excessive rust on 2001 E320 Sport
 

Hi all,

I'm a little lost at what to do here. I'm looking for some guidance/help. I've owned 3 mercedes in total now: 1989 300SEL, 1992 500E, and 2001 E320 Sport. I am having excessive rust issues on the newest of the 3, which seems to be beyond what I've ever experienced in a Mercedes. Not even the 1989 comes close to rusting as horrible as a car which came 10 years after it.

Basically, every single fender (including trunk and roof) have rust eating them away, except for the hood and front. The hood and front were replaced after hitting a deer.

Just some examples...

The wheel wells look horrid (also, notice the rust on the lower part of the door):
http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~gnychis/rust/P8070013.JPG

The rear (around trunk) and bottom rear fender are completely speckled with rust:
http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~gnychis/rust/P8070009.JPG

The front fenders are rusting up:
http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~gnychis/rust/P8070019.JPG

The sunroof:
http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~gnychis/rust/P8070023.JPG

The doors:
http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~gnychis/rust/P8070017.JPG

Basically, the entire car. I am looking for feedback here, but this is NOT what I would expect out of a 2001 Mercedes.

Might something have gone wrong with the finish of the vehicle? The vehicle is always kept in a garage, and kept clean. I took the car to my local Mercedes dealership and they said there is nothing they can do about it. This does not seem normal to me.

I'd greatly appreciate any advice/feedback from anyone, especially those who have had rust issues.

For all of the pictures:
http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~gnychis/rust/

- George

None of us used to expect that out of a 2001 M-B, but we now know that the W210 is quite susceptible.

Perhaps it is related to the switch to water-borne paint. Perhaps it's another issue, but the issue is not just your car.

Check your front spring perches too.

wow, I just noticed the section on "Reliability issues" on wikipedia related to rust on the W210. This is sad...

I will check the spring perches, for sure.

Has anyone had any luck presenting this as a manufacturing defect against Mercedes? The quote to fix the rust is starting to shoot beyond what I believe I could actually sell the car for.

If you've been a good customer of your local dealer, they're more likely to goodwill the repair. I have read reports of it happening, but I don't think the cars were ten years old.

I have similar problems with my 99. I am embarking on a rust repair and paint project. What I see is that on mine, virtually all the little rust bubbles are coming through from the top as if the paint is failing.

On the other hand, I just discovered a complete rust through spot as big as my fist behind the right front tire. That spot is covered by this elastomeric compound, a sort of caulking, that when pulled away reveals rust caused by moisture being trapped between the caulk and steel.

The jack point and rocker is good though with a lot of surface rust. Its the floor board at a point where your heel sits inside the car that's completely gone. I am going to weld in some new steel and POR 15 the thing and then have it recoated with something. I haven't decided how to proceed, but I am going to start a thread with my progress. BTW, the driver side is completely unaffected - no floorboard rust at all.

I have paint blisters on my 95 E320 in four areas: Rear window at trim, left door at lower trim panel, left rear fender at lower trim panel -- all spots where metal clips contact sheet metal, so it's some sort of galvanic corrosion. (Did not happen at all on my '89 260E.)

In 2-3 weeks, when the humidity drops I will be fixing and repainting all of them.

Don't know why you have so much of it on such a newer car.

The W210 is well-known for rust. The W124 is not.

We know that the paint is different, the W210 using water-borne paint. I don't know if there are other changes to the metal prep for similar environmental concerns.

What causes it may never be known, but it is real.

Forget about Mercedes taking responsibility for it, that would set a precedent they will simply not go down that road.
My 1995 E320 was garage kept and detailed yearly for the first 10 years of its life (besides the regular washing) and had rust issues in 2005 when I bought it. Now in the past 5 years it is simply rusting from the inside out.....everywhere. Doors, antenna mount hole, wheel wells, the entire frame rails, engine compartment (ahead of the shock mounts). I pulled at some loose rusty metal and ended up with a 6" hole in the engine compartment on both sides by the wheel wells.
At this point with about 220k miles on the car and having performed almost all the typical repairs these cars are known for, I am just going to drive it till it dies.

I question the quality and consistency of the steel on the W210. With the ones that I have seen it seems they either look great or they are rusting fast.

George,

I can't see any way of doing a good job except to strip to bare metal and get it all galvanised or strip it and drive it through a lake of POR15...

Seriously if you are getting rust speckling from under the paint there is no way that I am aware of that you can stop this from getting worse without some drastic action.

There is always the 50 dollar paint job approach - at least white is a simple colour to copy...

http://www.rickwrench.com/index79master.htm?http://www.rickwrench.com/50dollarpaint.html

(Link from this post http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/2722216-post27.html)

Because compared to the older cars the newer model has inferior rust protection.

-J