Rusty cars

[KerPLoD]

I would direct Canis to the project thread on my Volvo 240 for a cowboy job... from a Volvo approved bodyshop who were also my employers... and who charged £1500 for the pleasure.

Either way having worked for a while with a mechanic who's got about 20 years experience, I've come across cars which seem to rust more than others.

Vauxhall are very hit and miss. According to said mechanic, Vectras are terrible, whereas 2000 onwards Corsas are very good compared to other cars similar age.

But then there's Ford, Mazda, Mercedes, old Suzukis and to be frank, a lot of other Japanese cars. They certainly rust more than others.

A few stragglers I've noticed over time are the Mk 4 Golf (sills) and the Peugeot 307, which has double-layered sills that rust from the inside out, so by the time you can see it, it's much worse than you think!

[Whyman]

I had a 2001 Merc E 320 CDi saloon once. I washed it in 2009 and just caught sight of some of the rust swirls under the paint surface on the boot.

I then looked closer at the rest of the car and they were all over so it had to be sold. Prefect spec for me at the time, great towcar, and I was very sad to see it go but it would have turned into a rust bucket without a full respray.

[biggbn]

Originally Posted by Whyman

I had a 2001 Merc E 320 CDi saloon once. I washed it in 2009 and just caught sight of some of the rust swirls under the paint surface on the boot.

I then looked closer at the rest of the car and they were all over so it had to be sold. Prefect spec for me at the time, great towcar, and I was very sad to see it go but it would have turned into a rust bucket without a full respray.

Mercs of that age rust, but I know several owners who had full and complete respray thru Mercedes anti corrosion warranty due to full dealer history. It was the rust you COULDN'T see, as ever, that was the problem on that era of merc, or any car come to that

[phil1968]

Originally Posted by Whyman

I had a 2001 Merc E 320 CDi saloon once. I washed it in 2009 and just caught sight of some of the rust swirls under the paint surface on the boot.

I then looked closer at the rest of the car and they were all over so it had to be sold. Prefect spec for me at the time, great towcar, and I was very sad to see it go but it would have turned into a rust bucket without a full respray.

I had a 2003 E320CDI about 8 years ago (the shape after yours) & the bonnet, doors & boot were made from aluminium, the rest galvanised steel, so I guess they made good on the previous model's poor reputation for rust. That 3.2 litre straight-six turbodiesel coupled to one of the best auto gearboxes in the world was an absolute peach though

[rustytoba]

Well in all honesty I get no end of enjoyment seeing supposedly superior vehicles rusting into the tarmac as though they where still using the Ukrainian steel Lada duped Fiat with in 60's for the licence to copy the 124 resulting in most 60's to 80's Fiats, Lancia et al rusting like fun oh and Zanussi white goods, I digress:-)

Over the past decade I've seen shed loads of less than ten year old cars with bubbly arches and shot (usually patched) sills, not just a Ford Focus or T type Jaguar in fact most of them where German not the usual A Class colander either but Audi's and VW, only last week I saw an A6 on 59 plate with all it arches rusted through, I havent seen that since my upstairs neighbors Montego Countryman.

As for Mercedes they did have a really poor period for bodywork my worst sighting being when I was at school (1998) my head teacher had a P plate C220 with peppered front wings, yup a C class still a year from its first MOT an he lorded it around as if a rusty two year old Mercedes was something to aspire to.

Scott

[eternal optimist]

Originally Posted by phil1968

I had a 2003 E320CDI about 8 years ago (the shape after yours) & the bonnet, doors & boot were made from aluminium, the rest galvanised steel, so I guess they made good on the previous model's poor reputation for rust. That 3.2 litre straight-six turbodiesel coupled to one of the best auto gearboxes in the world was an absolute peach though

Apparently the problem was when MB moved to water based paints, there was a part of the painting cycle where the shell was rinsed before painting. Over a period of time bacteria levels in the fluid they were using to rinse the shell built up which created the corrosion problems later on. When the fluid was renewed there was no problem which is why some cars were affected and some were not.

[Grimble]

Originally Posted by eternal optimist

Apparently the problem was when MB moved to water based paints, there was a part of the painting cycle where the shell was rinsed before painting. Over a period of time bacteria levels in the fluid they were using to rinse the shell built up which created the corrosion problems later on. When the fluid was renewed there was no problem which is why some cars were affected and some were not.

Automotive paint plants have been using treated water for years to rinse paint. I remember quoting for a new plant a Ryton to replace the original one. Also Longbridge and Ford (Southampton). I must be a bit of a Jonah as the projects never went ahead. Most paint plants now use a process called reverse osmosis which removes not only bacteria from rinse water, but just about everything else except H2O. Had been in most current UK car plants in my earlier years, as far as I know they are all now using RO water in the rinses.