I finally bought my dream car ML350 - black color. But it seems that quality of paint is very poor. I just have 1500 kms on it (in a.5 months) with no more than 150 kms on high-way. It has already 5 stone chips on the hood. I am extra careful already. Never drives behind a truck etc.

It seems that the paint does not sustain normal small chips that other cars do. I am also driving second car too but never experienced such problem - so many chips with so little drive.
I do not know what to do....

 

Jahan: I bought a 99 Mercedes C280, 25 months ago, still under new car warranty and 2 years starmarked, got it at a dealer, but paid a fair price and got a decent trade in for my BMW Z3. The car has remarkable reliable, only one warranty item a new MAS since I got it, however I am also very, very disappointed in the paint, my car is brilliant silver, and the paint is not holding up well at all and I am a car cleaning nut and use quality washing, polishing and waxs, no cheap stuff, however my paint chips every easily has some rust were chips are, I use a 3M product to remove the rust and touched up the spot, however the Mercedes touch up, is not a great match, I have the eight hole wheels with the bright finish, the product they use to make the wheels look bright is peeling on all wheels. Took the car to my dealer and got th4e standard answer "wear items, not covered" So you are not alone. I went as far as to look at all the recalls and service bulletins for my car and nothing apply to paint was among them.

WELCOME ABOARD!

 

Modern basecoat/clearcoat paint coats are not only extremely thin, they are also extremely soft. It looks better than paints from the old days but it doesn't hold up to any sort of abuse. Welcome to the 21st century.

 

Yes, welcome to the 21st century is correct, it is amazing how we can send robot ships to the outer reaches of the solar system explore planets, going to land a ship on Titan, Saturns largest moon, but we can make paint that last. This is beyond my comprehension.

 

I agree. There should be bulletproof paints by now.

 

My 25 year old 450SE has not got a stone chip on it

Different story with my 1992 Audi the front looks like it has been blasted with a 12 bore.[ul]

 

I have just the opposite situation, my 99 C280 front end looks like a sand blaster hit it and my wife's 1994 Audi 100S wagon has perhaps two chips in all the time. The only complain I have on the Audi paint is the color fading, it is white, I believe it is called Artic white, but not sure, I took it to my local body guy and he told me he has repainted many Audi's with this color. I had the 4 doors repainted at the time, and its still not a even shade all over, but aside from the color problem the paint is tough. I did go to my dealer as there was a technical bulletin years back about pollution damage to Audi paint of course they said mine was caused by pollution but did not offer to do anything and the car was under the extended Audi warranty I bought.

My C280 wheels are horrible also, I have the 8 holes glossey wheels and the coating is peeling like crazy, when I got the car it still had a year of new car warranty on it and now it has 1 year left of STARMARK warranty, As usual this was a wear item not covered by either warranty, BS if you asked me. attached is a picture of the front of my car, you can't see the chips, but I installed some city lights and showed them on another forum.

[IMG]local://upfiles/2546/DEBCF1AF34F84ACFB9F11099632110EF.jpg[/IMG]

 

I had a white car in the late '80s/early '90s. I can't remember exactly what year it was but manufacturers weren't applying clearcoats to white or black paints back then. Don't ask me why.

Without a clearcoat top coat the paints are more susceptible to water spot damage due to acid rain, and to oxidation from sun damage. At least it shows up more.

Remember when our waxing pads would turn the color of the car?

 

Your correct, clearcoat is relatively new, in as it is applied to most cars. However, my wife's Audi is clearcoated from the factory and that's where the problems is, according to my auto body man, he said the clearcoat with this particular color/paint yellows very quickly, you can polish, wax, wash on a regular schedule and it still happens. I was on an Audi board and explained the situation, a couple of other owners with the same color have the same problem, however Audi never admitted anything was wrong, My auto body guy told me Cadillac had a similiar color in the 80's similiar problem dropped it after two years. I had a 86 Porsche Carerra, red of course and your correct here also when I polish and wax, my cloths were Red, Ah gone are the good old days!

 

...and you know another anoying thing... I have just sold my 2002 C220 CDi. It was a black car. The front bumper was splattered in stone chips. The colour of the bumper underneath was white which made things look worse. My six week old new Silver Coloured C180K has just got its first visible stone chip - and I see the bumper colour underneath IS BLACK .......aaaaaaaaaargh