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Anyone in this thread experiencing significant rust along the top of the back door of a G Wagon? Pretty incredible rusting and bubbling of paint along about 2/3 of the top knife edge of the door. My G Wagon is a 2018.
Anyone in this thread experiencing significant rust along the top of the back door of a G Wagon? Pretty incredible rusting and bubbling of paint along about 2/3 of the top knife edge of the door. My G Wagon is a 2018.
I personally haven’t but I know a chap who has. His car is a 2017 (I think) one of the last before the ‘new’ G. He went to the dealer last week and they are replacing the door under warranty. We are in the U.K.
Rust is a perennial problem on the G, even on relatively new ones. Lot's of common areas, including the back door. Just my personal opinion, but I think that because the G is such a low volume vehicle, Magna-Styr has not invested in the same level of rust-proofing equipment/technology for the G that a high volume vehicle would justify.
Rust is a perennial problem on the G, even on relatively new ones. Lot's of common areas, including the back door. Just my personal opinion, but I think that because the G is such a low volume vehicle, Magna-Styr has not invested in the same level of rust-proofing equipment/technology for the G that a high volume vehicle would justify.
The first W463 was designed in the late 70's and didn't change much since then. The metalurgy of the panels was never updated and as such, didn't benefit from decades of quality improvements. There are also design flaws - for example, the weather stripping surrounding the windscreen tends to trap water, allowing it to slowly seep into small cracks in the paint and rust.
Hey OP. I started the thread Eric C linked to. My truck is a 2012 but has been well taken care of and garage kept. Still, rust persists.
A few tips on stopping or slowing rust:
-Keep your truck in a climate controlled garage: Unless you live in a very dry climate, I think this is a must. My G is in a humidity (and partially temperature) controlled garage. I run a dehumidifier whenever the truck is inside, even if it isn't wet. The dehumidifier brings ambient humidity down to roughly 35%, which helps promote drying in hard to reach areas - under the body, panel seams, behind the weather stripping, etc. I also use a fan to circulate air to further promote drying. Remember to crack the sunroof a bit, as water can and will seep past the weather stripping and cause corrosion in the roof area. Opening the roof will allow dry air to get in and wick away any moisture collected in the roof.
-Oil your car: I use WD40 Corrosion Inhibitor. You can also use LPS. The spray displaces water and is chemically formulated to prevent or stop rust. I use the straw and insert it behind the weather stripping on the windscreen and thoroughly soak the area behind there - I spray in several different spots to ensure the oil coats the entire area. I use painters tape and newspapers to tape off the metal surrounding the windscreen to prevent dripping or aerosolized oil from getting on exterior metal. I also oil all the hinges (bonnet, doors), the seal on the moonroof and the rubber gaskets on the rear door.
-Keep your car clean: Keeping your car clean is a good way to protect against rust, especially in the winter. Use a solution of baking soda and water before you soap it down - baking soda neutralizes road salt. Be sure to use very little pressure, as the baking soda will act as a blasting medium. If you don't do an undercoating (LPS is the best undercoating out there, by the way), buy a tool that will allow you to spray the underside of the vehicle. Make sure to really soak every bit of the chassis, especially the underside of the door sills (big problem spot for rust). Learn good car washing techniques and always wash by hand. In a pinch, you can use a touchless car wash. Never use a car wash with a brush - they are terrible for paint. You want to hand wash because a.) it does the best job removing dirt, b.) because it is safest for your paint and c.) you can run fans/a dehumidifier right after to ensure that the truck is completely dry (car wash blowers wont dry the underside, or underneath body panels for example). I would advise washing at night so you can let the car sit in a dry environment overnight to maximize drying.
-Immediately touch up any paint chips: for obvious reasons. The metal on this truck seemingly has no rust protection baked in, so the paint is the only thing that will prevent it from rusting.
Also, would you mind posting a few pictures of your truck in the linked rust thread?
Hey OP. I started the thread Eric C linked to. My truck is a 2012 but has been well taken care of and garage kept. Still, rust persists.
A few tips on stopping or slowing rust:
-Oil your car: I use WD40 Corrosion Inhibitor. You can also use LPS. The spray displaces water and is chemically formulated to prevent or stop rust. I use the straw and insert it behind the weather stripping on the windscreen and thoroughly soak the area behind there - I spray in several different spots to ensure the oil coats the entire area. I use painters tape and newspapers to tape off the metal surrounding the windscreen to prevent dripping or aerosolized oil from getting on exterior metal. I also oil all the hinges (bonnet, doors), the seal on the moonroof and the rubber gaskets on the rear door.
