Hi everyone,

Here my story

I am a true car enthusiast, and i do love having quality in everything, cars, houses, computer etc etc, so yes i am ready to pay more to have a better product.

but this, i think it's not very acceptable , coming from a company that is supposed to offer a reliable & good product. ( i might take off reliable to due all the electronic stuff , but never mind) .

here is some info on my car and problems i had over the years.

it's a 2008 C350 4 Matic

158 000 km ( 98 000 Miles )
Black on black
always did the proper maintenance ( Brakes,tires, oil change, etc etc )
car is always clean and taking care of it ,
Always been rust check protected ...

So let's start with the mechanical / electronic stuff

- Transmission has been rebuilt due to a lack of shifting at around 110 000KM(69 000 Miles) . Cost 3k $

- Transmission valve body board has been replace for a new one at around
130 000km ( 81 000) Miles. 4.7K $

- Idler pulley, belt , tensionner, water pump, coolant sensor . 1.2K $

- add sensors, wires , interior heated / air conditioned fan , another 1k $

Now let's talk about the exterior / paint quality

- i didn't put any money on it now , but the way it look , it will cost couple thousand

1st pic , Rear fender have peeling issue


2nd pic , front bumper grill is broken again


3rd pic, I recently change the front brakes on the car, this is what came off and can't be re-install.



4rd pic , Hood start to rust


5st pic, front bumper paint is peeling off


last pic, i lost my front clip for towing, don't ask me how, when , why !!


do you guys have any of this issue or more then that ?

i am currently thinking of replacing the car , i do love mercedes, but this is something that want's me to run away from this company. Specially at 60-65K

Thanks

 

99% of all of the damage posted is caused by everyday driving in adverse weather conditions. Did you have the transmission serviced at 39k miles as suggested? Has the rear fender ever been repainted or hit? The grill being broken, that could happen to any car if any road debris hit it. Most of the corrosion can be prevented if you wash your car often enough, preferable as soon as salt gets on it. If you don't touch up the bare metal spots from rock chips, you will see corrosion begin to form. The paint peeling off the front bumper is evident that there is compression damage to the paint by blunt force from bumping into something, or again, road debris. By the looks of your front bumper, you must follow awfully close to people, which suggest the reason for all the chips on the front bumper, hood, damaged grill, and missing tow hook cover.

 

That's some serious road rash. Looks like you drive in an area where sand, salt, gravel are used on the roads. As noted above, any car requires touching up the paint chips from rocks or gravel to prevent further corrosion or rust. Washing the car regularly at least twice a month is essential. How do your other cars look with 100k miles on them when subjected to similar conditions?

 

Your car is taking a beating! If your roads have salt on them during winter better wash it more often even if your hands will freeze. 95-933 is saying wash at least twice a month I say spray it down (not a real wash) everyday if there is a lot of salt on your route.

 

100% neglect

 

My guess.

 

+1

 

4rd pic?

 

be nice....

 

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...000-miles.html

It also looks like you bought a used car without any service history... :/

 

He's an enthusiast though. He has expensive taste for all things high end, even if it is at the cost of owners negligence of poorly maintaining a vehicle mechanically and cosmetically!

 

I am sorry to hear about your troubles. But your car is the perfect example of why I never buy used cars.
I also would never own a Mercedes out of warranty because of the cost of repairs when things do go wrong.

If you are going to buy another used luxury car then I would strongly recommend any Lexus.

 

that's the thing about used cars. MOST people only look at price when searching for a used car. a 2008 C-class can range anywhere between $15,000 to $25,000 these days. There's a reason why there's such a huge discrepancy in price. People pay $16,000 for a C Class expecting it to be in the same condition as the ones that are $25,000.

 

Abused!

 

The rust on the hood looks older than 1 yr which appears to be how long you've owned the car. There had to be signs of it when you bought it. Why do you say $60-$65k?

 

Thanks for all your Feedback ,

Yes car was bought used at a Mercedes Dealership, transmission service was done at 39 as specify, i also clean the car every 2 weeks, also fully detailed twice a years, i am not driving like crazy but yes i do drive a lot in winter / salt.I live in Montreal area in Canada.

Before i had an Audi S4 and didn't have this issue with paint or maintenance.

i am currently looking for an C63 , because i miss the power of the S4, a 2010 or 2011 is in the target price range, but i think i shall also consider buying a cheap winter car, cuz this is pretty crazy are snow / salt deteriorate a car.

Also i don't have a garage , this might also not help ?

What you guy's think.

 

Mostly neglect through the prior owner(s).

A garage is always nice to have. Easier start-up on the motor/transmission, as well as protection from the elements. Waxing and clay baring is essential as well(which you mentioned you have done).

Living in Canada is not a joke. The harsh winter weather does put a toll on your vehicles.

 

You can clearly see the thin cracks in the paint on pic 5 caused by curb impact or similar.


The entire front, and fog lights are clearly sandblasted by stonechips, considering the mileage the car is in a horrid condition.

 

so basically you bought a car that had been in a fight,could nt fix it yourself,probably did not read half info this site and then blame mercedes quality.lol

 

+1

 

I'm going to go ahead and side with everyone else on here. That car has been rode hard and put away wet (more than once).


The rock chips, broken grill, broken tow cover, etc are clearly from road debris from other vehicles (which can only happen when you drive like an *******). Might not be your fault, but someone that owned that car had a bad habit of following too closely. Paint doesn't just chip off in perfectly round little specs, and grills don't just fall apart no matter how terrible the quality of Mercedes may be (which I don't agree it's bad quality at all). They are from rocks on the road hitting your front end. Plain and simple.


The rust? When bare metal is exposed to the elements it will rust without paint to protect it (rock chips expose the bare metal, ie rust forms). That will happen to any car. It's not a matter of Mercedes being poor quality.


All your other issues are whatever...they stem from poor maintenance. Even if you are current on all maintenance, the previous owner obviously didn't care as much as you.


I will say my 09 C350 (White/Tan) has ZERO issues with it. Runs and shifts like a champ, and has almost 60k miles. I think I have a total of 2 rock chips on my front bumper, a small chip on my rear passenger door, a tiny dent which can only be seen when the light hits it a certain way, and a tiny scrape on my back bumper. I think you would have a better chance of counting the stars in the sky tonight than you do of counting all the specs on your front end. Why the difference between our two cars if Mercedes is such poor quality?

 

Agree, looks abused.

 

Looks like abuse on your behalf or the previous owner. Also, that car may have been in an accident before being under your ownership hence the bubbling on the hood. My 06 has been through 8 Canadian winters and looks nothing like that. There's not a speck of rust anywhere other than the lug nuts which I painted with Tremclad so they now look new.

As for the rear fender portion perhaps you ran over some chemical when driving through an industrial area which is now contributing to peeling paint. As for the front that's just normal and will be very obvious on a black car. I find the paint quite soft on the W203 by the looks of that they didn't change that for the W204.

Where did you have the car repaired? It seems like you overpaid for each repair.

 

A good case for having a clear bra installed early in the life of the vehicle.