RolBer

My S320 2000 mod. did start to rust alot last year, i did go to my mb stealer and tryed to get it on the warranty. But they sayed that it was repainted before and they would not do it (witch i found out was just bull****). I had to pay for the paintjob myself, so now 10 months after it has started to rust alot of other places, so i have to get it fixed again. Two other that i know who has the w220 99-00 mod has the same problem, the cars rust like a crappy lada and mb will not take the blame for the bad paintwork to fix it themself. My car did cost 280k $ new in norway and it rust more then a car that cost 30k $. Mercedes is not what it used to be and the customer service is crap. BMW or Audi is on my list now.

Gondon

$280k ? damn

RolBer

Yeah, the car taxes here is the highest in the whole world.

AH1W-COBRA

i understand that alot of buyers finally get their dream car only to find out that it has pre existing issues that are about to rear their ugly heads.MB cant make your dream come true,they dont maintain the vehicles for ever,the car is 8 years old and has probably been exposed to climatic conditions that would corrode any metal machine.i wouldent purchase any other "HIGH END LUXURY VEHICLE" other than MB,the "S" class is built for the wealthy.if you want to be pampered like the wealthy than buy a brand new one and MB will litterally wipe your butt for 50k miles.these are the finest luxury automobiles produced in quantity.

RolBer

I don't agree with you on that, they have 8 yrs warranty agains rust, and it probably started when the car was 5-6 yrs old and it was 7 yrs old when i repainted it. The car has allways been in a garage and taken realy good care of. My friends s320 had only 27k miles on it when it started to rust as hell, and that car has also been taken realy good care of. And not only that he had it reapired for around $20k last year on other problems also. They are good machines to drive and i like it alot but the the quality on newer mb's sucks.

NZ_Benz

Just out of interest where are you based? Somewhere in Asia with car taxes like that?

All I can say is that to a certain extent I must agree with you about the rust issues in a W220. Cars shouldn't be rusted out hulks at 8-9 years of age. Just a point of comparision I have a W140 S320, it was purchased new in Singapore in 1993 where it was near the sea and in humid conditions, then it was shipped to New Zealand in 2001 where it was in a costal city, I purchased it in 2005 where it is now stored near the coast and it has no rust.

RolBer

I know. Another friend of mine has a W140 s320 96 mod..and it is in perfect condition and has high milage. I am based in norway.

2k2s430

Contact Mercedes directly if possible. Germany should take care of the issue. They did for my car although my issue was not severe. I had contacted MBUSA directly but they didn't want to help so I complained to the supervisor. Next step I went to my dealer who really took care of me. They contacted Germany and they approved the repair. The whole process from visiting the dealer to scheduling the appointment and repair took approximately a week. The car was in the shop close to five days. The funny thing is that the day I was going to pick up my car MBUSA called me in regard to my issue. I told them the story of everything that transpired, and asked if they could see the humor in the fact hat Germany approved and paid for the repair before they even made the folllow up call in regard to my issue. Simply put contact Mercedes directly, or go to another dealership!

RolBer

I have tough of doing that.

RolBer

I have sent a mail to mercedes in germany, so now i will wait and see what they say about the problem.

AH1W-COBRA

if a chassis has extensive rust inside the body panels,how do you ever hope to stop the process of rust from occuring?.you put a dollar on top and a dollar falls off the bottom.your only hope would be to repair the rust that is evident and then relocate the vehicle to a desert environment"0 humidity".mount sacraficial zincs to the car body and keep the car "grounded" at all times to prevent electrolsys.rust never sleeps.no one can remove it all,it's automotive cancer with no chemo.

DimaS500

W220 is known to be a troublesome car yet. It is amazing when everything is working.

AH1W-COBRA

whoever did the purchase inspection for you is 100% to blame.the previous owner absolutely was aware of the corrosion issue on the car,they took your hard earned $ and ran.all the reasons that you bought the W-220 in the first place are valid,the car is magnificent.good luck on your next one.

bamberger_1

Hi RolBer,
I had a corrosion issue when the car was 5 y old. No questions asked, I got almost the whole car repainted by MB w/o cost for me. It took them 1 week to do it.
The problem with your car I see, is that you were waiting so long before you approached MB, and obviously someone (non MB) repainted the car already. Normally MB grants up to 8y for issues like that, but only if the car has been serviced and inspected by a MB-workshop once within 24 months. If you cannot presnt proof of that, you might be out of luck for a courtesy repair.

brenner

I took my 2002 S320 in for an oil change here in Germany. When I went to pick up my car, they showed me a small rust spot near the front corner of the sunroof. They said they had called MB, and that it was to be rapired ofr free. They painted the roof, rear panel and polished the rest of the car. It took a week. During that time I was given a small Mercedes as a loaner..no cost. The car looked like new.