so on my way through the snow
 

i managed to hit a curb w/ my front left wheel...
the rim is bent but is still holding air.:(
its going to have to do for a while... not a long while... but still... first thing i did was take it to my mechanic to make sure everythings alright
there is no vibration under 60 and very little over... and its not pulling either way... but i opened the hood today and where the previous owner apparently "patched" the wheel well... um... it looks like the welds... well... cracked! :eek:
what do I do!?!? i have little to no $$$ and i have way too much into it.

You said you have very little vibration over 60. Did you have any vibration before you hit the curb?

no...
but im going to guess that the vibration is from the very large lump in the tire...
the real issue here is...
will I hit a bump and end up w/ my nose in the ground?!?

I've seen a badly rusted 123 on which the inner fender/spring tower was so badly rusted the car was unsafe to drive 10yds. So, I think it depends on what was wrong with the inner wheel well before it was welded.

yikes...

pictures?

okay, so i don't have any pictures at the very moment. but what happened was... i was coming down a moderate hill in a subdivision and i was coming to a corner that i needed to turn, i come around a tree and there's a stopped bus... hmmm... 240D + rear end of school bus... how about those bus recovery hooks... anywho. um. i attempted to slow the car down as much as possible... and durrr. it locked up on the snow/ice combo and very... bluntly slid into the curb. the hubcap went FLYING off into the yard of a friend of mine... and suprisingly the wheel so far has turned out better than planned... its still... there... although im thinking about putting my spare on for the time being.
i was looking @ both the inner fender & the spare tire... the rim in the spare looks good... some surface rust... and the inner fender has been decently taken care of considering its history... there's meh... I'd say somewhere around a 4 X 4 or 5 inch piece of sheet metal welded into the top of it where there was ovbiously rust. and then it was coated in some nasty black stuff. im seeing that things && that black stuff have shifted and there is some visable space... and im freaking out about it...
how hard is the inner fender to replace? and if i need to should i have my rather rusted frame boxed in w/ steel while im in there?!?
im soooo upset. like... um... the parents don't know yet...
and they wont let me drive anything else in this weather...

as for the spare...
it has seen some use...
and its definately worn on the inner side... clearly something was off at one point in time... do you guys think it would be "okay" to drive for maybe a month until i can come up with proper funds?
i had some... um... $$$ issues today... && I'll post something else about that in a minute.
oh oh oh. fyi. I paid 2K plus tax & title for my car and i now have 300 in brakes 900 in floors 100 in oilchanges, and about another 600 in exaust...
so i've got everything plus some in it...
i owe my parents meh... 1900 total.. :(


should i just BEG them to cosign a loan so i can get this very sleek 03 C230 sport coupe w/ 71K miles????
dealership wants 16,400, but I know their sun. so automatically dropped to 14,5

YOu need to take the spare and put a new or good used tire on that rim, then get a good used wheel and tire so you will have a spare. Once you get a good tire and rim on the car you will be able to evaluate how much damage if any is done to the suspension.

YOu cannot drive with a lump on the tire....it will blow out for sure.

If you need to borrow some $ for your spare etc. that will be an easier sell to your folks than the clk.

Tom W

matthias,

Let me understand this better. U don't have enough money to buy another tire, but U want to buy a $15,000 car?

Are U out of your freaking mind? Get real.

I'd like to buy new Maybach too but I know I can't afford it.

P E H

go price a spare for your 240, then price a replacement wheel for a clk... that 600 you spent on the exhaust will seem like chump change...
so, close to 4K in a 240 with rust repairs in it... wise purchase.:rolleyes:

Any repair on the newer model you cannot handle might financially kill you even if you can stagger along on the payments. Plus you would still owe your parents for part of the 240d.
There is never a better time than now to sit down and think of a way to repair what scares you but not cost much if any money. Once a car has had or has extensive rust one has to use judgement on how much to spend on it. Thats especially true with certain types of rust and if it is wide spread.
Very difficult to make a car like that truly whole again and usually not worth the effort. The equation of an old car no money and a mechanic does not fly well to start with.
More self reliance also helps you through life in my opinion or at least you learn what is going on around you. The more you know the more you will find it almost unbelievable in my experience or at least a lot of it. Most important is you can usually also make money with that knowledge.

You did sink quite a bit into a car that has rust, it'd have been better to find one cheap with no rust and spend on that, My 80 is rusty, was free, and I'm in it about $1k in mechanicals and DMV costs and going on 1.5 yrs and 10K miles on it now. Everything I spent on mechanicals can (and will be) reused in the 82, which is not rusty at all, and I paid $100 for that one. I'm only spending what's needed to keep the good things (like the engine) in good repair on the rustball, cosmetics I could care less about on it (maroon fender and white spray paint blotches on a puke beige car) since it's basically a driveable parts car/cheap commuter (which will soon be retired) for the 82. The 82 needs very little & will be restored. They're easy enough to find when you look around. 'Nuff said there....

If you think the body moved as you say, you will see it in the hood and fender lines/gaps. These are unibody cars, so if the body bends somewhere, things around the area won't fit right like they used to.

There's no point going into the "should have" done this and "should have" done that at this point.

Main thing is that if affording to keep a 240d on the road is proving difficult, there's no easy justification for spending that kind of money on a new mercedes which will be even more expensive to maintain... especially when the "smart" alternative is a mid-90s Accord or Camry type car, if the bottom line really is the cheapest possible transportation.