Helpful. Can you share some pictures of this action? How Lon have you been at this? Any issues?
Helpful. Can you share some pictures of this action? How Lon have you been at this? Any issues?
There are a couple of photos in the rust thread - I just posted some last week where I taped off the metal around the door hinge in preparation for lubrication. As for dehumidifying and drying? Well, just get a large dehumidifier (I would always buy larger than is necessary as it will dry air more quickly) and place it in your garage. Most dehumidifiers will have a humidity gauge built in, but you can always buy a $10 mechanical one for redundancy and verification purposes. The dehumidifier I have has a continuous drain and pump feature which allows for automatic pumping of water when the tank is full. I have my pump hose leading outside via a small opening between the garage door and the wall. I use several fans to help circulate dry air...one pointing towards the front windscreen, one pointing towards the rear door hinges and one under the vehicle blowing upwards. As for car washing, there are plenty of youtube tutorials out there explaining how to properly wash a car. A few pointers: Spray down the truck before you wash to remove any large and loose debris. Take a fresh microfiber towel and soak it with a hose (try not to use buckets/dirty water) and apply a liberal amount of car shampoo. Don't rub it into suds as it takes away from the lubrication action of the soap. More lubrication means fewer microscratches from debris. Change the towel frequently (I fold it into quarters and use 10-12 towels to wash the car) to minimize the amount of trapped dirt you're rubbing on the paint. Work panel by panel - spray, wash, rinse. Work from top to bottom - typically a car is dirtier at the bottom and cleaner at the top. Again, this reduces the amount of dirt that is trapped in the towel and the amount of dirt that is rubbed over the paint. Use a good quality commercial degreaser to spot treat the front of the car and the rearview mirrors - this helps to loosen up bug guts, road tar, oils, etc. Again, the name of the game is removing as many potentially scratch-inducing particles as possible. Degreaser also works great on dirty wheels. When you wash the front windscreen, use as little water as possible to minimize water seeping behind the seals. As I mentioned before, use WD40 Corrosion Inhibitor (it is a special formulation of WD40) to spray behind the seals. The straw is too wide to jam back there, so what I do is I take a thin but stiff piece of cardboard, wedge it behind, then introduce the straw while pushing down on the cardboard...this pushes the straw behind the stripping. Use ample spray to ensure that all the metal behind the stripping is coated - top, sides, bottom. For a spot free dry, use No Rinse
to go over all body panels. Use approximately one ounce in two gallons of clean water (you can use a bucket here as the car is clean and you will be introducing little if any debris into the water). Mix thoroughly. Drop a clean microfiber towel in, take out and wring out excessive solution. Gently go over all body panels. It is okay if there is water on the panels once you've made a pass, they don't have to be perfectly dry - that is the purpose of No Rinse. Also, be sure to clean all of your microfiber towels when you're finished. Throw them in a large bucket of water and dishsoap and agitate a bit. Dump the water out, and fill with water a few times to rinse. I suppose you could throw them in a washing machine, though washing machines do typically have warnings stating NOT to put overly greasy items in the machine as it could pose a fire hazard. Make of that what you will.
It takes me about an hour to wash the car, start to finish. It may take you longer at first, though with time and practice you will be able to do it more quickly.
Rust being a perennial problem on any recently manufactured vehicle is really unacceptable. Not having an effective galvanizing process on the magna styr assembly line does not speak well of Mercedes quality control.
this is disturbing. hope this is fixed with more recent models like my 2020
The current G is a ground up, new design. I'd imagine it is built the same way every other Mercedes is. I don't think this is a problem with the factory as much as it is with the inherent design of the truck.
The current G is a ground up, new design. I'd imagine it is built the same way every other Mercedes is. I don't think this is a problem with the factory as much as it is with the inherent design of the truck.
this is disturbing. hope this is fixed with more recent models like my 2020
Time will tell of course; however, I cannot see rust being a problem on the 2019+ models. Mine is kept in an underground condo garage on the beach so mine is surely the test vehicle for moisture/humidity! I have been under mine a couple times already when the wheels and exhaust were swapped and the Indy shop owner even commented how different it looked and he even mentioned specifically the rust issues of the past and that the newer ones should not suffer a similar fate. In regards to the exterior I am sure they corrected the problems around windows, etc. since those are also different.
