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paint or polish

5K views 50 replies 11 participants last post by  alabbasi 
#1 ·
Since I have been looking for a SL, I came accross three with this same issue (see picture) Is this something that can be polished out, or does it need a repaint? Sometimes it is on the hood, sometimes the deck.
 

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#5 ·
I'm looking up to $8,000. But if the owner is asking less, and is nice other than paint or interior, I am looking at it because getting repainted is not to big a deal, I have a friend that owns a body shop. As for the interior, I have replaced seat covers on quite a few classic mustangs, so I think I could handle that. The price just needs to reflect doing the extra work. Most I have looked it, rust or lack of any service records seems to be the major issues. Some of the people selling these cars have not had the friendliest personalities either, I noted that in a previous thread. Most colors are fine, but I don't want another black car. They look great but are to much work keeping clean.
 
#8 ·
. Some of the people selling these cars have not had the friendliest personalities either,
Well......some don't want to sell their cars but must.....and then.... they are surprised that the PRIZED MERCEDES-BENZ sitting in the driveway wasn't an investment after all and is worth jack shit.

Good luck in your search.

You get what you pay for.
 
#12 ·
lbro is in my area. I'm keeping my eyes peeled for him. I'm not sure if I've already told him that this area can be difficult (having fewer quality examples for sale than most areas). Texas and California seem to be the places to find good examples IMO. Florida might not be too bad either.

If I could do it again, I might have taken more time in my search, and maybe purchased long distance.
 
#13 · (Edited)
I have asked to see the cars after a few main questions, some seem pissed. Maybe because everyone is asking the same questions. From what I learned here, ALWAYS ask about timing chain over 100k miles, Maintenance records, and rust. If that works out, then I try to go see it. I am looking to buy a car to drive 2k-3k miles a year. I only put 5,000 miles a year on my primary car now. I am not looking for a collector car. I want to be able to say yes to my son when he asks to drive it and not worry about it. I have had classics Mustangs I would drive in the snow. The last one was a 1965 2+2 fastback, loaded for what was loaded back then, PS, PB & A/C, spotless 70k miles. I drove it everywhere, mall, grocery store, work. Rain or shine. I wanted to enjoy it, tinker with it when necessary. If I wanted to buy somethng to stick in the garage and show my friends, I could have purcahsed a framed poster for $25. what fun is that?

And the guy that offered $500 for your friends car, well, he was an Ahole.
 
#23 ·
I have asked to see the cars after a few main questions, some seem pissed. ....And the guy that offered $500 for your friends car, well, he was an Ahole.
I understand, I'm just responding with my personal experience of being what some people may believe to a 'grumpy' seller. There are a lot of people that appear to be cruising the craigslist for sport and have no intention of buying.

1)You would not believe the amount of people that will ask if it was for sale and then hear nothing.
2)The number of people that will put you to work for pictures and descriptions and pictures of service books and once you deliver everything that they ask for... then hear nothing
3)The number of people that make appointments and don't turn up.
4) The people that try to get your home address so that they can turn up without you being there and look at the car.. which is quite creepy.

There is one guy that I now know pretty well who has emailed me about every car that I posted on Craigslist asking the same old questions. Either he has exactly the same taste as me or he does it for sport. My response to him now is:

"hey this is Al" and I never hear back from him :)

I now try to follow these rules.

1) Be as descriptive as possible
2) Only leave a phone number (not email)
3) Keep the conversation down to a couple of minutes, if we can't arrange an appointment then it's probably a waste of time.
4) Meet at a location away from my house.

Oh and lastly, find out if they drive an MB diesel, if they do, end the conversation there because those guys are the cheapest b*stards out there. They're probably try to siphon the used motor oil out if it so that they enough fuel to get home.

All of the above should be easy for a local buyer, if it's an out state buyer, then I'm happy to field calls and take pictures as I'd hate for them not to get what they expected.

Hopefully hearing the sellers point of view will help you handle the grumpy ones. If you're calling them, then I expect that you're a serious buyer and also that the seller is pricing his / her car to where it's not outrageous.
 
