j-mo

Greetings,

My beloved W208 CLK55 is showing some rust on the wheel wells. I know these cars are prone to it, and well....I live in Chicago where the winters are rough. I am exploring options to repair and the bills are large. I've been told, replacing the panels is more costly but I assumed having the body shop due everything plus whatever markup there is on used panels in why. I have looked on Ebay and seeing W208 front fenders for $200. They are used and not necessarily the correct color (my CLK is black) but as long as they aren't rusty I was considering buying and installing myself and then getting them / the car painted. Does this make sense or am I opening some can of worms? I've glanced at some DIYs and it doesn't seem that tricky but there can always be surprises.

The bonus of going this route means that the rust is totally removed from these fenders...as opposed to sheet metal welded in to what was rusty. I would this rust coming back in a year or 2 is fairly likely.

thanks for any input!

JoeJErnst

I would wait until eBay or car-part.com comes up with ones in your paint code and just order them. How good is the paint on the rest of your car? I replaced a dented fender with an eBay purchase and it's now the best panel on the car. I just ordered one with the same paint code as my car and bolted it on.

j-mo

Good idea. I was not aware of car-part.com, sweet! The rest of the paint is ok...all the wheel wells are showing rust but I am not cutting out the rear panels. Good to hear it was simple to bolt on. There are some black ones on Ebay right now.

thank you

j-mo

I just discovered the 'fender liners' on Ebay. Does anyone know if these can be reused if I replace a fender or is it best to buy new?

thanks

JoeJErnst

Those are plastic, so they won't be rusty. Just reuse them unless they are damaged.