Large patches of silver paint and clear coating are peeling off and chipping away on the right rear bumper of my 2001 ML320 thereby exposing the dark primer.
The SUV is parked on the driveway along with my '86 190E 2.3 which does not exhibit the same paint anomaly. Any comments are appreciated.
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Are you the original owner - so that you can verify that it hasn't been repainted?
I'd bet that it's a poor repaint. I've had body shops tell me that it's an "art" to get paint to stick to the plastic bumpers all of today's cars use.
ds
Requires additional plasticiser mixed intot he paint usually. This sounds very like a bad repair rather than a factory original.
I had a problem on a black Dodge PU where the front of the hood was "sand blasted" by heavy dirt road use. Took it to someone close that couldn't follow orders of "put on a black primer and 3 coats of paint". Six months later he was out of business and the hood was chipped and I found a *white* primer had been used.
Take the SUV to a reputable paint shop. Shop around, a *restoration* shop will probably do a much better job. DON'T use an ordinary repair/paint shop!
Fortunately or 'unfortunately', I am the original owner. I live 40 miles south of San Francisco. There is no salt or sand on the roads where I usually drive.
The factory use a water based paint. You are now a long term tester for it. You can stand proud because no solvent was used to paint your patchy car.
Huw Mind you, I remember Ford Silver Fox metallic paint peeling off Fords in the Seventies.
This is probably not the only M-B SUV with such a problem.
The dealer is powerless to resolve it on M-B's behalf because the SUV is no longer in warranty so don't expect anything from them.
You're the original owner, call the dealer where the SUV was purchased and ask them for the M-B Zone rep's phone number. Call and state the problem and that something ought to be done to fix this manufacturing defect. (That is, providing the area hasn't been repainted for some reason.) He or the dealer will inspect the SUV and resolve the problem.
My wife's '99 ML did the same thing. It began shortly after the warranty had expired, of course...
Don't missunderstand me, but I am soooo happy that it happened to your wife's ML! That means that the paint peeling off maybe far more common than I suspected. That being the case, maybe other owners in this NG could report their experiences and MAYBE we could together do something about it.
Hernando
2000 ML, no problems; on those areas where I've scratched the paint off from loading & unloading heavy cargo, I simply got a can of auto plastic bumber paint at the local auto parts store and touched it up.
DanlK, FYI Services Collectibles
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