alan971

Hi,
I am looking to buy a post-facelift W212 E Class. I've found one in the right spec, car looks fine however, there is one thing that concerns me - half of the under hood sticker (the one with a bunch of 3-digit codes) is missing, as if someone cut it in half. How likely are these stickers to fall off on their own? Am I right thinking that the hood might come from a salvage yard and it's been replaced at some point?
There are no signs of the hood ever being disassembled (no marks on bolts etc). I'm really confused about this... Can I have some opinions please?
Pictures attached.

nc211

That has to be the cleanest and shiniest underside of any engine hood that I have ever seen except for a brand new car. I mean, like freshly painted kind’ve clean. I can’t tell if it’s just glare or white overspray on the hood latch hook itself?

how many miles and age of the car? I mean, that is clean with a perfect shine. Not a spec of anything on it. That would concern me to be honest.

pierrejoliat

Well I clean my under hood four times a year, it is pretty dirty in the spring after winter, but I'm in the snow belt, If your really concerned you could find a local insurance adjuster to scan the paint with his gun, to check for repaint, paint thickness and color match to factory. Without physically seeing it, would be hard to tell if it's a repaint.

alan971

It does look freshly painted doesn't it? It's a 2015 car with 50k miles.
Thing is, the other side of the hood doesn't look like it's been touched, layer has the right thickness (measured with a paint thickness gauge), there are a few stone chips etc. In fact, paint on all body panels has got the right thickness and the car doesn't look like it's been repainted. On top of that, there are no visible marks on bolts, hood struts are OEM, headlights look original (correct date on stickers), windshield is original, no signs of airbags being deployed etc. Forgot to check if bumper foam is still there but probably is. Yet, something seems off about this hood... Maybe it's a well repaired salvage... Or maybe I'm paranoid

That's just glare. Unfortunately, I don't have any other pics

pierrejoliat

If it's done so well you can't tell, Maybe it was transit damaged and fixed on arrival here or was damaged at the factory and replaced there, either way. Were are you located and where is the car from, many climate locations have no weathering, my Arizona car is garaged and looks brand new at 17 years old, underneath too.

bmwpowere36m3

I've had the stickers blow off on the radiator support from pressure washing the engine bay... I think you've checked things that would have been touched or replaced from a front-end collision. If they resprayed it, due to rock chips let say... they likely wouldn't have touched the underside. It would be fairly standard practice to only paint the upper sides and blend the edges... especially if there's no color-change.

bmwpowere36m3

The underside of both our 11's is just as clean... assuming its been washed under there no reason it can't be as its not exposed.

nc211

I totally get the cleaning aspect, but will say whoever cleaned this one, did a fantastic job! It’s not just the paint that looks like new, but the parts as well. The springs, the guides, no dirt or grease or signs of usage. The insulation pad, deep in the corners and crevasses, all sparkly white and clean. I get the cleaning aspect, but wow, that is really really clean!

op I’m sure it’s fine, not trying to frighten you off. But your gut is telling you something, and I’ve come to listen to mine at times. I doubt heavy damage, but maybe some extreme maintenance and upkeep, which is great!

bmwpowere36m3

Also find that paintwork in pictures almost always looks better than in person..

DFWdude

To make this matter more confusing, the same area in my post-facelift 2016 looks nothing like your pictures. It looks like your emissions sticker is missing entirely (isn't that sticker required?), and the half-sticker below is just a mish-mash of numbers on mine... I have no idea what they mean.

And yes, the underside of my hood is messy... I don't floss my teeth twice a day, either.

Left Coast Geek

yeah, my white 2016 has those same stickers in the exact same place.



and that, btw, is what a 33000 mile car looks like that hasn't been detailed under the hood.

DFWdude

Well, I'll posit that the hood is definitely not original to the car. That begs the question of what else has been changed. Is a CarFax not available?

KEY08

I’m surprised you guys would post photos looking like that here.
lol

DFWdude

Well,

LCG, we should start an "Out of Sight, Out of Mind" Club.

pierrejoliat

Geez you guys, I was going to sit on the deck, drink a nice California red and smoke, now I'm detailing two engine compartments first. Good thing I did them end of March.

alan971

Emissions sticker is missing as I'm based in Europe. We don't get that sticker here. Should have said this earlier but didn't realize most users here are from US.
I'm going to get that car checked by a Merc specialist and let you know if he finds any signs of prior damage.
On a side note, this forum is way more active than I anticipated, I honestly didn't expect to get so many replies. Thank you to everyone who's trying to help.

DFWdude

I'm surprised you don't have some sort of emission sticker, because European regulations are just as extensive (if not more) than in the US.

dbldpr

I would say car was in accident and hood was replaced. The stickers do not usually fall off. Something is wrong.

cvx5832

If the hood hinge bolts check out like you say I wouldn't let a clean underside discourage you from a purchase in the least. Here's my '11.

pierrejoliat

Yes! thank you, I wanted to post a picture, but my Cavansite Blue doesn't stand out that well in photos.

Does kind of surprise me how much less effort they seemed to have put in to the facelift's hood sub-structure compared to the "10-'13

S. Madman

Those seemingly random numbers are some of your options. I think on yours have a diamond silver exterior with beige MBtext interior.

S-Prihadi

My market, no sticker at the hood underneath.

I clean my hood underneath at every car washing and including damp cloth wipe for all the dust on the plastic engine covers.
Since I got a turbo and me in hot country, some areas of the hood underneath close to the turbos, the paintwork shows a tiny-tiny bit yellowing.
My car is white.

The rubber seal of engine bay touching the hood will leave dark lines, a tiny bit and most can be cleaned with those bug & tar remover.