Simon Howard

At the start of lockdown around the same time as my 3 year warranty expired on the GLC 350 we cleaned our car and I noticed that the panoramic roof seals had rotted/perished!!

I contacted Mercedes Customer Service direct and they advised me to get the car booked into my local dealer who would investigate and advise on whether it would be covered under warranty...They advised they would be a little more leanient on the warranty terms because of COVID ...Well we eventually managed to get it in yesterday as it required new rear pads & disks and they advised this wouldn't even be looked at as the damaged was caused by birds/rodents!!!

To be honest I've never heard such garbage in my life, in the remote chance that was the case I'd have seen evidence and what possible reason would birds or any other rodent want to chew on the roof seals!! Coupled with the fact there is also a GLA on the drive and previous E-Class Coupe's haven't ever had that issue..

Has anyone else with a GLC noticed problems with the panoramic roof seals and experienced a similar response?

Thanks for your time

SIMON

decorily

Big difference between rotted/perished and rodent damage!!
Which is it?

Simon Howard

Please see attached two images.....You tell me, I just can't believe it's rodent/bird damage.

decorily

WOW......there's a lot going on there in those images.
Is that a 3 year old car?

Simon Howard

Yeap, it was 3 years old at the very end of March and still looks stunning, but quite clearly that hasn't happened over night and in the incredibly unlikely event it was bird or rodent damage I would have seen bits of it on the car and a shed load of bird mess!! And why pick on that one and not the other Mercedes on the drive...Just can't believe it's caused by birds/rodents...No incentive there for them to peck, I generally don't wipe food over the car to entice animals.

Wxchaser

My daughter had rodent damage on a 2017 Hyundai Elantra - where two main wiring harness were chewed through (~$3500 in damage, finally covered by insurance. Damage was done in a parking garage.

Looks nothing like the damage your pictures showed. I am mystified why MB does not use a sliding sunroof cover, only the headliner.

Hope you get satisfaction and they cover it under warranty for you.

decorily

Apart from the damage to the actual seal.....what's going on with all the other damage/marks on the other areas?
Looks like it has been shot up with a pellet gun!

decorily

It seems that certain 'plastic ' parts are being manufactured using some organic elements (soya based?) which is making it appealing to rodents!!

ParjAS

The good news is: Your car is under warranty.
The bad news is: The sunroof is as appealing to rodents as it is to humans 🤣

znoreika

Hi Simon,

I've noticed yesterday that I have exact same issue on my 4yr old glc. Did main dealer sort it out for you?

Regards
Zygi

ParjAS

If it is almost out of warranty you can basically forget it being covered...

AZ MB Driver

That’s one reason I didn’t get a panoramic roof on my GLC. I didn’t want to attract rodents and birds💩. Also since I never opened it on my last car and had to put sunscreen on it to keep the blazing heat out in Arizona.

ParjAS

There is also a really irritating issue with the sunshade where it doesn't block light, no matter the color. The poor AC on the test car was having trouble coping, the one without the pano did way better. So I happily skipped past pano-equipped cars, which is about 70% of the cars they have.

Wxchaser

Agreed - I had to use dark tint on sunroof glass panels (Porcelain head liner doesn't block light well if at all)

ParjAS

How does it do with the tint?

Wxchaser

It is a vast improvement - I don't feel like constant solar flares are invading the vehicle. I used a highly reflective Platinum tint that does not hold heat. For the purpose of darkening the panoramic sun roof it definitely works as intended.