*RUSTY* modern mercs

cantdecide

i've been a fan of mercedes for a long time now and i was in the process of finding possibly a 96/97 E class avantgarde and i was doing all the poking you'd normally do when when thinking about a new car.
Flicking through the forums of the merc club my brother is in and was horrified to read about the level of rot which is a feature in what seems to be the vast majority of modern mercs.
apparently the worst example is the 97> e class. where rotten doors, wings, crossmembers and shock towers are par for the course. i love cars and in particular i love mercs but this knowledge has completely marred my misty eyed view about what they're all about.
has anyone out there heard anything about this on this side of the irish sea because i had been planning a merc and destroy mission in the uk to find a superior car over there.
maybe its just the salt content of their winter driving experience.

check the link (you may have to sign up but it is shocking reading)

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=17612

Max_Damage

They don't make 'em like they used to.

mike65

I was reading that thread earier today and combined with other threads scatered about other Merc owning message boards its sends a warning to anyone thinking of buying a w210 model. ie don't unless you give it a hell of an inspection and then keep it waxoyled!

Mike.

Anan1

W210s rust, so do post-facelift W124s. W202s don't seem to. Personally speaking, I wouldn't buy a Mercedes built after 94.

Silvera

Apparently those models were built in south africa and were below the usual merc standards.

Good info on : www.honestjohn.co.uk

MercMad

Its well known and its nothing to do with South Africs. The German ones rust too ! They changed to water based paint and that causes some chipping issues but the real problem is caused by a complete lack of seam sealer. They deleted this stating that their new paint process rendered this sealer unneccesary !

They got it wrong !

The problem is worse in the UK because the salt sits on the seams and rusts. Over here the water just dries out instead so its not much of an issue but you should check these cars very carefully. Cars built after 2000 (MY01) dont suffer !

The only issues I have seen with 97>00 W210's over here relates to the chips. Also W124 suffer from isolated instances and its really not an issue although the front spring seating area should be inspected carefully.

If you look around Irish dealers you will not find any imported E-Classes for sale in these years !

ismynametoolong

I though Mercs gave a 30 year anti perforation warranty do they honour it ?

MercMad

Its not on cars of that year. I think it started in 2001 !

MB did honour the genuine claims AFAIK !

FuzzyWuzzyWazza

According to the infor on that honestjohn website the 30 year warranty was onn the w202 model cars, so thats 94 - 01 I think.

impr0v

Was standing at the door to CafeBarDeli on Georges St. on Friday when the radiator in a late 90's E200 taxi, stopped at the lights to get on to Dames St., popped spectacularly. Steam everywhere and a large discharge of water, quickly followed by the passengers who decided making their way on foot was more reliable.

TempestSabre

I thought they had a problem with the alloy they were using in the body shell.

Anyway rust on that era of mercs is a widely known problem.

MercMad

Was standing at the door to CafeBarDeli on Georges St. on Friday when the radiator in a late 90's E200 taxi, stopped at the lights to get on to Dames St., popped spectacularly. Steam everywhere and a large discharge of water, quickly followed by the passengers who decided making their way on foot was more reliable.

............his viscous fan failed and then the radiator cap didn't lift quickly enough so it popped the expansion bottle. I've seen that before but if he was getting the car serviced properly by someone who knew Mercs then it wouldn't have happened. Also if he watched the temp gauge he could've save it !