No. Aggressive physical removal and then chemical neutralizing before epoxy primer will make it a workable surface.
Mercedes of this era have stupidly thick undercoating. These cars can be completely rotten underneath and you dont know at first glance since it's all covered by a quarter inch of rubber.
I would give the underneath a thorough screwdriver inspection before proceeding
Lightly bump those panels from the inside of the car with a small dead blow hammer. If the bondo has failed it will be on the ground, and you'll see the damage that was hidden. Better on the ground there, , or it hitting someone's car, when it lets go on the first bump in the road. The rest just sand prime and paint. It's only surface rust, easily removed with a sander.
Too much rust to fix? Heavens no. Depends on how much personal effort or financial effort you want to put into it. If you have one night a week, then start sanding.
With a bit of Elbowgrease, or money, that's not too bad. Easily fixed by sanding back to metal, smoothing out and repainting. Not a simple fix, but no major issues there. There's a reason these cars are tanks.
I’d be more concerned with the rust under there. You can unscrew and remove the body panels and see if the structure is still sound. The underside is also critical
W126 were made with very thick and strong body panels - that should sand out.
I’d be more concerned with the 3.5 i6 - that motor was an embarrassment to a decades long record of Mercedes diesel reliability. Swap it with an earlier i5 or later i6 diesel or gas V8 when it decides to self destruct.
Looks like you've got a solid project on your hands. If the rust isn't through the metal and just surface level, you should be able to tackle it with some sanding and rust treatment. Just take your time to assess and repair as needed, and you'll have it looking great again.
The rust itself is not bad, only shallow. But it has had repairs in that area and been repainted, that is why it is peeling there.
You will have to remove the paint and body filler to see what damage is hidden underneath. It could be some minor dents or there could be some rust.
Yeah I'd say it's had a quarter panel repair in the past.
That's always the issue with respraying older cars.
We did a Volvo P1800 that almost tripled in price because we discovered that every panel had about an inch of ancient filler on it
There's a pretty big body-filler patch in the fender above the wheel that is thick enough to be checking the paint as it has shrunk. It's not uncommon to have hidden rust under an old iffy patch like that as well. Until you get the loose paint, filler, and rust off and can inspect the good base metal that's left, it's hard to reliably say a panel is definitely not going to need patch work.
you should be fine. fwiw every older mercedes that i had to work on had thick as fuck sheet metal. even on newer stuff from this century when they went to aluminum hoods and plastic trunk floors, their sheet metal was chonky as fuck compared to regular run of the mill imports and domestics.
No rust is so severe to fix.most of those pics it looks like surface rust.start slowly,find parts,weld what you can,give yourself a pause,then return to surface with an open mind!it will be awesome👍👍👍cheers!
engineerortechnician@reddit
No. Aggressive physical removal and then chemical neutralizing before epoxy primer will make it a workable surface.
Mercedes of this era have stupidly thick undercoating. These cars can be completely rotten underneath and you dont know at first glance since it's all covered by a quarter inch of rubber.
I would give the underneath a thorough screwdriver inspection before proceeding
Zealousideal_Bell444@reddit
Lightly bump those panels from the inside of the car with a small dead blow hammer. If the bondo has failed it will be on the ground, and you'll see the damage that was hidden. Better on the ground there, , or it hitting someone's car, when it lets go on the first bump in the road. The rest just sand prime and paint. It's only surface rust, easily removed with a sander.
SAHpositive@reddit
Too much rust to fix? Heavens no. Depends on how much personal effort or financial effort you want to put into it. If you have one night a week, then start sanding.
YandereValkyrie@reddit
With a bit of Elbowgrease, or money, that's not too bad. Easily fixed by sanding back to metal, smoothing out and repainting. Not a simple fix, but no major issues there. There's a reason these cars are tanks.
Kalandros-X@reddit
I’d be more concerned with the rust under there. You can unscrew and remove the body panels and see if the structure is still sound. The underside is also critical
Threewisemonkey@reddit
W126 were made with very thick and strong body panels - that should sand out.
