LILBENZ230

So my W212 had a run in with a very large buck.. it has quite a bit of cosmetic damage, but I'm sure it will be repairable. Damage to the bumper, grille, hood, right mirror missing, right door dented, right fender buckled backwards into right front door making it hard to open, dent to the A-pillar, dent in roof near sunroof.. no pics as it was dark and raining.

Specifically, though, my question is in regards to the full LED lights. The right side is smashed, and because it was raining, water got inside of it. At first everything kept working but as I drove home warnings started popping up. The usual. First adaptive highbeam assist plus unavailable, then right side marker, then right front turn signal... nothing unusual. The two LED projectors still work, but are so badly misaligned that they're useless. However, before I could make it home the left headlight (which was not damaged) shut down and will not come back on. The DRL and turn signals work on that side but that's it. And the smashed right headlight now will not go off.

My theory is that with so many headlight errors, the car has proactively shut down the left headlight. Does anyone know?

hyperion667

Sorry to hear it: I fawking HATE deer! The bucks rub their antlers on my nice tree's to leave their scent and destroy most of the tree in the process. Have any pics? Sound like you got one GOOD! Hopefully the fawker crawled off and became vulture food.

LILBENZ230

Haven't had a chance to take pics yet. It really doesn't look that bad, but there will be a lot of parts I would assume that will have to be replaced. The hood is tweaked some - misaligned. But the car is not smashed, and not compromised structurally or mechanically. So while I hate to have this much body/paint work done to a CPO car (and I worry about the color match)... there's no way they're writing this off. My insurance company is Geico and they will not hesitate to use aftermarket parts. Last deer I hit did $14,000 damage to a $15,000 Optima and they initially were going to fix it until I pointed out they were going to cost me the remainder of the long warranty with their large aftermarket parts list.

The deer was enormous with a huge rack... got up and walked off like his work was done.

hyperion667

Gad damn deer!!!!!!!!!!!!!

pierrejoliat

Well, I'm glad your OK, that's what matters, my friend hit a deer in his S560 and it was 32k, they fixed it! That is a rare color, I'm worried too! We don't have street lights in our community and we hit a bunch of them, we also cull them occasionally, but that has become more infrequent with the younger crowd [mid-40's] moving into our town, at least until they start running into them. I certainly don't mind a few, butt waking up to a herd of 30-40 laying in the back yard after decimating my perennial beds is frustrating!

Again, glad your Ok, But I know it's frustrating to have happen to a car you really like and would have liked to have kept for a while. We lost my wife's favorite Benz to a golf cart while it was parked, so I feel your pain and wish you the best!

LILBENZ230

Oh I would be perfectly fine with the idea of them writing this off.. but I also know that most likely it can be restored to like new, but the color will probably be a PITA and it's going to need a lot of new front end parts. I will need to check to see what this might compromise as far as CPO goes. Nothing mechanical was damaged, so hopefully that will all be intact.

I just can't figure out why the good light won't come on and the smashed one won't go off now. No amount of restarting the car helps.

Mud

I'm wondering if the damaged light/side shorted out and caused the module to shut down the system.
Can't say for sure on your led system but on my standard lighting there's a common ground that runs thru one light to the other. The lighting and possibly body control module read resistance in the circuit to determine if the system is on, light out, etc. Not sure if there's a CAN or LIN bus to the lights.

You might ask your dealer what shop they use - couple years ago an old lady eased into my drivers door. Luckily she had decent insurance. Required replacement of the entire door with a used door. That was fine with me as it was all MB and it would need repaint regardless. I was concerned over paint match too. I used a shop that was in their list of MB approved facilities. Reason is they have to warrant their work and you can go to MBUSA if it's substandard. And the shop is usually familiar with repair on MB.

The shop swapped all my interior stuff to the replacement door but painted it first. All jambs were done and the paint match was perfect. You'd never know anything happened. But my damage was minor compared to what you have.

