First Dent
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Joined: Apr 2003
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From: Kansas City
2007 E350 Sport Obsidian Black & 2005 Cadillac Escalade
First Dent
Well I now have my first dent in my brand new car. Why is it Mercedes cars seem to dent extremely easy? As my friend got out of the rear passenger side, the door almost closed but he finished closing it by pushing with his hand & next thing I see is a nice dent in the top portion of the door. Being a black car it's more noticable not to mention that dings absolutely drive me crazy. I had this same problem on my 2003 benz as it would dent extremely easy just by shutting the trunk w/ the palm of your hand. I learned to use the license plate but others had no idea. What is the outer skin of the new benz. Is it all aluminum. Our Cadillac Escalade & previous Seville never dented this easy. Guess I'll be calling my Paintless Dent Removal guy tomorrow. It's not that bad, but I know it's there so it's gotta be fixed. 
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Joined: Dec 2006
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From: Poplarville, Mississippi
2006 E320 CDI
The wife and I went round and round about similar things. Our 320 is Black and I asked her to close the door with the handle and to please not touch the paint. She decided I was being too picky. Then she went to a casino on the coast and when she got home there was a deep scratch on the passenger side rear bumper. She said that it must have been the parking attendant. At that point I bought a nice car cover for the car, parked it in the garage and asked her not to drive it until I got the scratch fixed. Three months later she still has not driven it again! Hopefully it will stay that way. Ed B
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Eurocharged 2004 E500, Eurocharged ECU/TCU 2005 SL600, 2010 Caddy SwaggerWagon
Getting your first dent is like popping a girls cherry. The first one's the hardest but all the rest are easy as pie!
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Well I now have my first dent in my brand new car. Why is it Mercedes cars seem to dent extremely easy? As my friend got out of the rear passenger side, the door almost closed but he finished closing it by pushing with his hand & next thing I see is a nice dent in the top portion of the door. Being a black car it's more noticable not to mention that dings absolutely drive me crazy. I had this same problem on my 2003 benz as it would dent extremely easy just by shutting the trunk w/ the palm of your hand. I learned to use the license plate but others had no idea. What is the outer skin of the new benz. Is it all aluminum. Our Cadillac Escalade & previous Seville never dented this easy. Guess I'll be calling my Paintless Dent Removal guy tomorrow. It's not that bad, but I know it's there so it's gotta be fixed.
I had once quite a bad ding on the door of my W211 and the paintless dent removal guys still fixed it perfectly. If the ding is made by a hand push, it must be ten times easier to fix than mine, go for the treatment.
Weight is such a significant issue today, doors are not made soft only to save costs. It probably is the opposite, the steel/aluminium that has enough strength at the allowed weight, may be more expensive.
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From: Kansas City
2007 E350 Sport Obsidian Black & 2005 Cadillac Escalade
Also I noticed from the day I picked it up that when eyeing down the sides of the car there are significant dents under the front door handles. This was also on my 2003 C-Class. I checked out all the new Mercedes on the car lot & they too had these dents. Again it's more noticable on black. My paintless dent removal guy said he has fixed many of these for new owners & that Mercedes seems to be the worst for allowing a certain percentage of dent in the panels. It's from where they stamp out the door handle. Absolutely love my car, I just wish they'd perfect the exterior panels.
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From: Kansas City
2007 E350 Sport Obsidian Black & 2005 Cadillac Escalade
OK I just went out & did the magnet test. The magnet stuck to the roof of the car and all 4 doors & the rear fenders. It did Not stick to the hood, trunk or the front fenders. Hmmm, there goes the theory that the doors are aluminum as they dent easily... 
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From: SoCal
Subway
I noticed that mb's build quality is different than their older ones. My 99 E320 is really heavy duty and feels sturdy but on my dads cls, there is more flex when you push down on the hood etc. I can bend the front bumper with my hand also.
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From: Vancouver, BC
2015 E250 BT 4M
aluminum body panels
Hood, trunk lid and front fenders are all aluminum to save weight and thereby reduce fuel consumption.
However, BMW went much further with E60 5 Series, where the entire front structure of the car is made of aluminum, to reduce weight and to favour a better front/rear weight ratio. BUT, there is a big potential downside to the Bimmer's aluminum front end; it's extremely expensive to repair. Once damage goes beyond the bumper stage to structural with an E60, the damage repairs start at $25,000 !!!!
Last edited by DerekACS; Jun 4, 2007 at 07:55 PM.
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A weak spot with the W210's is the front fenders. The metal is VERY thin. Just leaning against them will cause dents. I encountered this while working on my older 1997 E420 with a fender cover, as if I was working on my SD. I never get dents in those old boats from stuff like this.