I’d be more concerned with the 3.5 i6 - that motor was an embarrassment to a decades long record of Mercedes diesel reliability. Swap it with an earlier i5 or later i6 diesel or gas V8 when it decides to self destruct.
The_Lobotomite@reddit
I believe this is a C107 350SLC with the 3.5L V8, which is a very stout motor
Threewisemonkey@reddit
You’re correct, I got the chassis totally wrong, and I have/had both of them.
I hated the 3.5 though, that thing was insanely particular about perfect vacuum hosing.
Gertrude1976@reddit
1.9L TDi
Far-Wave-821@reddit
Sand it, prime it, drive it.
What rust?
AdamKobylarz@reddit
Looks like you've got a solid project on your hands. If the rust isn't through the metal and just surface level, you should be able to tackle it with some sanding and rust treatment. Just take your time to assess and repair as needed, and you'll have it looking great again.
JP147@reddit
The rust itself is not bad, only shallow. But it has had repairs in that area and been repainted, that is why it is peeling there.
You will have to remove the paint and body filler to see what damage is hidden underneath. It could be some minor dents or there could be some rust.
XKE-V12@reddit
SLC? Keeper! Fix dat shit!
240z300zx@reddit
Hahahahaha (laughs in Datsun 240Z) 😢
AnotherWhiskeyLast1@reddit
Where there is rust there is more.
brnjenkn@reddit
I'd worry more about under carriage rust than body rust.
L_e_g_i_s@reddit
That’s nothing
croutonmemes@reddit
Hell no man that’s not bad at all, but check underneath for rust that might be more severe
Big-Energy-3363@reddit
Tip of the iceberg
basicKitsch@reddit
nope
benseifert666@reddit
Anything is fixable if you have the money and/or skills to throw at it. Personally I think it would look cool as is just low on some cool wheels
TwoplyWatson@reddit
Appears to just be surface rust. Sand, prime, paint.
lunarc@reddit
Or just rock a patina after you sand it all. Those look dope all torn up
Heavy-Focus-1964@reddit
is that not also a shit load of body filler or am I crazy?
rosscO66@reddit
Yeah I'd say it's had a quarter panel repair in the past. That's always the issue with respraying older cars. We did a Volvo P1800 that almost tripled in price because we discovered that every panel had about an inch of ancient filler on it
name4231@reddit
You’re crazy. Would need one skim to fill the pits from the surface rust. Thicke primer surfaced would probably be good enough as well
Heavy-Focus-1964@reddit
no, I mean on the car already. I’ve only ever seen waterlogged Bondo do that kind of puckering
torklugnutz@reddit
It doesn’t look to be overly thickly applied, so I think it’s within spec.
engineerortechnician@reddit
That quarter has filler on it
ionizedlobster@reddit
I had similar rust spots on my W126. The metal was very thick, lots of room to sand and very forgiving to weld. You'll be fine.
RCMike_CHS@reddit
Is this the one on FB Marketplace?
morningamericano@reddit
There's a pretty big body-filler patch in the fender above the wheel that is thick enough to be checking the paint as it has shrunk. It's not uncommon to have hidden rust under an old iffy patch like that as well. Until you get the loose paint, filler, and rust off and can inspect the good base metal that's left, it's hard to reliably say a panel is definitely not going to need patch work.
_plays_in_traffic_@reddit
you should be fine. fwiw every older mercedes that i had to work on had thick as fuck sheet metal. even on newer stuff from this century when they went to aluminum hoods and plastic trunk floors, their sheet metal was chonky as fuck compared to regular run of the mill imports and domestics.
Ride_Szymu_25@reddit
looks like a job for sanding
hzewski@reddit
No rust is so severe to fix.most of those pics it looks like surface rust.start slowly,find parts,weld what you can,give yourself a pause,then return to surface with an open mind!it will be awesome👍👍👍cheers!