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MARS RED paint bubbles and whiteness on C300 sports edition
My C300 yesterday had some kind of bubbles develop all over the roof and the trunk. The car is a 2014 with less than 26k miles on it. Has anyone seen this? Is mercedes aware of this paint defect the dealers I called were clueless. This car has never been hit per benz and never been repainted except for a few scratches on the front bumper which they damaged during delivery and agreed to fix per company dealer standards.
That is your clear coat disintegrating. No fix but a repaint. How long is the finish warranty?
EDIT: At least given the resolution of your cell phone camera it looks like classic clear coat disintegration. With a better camera it would be easier to tell. There is some chance it's just some sort of surface etching from some caustic chemical that could be rubbed out - but it really does not look like it.
And it would not develop in a day. You must have done something that just made it noticeable, like washing, or else you just didn't notice it before. Some cars do that - I'm sure you've seen old beaters with peeling clear coat - it looks like your skin 4 days after a sunburn. But I've never seen it on a newer MB. I'd raise a real stink about that with MB.
Parking your car under the sun a lot can do this. If MB doesnt want to repaint it you can always have it wrapped with some vinyl. Doesn't seem too bad though, can also try asking an auto detailer if they can help.
Last edited by mr.brightside; Dec 5, 2015 at 04:17 PM.
Sun is a cause, but should not have any effect in a car that new. The car in my sig is 6 years older than yours and bakes in the Colorado sun 24/7/365 and has no hint of clear coat damage. Across brands it does seem to happen on opaque red a lot.
I had this happen on my really old red car which was baking on the under the sun for 8 years. The only fix was to repaint the entire car and no wax protected it.
Did you have any coating applied on the car like cquartz, opti-coat, or dealer applied paint protection BS? As it might be the coating is failing. If not, that is your clear coat. The problem with this is that MB might give you a hard time for doing something with the paint and not fix it under warranty. Do you have any good relationship with your dealer as that will really help a lot with this situation.
It is strange and they were surprised too because the flaking is within the paint and the whiteness is inside the paint and not outside so they said this cannot be acid rain damage and the painter seemed surprised as he has never seen such an oxidation on paint and immediately said the paint has a defect that came with the car
Well they better paint it properly (no masking) meaning removing all of those trims. Your car would need to be repainted as a whole to make sure the paint finish matches on all the panel. I will be a paint **** if I were you and make sure that every thing is perfectly bang-on. Lucky for you it is a flat red and not metallic but red is tricky to match as one shade off and you will notice it specially under direct sun light.
Thanks I am not that good at this paint thing. They said they will strip the entire car. All my concern is cars are baked painted from factory but at a dealership I don't think they have the expertise and wouldnt this depreciate the value of the car?
Stripping the entire car is a very big job. Make sure to take hundreds of pictures of all of the panels, trims, etc.... as 100% sure it won't be the same as before when they put them all back together. Just imagine all of the gaskets, plastic parts being taken out for them to repaint the same color. I would also tell them that you want to see the car stripped first so that you can document what they took apart and take pictures of it before they repaint it so that you know exactly where and what they took apart so that when things don't look right when they give you back the car then you have something to show them that they worked on that area.
You have all the right to inspect the process as that is your car. Make sure that they will let you see the car when they are working on it.
They will send out the car to a body shop as the dealers don't have the dedicated paint booth. I will be really picky about this if I where you. Before the repair will be made have a conversation with MB corporate that if ever the fit and finish of the car is not to your liking that necessary compensation should be in order (buy back).
Where do you reside? Which state? You can goto any dealer Benz has and under warranty (if your car is) tell them the bulletin number I mentioned and they shall let you know right there.
I have just seen your post on here and thought I would share the fact that I have had exactly the same issue with a C220. Like you I had the white marks which completely disappeared and then about two months later reappeared which also included the bubbling and is taking it to the garage. My car was only 12 months old and the dealer I took it to in order to get the respray said he has seen a further three this week. I intend to write to Mercedes to understand how such an issue can happen. Very concerned that having been re-sprayed this will greatly devalue the car.
They will strip and repaint if this is a covered defect they told me today. I am concerned about the market value of the car now.
Are they seriously going to strip the entire car to bare metal? That is such a huge undertaking that I can hardly believe it's worth it to them. But if they are, you need to pay attention to transition points because I can't believe they will strip the door jambs, inside the trunk, etc. so they need to make those edges perfect where the old meets new. I do hope you can posts some pics during this process because I and lots of others are curious about what they really do.
And one more thing. You don't so much have to worry about the durability of the new paint as you do defects in it. The factory paint was applied by robot in a high tech room that does not allow dust to enter. Your new paint will be applied by some guy named Elmer in a body shop in a paint booth that gets dust tracked in and out all day. The integrity and cleanliness of paints booths varies widely. But most body shop paint jobs upon close inspection will have a few dust "nibs" in them - pieces of dust trapped in the paint. You need to insect it very closely for that sort of thing.
And one more thing. You don't so much have to worry about the durability of the new paint as you do defects in it. The factory paint was applied by robot in a high tech room that does not allow dust to enter. Your new paint will be applied by some guy named Elmer in a body shop in a paint booth that gets dust tracked in and out all day. The integrity and cleanliness of paints booths varies widely. But most body shop paint jobs upon close inspection will have a few dust "nibs" in them - pieces of dust trapped in the paint. You need to insect it very closely for that sort of thing.
That is the reason why I strongly stresses to the OP to document the entire procedure as I have a feeling things will not look the same. If it is my car and if the entire paint needs to be stripped I am talking first to MB corporate first regarding compensation before the procedure will be done as guaranteed workmanship will not be the same compared to factory done paint job. If they are just doing a panel I think that is fine but if they are stripping the entire car it is a whole different ball game. I just saw 2 mars red being sold at a MB dealership yesterday and one of the cars has this problem and my salesman told me to stay away from it.
Update: My dealer said my paint issue will be covered under warranty. He has yet to inform me if the entire car will be repainted. But he did request the car for about 2 weeks (which leads me to believe that a major task is ahead).
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