maxm

my 1998 E300D at 85K has developed rust, from inside out, around the trunk lock and below the door side moulding. The vehicle is kept in the garaged and always has a coat of wax. Of course living in the NE is always a problem.

I have had three E300's since 1986 and have never had a rust issue.

Is this a common problem on the 98's? What is the best way to treat this problem? Or do I just sell the vehicle?

Your response is appreciated.

MARK CUMMINS

Rust is a KNOWN problem on the W210s. My 2000 W210 Wagon had rust on the doors at 38k California car bought new..never in snow ...Detailed weekly..
was covered under the four year rust warranty..that is a JOKE In Europe Rust is Covered for a LOT longer...Yet another cost cutting Move on DC

stemags

I had rust on the door,like you as well as the trunk by the plate area.Dlr took care of it at 24K miles.Dont feel all alone man.

SpeedyE430

Rust here also at 23K, all four doors (I noticed 2, dealer noticed other 2)
Dealer took care of under warranty & they are now covered an additional 4 yrs from repair date.

Car is from SC & now resides in CA. Hoping for no additional problems, but keeping a watchful eye.

maxm

Thanks for the response. I just fired a letter off to MB, Schrempp Chairman of the Board, to register my concern/complaint. Sucks big time and after 20 years a MB owner it might be time to move on.

I understand this could be caused by the water base paint.

stemags

Thanks for the extension info Speedy,,didnt realize that.Anyone pissed that we even had these things?I know it bugs me a bit.

stemags

Thanks for the extension info Speedy,,didnt realize that.Anyone pissed that we even had these things?I know it bugs me a bit.

RossN

I just bought a 01 E55 and you guys are scaring me!

For those of you that have experienced this problem, can you provide pictures of the Rust Locations?

Also, how did MB repair the rust? Respray or replacement parts?

Many thanks.

stemags

Cant send pics,but can describe carefully..First was the area directly under the rear license plate frame,,it appeared like little bubbles under the frame.Next was the lower portion of the passenger front door,directly below the mirror,under the ding molding,also looked like bubbles in the paint.Dealer sent it to a reputable body shop and the job was repainting the entire trunk,and the entire lower R/F door.Came out fine.Your car should be covered.Look under the door seals,and the areas I spoke about.Good luck.

Brian McL

I just sold my 94 E320 (which I loved) and got a W210. This car has more rust than the 124, with half the mileage. Didn't see it until I got the car home. It is under the LF and RF doors under the weather stripping on the top of the door. Just open the door and peel back the rubber moulding. Also have rust in the rear wheel wells along the top and around the trunk lock. NOT good!! I'm sure there is more! What did Mercedes do to this car? It isn't half the car the W124 was (and I owned 3 of them). Steering and handling are poor.....rust for no apparent reason PLUS they removed the analog clock! I hate this car!

EClassBenz

Hey guys,
I had rust problems on my 99 E320 with 70k miles about 6 months ago. I took it over to the dealer and they explained to me that if your car is under warranty its no prob-they'll fix it. However, if you aren't, a regional manager has to approve the repair. In my case, since I wasn't TOO far off of 4 years, 50k miles, they repaired it. As far as location of the rust, I had spots on the edge of lower passenger side fender, underneath the trunk lock and on the rear passenger side door. Initially they didn't want to fix the lower fender (near the wheel well) They blamed the rust on road conditions (rocks, etc) causing the paint to peel. I fought with them and eventually they agreed to fix it. The body shop was actually not at the dealership. It was a local shop that was "Mercedes Certified" by MB themselves. Two of the local dealers send all their cars there for any type of body work.

This may be a pure coincidence but most of the people I know with w210 rusting issues have beige or similar colored cars. Mine is smoke silver. My other W210 (96 E300D) has no rust on it at all (much darker color) What color cars do you guys have?

-J

Paxfobiscum

Uummm, shouldn't you have checked the car first before purchasing it?