I'd keep the 240d, if it's still servicable.

Point number one is that as Tom said, it's absolutely not safe to drive on a tire that has a "little bump" in it - it'll blow out at the worst possible time and you'll be back where you started.

Even if you have to borrow money for a tire, your first move from here is to get a safe wheel and a safe tire, even if it's used, on the car. Then, you can assess everything else from there. But the very first un-avoidable issue is that a lumpy tire should barely even be driven to the tire shop, and that trip should be made very cautiously.

Judging from your sig, your parents seem to be doing okay. You should tell them what happened. The longer you wait the worse it will get in the end; THEY WILL EVENTUALLY FIND OUT. Get it over with, perhaps get in the doghouse for a while, and then you can get your car fixed.

If your worried they will take your car away, don't. Parents get sick of driving their kids around, eventually...

My sister did this once. She speared a tire and continued to drive on the rim all the way home, carving out the driveway when she pulled in. She tried to tell my parents that she didn't know it was flat; didn't go over well.

Having seen a car with the inner fender rusted out, I'd be making sure the car is structurally sound before buying the new tire. If the weld cracked, this is prima facie evidence it isn't structurally sound.

agreed... hit another bump the wrong way and...:hang:

does anybody want to donate a 123 to me?!? :P
im well.. idk.
i keep trying to push the issue of my 240 would look a lot better w/ the origional wheels either from the SLK or the E320CDI
the E's has a little curb rash on 1 and a set of michellins w/ about 34K on em... but i think it would still be better than the lump.
this is day 3 of my idiotic driving on it...
um... i bent the lip of the rim out a bit last night and the tire seems to be going back somewhat... i didn't knock the rim out of round...
just bent the outer lip.. :(
i'll take pictures tonight.

oh. and the parents do very "ok" but.. um... they're the type not to want to help much if at all...
it took one of my seat brackets to be visable on the drivers side from under the car to help me replace the floor.
&& they asked what i wanted for my birthday && i said exaust... thats how i got that. :(

That little nugget of information leads me to believe that the broken weld on the inner fender likely indicates a serious problem. The car I referrred to earlier with the spring towers rusted away had rust under the seats, but not bad enough for the bracket to protrude. Look closely at the problem with your inner fender.

Does anyone remember the final race in Herbie the Love Bug 1969? The car's welds break, splitting in half at the finish; Herbie took first and third. http://vaughanwylie.com/wp-content/u...5/mercedes.jpg

Was that car a rust failure or a collision enhanced failure? Looks like it was an entertaining ride either way...

Not in the back seat!! :eek::eek:

That Merc looks worse than the toyota diesel pickup that Jeremy Clarkson hit with a wrecking ball, drove up and down steps, set on fire, and parked on top of a building before its demolition.

oh my goodness.
but yea. i need to have it checked out
i think im going to park the 240 until i can afford to restore the entire. yes. entire thing and just drive it on sunny weekends for the rest of my life
i looked @ that 03 C230 Coupe today... && drove it... & my mom liked it too!!!
yay!
and then she was negotiating for me... and asked about trading in my first car (sun****ter) that i had given back to them as a payment for the 240!
yes. i gave away a perfect running car to get my first merc! ... so im a little devoted.

How many times can a person contradict themselves in one thread?

In being on this forum over the years you just realize that some kids are simply much sharper than others.......;)
It's just that simple!

matthias,

Did anyone, possible your English teacher, ever tell U that sentences are supposed to start with capitol letters? Maybe U skipped school that day.

I'm still puzzled how if U can't afford to fix your MB, how U can afford to buy another one that costs at least 25 times as much as the repairs.

Sounds like your parents are going to buy the 03 MB and let U use it.

P E H

The dealership has their own sun; wow...

(I'm being rude; I apologize, I'm only 21 and still get alot of help from my parents too. I'm very lucky)

I would bet that $3,900 dollars (your total investment in the 240) would be a drop in the bucket compared to maintaining this C230; is it certified used? warranty until when? I'm guessing a warranty won't go past 100k; and this car will need alot of expensive things done around 120k. You'll need full coverage insurance to finance a car; have you looked into that? I bet its 3 times as expensive than insuring your 240d, if not more. Yearly taxes ON 2 CARS? If your doing this by yourself financially, its not possible.

Adding it up:

$15,000 car (assuming they discount it)
$ 1,000 sales tax around 6%
$ 1,200 8% interest rate: probably as good as it gets for a used car first time buyer.
$ 500 Gap insurance (if you total the car and you owe more than its worth, the gap insurance will cover it. required.)
$ 500 Misc fees
$18,200 total cost of the car

divide that by 60 months and you got your monthly car payment. $303.00

now the rest...
$ 1,800: Full coverage Insurance (very rough estimate) for 1 year: sucks for us youngins.
$ 500: Tags or car tax per year:
$ 2,300: Total to legally operate the car for a year
divided by 12 months 191.00 a month

your total monthly car payment: 494.00!!! and that's a conservative estimate. Then you have to gas it and keep it running and have money left over to have a life. Let's say (very low estimate) $100 month for gas and $100 a month for maint. average. Now your at $694.00

and you think your broke now? Here is the next 5 years of your life if your C230 behaves itself. No thanks.