draze

I got some rust. Need to fix it. I don't know how the place where it's formed is called, so I'll attach picture.

How would you go about it? Would you buy new body part or would you try to fix it? How much would it cost approximately in CAD.

d1no

damn... that will need to be cut out and welded a new piece of metal in.. and a repaint.. sounds costy

draze

The rust is not too deep. I'll try to get better pics.

d1no

the thing with rust is that it is always deeper than it looks and just keeps spreading so if you dont cut it all off it will reapper after fixing it..

d1no

a cheap diy fix could be to just sand the inside edge in primer it or use some rust stoppper stuff and paint with touch up paint... would look better than now but not perfect.

FrankW

Mercedes-Benz should have a Rust warranty. check with your dealership. UK has 30yr rust warranty.

LILBENZ230

While you're correct about the rust warranty, Frank, I think that it is only kept intact if you take your car once every 2 years to the dealership for a rust inspection. Otherwise it is null and void.

Edit: It looks like this information I posted is for Europe with their 30 year rust warranty. All I can find in my documents is 4yr/50k.

FrankW

possibly you are right, but he's in canada. might be different. never hurts to ask.

LILBENZ230

Exactly! Definitely ask. Those Canadian winters are hell, eh?

draze

The lady that i bought the car from said it happened over one winter.
How is the body-part where the rust is formed is called? Could I buy the whole part primed and then just paint it in a body shop?

amanonfire

That's a common spot for the W203 to rust, and unfortunately its not a part you can buy and replace, its part of the body and must be cut out and a new piece welded in.

My car was rusting in the same area and MB Canada agreed to cover 75% of the work cause I was far out of warranty, yet proved its rusting cause 2002-03 vehicles were not sufficiently rust proofed at the factory.

Guess what? The rust is back within a year, and worse. Its cause any fix that sandblasts the front, doesn't sandblast the back, so the rust will eventually creep around the edges and under the paint.

Luckily its a fairly easy spot to fix and only requires painting that small little panel as its bordered on all 4 sides (door, side skirt, impact strip, fender). I don't know if you can buy replacement panels, so a shop might have to make them. I'd expect at least $1000 to fix both sides properly, probably more.

Jen_Kenne

Unless you know what you're doing, go to a good bodyshop and have it done right. Rust is like socialism and cancer - it spreads without attention.

QQQ

MB Canada goodwills my 3 rust jobs. All four doors underside sandblasted. Driver door underside sandblasted 3 times. Both front fenders replaced. Both waist line chrome trims replaced. Whole car except roof is repainted.

In total, about $9-10K in goodwill. Waahaahaahaa...

MB Canada did all the A and B jobs, I took out extended warranty, and all other incidental repairs are done at stealership as well. My repair file is 2 inch thick. Everyone at the shop and cashier knows me by the name.

Maybe I should check if they have job openings...

Emin

As frank said, check to see if dealer can take care of it.

If not, I'd try to sand it down a little myself and see how it looks.

Worst comes to worst, you gotta cut and weld

SunnyRayToronto

If you drive in the winter where they salt the roads, you need to frequently and thoroughly wash the underside of the car (to get rid of salt since rust usually attack the bottom part of car first) and especially the inside lip of the wheel-well,... there's a 1-2cm lip of the fender that folds into wheel-well that accumulates dirt & mud which holds moisture and thus encourage corrosion,... it also doesn't help that Mercedes-Benz uses some sort of heavy duty moisture absorbing fabric in the wheel-well.


Draze, take a closer look at that rust spot,.... it's on the outside lip of the wheel-well,... I bet the rust is a lot worst on the inside lip ,... that's where the rust started,... and I'm sure it was there for years before it just "happened over one winter",... it just happend to appear on the outside of the wheel-well lip over one winter,... I bet the previous owner never bother to thoroughly wash the wheel-well. (Best way is to go to a coin-operated car wash and power spray that inside lip of the wheel-well).

amanonfire

You need to get the car rust proofed before every winter. Washing and parking inside can actually cause the problem to be worse as the ice/snow melts and salt gets into all the crevices.

Regardless though, MB needs to cover this for life. MB cheaped out on galvanizing 2001-2003 cars and they are rusting out cause of it.

FrankW

i'm glad i'm in SoCal that don't have to deal with snow/salt. LOL

draze

You lucky.

I'm actually considering buying a beater, or maybe next year.

Jen_Kenne

Ice? Outdoors?

SunnyRayToronto

The Mercedes Benz car owner's manual for these car actually discourage rust-proofing,... including my 2003 coupe owner's manual.


Chemical rustproofing is terrible on the environment. Those electronic rustproofing don't work. The best thing is to be vigilant and wax the car and potect the clear coat which protects the paint which covers the metal body,... thus fix all the little nix and scratches immediately so that rust won't have a place to start.

BTW, FrankW,.... if you live in SoCal near the ocean, don't you still need to worry about the salt-air from the salt water ocean encouraging rust?

SunnyRayToronto

Amanonfire is in Vancouver, B.C.,... the only ice they have in Vancouver in the winter-time is the ice in the patio drinks,... Vancouver usually isn't even cold enough for snow,... they get lots of rain.

I'm from Toronto,... and everyone in Vancouver, B.C.,.... knows Toronto people know something about being cold!
http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/C...791/story.html
http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/682420

Jen_Kenne

Winter? Ah yes, that's when the snow-birds descend upon SoFla.

Here, anything North of Palm Beach, including Orlando, is too far North and gets too cold.

amanonfire

Don't ASSUME, you make an *** out of U and ME.

I just moved from Ottawa, we know more about snow than you pansies in Toronto.

amanonfire

And Mercedes said they galvanized these vehicles properly from the factory - who would you like to believe?

When I brought mine in for rust work (for the 3rd time) my dealer said I'm lucky its not worse, cause I did Krown rust treatment every year, and recommended I get it sprayed as soon as possible after it came out of the paint booth.

I drive a car, I don't care about the environment.

Yep, waste of money.

Rust almost always starts on the inside of the panel, the unpainted/unwaxed part, and creeps around the edges. Being vigilant is good practice, yet its not going to stop the majority of rust.

This is why to get the car rust proofed, the spray can get behind the panels and into the crevices you cannot.

SunnyRayToronto

Take a look underneath your trim,.... and see the inside of the panel,... it's painted!,.... and waxed! In fact, Mercedes-Benz owner's manual strongly discourages chemical rust proofing of the cars because, these chemical rust-proofing will mess up the the Mercedes-Benz rust-fighting wax that's protecting the galvanized steel,....


Hmmm,... let's see,.... you do chemical rust-proofing every year,.... and still had to bring your car in for rust work? Obviously the chemical rust-proofing is NOT working for you!

According to the Mercedes-Benz owner's manual, the chemical rust-proofing messes up the Mercedes-Benz rust preventing wax and,.... gee,... ya think there's a correlation between your chemical rust-proofing which messes up the Mercedes-Benz rust preventing wax,.... and your car getting so much rust that it requires you to do rust work 3 times already???

I think, I'll stick to believing Mercedes-Benz,.... Mercedes-Benz seem to know more about Mercedes-Benz than some guy on the internet who needed rust work 3 times already because he/she choose to ignore the owner's manual and use chemical rust-proofing which destroys the rust preventative wax that Mercedes-Benz uses on it's galvanized steel,.... and still insist that chemical rust proofing is the best thing sinces sliced bread.