Brian McL

Well....for `what I paid for the car and since I do my own body work I would have bought it regardless. Just surprised the car has so much rust..very surprised.
Brian
PS....I am learning to like it especially after I fixed that annoying squeak in the drivers seat.

SpeedyE430

RossN-
As far as how my doors were repaired...the dealer replaced all four of them.
They said that the rust is comming from underneath the paint & repainting would not remove the problem. The rust spots were small (about 1/4-1") & were located under the seals on the car. Just roll them back & have a peek...my car is white, so it was easy to see. If your car is darker maybe feel for raised spots or use a flashlight to look for changes in texture surface.(??)

Stemags-
Yeah it has pissed me off that we have to deal with this! Shoot, I thought I had finally gotten myself a nice classy car. What an eye-opener. Don't get me wrong, I still LOVE my car, just shocked that I had to deal with this type of thing...living in So CA & all! My MB dealer gave me paper work after they repaired the doors regarding the extended warranty...that is not standard?

Gottimobile-
Not sure on the color thing...maybe just easier to see the rust then on darker cars. I'd look over your darker car very carefully just to be on the safe side!

Just my 2c

stemags

Yeah,,I hear ya man,,I learned to live with it,cause the car is still a blast to own,,blastier to drive,and I do think it is a well made car.Are you saying that its standard to get an extension,or not?I should check in Jan when she goes in for second "A" service.Im gonna be watching the paint real close (now at 32K,28 months in service)from now on.

SpeedyE430

I'm saying that I got an extension in writing from the dealer & "assumed" it was standard, as I didn’t ask for it. He just handed it to me. I'd ask your dealer to be sure. I would think it would be!

Brian McL

..now that's a worry. The only way that could happen is if the metal is bad! That would explain why there seems to be rust in areas unrelated and for no apparent reason......YIKES!!!!

stemags

Will do,,sounds reasonable to me.

maxm

I hate to say it folks but MB has screwed us. It appears by the thread the rust problem is in the same locations on problem vehicles. Lower doors & trunk lock.

I am on a couple of motorcycle message boards and I can tell you what the power of the internet has done for us. Honda had big time problems with their flagship product, GL1800 Gold Wing, when released in 2001. Well they ignored the discussions on the net and had to deal with government recalls and class action suits. Cost them big bucks, they can afford it, but all problems were dealt with and they also provided extended warranties. Now I love my Honda m/c.

It appears the MB forum doesn't have enough strength to get MB off their ***. As the surveys show MB is in the trash when it comes to customer service issue. Right in there with VW.

What can we do? Well I am probably going to sell my MB in the spring but I wonder if we have any lawyers in the group willing to take on a class action suit. I am sure there are many more pissed off owners that will just live with the rust.

Appreciate the input but we need a solution.

Brian McL

To-day I removed all the liners in the trunk, including the top, and you should see the rust. I even removed the plastic covers on the side of the trunk, at the top, they cover the area rain water runs off, lottsa little rust bubbles.
If you got rust around the trunk lock on the outside, when you get the trunk lid cover off have a look inside behind the lock. (remove the lock assembly) My car had it all through that area, on the inside!!. You should also look closely all around the rubber seal on the trunk..I found more rust bubbles....on second thought you may not want to look too closely....it's very worrying.

stemags

Now Im worried.Off comes the rubber tomorrow. MB did screw us,I hear it was due to( in my case anyway) the end of a model style,wanting to use up the paint,and they thinned it out,compromising its resistance to rust.Who knows why,or how.If I ever buy another MB(most likely will)I will be wary.

Brian McL

...and it continues...to-day I removed the tail lights, guess what...yup...more rust!!!!! Have a look.

eLemnt | 0ne

Can someone post pics of their rust problems? I would like to see, if it not a problem

Brian McL

Bought a pair of Xenon headlights for this car and when I removed the old lights guess what....RUST. This was some kinda serious rust 'cause there was actually a hole eaten through a support crossmember right behind the light assembly, not something you would normally see. I then pulled the bottom drip trays off to get a better look from under and "holly cow"...it looks like an 88 Lumina under there!!..very bad rust...like we use to see years ago on cheap imports. I really think I am going to pass this car on.....what did MB do to this model? Is the w211 AS BAD??

