What do you think???? (rust again)

[paultredgett]

Hi,

I have had a solid quote of £750 to repair/respray all the areas of rust on my 2001 e320 estate.

I paid £850 for this car with 195,000 miles fsh, and now at the cost of 2 tyres, a full mot!

There really is not much up with her at all and she drives like a dream, and am actually enjoying the experience very much, didnt think I would coming from sports cars etc but "yes I am" !

I have a small amount of bubbling on the driver wing, 3 small bubbles on the passenger wing, both front doors have 5 mm ish each of rust on the bottom of door, rear hatch is rusting around the hi-level brake light and under the lifting handle (approx 50mm), two small blebs on the rear of the roof and the bonnet needs painting from stone chips and two small areas of rust.

Bearing in mind how much I paid for her, do you think I should spend money putting all the rust right? will it keep coming back and after how long?

I am pretty sure there is no way I am going to get another estate car as good as this one for £1,600 including the paint job if I have it done, what do you think?
A friend commented that I should just drive her until the rust is embarrassing and then just do what NATO do and paint it in green camouflage after rubbing down and treating the rusted areas.....I must admit I have looked and they do look pretty cool in that colour scheme!

.....anyone know anyone else in the sheffield area that is reputable/reasonable with paintwork??

Cheers!

 

[NW_Merc]

To put an end to all the rust, you should be looking at replacement panels and/or cutting out of the rotten parts. Only fresh metal should be painted. However, failing this, you should grind away the rusty stuff to fresh metal and then respray.

If the repair is done on the cheap, then the rust will come back. Once you use fresh panels you should then think about Waxoyl, dinitrol treatments to keep it at bay.

If you're looking to keep the car for the long run, I would get the repair done, only you can decide if it is economical.

 

[paultredgett]

Hi NW Merc,

Yep I am totally convinced by the car,I reckon it's one of the nicest cars I have driven (I come from the BMW Z3M ilk!), so am looking at keeping her for a while.

The rust is not bad enough to be cutting it away etc,it really is just surface, maybe the boot will need a bit more help around the hi-level lamp and under the handle but the rest is ok to back to metal prep,etch prime and paint I think, just if I leave it much longer (next winter) it will want more than that I guess!
What a damn shame MB let this happen in the first place!
cheers,
Paul.

 

[230K]

Hi

If the rust on the front wings is between the headlight and the wheel arch then it started on the inside and it needs cut out to eliminate it. A poor repair in this area can come back in weeks even days.

230k

 

[paultredgett]

Yep between the headlights and wing!

Ebay is doing two new front wings painted to your own colour for £219 each, delivered.

Obviously I would waxoil before fitting etc.

That was the route I was thinking of going down actually>?
Cheers.

 

[paultredgett]

....jeez....just noticed the 317k you have........makes you smile I'll bet!

 

[230K]

....jeez....just noticed the 317k you have........makes you smile I'll bet!

Just missed her turning over 319K the other day

 

[Buffers]

I would also check under the top of the door rubbers (top of doors very prone to rust and of course you can't see it unless you look) I owned a w210 for several years a battled all the time with rust. I replaced the front wings in the end as rust starts from the inside and will keep coming back, great car though and l was sad to see it go.

 

[paultredgett]

Yep, have checked everywhere else, all round doors, inner wing, spring mounts (underneath is mint), did notice some bubbling underneath the MB kick plate on top of the sill, underneath the sill looks very good!
All the under pinnings, mounts are rust free.

 

[Buffers]

One thing l would recommend is to use original parts if you decide to fit new wings, l have tried copy parts and had to return them as the fit was dreadful.

 

[paultredgett]

How much are they Buffers? Taking on board how readily they rot are they worth it?

 

[Dieselman]

Just missed her turning over 319K the other day

I think that picture is fake, you're not doing 70mph...

 

[Buffers]

I managed to get hold of some old original wings that someone had bought years ago but did not get round to fitting, think l paid around 250 for the two. Don't know how much new ones from mb would be. I think if they are protected well from the off on the inside they will last though. Someone on forum might be able to recommend somewhere that do good after market wings with good fit though l believe they might be of thinner sheet metal. You tend to get what you pay for!!

