I have a 2015 SL400 in Mars Red. I have followed the class action lawsuit and the resulting Settlement. Yesterday, I took my car to my Mercedes dealer, and he verified and certified that my paint was indeed peeling and bubbling. He referred me to two CERTIFIED by Mercedes paint and body shops that are authorized to do these 'repairs' under the extended Warranty stemming from the Settlement.

Today, I spoke with one of the Certified shops, and he explained he was very familiar with the Mars Red paint issue, and owners of these cars :-). He explained very nicely the work involved, which includes, per Mercedes instructions, removing ALL the Mars Red paint, after removing the doors, hood, truck lid, etc. AND removing all the glass (!). A glass shop comes in to remove the glass. Then, the sanding, the base coats, and ultimately the clear coats. Lots of hours. Takes about 4-5 weeks!!

This shop has done several of these warranty claims, so he was very knowledgeable. In fact, he did one just last week. In short, he advised the total cost will be between $15-18,000!!! Yikes. I have to pay half of whatever the totla cost is, and Mercedes pays the remaining half. Man on man, that is a lot of dough for an old retired guy like me.

The car has 38,000 miles, and is in very good to excellent mechanical condition. Everything works as designed. The only problem is the peeling and bubbling paint and clear coat.

What do you guys think, should I pay this rather exorbitant price to repaint my car???

I am 3rd owner, and I paid about $37,000 last Fall. I have put in about $3,000 in repairs and service since I purchased last Fall. She has always been well serviced by Mercedes dealers.

I really like the car, but with the repairs, and now the paint job, I will have as much as $47,500 in the car, depending on the final cost of the paint job. And this car is 9 years old.

It won't be worth $47.5K after I pay for the paint job. But she will be in near perfect condition.

Dilemma, dilemma, dilemma.

Advice, comments are welcomed. What is my best course of action?

Joe

 

1. Buying a car as an investment is a BAD idea. You buy the car because you enjoy it. So, whatever you put into it should not be seen as any kind of monetary return on investment.
2. I have a 2014 C350 with the pant flaking on the front bumper only. I will not be getting it repaired if they have to do everything you said. I may one day take it to a paint shop and have them do just the bumper.
3. I would have serious concerns about disassembling the car and reassembling it, especially for an SL with a Vario roof. But that's just me.
4. Being retired and on a fixed income, I would not put $8000 or $9000 into the car for cosmetic purposes.

Did you get any kind of notice through the mail or just decided to go to the dealer about it?

 

I’ve said this in another thread: The lawyers representing the vehicle owners did an absolutely horrible job for their clients. The way this “settlement” is structured, MB may actually MAKE money on the repaints. All repairs should be performed at ZERO cost to the owners, no matter what AND the owners be provided with a car of similar caliber as a loaner while the work was being done.

Mercedes-Benz should be utterly ashamed of themselves! They had the chance to step up to the plate and do the right thing, but they instead lifted their leg and pissed all over their customers.

Anyway, to the OP: I wouldn’t want my car completely dismantled as you describe, as I just KNOW that the process will create many other issues. I would have a body shop do a quick sand & respray and I’d sell the car. Or, just sell it as is and find a DIY guy who wants to fix it up himself.

I feel for you folks and if I was embroiled in this mess, I’d be looking at suing the class action attorneys. They absolutely did not have their client’s best interests in mind when they agreed to this ridiculous “settlement.” Best of luck to you.

 

...or, if you lived in Florida, you could simply wait until someone rear-ends you (check), brake checks you (check); sideswipes you (check) and then the repairs will cover to respray, bit by bit. Talk nicely to the body shop management and ask them while they're at it to do a little extra to include adjacent areas not directly affected but needing a respray and I found they'll do it for way less than a separate job quote. CarFax will of course have a record and that'll not do the resale value any favours but, as mentioned earlier, you shouldn't really buy one of these for 'investment' purposes. Use it and have fun with it. This is my third SL and I've didn't recoup the original cost of the previous two – not did I ever expect to.

