After discovering (and already addressing) some rust around the jack holes, I recently found more under the hood, where the sound-proofing foam's front edge is held in place. I noticed this right after washing the car, and said foam was wet around that area, probably at least part of the reason for the rust.

So here are some related questions:

* Have any of you found proper ways to:
--> prevent the foam from getting wet and possibly contributing to any further rust?
--> address this rust? In particular the one on the invisible side... I have for now just painted over the visible one, but this is probably insufficient, and I hate letting the rust progress without doing anything, and having to pay a significantly higher bill later (I intend to keep my cars for as long as possible).

* This was another surprise on a model (W124) which is supposed to no longer rust... But I have also read that the W124 had been "cheapened" for the 94-95 years, in particular regarding rust protection: is this a confirmation? I would like to hear experiences for pre-93 and 94-95 models.

Thanks!

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1991 W126 300SE (M103)
1995 W124 E320 Wagon (M104)

I decided not to buy a '94 E320 I was looking at a few weeks ago because of rust bubbles around the car's trunk and along the side of the body, near the plastic cladding at the bottom. It was not just a little bit of rust; it was quite a bit. Also, you know what they say....as far as rust goes, what you can easily see is usually just the beginning. Like you, I was quite surprised to see rust on a late-model W124.

The only rust our '87TD had was a small spot on the rear fender lip, near where it meets up with the bumper. I don't have any problems with the jack holes or anywhere else. Car is 18 years old and has a VERY long time to go before rust renders her undriveable.

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1999 MB SL500 (110,000 mi)
2004 Volvo V70 2.5T (220,000 mi)
2014 Tesla Model S 85 (136,000 mi)
MBCA member

Do you all think that MB quit galvanizing (or at least used a cheaper process) in order to lesses the production costs of their cars in the mid-90s? After reading a lot of reports about rust on the W210 cars and such, it seems plausible. I was very surprised to find so much rust on a late-model W124.

Here's an early W210 on ebay with a ton of rust all around. For a car- especially an MB- that is only 10 years old, this is ridiculous. The vehicle description is also a fun read...

Evidence of MB cheapening their cars?

No rust yet on my E-320. And it's lived most of its life in pretty humid conditions.

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Current:
2014 VW Tiguan SEL 4Motion 43,000 miles.

2016 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport (wife's).

Past:
2006 Jetta TDI 135,970 miles. Sold Nov. '13.
1995 E-320 Special Edition. 220,200 miles. Sold Sept. '07.
1987 190-E 16 valve. 153,000 miles. Sold Feb. '06.
1980 300-D 225,000 miles. Donated to the National Kidney Foundation.
1980 240-D manual, 297,500 miles. Totaled by inattentive driver.

Looking up MBUSA, the 94 E320 sedan was listed USD42,500, vs 93 300E USD49,900. In other words, the 94 list price dropped $7,400 from 93.

Is that reflecting production costs cutting, or just MB trying to boost saturating sales on the W124s at that point? I would think the latter is more likely the case, based on my own experience owning 2 W124s... a 89 and a 95, both showing no sign of rust.

Bump...

very curious to see if anyone has information on "W124 cheapened 94-95 models theory". Thanks.

I believe the price drop from '93 to '94 was due to competition from Lexus, nothing more.

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

I found rather a lot of rust on my '94 around the jack-holes and some on the underside of the bonnet in the places mentioned before. I put most of this being down to the car having lived a decent amount of it's life by the sea in the town of Brighton, and the jack-points are well-known for trapping moisture and rusting if not checked.

After getting down to bare metal where I could I've treated the rust with Hammerite 'K-rust' then painted over that, or used Hammerite 'straight to rust' paint. I've then used waxoil all over the place! Hopefully it won't get much worse. Not sure if these brands are available in the US but there should be similar.

The older cars rusted around the wheel arches but you don't seem to see that on the later model 124's.

I had a '92 300E that went through the worst kind of US winters: snow, ice, salt and sludge with no sign of rust on it anywhere. maybe I just got lucky.

I think the build quality on my '94 car, although very solid, is not quite up to the same standard as the '92.

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1993 320TE M104
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past:

1983 230E W123 M102
1994 E300D S124 OM606 (x2)
1967 250SE W108 M129
1972 280se 3.5 W108 M116
1980 280SE W116 M110
1980 350SE W116 M116
1992 300E W124 M103
1994 E280 W124 M104
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"music and women I cannot but give way to, whatever my business" -Pepys

Thanks guys for your comments.

In my experience (89 260E then 95 E320), the build quality of the W124 has not gone down towards the late model years. I've actually found the 95 model a better car -- not because of the difference in trim levels, but because of updated parts.

An example is the upper radiator hose on my 89 260E, which broke and left me stranded. The hose connected the engine almost straight to the radiator, and I imagined this orientation would result in a lot of stress on the hose as the car accelerated/decelerated.

The replacement hose for the 89 260E had a 'curve' built in, the purpose of which I guess is to flex to reduce the aforementioned stress.

My 95 E320 had this 'curve' hose right from the factory.

Admittedly, I'm only basing on a very small sample of 2 cars. But whatever shortcuts MB had made, if indeed any, were too subtle for me to notice.