My 1998 E300D has the predictable beginnings of wheel well rust on all four corners. However, it's only visible on one of them (front left). My auto body guy tells me it will cost me about $160 a corner....pretty reasonable.

Solution 1 is to get him to do the front left, mix me some extra paint, and then go to town on the other three corners with POR-15 and the touch-up paint.

Solution 2 is simply to be done with it and have all four corners professionally repaired.

If I believed that Solution 2 would buy me at least several years, I'd be happy to do it. But if it's simply going to create the illusion of addressing the rust, it's probably a waste of my time.

What would you do?
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14 E250 Bluetec 4Matic "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 157k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 175k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver on Tan, 144k mi, wastegate conversion, ALDA delete

19 Honda CR-V EX 70k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

How much was that Texas CDI again?

Sixto
87 300D

$8500. But I have NO REGRETS, in case that's what you're wondering....especially when I glance down at my odometer!

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14 E250 Bluetec 4Matic "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 157k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 175k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver on Tan, 144k mi, wastegate conversion, ALDA delete

19 Honda CR-V EX 70k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

I like #2. I'm going to be POR-15ing a bunch of stuff on Corolla this year and addressing one rust hole in the rocker (maybe me, maybe the body shop... we'll see how brave I feel).

I think you're better off POR-15ing everything that you can because then you know it will be set. The rust hole in our Corolla is a small rust-through on the rocker... the area had been rusting before, the car was hit in that area, the body shop pulled the dent from the area and attempted to fix the rust, and it's now rusted through... not blaming the body shop as they did that work as "extra", but it goes to show that a body shop repair is not necessarily the end-all.
I burst out laughing when I scrolled down to this .

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"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

If you trust the shop get them to do it - DIY paint work in damp winter months isn't the best option

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

Oh, I wouldn't do it now....I'd wait till the spring.

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14 E250 Bluetec 4Matic "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 157k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 175k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver on Tan, 144k mi, wastegate conversion, ALDA delete

19 Honda CR-V EX 70k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

The best solution would be to take the engine and clean it really well, then ship it to me where I would put it into my rust fee 87....

waiting on the tow truck to bring it home for me so I can see it in the day time. take a better look at the issue.

shertex,
I'd just ride with the car and have the shop do the light restoring/painting of the areas.

When your jack points start to rust-out, that would be the time I'd ditch the car b/c of rust.

Have you reamed-out your moonroof's (4) weep hole drain lines on that car yet?

I've described the procedure to my Brother that owns my old '99 W210.

vstech recommends a 3/16" width by a several foot length of weed whacker line to do the <reaming> job.

FWIW, my CDI w/o a moonroof, has screw holes under little trap dors on the (4) corners of it's roof, for the attachment of a luggage rack - so, I too need to learn the procedure to ream-out my weep hole drain lines on my moonroofless sedan too.

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'06 E320 CDI
'17 Corvette Stingray Vert

I have this issue also, I'm simply sourcing good used front wings in matching paint code which is relatively easy for me (UK), they are c£60 each.

I do however have rusty jacking points and I don't want to look.

Edit: just noticed you're in the states guess 210's aren't that common over there..

I had some rust on passenger side front fender. Had shop fix that - C$200 including painting entire panel. The otehr three wheel wells have a light rust just forming on the very edge which is only about 1/8" wide. I was going to sand, POR and touch up myself because if taped well, the repair would not be visible.

I did have some other rust that started inside the lower trim strips and spread until it could be see outside. It might be an idea to pull those trim strips and check the metal underneath.

The other place I had some light rust, was around the sunroof. Shop fixed that too. In total, I might have spent $600, but it was well worth it. And they did it at this time of the year. We were heading South, so car did not see salt once the repairs were done. If I were you I would wait for Spring. Maybe coat with a rust preventative until then. (We have all sorts available her, but I don't see them in USA - Krown, Rust Check, Fluid Film etc.)

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Graham
85 300D,72 350SL, 98 E320, Outback 2.5