O8 C300 sport 4matic Stuttgart 01/08

 

I went to the dealership for an estimate. $4,840!!
So much distaste!

 

Can the subframe be identified by a batch or serial number in any way to determine if all are the same or just a batch made in a certain factory-?

 

Good question! If I get under it myself to replace this piece of junk, I'll take pictures and look around.

 

2012 with 92,000 miles

 

It took almost 2 months to get new subframe for my 2010 C300 4matic. No one had it in USA . Dealer ordered new one to be build in Germany. Cost around $1200 for that part. Now car is being serviced by local mechanic to get subframe and rear break lines replaced.

 

Folks, it will help others reading this thread when you post photos to include the location/region. Rust and corrosion is highly location specific with extremes in the US going from upstate New York to southern Arizona. Similar in Europe comparing Scandinavia with the Middle East. These vehicles see vastly different conditions across locations.

 

This is really good advise because cars driven on heavily salted winter roads will deteriorate much faster than cars that are in warmer climates and never driven on heavily salted winter roads. I still just can't get over that MB used galvanized steel for the W204 sub frame. Talk about a dangerous, cheap shortcut. Shocking to say the least.

 

Happened to my dad's 2012 c300 with about 140k on it. Car used in WV and Ohio. By how consistent it is between both sides I'm betting an expert could call out an exact design/manufacturing flaw. Replaced the brake line with it as well due to a few oz of fluid loss, never identified exact spot but we think something happened when the bracket let loose.

Called mb customer service which offered nothing, guessing this needs to kill some people before it'll get their attention. They're going in the trash can with Cadillac in our family.

Dealer quoted ~3600. Paid 1400 in parts and about 600 in labor at indy to get it fixed.

 

Bought the car new in 2010. Always garaged. No accidents and well maintained. 120,100 miles. Felt an odd movement when breaking and a squeaking noise when in motion. Thought it might be my brakes or wheel bearings, but was floored to find when I took it to my local shop. The Subframe is rusted out and separated completely. WTF? How can this happen? I can’t believe Mercedes or the NTSB has no recall on this dangerous situation. Got a quote from the dealership who I bought it from, Loeber Motors north of Chicago, of $7122 + tax, yah that’s right, couldn’t even round down to $7120 or add tax. Unbelievable! Now trying to figure out what to do with this. I can’t image accidents have not been caused by this derelict use of materials in the subframe. Mercedes must be keeping it hush and paying off any suits not to have a major recall.

 

Was it was maintained by yourself or at a dealers garage either way that level of corrosion does not appear in 12 months and should have been
easily visible when the car was on the hoist for the last 2-3 years.

Design process flaw or not all that corrosion it did not all happen at once and I would bet that both arms did not brake off at the same time either.
Do you think it is worth having a serious conversation with your service provider.

I think for the replacement one if the external surface is good then a few cans of corrosion preventive sprayed up the inside would be the go, if external surface not so good sand blast and repaint first.

 

After it went out of warranty it was serviced at independent shops. With that said, even if the dealer did find issue with the subframe they still would have charged for the fix, and it’s their brand! This is a serious flaw in the metal composition. I think what I’ll do is sit on it a while until I can find a reasonable solution, and put together a one page flyer and hand them out to everyone I see with the similar makes. I may hand them out at the dealership, that I bought the vehicle from, as I’m getting my complementary car wash. It’s very important to warn others about this dangerous problem they may have and that Mercedes is at fault. I’ll also be doing some other awareness on social media. It’s insane that this is an obvious issue and others are reporting it too.

 

I don't mean to sound unsympathetic but in your particular case, if you've been driving your car on salted winter roads for 11 years, rust is a known problem for all vehicles. This kind of damage is why it's so critical to not let rust causing salt brine to sit on your undercarriage for long periods of time without washing it off. Most car washes in winter climates have undercarriage washing capabilities and washing a vehicle driven regularly on salted winter roads in the winter on a regular basis is a must to try to help slow down the rust process as are the application of protective oils. Neither will eliminate rust but they can help to slow it down. Getting 11 years out of a sub-frame being regularly driven on salted winter roads in winter is a pretty good result. All cars driven regularly on salted winter roads in the winter time will rust but it's just a question of how fast they rust. I do agree that whomever you had maintaining the car should've been regularly inspecting the undercarriage to look for such rust damage. The damage your pictures show happened over time and not all of a sudden. Watching out for rust damage needs to be part of the routine for all vehicle owners who regularly drive on salted winter roads in the winter time. Now if your C class was say 2 or 3 years old and had the kind of rust damage you're noting, I would be far more concerned about a design flaw but not so much on a car that's now 11 years old. It's likely that if the car was 2 or 3 years old, the warranty may well have covered it.

 

I don't mean to sound unsympathetic but in your particular response sounds like you work for the PR arm of Mercedes, blame the victim. This C300 was washed as normally as my other cars. The C300s that came out of South Africa and the rear subframe has serious composition issues in the metal. Either to thin or cheap manufacturing from China. It’s a disaster for some family driving down the highway and one of these poorly and known issues by Mercedes kills them. This is bad and to say it’s because I didn’t wash my car is so incredibly insensitive to the problem, it’s avoidable. I washed the car regularly. It had tires changed, alignments done and was serviced regularly. Sorry it wasn’t done by the dealership, but I doubt they may have seen the problem. Even if they did, they would have charged me for their brands incompetent ownership of the problem. I’m sure you will respond with another blame the guy who should have maintained his car more properly by taking it to the dealer. That’s what you do. Cover your *** for the brand. Why don’t they do the right thing and recall!!! These cars are dangerous!