 

Thanks for the advice. :-). I had thought of that, maybe accidentally driving it off a cliff!! Kidding.

I never buy cars, trucks, or boats as an "investment." The only thing I buy expecting a ROIC is stocks, and on those I have been lucky and done nicely. Cars are a "cost" item.

To follow up, I have decided to forego the complete paint job for various reasons, not to mention the $9,000 cost to me, but also the 'required' dismantling of the car body, including all the glass, and the probability that would lead to other problems down the road.

For now, my compressed air blowing the peeled clear coat, then polishing the area, then waxing the area looks real good (the paint color has not faded). Albeit, edges are detectable upon close inspection. Eventully, I will most likely take her to a reputable paint shop and have the entire body lightly sanded and then clear coated. Then, likely sell her, as some one here recommended.

Thanks guys for the helpful insights and recommendations. Meanwhile, I love driving my slightly cosmetically imperfect SL. /Joe

 

Sounds like a good idea to me. If the paint under the clear coat is in good condition, it would seem a new clear coat might cure the problem, for all intents and purposes.

 

Why in the world would you do this for someone else's pleasure? If you plan to EVER get the paint repaired, do it while YOU can enjoy it.

A few years ago, we thought of selling our house and thought that updating the kitchen would increase the sale value. The update was simply to replace all the appliances with ones newer and matching. Unsure if we were going to sell, I initially thought to hold off until we made a decision to do it. I then thought, "Wait! I want to enjoy the new appliances. Why put up with my old ones when I could be enjoying new?" So, we got new appliances and never put the house up for sale.

 

Ah ha! Good thought JettaRed. Thank you, that's a very good idea. Much appreciated.
Semper Fi,
Joe

 

100% agree. I bought my SL 5 years ago when it was 4 years old with a little warranty remaining, paid $42,500. I went to a few shops to get quotes for ceramic coating and every one of them noted the hood had been repainted badly and would need to be repainted before any coating. I had cracked, fixed, and recracked a wheel in my first weeks of ownership so I "invested" about $3000 in new wheels and tires and decided to live with the milky looking hood, which eventually started peeling. For 5 years I would park under a tree hoping a branch would fall on it but this past spring I bit the bullet and got it repainted out of pocket. Cost me $2600, about twice what I guessed it would be, as I had collected some scrapes and cracks along the bottom of the bumper. Oh well, lol, it's only money! I can tell you that my pride of ownership has increased immensely, and while the repaint likely increased my resale value, that only matters to me if I decide to spend more money to upgrade to a facelift model with the 9-speed transmission and Apple CarPlay. Until that happens (or doesn't) these investments, like a recent $50,000 kitchen and a $30,000 bathroom, pay just one crucial dividend: my pleasure!!

 

I have/had a mint 40k milage 2014 E550 Cabriolet that a co-worker turned to soon pulling out of the parking spot in a Ford dually and ripped the front bumper off like a bandaid, one headlight busted and a few other miscellaneous parts, estimate to repair was 12k. Insurance tried to total with a payout of 16k for a car worth 25 to 30k not to mention the value of the actual perfect appearance and mechanical condition.
Fortunately one of the executives stepped up a d told the Insurance agent to cover it. I still have it though, just not flawless.

Point is if you get in an accident you likely will not get paid enough to replace it without a long drawn out costly battle.

Had same experience with my CLK550. But not my employer to help.

 

Sounds like a good company to work for.

 

Last month, I sold my 2015 Mars Red SL 550, quick sale, because of the paint issue, and it was having issues, and I am glad that I did. It was classic red exterior and beige interior. I had always planned to upgrade to an SL 63, and I am happy to announce that as of today I am the proud owner of a 2018 Polar White AMG SL 63.

Red is classic, but like was said why do all of that for the next guy. I watched the paint settlement issue from the beginning to end, and the settlement from MB was pretty chicken **** if you ask me pardon my French. Cut, you loses and move on, besides there are plenty late model low mileage SLs out there. Good luck.