Well...this brings up story time.

Years ago, I was vacationing in California...driving a rental from San Diego up to Joshua Tree. I don't remember the exact spot, but somewhere on the 15 north of Escondido, the tread separated from the tire on my front driver's side tire. Tore gashes in the front quarter-panel in the process.

I pulled off on the side of the freeway to change the tire, got all my luggage out of the back, and discovered that the spare tire was missing. Called Enterprise, and they dispatched a tow truck...which arrived an hour later. The tow truck towed me to the nearest Pep Boys or equivalent. It was mid-day on a Saturday, so I proceeded to spend the entire rest of the day sitting around waiting for a new tire. When the car was finally fixed, Enterprise "graciously" offered to let me drive it back to San Diego and exchange it for an undamaged car. So there went another two+ hours of my life. I finally made it to my motel near midnight, having lost an entire day of vacation thanks to Enterprise's poorly maintained and poorly equipped car.

The cherry on the sundae is that a couple months later, Enterprise sent me a bill for some huge amount of money (I think over $1000) for damage I did to their car. Never mind that the car was poorly aligned and pulling hard to one side, which almost certainly caused the blowout in the first place. Fortunately, I had comprehensive coverage on my own vehicle that covered the damage, so I was just out of pocket the minimal deductible.

All this to say that (1) there's no guarantee a rental car company will take care of you if something happens to the car you rent from them and (2) you may be much better off with your own car that you know is properly maintained and equipped rather than taking the gamble that a rental company is going to give you a pristine car.

(Obviously part of this sad tale may stem from Enterprise being one step above a rent-a-wreck shop, and I've never rented them again. And I was also foolish because I felt the pull in the car as soon as I drove it away from the rental lot, but I ignored it because I was eager to get on with my vacation and was young and dumb and didn't want to have to go through the hassle of trying to convince them to give me a different car. But if you drive your own car, you don't have to think about any of that - you know if you have it in proper working order or not.)

I don't know what I was thinking when I said rent from Hertz, Avis or Enterprise. I've had my own personal bad experiences with Enterprise, you are correct, they are a problem waiting to happen.

Plus, they are known to order cars direct from the factory with safety systems disabled so they can save money. Only car rental company in the world I know of that has done that. Crazy.

I'm working on acquiring my own private jet airplane so I can stay off the interstate highway system.

Got any proof?


Yes, we already know that.

Got the car home and now it is time to figure out what is going on.

There is a nice patina of winter dust under the hood. These photos show that water flowed through the hood vents during the remnants of the tornado front that passed through and washed the panel underneath clean. Is there anything under these panels that does not react well to water that could cause ABS ESP etc problems disabling the car.



and the other side



Still snow on the ground so can't spray any water in the wheel wells to see if I can duplicate the fault.

Any one have ideas as to where I should look?

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1999 Mercedes E300TD daily driver sold at 238K miles 106K miles were mine, rust worm got it :-(
2006 Mercedes CDI new daily driver! 56,000 miles May 2016 now 85,625 Apr 2018 and Apr 2019 101,000 miles Apr 2020 109,875. March 2024 135,250, Dec 2024 145,000 miles

Tires rarely just come apart without warning.


A " bad alignment " didn't cause the tire to blow out. You continuing to drive the car with it pulling was an early warning sign that the tire was starting to fail. RE: The body damage is your fault.


Did you read the rental contract before signing it? Rental companies specifically exclude tire damage from any coverage they provide, I know that U Haul does. You might have been able to get around the tire damage issue if they were made aware of the problem immediately after you left the lot.


So you admit to ignoring the pull but still blame the rental company? What sort of logic is that?

If the car can't make it 500 miles..... you haven't taken care of it very well. Sure, something can happen on any car but if you have a MB in good condition you have the RIGHT to take it on as long of a trip as you want. If it breaks down along the way, so be it.

There's something to be said for rental cars, that's for sure, but if you're afraid to drive your Mercedes on a 500 mile trip, you should sell the car.

[QUOTE=jbach36;3907244]If the car can't make it 500 miles..... you haven't taken care of it very well. Sure, something can happen on any car but if you have a MB in good condition you have the RIGHT to take it on as long of a trip as you want. If it breaks down along the way, so be it.

There's something to be said for rental cars, that's for sure, but if you're afraid to drive your Mercedes on a 500 mile trip, you should sell the car.


Roger this. Not being a collector, I would not have a car that I cannot drive. Just returned from a 1600 mile trip with our '83 with 35400 miles on it.

your photo of the passenger side. The engine computer is buried about two layers down under that cover. Remove the cover then remove the next cover which the cabin air filter. The engine computer is below the air filter. That is the arrangement on the 2008 and 2009 E320 cars. yours may be the same.