This is the first of a series of buyers guides that I will be doing for our channel. This one focuses of common rust areas to look out for on the w126 series.
Brilliant concept. Keyan shows a relatively rust free car to illustrate where it starts, shows another that's also repairable, then shows some basket cases - all with the same rust points. Says how it can be prevented. A very informative video. Thank you Keyan. Great stuff !
if you campare this S500 from the early 90s to the Lexus LS400 & Acura legend from 1991. The interior in mercedes were a joke, outdated, very crappy looking and those mis placed tractor buttons on the center console. shameful poor interior quality. 🤮
I had the rust problem under the windshield on my 91 350SDL. Leaves had collected and kept the area moist, and it started rusting around one of the pain drain holes. Once moisture gets under the rubberised undercoating it just ruins the metal. Was that white car driven to your shop? It looks like it's about to snap in half! One area you didn't show on the W126 is where the caster guide rod brackets and subframe attach to the body. Late W126s got a plastic shield over this area. My shields were missing... and those areas had gotten quite rusty. I just had it fixed last year - now I can enjoy the car again!
Keyan, great demonstration of the areas typically prone to rust on the W126. I had symptoms of rust on most of the areas you pointed out on my C126 when I bought it in 2019 because the car had sat and not driven for 4 years. Rear windscreen channel, two of the wheel arches, front windscreen channel and battery tray. I addressed them immediately.
Normally coastal cars here in South Africa. Hot, humid and salty air. We're based at the coast. The point though is that being where we are, the weak points of the series, though magnified, are still the first places to check on seemingly un-rusted cars.
The best is to repaint the whole car every 30 years or more. Mine is starting to show up at the exact same spot in between the bumper and the wheel arch, the boot which I quickly applied with rust protection paint and put a new boot seal. Even on my grill there is rust starting to show up.
I don't have a W126, but I've noticed that on so many that I've seen, rust issues are prevalent. This explains it. Brilliant cars with very bad rust issues.
