W202 - rusty door bottoms, arches - worth saving?

[190auto]

Been to see a 1998 C Class W202 that's for sale.

Mechanically looks and sounds good, but the tin worms have been busy. 96K, with good history.
No evidence of MAF replacement.

Bottoms of all doors are rusty and door skins are starting to peel.

The rubber/plastic trim piece under the passenger front door has gone missing - likely to be due to the size of the rust holes where it clips into. A breakers/EBAY search for this bit, I think.

Arches are also rusty. In particular, rust is spreading around to main rear body panels, so a proper paint and blend job would be needed to make the car look good again.

Bottom of both rear arches - inside the door frame just where metal is hidden by sill cladding - are also rusting. Can't see the extent without taking the cladding off.....

So - how much does this affect the value of the car, as compared to one of the same age, service history, mileage, but with minimal rust?

A hard question I understand, but I'd be grateful for opinions.

I've seen similar cars having sold on ebay for £900 - £1000 (saying no rust...) but I think that's a bit on the high side for this particular C Class.

So - worth saving do you think? In my view, there's no value in considering a pro-paint job, but DIY repairs could be budgeted for.

Thanks

 

[Spinal]

I've seen one with manageable rust on ebay for £650 - these are quite undervalued I fear...

 

[andy27168]

Its the rust disappearing under the cladding you have to worry about, and the jacking points, the doors can be replaced relatively cheaply with items sourced from the breakers. Take a look at this rust bear in mind the only visual indication of this rust was a scab disappearing under the sill capping.
http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/mbclub-projects/135085-w202-rust-word-warning.html

 

[tonyc280]

Were some w202's built in a different factory as mine has no rust at all. It's unbelievable how two cars can be so different.

 

[poormansporsche]

The rubbery bit on the bottom of the door is only 12 quid odd from the stealers !

 

[190auto]

Its the rust disappearing under the cladding you have to worry about, and the jacking points, the doors can be replaced relatively cheaply with items sourced from the breakers. Take a look at this rust bear in mind the only visual indication of this rust was a scab disappearing under the sill capping.
http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/mbclub-projects/135085-w202-rust-word-warning.html

Good tip - thanks - and a scary link.

Your car was an AMG, so a bit more special than a 1998 W202 Classic spec. I wonder if the seller would let me take of the sill cladding to get a better look (joke, honest), else it's a bit of a gamble.

The jacking holes - what you can see of them through the plastic cover caps - do look ok, so that's a plus point.

 

[190auto]

The rubbery bit on the bottom of the door is only 12 quid odd from the stealers !

Thanks - I hadn't got round to checking this yet, but this is good to know.

 

[Spinal]

You can get little camera probes for £50 or so - essentially a small camera on the end of a wire with a screen attached. Goes in through a tiny hole (usually from the inside) and allows you to see the extent of the damage.

Saved my life over the weekend trying to replace the CPS on the voyager... couldn't figure out where it was!

M.

 

[andy27168]

Ask if you can jack the car up on the standard MB jack as the one that had gone had been creaking and grinding since I had got it, and the jack arm was pressing on the top edge of the hole in the side skirt, also mine was accelerated by damaged underseal on the passenger side floor pan adjacent to the jack pads, the jack pad was pushed up into the body work as the inner sill had lost its strength.
As far as I was aware all the european 202's were built in the same country, Germany though there may of been more than one factory, the first three letters of the vin I believe tell you what country the car was built, mine is WDB.
The rust in the sill was caused by blocked drain holes, though if you look at the pics in my thread you can see that inside the steel section made up of the inner and outer sill, (with outer sill removed) there doesnt appear to be much rust protection at all from the factory.

 

[tonyc280]

Ask if you can jack the car up on the standard MB jack as the one that had gone had been creaking and grinding since I had got it, and the jack arm was pressing on the top edge of the hole in the side skirt, also mine was accelerated by damaged underseal on the passenger side floor pan adjacent to the jack pads, the jack pad was pushed up into the body work as the inner sill had lost its strength.
As far as I was aware all the european 202's were built in the same country, Germany though there may of been more than one factory, the first three letters of the vin I believe tell you what country the car was built, mine is WDB.
The rust in the sill was caused by blocked drain holes, though if you look at the pics in my thread you can see that inside the steel section made up of the inner and outer sill, (with outer sill removed) there doesn't appear to be much rust protection at all from the factory.

I think that's disgusting from a top marques manufacturer. Think mine must have been rust treated from new is all i can think and think myself lucky.