In your case I would definitely want an in depth estimate because there's a bunch of wiring stuff everywhere. You don't want to chase gremlins later from an overlooked pinched or broken circuit or network wire. The sheet metal is the easy part, it's what underneath that counts. Even so it sound like an expensive repair, especially with the a-pillar and roof damage. You may find that after adding up the costs they decide to total the car.

pierrejoliat

Yes, I was after a Cavensite Blue car, I found one at Mercedes of Manhattan and bought it, shortly after arriving home I saw someone had left a small mark on my bumper, maybe an inch and a half long and !/8" wide I took it to a friend with a body shop, he says "get a paint stick and live with it, I'll never match that color"

I have a story, we drove our 2007 S550 to a funeral, we had to leave our flashers on during the ride to the cemetery, before arriving the flashers quit, so later that week I pulled the left front headlight to see after checking the bulbs, they were good, so with headlight on the workbench I ran to the store for flux in the car as my wife had taken my car.
I got red dash warnings then the right headlight went out, stayed out until I replaced the left one after resoldering the grounding ring the bulb sits in, in the headlight bezel which had melted from extended use, the right headlight did not come back on until I did the battery disconnect thing for ten minutes or so.

MBNUT1

Cavensite Blue is a very pretty color.

Besides the bulbs being good what guided you to pull the headlight?

LILBENZ230

So there is probably nothing actually wrong with the left headlight on my car.. it moves when I start it but the headlight itself will not come on. Blinker and DRL works fine.

DFWdude

Sorry to read about your encounter with the deer. At least you are OK.

You'll be surprised how well shops can match paint. I backed into a post in a garage once in my older C320, and Service King matched the metallic Desert Silver perfectly.

Sorry I don't have any idea about the cross-eyed headlights. It sounds funny if it weren't frustrating.

pierrejoliat

Yes, I love the blue, daytime, it's blue, nighttime it's black and under the sodium vapor street lights it's purple, I've even been asked "How did you get a tan interior in a purple car?" I use a lot of valets and depending on circumstances, I say" the black Benz"
In the sunshine it's just gorgeous!

Ok the '07 headlight, as I mentioned my hazards were on for 45 minutes on a summer afternoon, they stopped flashing as I arrived at the cemetery and I got parking light out message, I pulled the light socket and the bulb, it was good, but the six o'clock position of the socket had solder drips. I examined the headlight socket in the headlight and found it all melted, so I checked the other side and it had a silver ring all the way around, determining I melted it on the driver side headlight, I removed the headlight and suer enough it had melted. Not willing to buy a new headlight over that, I used solder to fill in the melted away part, put it back in the car and it worked! flashers, turn signals and parking light. Dodged a 1000 dollar xenon bullet! It was still working when I traded it in on the "13 E a year or so later.
I did not have to pul the bumper, just heated the front of the car with a torpedo until it was hot to the touch, unbolted it by the headlight and slid it out, I had done this on my '03 S previously so I was less scared to stretch out the bumper this time, first time I thought for sure I'd rip the bumper and turn a 1000 dollar repair into a 2000 dollar repair.

And p.s. I tried to remove the parking light socket and it wouldn't move so I tried the other side and it came out easy so I went back and forced the left one, I figured something was wrong at that point, then I saw the melting.so the socket had soldered itself to the headlight.

LILBENZ230

Anyone know off hand which of these panels on the W212 are made from aluminum?

pierrejoliat

My understanding is hood, trunk lid, fenders and doors.

correction: magnet sticks to doors and rear fenders.

pierrejoliat

Well, the magnet sticks to all eight doors, roof on the '13 {'12 has pano} and rear fenders, it does not to trunk lids, front fenders or hoods

This may have changed in later models.

LILBENZ230

Okay I finally had the chance to give the car a good look over. The night it happened it was pouring rain, and I was pissed and just left it.. then due to scheduling didn't see it today. It doesn't have a lot of "crushing" so it really is hard to photograph. I will try that tomorrow. What I can see:

-Grille cracked
-Hood rippled above headlight and misaligned slightly
-Right headlight demolished
-Bumper cracked, multiple broken clips
-Right fender buckled/shifted reward. Contact with passenger door making it hard to open and paint damage to the area.
-Deep, small dent in A-pillar - windshield spider-web cracked in this area, definitely unrepairable windshield
-Multiple dents in passenger door
-Passenger mirror cover, turn signal, and glass gone - appears wiring sheared off as well.

The car is going to end up needing so much paint work... guess it was a good thing we planned on keeping it, as it'll be basically worthless after this.

BenzV12

Sorry to hear about it ,glad you're OK .
I wish you have trouble free driving
Keep Safe

pierrejoliat

Well,I was irritated to find out my doors were steel, all this time I thought they were aluminum!

