Well, as I understand it, even German cars use imported aluminum, and that aluminum is similar to the aluminum used in american or japanese cars, I believe
. But the point is, what is the need of 30 dollar per gallon (with tax and shipping)antifreeze if an quality aftermarket product serves the same purpose, and is more readily available. From personal experience, between myself, my mother, and my father, and my grandfather, we have had 9 Mercedes Benz autos ( 1965 230, 1968 280S, 1973 450SE, 1974 240D 1977 280SE, 1977 450SLC, 1986 300E, 1986 560SEL, 1995 E420), and not a single one of them has had anything other than regular green antifreeze in them. The average mileage of the cars when we sold them was 210,000 miles. Only one of these cars ever had a cooling system problem ('86 300E, which ran hot when the water pump failed and my dad kept on driving toward home with the car), and even that is arguably not the fault of the antifreeze. I understand that some on this forum have investments in their MB of upwards of $50,000.00. For them, it probably makes good sense to run to the dealership every time the car says Low Washer Fluid. For those of us who drive 10 year old MB's and older, and have around 10k in the car, it starts to be spending more than the car is worth. I have read most of the post on this board with regards to anti-freeze. Many of the professional mercedes techs disagree with the exclusive use of MB Anti-Freeze. I, just wish for everyone to try to save a little money when they can, because the times that we can use a part that doesn't come from the dealer is rare, and plenty of people on the forum live as far from a MB dealer as I do, or further.
Thanks, God Bless,
Dave.