MNJohn

My understanding that Mercedes' rust warranty is just part of the standard 4 year MB new car warranty.

For those of you who live in the "rust belt " of the US and drive your MBs during the winter, what is your experience on how resistant the MBs are to rust?

My concern is that MBs may not be very well rustproofed otherwise MB would offer a warranty similar to Audi or Porsche (10+ years).

Thanks,

John

GDawgC220

I don't have an E-Class, but my family hasn't had a major problem with rust before. We had a 1985 Audi 5000 and that had rust on it's body, showing after 13 years.

So far in the current collection of cars, everything has been pretty much fine. My car (c220) is almost 10 years old and the only rust on it is from rock chips that have gone through the paint (small chips) not noticible unless looking hard. Other than that, no visible rust on the body.

I've checked all the other cars and no rust either. If you take good care of the car (washing, waxing, underbody rinses) you should be fine.

-G-

jim256

The best survey is look at all the older MB's in your area and see what you find. I'm at the ocean, and see no rust until you get back to the W123's, which are now 20 years old and didn't have the coatings of today.

I believe Porsche and Audi have had to tout their warranty because they used to have a big problem.

lig

Are there any modern cars that have a problem with rust? I can't think of any offhand...

I agree that decent maintenance like rinsing should pretty much keep your car from rusting.

Personally - I keep my cars for a long time and I am a bit nervous about my W211's electronics over the long haul.

jim256

lig: reference the electronics, it's not just MB but it's nearly all the cars I tend to consider. Maybe Audi and Saab have a little less leading edge technology, but the rest just won't be repairable after the warranty expires. When your turn signals are activated by a LAN signal running through flat wire, you replace it or forget it. Imagine the cost of all these gateways which will ultimately fail? I don't know the solution, but I now just accept that when the warranty end approaches, I need to get a new car. (That's not all bad for me but 4 year old E's without Starmark will be hard to sell I expect.)

lig

hehe... Jim - I shudder to think of how much $$$ it would take to troubleshoot/replace that stuff out of warranty.