MBWorld.org Forums - Hello from SW Florida

My wife and I purchased our first Mercedes two weeks ago and absolutely love driving it. It is very low mileage one owner 2014 C 350 with sports suspension (486), AMG spoiler package (772), AMG 18" wheels (782), and Sports package (952) painted Fire Opal Red.

We are long time Porsche owners (many different 911 types) with a fair amount of track time. Before the Porsches we were American Muscle Car fans with a bit of drag racing experience. And, I have done hundreds of thousands of miles on sport motorcycles including several trips across the United States and up to Alaska. I have also done a bit of autocross work in full race VWs, a 1972 911T and an old AH 100.

My brother, who lives a few miles from us, is also a long time Porsche and Motorcycle racer. He recently built a tube frame Brunton Stalker (Lotus Super Seven) from the ground up and installed a supercharged, chipped, aluminum V-6 putting 325-HP to the ground. We were big hits on the SW Florida autocross circuit with that car, which weighed 1725 pounds on a certified scale! Brother is now a hard core BMW owner with three lightly modified Beemers. He was "very disappointed" when I purchased the C-350 but, after driving it a few miles is very impressed with the ride, handling, and quality.

Last Saturday the Mercedes broke my heart!

The dreaded clear coat micro-bubble (Bulletin LI 98.00-P-058914) made it's first appearance, just 8-days and 300-miles after we bought the car. Today, every body panel is covered with the micro-bubbles and the car actually twinkles in the sunlight! And, three small bits of paint have chipped off the flat surface of the hood, exposing white undercoat. The defects are glaringly obvious from a distance and even more so up close. The car is parked in a large air-conditioned garage when we are not driving it.

I've owned dozens of semi-custom and full custom cars with expensive paint work but never expected to suffer such a paint problem in a stock, low mileage, one owner Mercedes-Benz. We purchased the car from the Mercedes dealer who leased it for three years to the first owner, so I hope that Mercedes dealer will do something to help us.