'99 ML430 Rust
 

Hello Gang,

After 2 years of ownership, I decided to crawl under the truck today. I was disheartened to see the amount of rust on the underside of this vehicle. The outside is in excellent shape with no signs of rust, so I was surprised. It was previously owned for three years in Pennsylvania, so I image the salted roads in the winter took its toll. Here are some pictures of the problem http://www.pbase.com/worldwide137/mercedes If anyone can let me know if this amount of rust is considered normal or tell me what I should do to keep it from spreading, I would really appreciate it. I'm thinking about putting some naval gel on it but am open to other ideas. -Norm

That's typical for a car that has been driven for several years on salt covered roads. You can always get a rust paint or some sort.
Thanks
David

While your rust may be a little above average, I would NOT use naval jelly it will only clean it off. What will happen next is twicw as much. Just brush it off and spray on some Por-15

if that was my truck, I would wire brush clean the rust and then under coat the whole bottom of the truck,

While I see no real problem with the rust, I would give it a big devaluation if I were apraising it for purchase. Probably 20-25% of value.

There are too many rust free cars to give real value to ones that have the cancer.

very sad. that is the problem with owning cars in the snowbelt.

try to remove as much as you can, sell it, trade it in, and move south out of snowbelt and the usage of road salts.

Hey folks, thanks for the replies and advice. I have order some POR-15 and will clean the rust and apply this product. Unfortunately, I am unable to take Albert's advice to sell the vehicle and move south. So, I'll have to take care of the rust problem and hope for the best. -Norm

Prior to residing in Texas, I spent the majority of my driving years in the salt belt! :(

I am a bit surprised that MB didn't rust treat or galvanize those components at the factory...but most appears to be surface rust and will not affect the integrity of the structure.

The rust around the drain holes appear to be salinated moisture escaping as the vehicle moves forward. Again, not a real big deal, but a cause for concern.

The POR-15 idea is a wise choice, but I would go a bit further and have the someone shoot rustproofing in the cavities...that's where the REAL rust problems reside.

Note that the more pessimistic responses are from folks who live in the sunbelt... ;)

Will rust inhibitor in automatic car wash slow down the growth of such rust?

Rust inhibitor chemical application is applied to the undercarriage

Your picture appear to show only minor surface rust - for 5 years on Pennsylvania roads it looks pretty good to me.

On one of the pictures the only rust I can see is on the exhaust bolt? Have you ever seen an exhaust system bolt older than say two days that was not rusted?

Have you looked under any other 5 year old PA cars? I'd be surprised if they did not show the same signs of minor surface rust.

Hello Tim. Actually, the vehicle was registered in PA for 3 years. I bought it in Virginia, where I live and have had it for 2 years. I just thought that when I bought a 'Mercedes', I was buying a vehicle a cut above my Ford. But, it seems that Mercedes doesn't have any better technology for preventing body/frame rust than my Ford.