 

[chopper_harris]

I did pick up a pair of pattern wings from ECP. They were not a bad fit, but needed a lot of fettling around the A post.

I dropped lucky on a breaking S124, which had a pair of mint Tourmaline green wings - not a spec of rust on the front edges where they rub on the bumper.
I sold the ECP wings for what I paid - result.

Does the car have wing repeaters ? Try your Merc dealer for a pair of wings for an export model, without repeater holes. They should be a lot cheaper.

 

[230K]

I think that picture is fake, you're not doing 70mph...

You have a good memory Columbo

230k

 

[rossyl]

If I were you I would not bother. You are spending the value of the car on (eventually) rotting bodywork. Whilst the car may run well there are no guarantees of this especially on a high mileage car. Yes it might run for another 100k, but there might be a large bill sometime down the line and it might be more economical to ditch the car and buy another.

I would attempt some of the fixes yourself on the rust, get the underside and areas likely to rust treated with dinitrol/waxoyl, and then keep the wheel arches clean and fil any stone chips.

 

[Indyz12]

Rossyl gave you some great advice. The value on these cars is plummeting....you say you wont get a E class estate for less than £1600, buy mine for £1300!

These cars will always have some sort of rust coming through, its just what the metal they used to build them with is like, it was crap! Looks good but was crap.

Spend the £700 on fuel

 

[paultredgett]

Yep ok you convinced me guys!

I will relish in the fact I paid £850 for it (minus the tax),patch the bodywork up myself a little and hopefully drive it around without problem for a couple of years, very hard sometimes to let an old dog go!....even if you know better!
cheers

 

[danclyon]

Rossyl gave you some great advice. The value on these cars is plummeting....you say you wont get a E class estate for less than £1600, buy mine for £1300!

These cars will always have some sort of rust coming through, its just what the metal they used to build them with is like, it was crap! Looks good but was crap.

Spend the £700 on fuel

Actually I'd balance that, it's great advice if you've got a lemon, but actually, if the general consensus is that there's not a lot that goes wrong, and yours is mechanically free from worry, I'd personally pay the money and run it for longer. I'm faced with a 105k mile Audi A4 with about £300 needing spending on bodywork thanks to little bleeders with keys and honestly I could change it now for a brand-new E-Class or an A6 - but quite frankly the depreciation is horrendous. I'm sticking with reasonable economy balanced against cheaper insurance, a less flash interior, but equally much lower servicing costs...

Your experience and that of others would go together to help make the decision in my mind.....any car, even those that are <3 years old can have an expensive bill just around the corner.....(especially if you have a Renault apparently!!)

Cheers,
Dan.

 

[LawrenceMB]

I'm faced with this exact same dilemma at the moment - w210 2000 E320 Estate, just bought it, runs like a dream, 90k on the clock, 2 owners (Father, then Son). Mechanically seems fine - just waiting to pick up some new front springs for it to correct LF a bit low, other than that, amazingly, everything works as it should. Just a pity about the rust problem on these. I used to work in the motortrade & a mate of mine is doing it through the panel/paint shop he's in now for £900 (under door rubbers times 2, the bottom of one door on the inside, both front wings, the bonnet, a bit under 1 rear wheel arch. a slight dent in drivers door, around tailgate numberplate light, & a few other little bits here & there. Thing is I trust him when he say's he'll cut it out properly & they've got a spray booth too & a good painter in the workshop, so I'm actually going to go for it, as I'm going to throw this car into the container we'll need anyway when we emmigrate to New Zealand next year, & European cars are expensive out there & I didn't want ot have to get a Japanese made mini-bus type contraption to get the 7 seats this e320 does. So I've got that in the equation too - the price of them in NZ, but still I keep questioning whether I should be spending £900 on getting the rust taken out on a car this age that is prone to it anyway. Thing is to their pretty tough on trying to import a rusty car out there now to keep them off the roads - how times have changed since I last lived there !!
Even with all those factors, it's still a tough one. I've already arranged that if i do in fact go for it, which is looking 95% like I will, that l'll steam clean under it before I take it in & pay them a few more quid to spray the underside with a sealer (then not drive it when grit is on the road until we go!)
What do you think - am I mad spending this on it?