 

Had your car been less than 5 years old, I would agree with you. Please find me another 11 year old car that's regularly driven on salted winter roads that's rust free. You won't find one. You claim you wash your car regularly. Do you regularly and thoroughly wash the undercarriage? I saw no mention in your post of you washing the undercarriage. Washing the undercarriage is crucial to slowing down rust. Do you use any of the protective undercarriage oils that are now on the market to slow down rust> I saw no mention of that either. Anyone who drives their vehicle regularly on salted winter roads should always monitor the undercarriage for any kind of rust damage and to repair any rust damage found immediately before it gets any worse. I consider it part of car care 101. It sounds to me like you never monitored the undercarriage of your car or requested that your repair shop look for rust in the undercarriage. Had you been looking for rust damage all along you could've spotted and repaired the rust damage much sooner and before it got to such a catastrophic state. It's called common sense for living in a winter climate. I've lived in a winter climate and I was taught to look for rust damage on a regular basis.

 

I have been using this board for as long as we've had our 2008 C300 that we bought new but I haven't felt compelled to post until now. I am currently dropping the rear subframe out of the car due to the above mentioned failure at the thrust link connection. I'm not sure that this is just ordinary rust. I've thought about chopping some coupons out of the weld areas and bringing them into my lab but that wouldn't accomplish much. Given how these frames fail under stress I decided to open a case with NHTSA. If they get as many cases open as I've seen posts to this thread then they might look into it. It won't solve our problems but it could shed some light on whether this is just another case of woe from the rust belt or not.

 

Rusting structural components are no fun, for sure. Other vehicles, namely the well-regarded Toyota 4Runner, suffer from structural rust. In the case of the 4Runner it is the main frame members. It happens, unfortunately.

 

This is concerning.. I'm in the market to buy a 2010-2011 C300 W204 and this is turning me off!!
For W204 owners in California, do you see the same issues with subframe cracking or rusting??
Is this issue only affecting those who are in the rust belt?

Is this problem across all model years of W204??

Hoping to get a response soon as I'm planning on buying a W204 real soon.

 

I would have the car put up on a lift and a detailed inspection done. Structural rust problem is part of the vehicle's design. It shows itself in more severe salt environments, such as the northeast. Southern and southwestern cars may never experience the structural rust problem, but the design is the same. Those warmer, drier markets simply don't have the corrosion environment (salt).

If you buy a W204, it's nice if it spent its life in a warm, dry state. And is inspected on a lift prior to purchase.

 

An interesting document from North Wales Police in the UK made available under the freedom of information act .




Wether this turns into a full safety recall because the laws of the land can be most strange !

Now it's been 3 years since getting the early facelift 204 and it kinda was unheard of , but now I'm hearing a concerning growing number .

Full dealer history and most of the time it gets replaced under the 30 year corrosion warranty , some void blaming exterior corrosion and nothing for those who haven't been to the dealers .

 

I joined this forum because today I tested a low miles 2011 C300, looks mint inside out, engine bay and undercarriage.

I will certainly take the car inspected on a lift.

Besides the horrible Atari like radio display, the only thing that I could not figure out, it had a minor vibration at idle. Does not seem to be a engine mount, imo, could be a combination of cheap gasoline and needs new spark plugs.

 

South Africa C300 2011

 

Seriously? So many cases of these rotting Mercedes structural members, just in this forum alone, but you think its an attack on Mercedes? Or are your comments meant to negate the complaints themselves.

Add one more to the list.
I have a 2011 South African C300 which is in otherwise beautiful condition and less than 80K miles (bought it with 65K). First it was the transfer case which had a poor quality gear metal composition ($3500) and now the rear left lower control arm bracket breaking off suddenly causing my wife and I to veer towards oncoming traffic. Upon inspection, the issue with the sub frame is not only defective metal but also material that is WAY TOO THIN a gauge for the service expected of these parts. Too thin to even weld and repair I am told. Heck, the welds are thicker and stronger than the thin press formed metal brackets that are supposed to handle years of extreme stresses.

This issue is FATAL to the car making it UNSAFE for service. It may also be fatal to life and limb, either to passengers or bystanders.

VERY DANGEROUS ISSUE HERE!

Note: Have your car's undercarriage checked regularly (at least once a year).
Especially if you are having unusual tire wear (scalloped surface) and vibration on your rear tires.
Car seems to be pulling off to either side too easily.
Noises in rear when braking forwards or backwards, etc.

One of the greatest issues the world is suffering from is P.O.S. (Planned Obsolescence Syndrome). Fix this and you save economies and ecologies.

 

First, I am glad you’re ok. This is a new level of scary that folks are reporting issues like this weekly and almost daily. sHOCKING that MB is not doing and standing behind fixing this issue!!!

 

Hello, please how did you know the right parts to buy on eBay? My mechanic is quoting $2500 to fix the rear subframe and control arms. They also said I need to buy two tires and fix the front brakes.