dalazernet

Well, I just picked up my new plates .. and they put them on for me (of course)....and stripped the heck out of a few screws! I can pull them out with my hand! I mentioned my problem of the front bracket on the car being a little crooked....which he couldn't fix - said I needed to schedule an appt...and now I have a few stripped screws to deal with. Is there any fix for this guys? A slightly larger screw or one with slightly more thread perhaps? Is there something I can do to "fix" the holes? ARGH

- Eric

CitronC230K_03

your not the 1st with a dealer f**k up!

Cappa26

Wow what kind of dealership are they..

Moviela

Now I know why I have no plate on the front of my car.

Faced with your situation, I would install an AVK fastener in the bumper, or use epoxy to glue M8 stainless nuts behind the bumper and use machine screws to attach the plate.

You could ask the dealer for a new bumper, with holes properly placed.

Ask what other mods they have in mind, like welding the tailpipe to the shock absober?

Cappa26

I would ask for a new bumper, there fault.

Jkw

Good Luck w/ That.

You might be better off fixing it yourself so they don't mess it up some more.
Either way I hope it looks good when it's done.

My 2 ¢
MB and other car manufactures should just integrate a front licence plate holder into the design of the bumper, that would be a lot better than a piece of plastic stuck on the noise.
Jkw

benzmodz

Hardly makes any sense that the most obvious thing always gets done with little or no attention.

The only way to fix it would be to install a spreading plug into the screw hole. You need something to take the shape of the screw and put force on the hole in the bumper.

If they cant fix it does that mean the whole car is a lemon ?

dalazernet

I think I'm going to try and fix it myself.....the plate on the front is _almost_ perfect....and the few screws that were stripped -- I think I'll just get slightly larger screws...or screws with a little bit deeper threading.

I guess its too much to expect a luxury car company to actually use caution when installing plates...instead of "drilling them on" with an electric screwdriver... *sigh*. I guess the kind of white glove treatment that I always dreamed of (coming from a Pontiac) is more likely found in a Bentley - or maybe not, I wouldn't be surprised if they are just as blah about these fine details.

Still content with my car, at least each license plate has 4 screws! My grand am had two per plate (top screws only) and the plates vibrated while I drived until I wedged some foam peanuts under them just right....what is it about me and license plates?

- Eric

Outland

Get real kid. Its all the same business. The monkey's working on your car were denting **** at a chevy dealer a year ago, and scratching the paint off of Hondas at the last job.

r3v1ls

MB service quality has gone waay down over the past years. It's pretty outrageous that a car of this caliber gets such crap service these days.

artur023

I called my mb sales man and asked about installing the bixenons and navi he simply replied "cant" WTF!?? LOL

dalazernet

Just an update - all is good! I fixed the back plate and its on good and sturdy by using slightly longer screws....and the front is looking good as well!

Wooh!...and I just picked up all-season floor mats and put 'em in. Everything is looking good!

Saprissa

it's not so much that they "can't", it's more like they "won't".

Contact Steve (MBenzNL) with plenty of lead time, and on his next trip, if he gets enough orders around your geographic location, he might come out to you and install & code. He is currently on a US trip right now, so it's a bit late. Maybe on his next US trip, in a few months.

You need to rally as many people as possible to get MBenzNL installs done in your local area (NJ/NY) to make it worth his while to come out and work his magic.

Carlos

Saprissa@aol.com

artur023

ghey salesman....i really want navi and stuff

Saprissa

check with SUNMAN as well... even though Steve is already here in the States (he lives in the Netherlands), perhaps you can get the Bi-X and NAVI shipped to you, and SUNMAN can also do installs / programming. He's planning a whirlwind trip around the mid-west in November, don't know if he's planning on Jersey, but worth to give him a PM.

Carlos

Saprissa@aol.com

Sign up to attend the:
Orange County MB & AMG Meet in Irvine, CA - October 15th !

Jay J

I had the exact same thing happen to my new C230K that I got at the end of August.

The dealer I got it from, Ewing Autohaus in Plano (Dallas) TX, got the car from a Mercedes dealership in Tyler TX and had all sorts of problems getting the plates and registration from them.

As I mentioned I picked up the car August 30th, and my first set of paper tags expired Sept 20th, so I went in the day before they expired to have another set of paper tags installed that were good through Oct 11th. One of the sales guys changed out the tags using a drill with a screwdriver bit.

I stood right there watching him, and quite honestly he took his time and had the variable speed drill on a pretty slow setting, but I guess that whomever put the first set of tags, coupled with the torque of the drill that the second guy was using, must have stripped them out.

Two of the four back plate screws ended up being stripped.

I didn't realise it at the timie however, and it wasn't until a week ago Friday (9/30/05) my plates finally arrived so I stopped by to pick them up and took them home where I installed them myself.

That's when I discovered the two stripped screws.

I used plumbers taped and wrapped it around the treads to enlarge the screws and they are staying in so far.

I've left two messages for my sales guy, which like many other calls to him, have so far gone unreturned :-(

I've been traveling a lot lately so it's been tough finding the time to go in and get this resolved/give them a piece of my mind, but I plan on taking the time to do so in about a week or so.

I'll probably end up getting a larger sized screw and re-do them, but this is just inexcusable, espeically for a luxury car dealer!!!

Tishers

Can't you just drill and tap them out to the next larger size thread?

It's like a five minute job if you have the tools.

Jkw

Good deal,

Jay J

Well... An update...
I've bascially taken care of my plate problem myself, because as usual my sales person won't return my phone calls.

Take a look at this long post for a testomonial of my experiences with the dealership where I bought my car.

https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...85#post1310785

Hopefully, when I need to take it in for service, I'll see a more responsiveness from them.