Brian McL

Mercedes-Benz, the tarnishing act... by Jeremy Clarkson

For those that don't know, Clarkson is considered a genius and a god over in Europe....so read on....

The tale is recalled by the chief executive of a dealership that sold Mercedes-Benz in London. His salesmen were lounging around the showroom when a small group of menacing-looking undesirables ambled in. They would like to take the AMG M-Class for an extended road test, they said. As the visitors were packing heat, a nervous salesman handed over the keys. The M-Class was never seen again. The chief executive later admitted, "I console myself with the certainty that, sooner or later, the car broke down."
This true anecdote epitomises a major challenge for the car maker with probably the best reputation in the world. Mercedes-Benz's rock-solid image is no longer matched by reality.
In any quality, reliability and customer satisfaction survey, it is generally an average performer, little better than cheaper marques that lack the same elevated status. Sometimes it is much worse. Volkswagen and Audi, two other well-regarded German brands, are invariably middling performers in surveys as well, though Porsches and BMWs are usually well-rated by their owners. Does Germany's fabled engineering expertise bear close scrutiny these days?
The stark disparity between admiration for a brand and the real issues involved in ownership is provided by a survey of over 38,000 members of ADAC (the German motoring organisation) by the AutoMarxx consultancy.
Asked to rank the image of car brands on the market, members put Mercedes firmly top, followed by BMW, Audi, VW, Porsche and Volvo in that order. No other brand was even close. Does one detect a touch of patriotism here? At the bottom, in worsening order, were Daewoo, Lancia, Rover, Subaru, Daihatsu and Suzuki.
However, the tables were turned upside down when members were asked to rate their ownership satisfaction. The top six were Japanese: Toyota, Subaru, Honda, Mazda, Nissan and Mitsubishi. And at the bottom of the chart? In descending order they were: Chrysler, Smart, Fiat, Volkswagen, Mercedes and Land Rover. There have been enough other surveys for Fiat's and Land Rover's positions not to be a surprise. They are the car world's equivalent of junk bonds. The survey's shock is to find Mercedes and Volkswagen competing with them for last place in a country that clearly holds its domestic products in the highest esteem.
While the reports by ADAC and other organisations confirm the superior manufacturing quality and reliability of Japanese brands, they raise serious question about the reputations of some German nameplates. They're not as good as the world thinks they are.



