I have not yet accepted delivery of my new black e 500 because of the swirl marks and scratches that I mentioned in an earlier post. It seems that all of the solutions remove some of the clear coat. Should I fork over 73K for a new car with a compromised clear coat, after having the marks polished out? At this point it seems that thats what I would be doing by purchasing this vehicle. Am I over reacting?
I have not yet accepted delivery of my new black e 500 because of the swirl marks and scratches that I mentioned in an earlier post. It seems that all of the solutions remove some of the clear coat. Should I fork over 73K for a new car with a compromised clear coat, after having the marks polished out? At this point it seems that thats what I would be doing by purchasing this vehicle. Am I over reacting?
[:(!]
Unfortunately 1. most dealers don't have a clue as to how to properly detail a car and 2. unfortunately you have a black car. Black is a color that is a real bear to maintain properly since it acts as a mirror and reflects every blemish that it has. A metallic color more or less absorbs the blemishes and does not reflect it back like black. I have a 2 black, dark green metallic, and a couple of silver cars. All are mothered over but the black will still at times show swirls and what appear to be scratches (the black ones are detailed, buffed and waxed every 2 weeks by myself).
You are going to get the blemishes with time with your black car. That is not to say that you should be pleased with the delivery condition of your car. When I take delivery on a new car I specifically tell them to NOT prepare the car and accept it without any dealer involvement. When the cars go back for service I post a large sign on the dash that reads "DO NOT WASH THE CAR".
I would take the car to a good professional detailer at the dealers expense and have them correct it. I doubt very much that your clear coat is compromised. A good detailer will probably buff with a compound and use a polish that has a filler,then seal and wax. Very little clear coat will be removed. You will probably remove more in normal washing over the life of your ownership.
I sympathize with you since the same thing happened to me once before I became such a pain in the a** in taking delivery.
RE: New E500 With Swirls and Surface Scratches(Update)
We just spoke to the dealer. He scheduled an appointment with an auto body shop to remove the swirl scratches. After hearing from everyone on the forum and researching further, it sounds like you have to sand or polish some of the clear coat away to get back to a level unscratched surface. I am so upset that these dealers are not experts on their products! They should have exact procedures to follow in preparing a car for delivery! It doesnt come from the factory with scratches! I do not feel that I should compromise my paint job for some incompetent dealer. We told them to put the car back on the barge to Honolulu and sell it to someone else. $73,000 is more than I have ever paid for a car, and when I do it will at least start out in factory perfect condition.
I would not accept an auto body shop to do this. they are not a hell of a lot better than the dealers detail scratch masters. I would insist on a professional detailer. The body shop will, in all likelihood, use a high speed rotary buffer which will take off clear coat. As I said earlier, you will have swirls and scratches on your black finish within a month of owning it.
If you are that anal about scratches and swirls, you should not have ordered black, unless you want to be a slave to the finish. I can speak from experience about a black car. It is a tremendous amount of work to keep them perfect but when in that state you cannot beat them.
I'd trust a top of the line auto body shop. They know more about paint and detailing than most, since they prepare the surface and paint it in the first place.
I have a black Audi besides my SL, and it's a 75,000 car too. I don't let the dealership wash it, but when it happens, the coats of wax protect it from swirls pretty well.
Black is just high maintainence.
Greg
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Just as a matter of interest, is your new E500, a 2004 or 2005 model? The reason I ask this because I have a very good friend who works at the Daimler Chrysler plant in East London in South Africa and he told me that Mercedes world-wide have upgraded their paint shops and the late 2004 Mercedes models paint jobs are now 70% scratch-proof due to the latest technology - Nano particle.
Query this with your dealer because I have seen the newer E-classes with the new paint job and I can say that the paint looks flawless. It's also easy to maintain and bird droppings and insects are easy to remove as well.
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