ctgilles

Why oh why does a company with such nice cars give such ****ty quality on the finish? I mean even Alfa Romeo has nice chromed wheelbolts on their cars, and Mercedes gives us .01$ bolts that start corroding after 5 miles

And what's up with that 5$ plastic dash? I would've been happy to donate up to $1000 extra for a genuine leather dash like on the CLS. Again, been done before by Alfa. But that's another rant

Where can I get chromed bolts that will fit a W204? Have done some eBay searches but no luck

vic viper

IMO chromed bolts look cheap and after market, the MB bolts stay just fine if you wash your car on a regular basis, I have seen original bolt last over three years without a spot.

Derspeed

I have these:

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...check-out.html

I don't think they look cheap.

And, BTW, my H&R 5mm spacers came with chrome lugbolts. The 10mm spacers that I sold came with the same grey finish as the OE bolts.

vic viper

I think they look both cheap and ugly, but hey thats me

acr2001

yea the covers definitely look better! Chromed lug bolts are a very bad idea IMO - could cause safety issues if they back out (this is assuming the threads have been chromed). If just the head is chromed that would be great. Someone should go into business chroming them....

Derspeed

It still beats a chewed up lugbolt head.

acr2001, I looked again. Maybe the H&Rs are just shiny. It doesn't look like they are plated. I'll have to take one out an examine it more closely.

tmehanna

You get what you pay for big spender This is an ENTRY LEVEL Benz, a bit like flying coach on a 3-class flight . Leather dash isn't even an option on the 211 E.

omgitselaine

Funny how this thread appears just as my bolts started rusting this past weekend on each wheel i had at least 3 of 5 bolts with rust on its head? I had some silver touch up paint from my previous car so simply used it to paint over the heads ... where from afar it doesnt look as bad as rust all over them uuughhhhh ????

Glyn M Ruck

+1 - what do you expect at the ultra low American sticker price.

jstaneff

Not really an acceptable answer (either of these ...). Why? Because:

- The car is in competition with a variety of other cars
- Some of those other cars do much better in this area
- Calling something 'entry level' does not excuse shoddy materials or workmanship
- You do want your customers to have a good enough experience that they will want to purchase from you again, and maybe 'move up'

So, the answer fails to answer the question. If these bolts are going to rust, then they should come 'pre-rusted'. Don't like that? Many materials are allowed to get a surface coat so that they don't get worse later on. Why not these? Probably because customers wouldn't like it!

If a Honda or Hyundai can XXX, the an MB had damn well better do XXX and better!

whkento

Hmmm... Entry level? Really? Maybe in North America. Haven't heard about the A- and B-classes?

Some of us bought the C-class because of reasons other than price. We were considering the CLS, too, but it was too big (exterior dimensions). Sometimes smaller is better. Also, if the prices here were the same as in the USA, we would've gotten the C63 for less than we paid for our C300 Avantgarde S.

acr2001

I want to see the lug bolts on the S class. I'll bet they're the same quality. I can tell you that the W203 / W204 use the same material for the bolts (if not the exact same bolts?) You can get them replaced under warranty when they rust. I'm on my third set.

vic viper

The new S-Klass has the same bolts as the W204, as a matter of fact all new MB.s use the exact same type of bolt.

However the new S (221) with 19" AMG wheels use a different bolt with a stainless head, but this wont fit the 204

tmehanna

I paid $78K myself for my C280 Avantgarde, and I know it is entry level compared to the rest of the sedan line up: E, CLS, S. A and B are not proper Benzes, unless of course you consider Smart a Benz.

ctgilles

I don't like the A, B, E, GL(K), ML, S, CLS, CLK, SLK, SL, R or CL.

And entry level car? For the small price of $80,000 If I lived in America I'd have a C63 for that money.

tmehanna

But you don't live there and neither do I The $30K (EUR 23K) asking price for the C300 in the US would buy me a bare-to-bones 1.6 Golf V where I live, so everything is relative. An E280 Avantgarde (W211) costs $136K here and a reasonably optioned S500 would set me back $250K, making the C280 a bargain entry benz at $80K

ctgilles

It's my opinion that they should include it as an option. I'd prefer a leather dash over a LOGIC 7 any day.
That and Xenon and adaptive cruise makes my top 3 of options. (AMG pack at #4 )