The first W463 was designed in the late 70's and didn't change much since then. The metalurgy of the panels was never updated and as such, didn't benefit from decades of quality improvements. There are also design flaws - for example, the weather stripping surrounding the windscreen tends to trap water, allowing it to slowly seep into small cracks in the paint and rust.
Yes, indeed, they are a vehicle designed and specified in the '70s so they rust like a vehicle from the '70s.
I've been trying to catalogue all possible rust areas on the 463. I have a 2012 with 62,000 miles on the clock. Despite some aggressive measures to curb rust, a few additional areas (all around the windscreen) have popped up. My rust prevention techniques include a dehumidifier in the garage, WD40 rust inhibitor oil sprayed behind the windscreen rubber gasket, washing the chassis with a soap sprayer and spraying it down with a baking soda solution and limiting exposure to moisture aside from the water used during hand washes. I will have to have a professional shop repair the rust around the windscreen though as the WD treatments don't seem to be working, or the rust was already significant before I started these measures.
Tonight, I was washing around the underside of the doors and noticed that there are cutouts in the sheet metal at the very bottom of the door. On both rear doors, there is mild corrosion immediately under these cutouts. Fortunately, they are hard to see and only present on the inside of the door, though inevitably they will make their way outwards. I shot quite a bit of WD40 corrosion inhibitor into these areas, as well as inserted the straw through the cutouts and to the side to coat the inside as best as possible. Some leaked down the cutout, into the gap between the inner rusted metal and the outer (hopefully not rusted) metal.
Other areas to be concerned about:
The gasket surrounding the moon roof. I have lubricated this with WD and never open the roof (so as not to break whatever seal the WD has created).
The gasket surrounding the XM receiver.
The piece of metal in the middle of the "gutters" at the rear of the car (there appears to be slow moving rust on mine. I lubricated it but there is no way to get behind it with the spray).
All hinges for the bonnet and doors.
Behind the gaskets on the rear door hinges (I inserted the WD straw and just fired away for a good 30 seconds).
The gaskets surrounding the rear three windows (same technique as the windscreen and door gaskets...make sure to insert in numerous areas and spray to the sides to ensure coating off all metal behind these areas).
Under the door sills - still working on a way to get up there with lubrication. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.
Also, be sure to look very closely for rock chips. There are several that I found upon very close inspection. All are less than a mm in diamater and most appear to have corrosion. Instead of covering them with touch up, I put the lubrication on instead. The rust inhibiting compound will hopefully slow or stop any corrosion while driving out any remaining moisture.
If anyone has any other areas of concern, do let me know.
I've been trying to catalogue all possible rust areas on the 463. I have a 2012 with 62,000 miles on the clock. Despite some aggressive measures to curb rust, a few additional areas (all around the windscreen) have popped up. My rust prevention techniques include a dehumidifier in the garage, WD40 rust inhibitor oil sprayed behind the windscreen rubber gasket, washing the chassis with a soap sprayer and spraying it down with a baking soda solution and limiting exposure to moisture aside from the water used during hand washes. I will have to have a professional shop repair the rust around the windscreen though as the WD treatments don't seem to be working, or the rust was already significant before I started these measures.
Tonight, I was washing around the underside of the doors and noticed that there are cutouts in the sheet metal at the very bottom of the door. On both rear doors, there is mild corrosion immediately under these cutouts. Fortunately, they are hard to see and only present on the inside of the door, though inevitably they will make their way outwards. I shot quite a bit of WD40 corrosion inhibitor into these areas, as well as inserted the straw through the cutouts and to the side to coat the inside as best as possible. Some leaked down the cutout, into the gap between the inner rusted metal and the outer (hopefully not rusted) metal.
Other areas to be concerned about:
The gasket surrounding the moon roof. I have lubricated this with WD and never open the roof (so as not to break whatever seal the WD has created).
The gasket surrounding the XM receiver.
The piece of metal in the middle of the "gutters" at the rear of the car (there appears to be slow moving rust on mine. I lubricated it but there is no way to get behind it with the spray).
All hinges for the bonnet and doors.
