JLLG

For those of you that have had rust repaired, has any rust returned in those areas? These areas include the trunk lock area, doors below molding, tail and head lights. I am mainly interested in those that actually repaired the rust as opposed to total panel replacements.

Betty

JLLG....It seems that these areas are the usual rust spots...We have seen a W210 with quite bad rust on the wheel arch because of badly fitted mud flaps...The boot lock rust we think is casued by water getting in behind the Tag/plate...screw holes...ours dosnt have rust here but there again it does have sealent around the tag/plate screw holes...we noticed this when we changed the the plate recently...perhaps they did this on the 1999 model...we do have signs of rust around the bottom passanger door corner rubber...not done anything about other than tuch up so far....

We thought buying a Merc would be a good choice as its states in the handbook it has a 25 year rust warrenty...seems thats a joke

Betty

stemags

Ive had the trunk painted(rust bubbles near the plate) and the lower front passenger door under the moulding(more rust bubbles) and so far,no sign of return 1 year later.BTW,they're painting my right front fender as we speak,because some MB nitwit scratched it during my last oil change.

maxm

As I reported in December MB approved the repair of the rust problem on my 98. I had the reported rust around the trunk key, MB was aware of that, and four seperate areas on the doors. Just got the car back, after 3 weeks, and it looks great. How long will it last? Good question and I will watch it very carefully.

maxm

BTW where did you see 25 year rust warranty? MB is only 4 years. Even the new VW is 7+.

JLLG

Did you have an extended warranty so that MB covered the repairs?

maxm

No extended warranty on the rust issues. Just gave the old NJ shuffle and pleaded my case to the service mgr.

99E320_Bilal

The car is only about 4-10 years old, and rust devloping? My God!!!!!!
I have a 1996 BMW 318i with no rust, and it has been through 9 winters.
Even my old car, 1986 Audi 5000s didn't even show one sign of rust, and that was when the car was 13 years old !!!!!!!!!!!
QUALITY FOR MERCEDES-BENZ HAS GONE DOWN, THERE NOT WHAT THEY USED TO BE !

I don't know why my mother likes the Mercedes-Benz E-320 so much, problems since day one, and now i have to look out for rust. The day my family wants to trade in the E-320, that same day i am going to trade it in for 2002-2003 BMW 530I (E-39). This car looks disgracful in front my BMW 528i.

samsmith

here's what i did when i repair the rust in the car's body panel. first is to remove the rust chips, scales and paint flakes on the rusted body panel. then cut out the panel areas that have rusted on both sides to remove metal that has rotted. clean the exposed metal areas/ i use a 60 to 80 grit sandpaper to scrape the solid metal down to a rust free shiny metal appearance. clean the body panel with soap or car washing detergent. patch the rust holes starting inside of the panel. allow time for the body filler to cure. apply paint primer coat and complete the initial body panel repair. i learned this from the michigan auto repair shops body panel specialist.

E320User

Its the type of paint that MB used on the W210's which made rusting easier, you just need to wash the car more often haha

The best way to improve rust repair longevity and rust prevention is to wash your E-class once a week in the winter time (even an automatic car wash is good enough) and give it a very thorough wash as soon as all the snow and crap wears off. Where I'm from I wash it once a week in the winter and about once every week to two weeks in summer cause of the rain, the reason why u should wash your car thoroughly in the summer time is because the hot weather increases the reaction rate of the salt and other crap on the metal and makes rusting faster (especially if you have stone chips, and paint dings and in the wheel well should be well washed)