Germany's car makers produce a lot of beautiful, advanced cars that consumers around the world can't wait to buy. Sales of Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Porsche were at record levels last year. The prospects this year look equally good. The appeal is clearly much deeper than quality and reliability. The whole world would drive Toyotas if it wasn't. Design, performance, safety and residual values are important elements in the buying decision as well. And so, more particularly, is prestige. A Renault just won't cut it down at the golf club when a Mercedes-Benz can be bought for similar money.
But there is a weird dynamic in the market if Mercedes-Benz's reputation is still so high at a time when its quality and reliability are so in-different. Is the king wearing any clothes?
The trouble is not imagined. Mercedes-Benz plummeted from fifth overall in the 1997 initial quality survey carried out by JD Power & Associates in the United States to 15th last year. On longer-term reliability, JD Power's US ratings saw Mercedes plunge from top slot at the start of the Nineties to an embarrassing 26th place (out of 36) last year. Jurgen Hubbert, the head of Smart and Mercedes-Benz cars, acknowledged the issue at a conference in the United States earlier this year, when he said the aim was to return to the top of the quality charts by 2006. That's Yes Minister for admitting there's a problem now.
Hubbert said Mercedes has addressed the quality issues and, as each new model comes on to the market, the company will steadily return to its rightful position. At least that's the theory. Seven out of every 10 problems involved electronics, Hubbert said. "Whichever company is in the (technological) lead has the biggest problems," he commented. But Mercedes' problems were more extensive than that. It was simply too stretched to do the job properly.
In the late Nineties, the group embarked on an ambitious plan that totally reshaped its structure and scale. For the first time in its history, Mercedes began to develop new models to pre-determined budgets and timetables. Previously, it worked to what are called cost-plus principles, in which the customer pays for the cost plus profit margin. Cars appeared only when the engineers were satisfied they were right, which could be several months behind schedule. The philosophy all went horribly wrong with the 1991 S-Class and the arrival of much higher standards from other car firms, which made the change decades earlier.
When Mercedes eventually followed the lead, it was just not very good at it. Yet, at the same time, it initiated the development of a whole swathe of additional models, including the A-Class, M-Class and V-Class, together with more coupes and roadsters. The all-new Smart and Maybach projects were launched as well. And it built its first factory in the United States.
Meanwhile, Mercedes' parent group, Daimler-Benz, took control of Chrysler and then bought a major stake in Mitsubishi Motors. Unknown to Daimler, the affairs of both companies were unhealthy, to say the least; including product quality that was well below par. The acquisitions took - and still take - enormous tolls on Daimler management and finances. This was all time and money not spent on Mercedes, whose quality began to suffer as a result.
Like many political and military leaders, Daimler-Benz made the classic strategic error of advancing simultaneously on too many fronts.
These days, though, it is misleading to think in purely nationalistic terms. The global nature of the international motor industry has rendered that concept obsolete.
For example, many of the models contributing to Toyota's number one position in Germany's first JD Power customer satisfaction index were made in Britain and France. The Smart that was the leading 'German' model in the Consumers' Association's reliability survey is assembled in France. The leading 'German' model in the Top Gear/Experian analysis was the BMW Z3, which was made in the US.


Many BMWs, Mercedes and Volkswagens sold in this country are built in South Africa, not Germany. It's not a secret, but none of the companies goes out of their way to explain that fact to its customers. And they, in turn, are happy to believe they're buying German quality.
Elsewhere, we buy Volkswagens from Mexico and Slovakia, Mercedes from Spain and the United States, Vauxhalls from Poland and Australia, Suzukis from Hungary and India and Renaults from Turkey and Slovenia. In the near future, Europeans will have Hondas built in China and Americans will be able to buy Saabs made in Japan and Ohio.
In other words, brand is more important than country of origin when determining car quality. The clever trick by companies like Toyota and Honda is to achieve the same, high manufacturing standards wherever they make cars.
In reality, German firms lost the quality crown to the Japanese manufacturers years ago. The evidence has been public since at least 1981, when Dave Power published his first analysis of car quality in the United States. Since then, a succession of surveys by JD Power and other organisations around the world have regularly revealed how much better made and more reliable the average Japanese car is.
The regular publication of these surveys made public what was previously one of the industry's best kept secrets: comparative data about car manufacturing quality, reliability standards and customer satisfaction. The beneficiaries are all car buyers everywhere, because the effect was to raise levels across the whole industry. For example, the standards of a French or Korean car today are better than those of a Japanese one a couple of decades ago.
The surveys vary by definition, but their results display certain common themes. While, in general, Japanese brands rated best, Mitsubishi, in particular, has some catching up to do. German firms are often only middling performers, though Porsche and BMW owners usually rate their experiences highly. Volkswagen, in spite of its great reputation for solidity, is often below Renault, which has a long-standing reputation for unreliability.
Just as oddly, Volkswagen invariably finishes below the same group's entry-level brand, Skoda. The Octavia finished third overall in the Top Gear survey compared with 106th (out of 137) for the more expensive Golf model on which it is based. Consumers may one day begin to wonder about the wisdom of paying more for a product that is quantifiably inferior.
Fords tend to do better than the Vauxhalls (and Opels) of its big American rival, GM. South Korean and Swedish firms are generally average, but Italian and French brands tend to languish near the bottom of any table.
All too frequently, though, that table is propped up by a certain four-wheel-drive manufacturer from Solihull. Just like some German brands, Land Rover appears to enjoy a charmed existence in the showrooms.
....so there you are...and please no arguments, I just cut and paste his article....
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