 

[hondo]

All cars rust ,I think it's a fine statement that so many w202s are still on the road ,getting hard now to find good doors ,bootlids ,genuine wings from breakers but the cars live on ,personally I think there's far more w202s goin about than 3 series bmws of the same era ,I currently own 3 w202s all had rust to start with but only on body panels not structural ,most 202s now have intergalactic miles on them thus meaning they've seen more road salt n general weather than ur average ford or vauxhall ,ask your self why do we contemplate repairing the rust on these cars because in my opinion there hard old cars about as sophisticated and refined as a car can be before you need a computer to change your spark plugs lol

 

[190auto]

Ask if you can jack the car up on the standard MB jack as the one that had gone had been creaking and grinding since I had got it, and the jack arm was pressing on the top edge of the hole in the side skirt, also mine was accelerated by damaged underseal on the passenger side floor pan adjacent to the jack pads, the jack pad was pushed up into the body work as the inner sill had lost its strength.
As far as I was aware all the european 202's were built in the same country, Germany though there may of been more than one factory, the first three letters of the vin I believe tell you what country the car was built, mine is WDB.
The rust in the sill was caused by blocked drain holes, though if you look at the pics in my thread you can see that inside the steel section made up of the inner and outer sill, (with outer sill removed) there doesnt appear to be much rust protection at all from the factory.

This one is also a WDB202... VIN.

 

[190auto]

I've now been advised to take a good look at the suspension mounts, in particular the spring perches at the front.

Doing some googling makes for more scary reading for such relatively 'young' cars. A thread or two in this forum have pics of what can happen.

This turns a potentially cosmetic issue with rust on doors into a much more serious safety issue

I wonder (aloud) whether this would be picked up during a MB main dealer service, or would they not look at such things?

Has anyone else experienced recent problems with W202 spring perches?

 

[streethawk]

I've now been advised to take a good look at the suspension mounts, in particular the spring perches at the front.

Doing some googling makes for more scary reading for such relatively 'young' cars. A thread or two in this forum have pics of what can happen.

This turns a potentially cosmetic issue with rust on doors into a much more serious safety issue

I wonder (aloud) whether this would be picked up during a MB main dealer service, or would they not look at such things?

Has anyone else experienced recent problems with W202 spring perches?

Just replaced one of mine on my 99 230k. Wasn't supposed to be a real problem on w202's like ours but a real problem on the E class. Mine had rotted around the top closest the wheel. Noticed paint and underseal lifting in that area so picked at it and was thinking wtf. Anyway mine was soild where the perch is welded to chassis leg so cut it off and replaced with mb one which was less than £10 to buy. The problem is water gets under the sealer and rotts it away so that the main place to check. Cost me £150 to have it put on as its best to have it on a ramp which I don't have and also it was a £100 for me to buy the necessary spring compressor so I thought let a garage I trust do it for £150! The only time I've let a garage touch her. If you have full mb history then I believe you have a case against the dealer as they should check all that stuff, plus MB's have 30 year corrosion warranty.

 

[190auto]

Just replaced one of mine on my 99 230k. Wasn't supposed to be a real problem on w202's like ours but a real problem on the E class. Mine had rotted around the top closest the wheel. Noticed paint and underseal lifting in that area so picked at it and was thinking wtf. Anyway mine was soild where the perch is welded to chassis leg so cut it off and replaced with mb one which was less than £10 to buy. The problem is water gets under the sealer and rotts it away so that the main place to check. Cost me £150 to have it put on as its best to have it on a ramp which I don't have and also it was a £100 for me to buy the necessary spring compressor so I thought let a garage I trust do it for £150! The only time I've let a garage touch her. If you have full mb history then I believe you have a case against the dealer as they should check all that stuff, plus MB's have 30 year corrosion warranty.

Hi - thanks for this. I've researched this 30 year corrosion warranty, and I understand it is valid from Q3/Q4 1998. However, the car I'm looking at was registered Q1/Q2 1998. However, still worth considering, bearing in mind the full dealer history.

 

[andy27168]

202's very rarely suffer from spring perch issues this is more a 210 E class issue as its been said above.
Regarding the claim under the 30 year corrosion warranty, please don't waste your time they will not entertain it, they have not paid out corrosion warranty repairs on a 202 since about 2007/8. Both me and a friend both with C43 AMG 202s with full history had are cars assessed and they did,nt even bother telling us the results of the body work inspection, we had to ring them up to be refused, not even a good will offer! (both car less than 8 years old at the time circa 2007 IIRC).
Even when these were newer you would have to be lucky to get a corrosion claim approved, it would have to have been owned by yourself for at least six months, be less than 8 years old with full MB history, and then the corrosion would of had to started from behind the panel, and if the paint thickness was inconsistence on any of the panels then they wouldn't honour warranty on that panel.

 

[190auto]

202's very rarely suffer from spring perch issues this is more a 210 E class issue as its been said above.
Regarding the claim under the 30 year corrosion warranty, please don't waste your time they will not entertain it, they have not paid out corrosion warranty repairs on a 202 since about 2007/8. Both me and a friend both with C43 AMG 202s with full history had are cars assessed and they did,nt even bother telling us the results of the body work inspection, we had to ring them up to be refused, not even a good will offer! (both car less than 8 years old at the time circa 2007 IIRC).
Even when these were newer you would have to be lucky to get a corrosion claim approved, it would have to have been owned by yourself for at least six months, be less than 8 years old with full MB history, and then the corrosion would of had to started from behind the panel, and if the paint thickness was inconsistence on any of the panels then they wouldn't honour warranty on that panel.

So there's no small print with this warranty then ....

(to be realistic, I doubted it would be valid, but it's better to ask)

I'm planning on seeing the car again, so will post an update after this.

Thanks to all for your opinions and advice.