W210s, do they all rust?

[neilrr]

Reason I ask is I saw one today, R reg, silver, which wasn't rusty & looked great for a 17 y.o. car.

I spoke to the owner who swore it was all original paint & he hadn't done anything special to it.

How can it be that it hasn't gone rusty?

 

[carat 3.6]

It has, just not where you can see it...

 

[bob6600]

Has it been out in all weathers?

I have often thought why some rust alot more than others - have seen some pics on here/other forums of really bad rusted W210s (alot worse than mine) and mine has done 200k and been out in all weathers

 

[kwk]

Every one that I looked at had rusted so I bought a rusty one. May sound silly but, I wanted one and bought it knowing that I would have to spend money when the mot expires at the end of the year. It did have two new front wings when I bought it.
I drove them from new with the police, 03 reg. They were all showing signs of rust within the first year.

 

[gbjeppm]

I read somewhere that the early ones, were better for not rusting, (maybe it was pre water based paints), than the later ones.

R reg is an early one, pre face lift. I might also be smoking something

 

[kwk]

I read somewhere that the early ones, were better for not rusting, (maybe it was pre water based paints), than the later ones.

R reg is an early one, pre face lift. I might also be smoking something

I've also read that. Could be something in it.

 

[carat 3.6]

I've seen one where the roof had rusted from the inside out, scary stuff. They are a good car really, it's just the quality of materials used that causes problems.

 

[jpwilliams]

Reason I ask is I saw one today, R reg, silver, which wasn't rusty & looked great for a 17 y.o. car.

I spoke to the owner who swore it was all original paint & he hadn't done anything special to it.

How can it be that it hasn't gone rusty?

Mine is 12 years old, 199,000 miles and no rust.
Many do and some don`t !

Regards
John

 

[renault12ts]

Mine is 12 years old, 199,000 miles and no rust.
Many do and some don`t !

Regards
John

Let's see. Have a look behind the rear bumper along each side from the wheel arch back. If you see no rust... I will require a pic as proof.

 

[a111r]

I viewed a 1 elderly owner 1999 E300TD with a genuine 57K recently.

Very, very clean but there was some rust (and some irksome undeclared body damage)

Sold via a popular online auction for.... £3000. Or not.

 

[Mike Walker]

Mine has some rust - see cars for sale post. The owner of the Independent Garage I use told me that when he worked at a Main Dealer, most of his time was spent removing rust from the tops of W210 doors which had not been painted correctly, prior to having the rubber seals put on.
The rust creeps down the face of the doors under the paint just like mine!

 

[johnsco]

I've had three W210s ... 2 x E300TD (Both 1997) and the E430 (2002).
Between the three cars I replaced 5 front wings ... all of which were in a very-advanced state of rust.
One of the E300TDs - Bought 5 years ago with 125,000 miles - had already had some repair to one of the wings.
In fairness - The rest of the cars were pretty sound.
Cosmetically, they were a bit scruffy ... Wheel arches, etc ..... But they were damn-good work-horses.
The one I bought at 125,000 miles was eventually written-off due to crash-damage at 132,000 miles.
I worked the E300TDs hard and they both eventually died for reasons other than rust.

The E430 is far-from-perfect.
However - Other than the 2 new front wings, it's pretty good for its age and still turns a few heads.

 

[grober]

Lots of rumours why they rusted- bodies made from inferior rolled steel sourced from Russia to changes in water based paint systems ---but they almost all rusted -- remember this was the start of "OL JERKIN SHRIMP'S" ill fated tenure as CEO of Daimler Chrysler. "Ve vil conquer the automotive world yes--- but first we vil save ze deutsche marks by skimping on ze paint Verstehen Sie?"

 

[jpwilliams]

Let's see. Have a look behind the rear bumper along each side from the wheel arch back. If you see no rust... I will require a pic as proof.

I`ll ask my Indie to do so next time I`m due for service. Thanks for advice.


Regards
John

 

[poormansporsche]

Funnily enough mine had no rust there behind the rear bumper but made up for it by not being able to tighten the wheel nuts due to the thread in the hubs disintegrating !

 

[syncropaddy]

Nope, a pal of mine has a 300TD estate from 97 with no rust and lots of miles. We never had salted roads here until recently which might be the reason. He looks after the car well as you should.

 

[c280turbo]

They all rust, and as mentioned if it doesn't appear on the surface it will be where you can put see. Unless it's never been out in the rain of course

 

[a111r]

Let's see. Have a look behind the rear bumper along each side from the wheel arch back. If you see no rust... I will require a pic as proof.

Luckily, I bought this one as a breaker.

 

[a111r]

This looked reasonably intact until I prodded it after taking the spare wheel out.

 

[V12]

This looked reasonably intact until I prodded it after taking the spare wheel out.

Every estate car is like that.

Early cars seem to rust more around inner wings, spring perches and sills.
The rust is usually a lot more hidden than on the later cars.

Late cars, bonnet, wings, doors, rear quarter, roofs and anything else metal.

The earlier the car, the better they fare from what I've seen. W reg cars are THE worst!!!!