd have been a Saturday morning, a tub of Isopon and a tin of underseal! ;-)

 

[mercedes4480]

well my w210 from 2001 is also completely but complety rustfree. not a spot of rust in or on the body (doors sills under the spare under the footwells... nothing) i never changed a body panel or repainted anything since i bought it new in 2001, only the crossmember began to rust so i had it changed last year at 94.000 miles. i have to admit it barely goes out in the winter and sleep in a climat controled garage, but this is due to the us having 7 cars. The only problem i had from new with this car was the ASD suspension and the command (the latter replaced by mercedes under warrenty)