I haven't been in this forum for quite a long time but thought to share or gather any info that others may have experienced regarind peeling paint. I have a 2018 E-class sedan with less than 22k miles on the odometer. As I was washing my car today, I noticed the paint on the bottom of the front bumper was peeling off like flakes or for lack of better descriptions dead skins that you can pick off from your body. Is this a well-known or rare problem with MB and how you had handled this issue when you had it?

Hi Alex,

Are you the original owner of the car?
It is quite possible the selling dealer or the previous owner had the front bumper resprayed possibly by one of the mobile repair guys the dealers use
I would have the car looked at by the body shop to avoid any more surprises.

Hi C2 Turbo,

I bought it as a CPO in early of 2020 with about 5k miles. I didn't notice any paint work on it until several days after but it is the rear bumper that has been resprayed and not the front bumper.

Take a picture of the front bumper under fluorescent light to see any paint mismatch between the bumper and the fender panels
Also look at the bumper securing screws and see if they have been messed with
Paint flaking is usually a sign of a respray
You can also ask the dealer to give you the paper work for the certification process which can infact tell you if the bumpers were resprayed or not

MB’s paint, although not as good as it use to be, is still very good. Your car has been repainted, looking at the first picture, looks like there is paint under the paint in some of the chipped off areas.

Home Run! Bulls Eye!

Another CPO disappointment.

Certification allows up to 2 panels resprayed and bumpers are not considered panels. What that means is, a car could have a front bumper , hood and one of the fenders resprayed and still not bring up the paint job. Always, always measure the paint using a paint meter to avoid any disappointments.
The best way to evaluate the paint mismatch is to ask for pictures in the garage or under the fluorescent light which would bring up the color variation.
A paint meter is a must when buying any used car including the CPO cars.

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This car obviously should not be CPO due to the poor repainting job. I have had many cars repainted and never had issues like this. Hard to believe the MB CPO process allow respraying paint over existing paint. This particular paint job is obviously not done right.
the CPO process as a whole since the pandemic has been hit or miss as car dealers try to maximize their stock with CPO. Some CPOs such as this one probably should not have been certified.

Years ago, during a regular service, my dealership volunteered that they "touched-up" my rear bumper due to a minor tap in their parking lot (split paint on a light pole).

It's really impossible to tell when/where bumper cover damage occurs, on the ship coming over, at the Point of Entry depot, on the truck in route to the dealer, or anytime the car is at the dealer. But peeling paint is a sure sign of a poor respray repair.

Please do not hesitate to bring up the issue with the dealership as the job was done sub par and the fact that the car is still under certification. The bumper need another respray so what ever you can get out of the dealership be all bonus. It's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease, right LOL

Hmmm, I wonder if the paint was done by the previous owner of OP's vehicle but OP's dealership didn't bother checking the paint thickness before certifying (yes I know they should had) and not that the dealership repainted it?