Rusty Mercedes SUV

[Number_35]

Like winter roads in Canada?

Like some winter roads in Canada. The chemical reaction (oxidation) slows down a lot when it's really cold (e.g. in excess of -20°C).

So here in "Winterpeg" our rust is not nearly as bad as mild and snowy southern Quebec, which is climatically more like upstate NY.

When we see a vehicle like that here, we assume it has been brought in used from Quebec or southern Ontario.

 

[Donald]

I think of German cars in general as being quite rust-resistant, and was surprised to see this poor thing in traffic today. The front looked just as bad.

I'd bet it spent its first few years in the rust belt somewhere

View attachment 279206

I think an accident and crappy repair.

I lived in upstate NY where the highway guy got paid by how many tons of salt he dumped on the road.

Normally it's the frame and bottom of the doors. Not what's in the picture.

 

[Jetronic]

Sprinter vans always rusted very bad up here.

Yes, ironically, the fiats (ram in the US) rust much, much less, and I've yet to see my first Iveco with rust.

 

[wemay]

That car came from a beachfront home for lots of its life. I've seen exactly that in the Keys.

 

[OVERKILL]

Im good, I undercoat my cars so I dont have to wash it all winter. Id rather not mix salt and water.

That's my approach as well. Oil the heck out of it in the fall, then rinse off the salt in the spring.

 

[JoelB]

The hood was also very bad. Check out the rocker panels and lower doors.

You're right I do see the strange rust all down the side. Having lived in the rust belt my entire life this is not normal rust. Something is weird with that vehicle.

 

[jsean]

Typical of that era of MBs. E classes and C classes of that vintage also rusted away around here. The prior gen W124 was a phenomenal platform and the one after was the W211 - neither displayed that kind of rust.
Ditto on the ML/GLEs - W163 is what I believe is pictured. Don’t remember when i last saw one around here, but plenty of the next gen W164s putting around in various states of disrepair.

 

[Rust_Belt_Pete]

Did they skip zinc?

 

[andrew_j]

I think paint of those Made in Alabama junk heaps in that vintage was so so. My neighbor’s looked rough, his twin girls added lots of stickers to cover the spots all over.

 

[02SE]

I think an accident and crappy repair.

I lived in upstate NY where the highway guy got paid by how many tons of salt he dumped on the road.

Normally it's the frame and bottom of the doors. Not what's in the picture.

Here I'm convinced it's an allocation thing. The last few storms of the year where there might be a few flakes falling, but not accumulating, they'd be out spraying Salt-brine, and dumping as much Salt on the roads as they possibly could to use up the mounds of Salt they had at the maintenance yard. So next year they get at least the same amount of Salt allocated.

It would be late Spring, and they're out turning the roads white with Salt...