Behind the gaskets on the rear door hinges (I inserted the WD straw and just fired away for a good 30 seconds).
The gaskets surrounding the rear three windows (same technique as the windscreen and door gaskets...make sure to insert in numerous areas and spray to the sides to ensure coating off all metal behind these areas).
Under the door sills - still working on a way to get up there with lubrication. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.
Also, be sure to look very closely for rock chips. There are several that I found upon very close inspection. All are less than a mm in diamater and most appear to have corrosion. Instead of covering them with touch up, I put the lubrication on instead. The rust inhibiting compound will hopefully slow or stop any corrosion while driving out any remaining moisture.
If anyone has any other areas of concern, do let me know.
This is excellent information, will definitely look hard at these spots. Thank you.
Rust is a perennial problem on the G, even on relatively new ones. Lot's of common areas, including the back door. Just my personal opinion, but I think that because the G is such a low volume vehicle, Magna-Styr has not invested in the same level of rust-proofing equipment/technology for the G that a high volume vehicle would justify.
Not an issue on the new generation (if you have seen it, let us know). The new gen has significant improvements in this regard, including sacrificial zinc anodes on the doors. I posted photos about a year ago.
My 2019MY is parked outside 24/7 in a cold winter environment for 6 months of the year. 13 months in and there’s zero rust, nothing.
Not an issue on the new generation (if you have seen it, let us know). The new gen has significant improvements in this regard, including sacrificial zinc anodes on the doors. I posted photos about a year ago.
My 2019MY is parked outside 24/7 in a cold winter environment for 6 months of the year. 13 months in and there’s zero rust, nothing.
If you can, you should still try and garage it. Being parked outside in NYC isn't good for the finish of any car.
As to your other point, yes the new G is a ground up redesign that should be as durable as any new Merc.
Some shots of a lubrication job I did from a few months ago...
Any kind of aerosolized oil is going to spray, so it's best to tape the area off and work in a well ventilated area. You want to oil the hinge itself and the area around the gaskets. Using a rubber putty knife, gently pry back the gasket just enough to insert the straw under the gasket and oil the entire way around. Also, you can insert the straw further in and spray the underside of the sheetmetal, as rust typically forms around these areas. As I dont have a nozzle that allows for 360 degree diffusion, I have to twist and turn the straw in order to coat the inside of the sheetmetal. If anyone knows where to get a straw that allows for that I would be much obliged. However, I do have a 25 and 50 inch flexible straw made for aerosol cans that allows me some flexibility in terms of snaking the straw in and spraying hard to reach areas. You can find them on Amazon for a few bucks. Also, be sure to check the condition of the gaskets...they become deformed and brittle over time. They only cost a few bucks at your local dealer and can be the difference between water seeping in or staying out.
Ultimately, I think I am going to have a Waxoyl application performed by a professional shop. I was looking under the truck last night and there is a lot of surface corrosion on the chassis. Because I don't have room for proper tools (compressor, air gun, applicators, etc) it will be impossible for me to perform a proper rustproofing job that fully coats/sprays all problem areas including:
-The underside of the door sills. The body shop said the rust there started from the underside and worked its way up. I just can't reach it with the tools I have.
-The backside of the rear sheetmetal. This is where a 360 diffuse spray nozzle is imperative - it sprays oil in a 360 degree, 3D pattern ensuring the entire sheetmetal is completely coated on the inside.
-The entire chassis. Tons of surface rust down there.
-The entire inside of the roof. Rather than just target the moonroof and antenna (front and rear) cutouts, might as well do the entire thing. The seal around the moonroof is subject to degradation and allows moisture inside.
-The seals around ALL windows. As I mentioned, I am going to have take the car to a body shop, remove the front window, and fix all the corrosion around it. The same seal design is also used around the rear windows, so it is safe to assume that they are subject to the same issue of water being trapped behind the seal.
-The inside of the door sheet metal.
This is the rust on my wife's G65 AMG. Its around the sunroof. It's terrible that you pay so much for a car and the manufacturer will not do anything about it. Has anyone else had issues as bad as this? Side of the sunroof Front of the sunroof
This is the rust on my wife's G65 AMG. Its around the sunroof. It's terrible that you pay so much for a car and the manufacturer will not do anything about it. Has anyone else had issues as bad as this? Side of the sunroof Front of the sunroof