Another story,

In early '94 I sold my first company and decided to buy my wife a new car. I had a '91 190E 2.6.Loved it, so we went and got the '93 300SE, our first S class. following winter she was driving down a straight but hilly road by our house, she came over the top of a hill and there was an accident at the bottom, she could not stop in time as the hill was all ice so went over the 8" curb at the intersection at 30 mph, both front wheels hit the curb at the same time, car ended up 50 feet into the grass, repair estimate was 12k and five weeks, we were both decimated as we both loved that car. Anyhow we got it fixed at 8k miles, she drove it another year, I got her a new one and took that one at 18k miles, I was a road warrior at the time with my first big project for Miller Brewing, I drove that car another 140,000 miles to every Miller in the country, car was serviced at Benz dealers from Albany Georgia to upstate New York, Wisconsin,Texas and California, Had it eight years, then sold it to a friend who kept it another 10, so it's possible to survive and fight another day! Hang in there!

p.s. It was Desert Silver two-tone = GOLD

davidjohnbamber

I would insist that the car be repaired at an authorized Mercedes-Benz body shop.

cetialpha5

Good luck with that with Geico. Had a cracked windshield and they wouldn't budge, said I couldn't get it fixed at the Mercedes dealer. Safelite screwed it up a couple times. First it leaked, then when they said it was fine and wasn't leaking, when they took the pieces off to check it, that fixed the leak but they then broke one of those clips for the roof rack. Oh but first it made noise for a couple of weeks until the glue finally cured.

davidjohnbamber

I was rear ended in a parking lot where the driver was insured with Progressive. It cost them almost $900 to tow my car to a M-B certified body shop. It was well worth having the work done to M-B standards. It's been over 2 years since the accident, and I still can't see any mismatched paint on the work done (used deck lid, quarter panels blended in). BTW my E550 is Diamond White Metallic. About a year ago, I discovered the LR wheel was unable to be aligned within M-B specifications, and reopened the claim. Progressive denied it. A phone call to the Oregon Dept. of Insurance had a fast response, and a check for over $600 to repair it.

pierrejoliat

Getting Diamond White Metallic to the point that only the paint meter can tell, that's pretty f-ing outstanding! WOW!

LILBENZ230

Okay so update..

Dropped the car off at Geico's preferred body shop this morning. I went back and forth on this but I read a lot of posts from @Mike5215 and in the end felt sure about my choice to just use their facility. We have used them in the past including a 2018 run in with a deer in our 2015 Kia Optima Hybrid. That was an interesting case. Georgia is a TLF state, meaning (from my understanding) the damage to the car would have to be 100% of the value to be totaled. The Optima had $9,000 in damage and they valued it at $15,500 and said it would be repaired and even ordered the parts. I contacted the adjuster and told him the primary reason we purchased an Optima at all was because of the fuel economy and the long warranties. The car had 37,000 miles. I asked how would they make sure the warranties were kept intact? The next morning they contacted me that the car was a write-off.

I digress.. anyway two hours after I dropped the E350 off, I was contacted by the body shop and told that due to the electrical issues my car was exhibiting, they were having it towed to a Mercedes-certified body shop in Atlanta to handle everything. They also asked for documentation on the CPO warranty, which I provided, indicating only OEM parts can be used to maintain coverage. It's interesting how hit/miss Geico can be. I almost took the car to a shop I know and really trust, but they are not Mercedes-certified. But Geico themselves ended up getting it where it really needed to be, I guess.

Enterprise felt like they were doing me a solid by renting me a new Chrysler 300. It is slightly preferable to walking. Honestly I have no idea how a 2020 model year V6 RWD car can drive so poorly. It's atrocious.

LILBENZ230

I hate safelite, too. My car's windshield got cracked early this year and that is who Geico referred me to, but I refused. I didn't actually even want OEM Mercedes glass (because I suspected that was the cause of my wiper judder issues), so I still agreed to aftermarket FUYAO glass but installed a local mom/pop place in my town. No issues with the install, no need to recalibrate the camera, and the FUYAO glass was actually superior to the OE glass in all ways I could tell. The car was both quieter and the wiper judder was gone.

Now the windshield is broken again.. I have a feeling it'll end up with OE glass this time since they asked for CPO documentation and it's at a Mercedes certified place. Here's to hoping no chattering.

MBNUT1

Yeah the pictures of that blue in the daylight is what prompted my pretty color comment.

Props on the heating the bumper to save having to pull it. Kind of ballsy but sounds like it worked out fine.