RUSTING MERCEDES

A mate of mine here in Melbourne has a 4 year old C280 which after two years started to have some serious rust problems, and I mean SERIOUS. Even his friends refer to it as the "rust bucket" Mercedes have run a mile saying that the car has been kept in a harsh environment hence the deterioration. Melbourne!!!!!!! He has had two previous Mercedes and has had no problems whatso ever with these in the same environment. IMHO it seems that the problems lies at the time the car was being dipped at the factory. Mercedes appear to be totally out of court on this one. In fact that is where this will probably end up. Anyone out there heard of similar problems or is this a one off?
 

Jim Rosenthal

Supporter
Maybe the car was NOT dipped at the factory...a friend of mine is service manager at a large MB dealership here, I will see if he knows anything about this model.
 

Larry L.

Lifetime Supporter
...Mercedes have run a mile saying that the car has been kept in a harsh environment hence the deterioration. Melbourne!!!!!!!...Mercedes appear to be totally out of court on this one.

Mercedes is obviously trying to do what health insurance companies all try to do - deny, deny, deny and stall, stall, stall until the claimant gives up and goes away...or, in the case of health insurance companies - the claimant DIES.

Logic s-c-r-e-a-m-s that a bazillion other '280' owners in the Melbourne area would also be having the same rust problem if the "environment" were at the root of it.

Your "mate" needs stick to his guns...and if Mercedes fails to see the forest for the trees, he might want to raise a stink on the internet...AND/OR get one of the "consumer reporters" from a national network T.V. station involved. Nothing will motivate a giant company to 'do the right thing' faster than having their complete indifference to/refusal to address a consumer's legit problem exposed for all the world to see.
 

Pat

Supporter
I'd have your friend verify that the Mercedes was never in a dealership or storage area where there were floods. Eastern Australia floods 2012?
Here we've seen flood damaged cars that were unscrupulously repackaged as new and even undelivered cars that had unreported flood damage. Problems seemed to develop as early as year or two from sale.
If just about any car has a salt water submersion, it's a candidate for rust issues.
 

Pat

Supporter
Good point Jac, the Queensland flooding of 1999 perhaps??? ;)
Pick a flood, sadly there are too many from which to choose.

The point being flooded cars are a ripoff waiting to happen. Given the current devastation in the Mississippi Delta, buyers should beware on incredible deals on vehicles this fall.
 

Larry L.

Lifetime Supporter
Given the OP was in 2003 it would a long chance for a 2012 flood to be factor!

What I'd like to know is how the devil this thread was displayed as an 'unopened' thread amongst other 'unopened' threads before I clicked on it???????

I've had some straaaaaaange stiff happen with emails before 'delivery time-wise', but, this is ridiculous. :stunned:

Whodah thunk of looking at the thread's posting date first???
 

Keith

Moderator
in the spirit of the original post, just one romantic evening cruise on the beach will finish any car off over time. It used to make me grimace whenever Top Gear tested cars on that beach knowing some poor soul will end up with a rustbucket...
 
in the spirit of the original post, just one romantic evening cruise on the beach will finish any car off over time.

Which is exactly what happened when my girlfriend (at the time) drive my "borrowed" boss's car into the surf off Newport Beach, CA back in the late 1980's. I got real lucky when the car electrics shorted rendering the variables and then the tide came in submerging the car. What a nice way to buy a car...no ability to negotiate the price. Not exact sure who the dude was in the car with her.

Okay, so love is blind, I flush the engine with some magic potion and clear the dead sea animals and sand out. I buy a "new" electrical harness from a junk yard and install it.....get it running (gotta love the Toyota R22 motor). I am back with the girlfriend after buying this vehicle. Why? I don't know. Then she sidestepped a pregnant lady in a brand new BMW. Fuck me. That one ended it.
 
in the spirit of the original post, just one romantic evening cruise on the beach will finish any car off over time.

Which is exactly what happened when my girlfriend (at the time) drive my "borrowed" boss's car into the surf off Newport Beach, CA back in the late 1980's. I got real lucky when the car electrics shorted rendering the car disabled and then the tide came in submerging the car. What a nice way to buy a car...no ability to negotiate the price. Not exactly sure who the dude was in the car with her.

Okay, so love is blind. I flush the engine with some magic potion and clear the dead sea animals and sand out. I buy a "new" electrical harness from a junk yard and install it.....get it running (gotta love the Toyota R22 motor). I am back with the girlfriend after buying this vehicle. Why? I don't know. Then she sideswiped a pregnant lady in a brand new BMW. Fuck me. That one ended it.
 

Pete McCluskey.

Lifetime Supporter
I'd suggest to Mercedes that if they don't come to the party your friend will make a stink on social media about the problems. FB and Twitter are powerful tools today.
 
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