#18 ·
I have.

I thought I bought one. When I had the agreed price lest a deposit and said I would return Monday with Cash. He called me monday morning and raised the price $1,800 more. He said someone else came to look at it and made an offer after I left. I said sell it to them then. Guess what? the car is still sitting there, 2 months later. Another one I looked at, the guy was asking $14,000 (price wasn't posted when I stopped to look at it). It was a 560SL with 150k miles, no records, and pretty beat up. That one is still there too.

I'll find it, just going to take more time than I thought.
 
#20 ·
I shot Nason which is dupont's budget line. The paint is pretty good and the match is excellent, I just just not shot metallic before and made a few rookie mistakes.

At first , the vent on the gun was blocked so I was getting inconstant results and it took a while to figure out that it was the vent.

Furthermore, when shooting metallic, you have to be really consistent with your speed and distance from the metal (I found this out after the event). That's pretty easy if you have a couple of panels, but not with a whole car. In a few areas, I shot the metallic too thick and the metal flakes seem to collect together.

So it requires a lot more concentration.

This doesn't happen with solid paint. The owner of the car isn't too bothered about it right now, but there is plenty of paint left over if he does get bothered.



Of course, i'm an amateur and not a pro so i'm not charging for the work, I just want to get some experience down in paint and body work before I get working on my 71 280SL.

This is a 300D that I shot in a solid green (also Nason) and it came out much better.

 
#17 ·
Ibro:

Very important to remember that when you can see the clear cracked and falling off like that, it has already cracked down to the metal surface. There is no long lasting primer or barrier coat that will stop the cracks from coming back and growing. The affected panel(s) will have to be stripped to bare metal and worked from there.
 
#21 ·
First car I ever painted was a grocery getter 1974 Chevy Nova back in 1984.
Metallic Siver. Enamel.


A few painting tips from my mentor (who, incidently, nicknamed me Nobby) and the car turned out amazing.
 
#30 ·
I think there is a decent looking red 380SL down the block from me. I haven't given it the once-over, but I did notice the muffler is hanging low and the front bumper is tweaked a bit. Been sitting at a consignment lot for close to a year now. $5500 stenciled on the front windshield... Too high in my opinion, but maybe worth it...

Let me know if you want me to photo and vet.
 
#34 ·
Code:
Curious... what does the paint code on the dataplate look like for the 2-step paint?
Hallo Ears,
Al is right with the clear coat for metallic, but you are right, it is strange MB does not mention the clear coating. Here is an original 1979 paint folder, nothing is mentioned about clear coat...
Hope this helps..
 

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#39 ·
Ears: I started painting Mercedes-Benz in 1978, when I hired on at Hammer & Dolly and we were told all metallic colors were clear coated from the factory at least 10 years before then, in 1968. I have never worked on a Mercedes-Benz that did not have clear coat over the factory metallic finish. By the same token, I had never worked on a solid color Mercedes-Benz that had clear coat from the factory prior to around 1993. Now, they all have clear, including the special low-gloss clear finish that looks like base coat without clear. I think it looks like cheap-ass tinted primer.

Al: Nason is good stuff, it is what I shoot when I am painting my own cars complete. I'm certain it is older DuPont systems that they don't want to use the DuPont name on anymore, because older means cheap in some parts of the auto body industry. However, the Lucite lacquer basecoat and 580 urethane clear, along with the Centari acrylic enamel basecoat and 780 urethane clear, were industry leaders in the 1980's and are extremely durable today (at least in the enamel form, since the lacquer is NLA), regardless of the Nason label they're being sold under. The limitation of the system is the basecoat; the colors aren't as deep and brilliant as later systems can provide. Can you tell me which Nason system you are shooting?
 
#40 ·
Jeff,

I'm not sure what you mean by system as I thought Nason was the system. I use the base that they provide me with their slow reducer, followed by their spot clear which i feel works better as an overall clear in the conditions that I paint in (dirty garage).

I'll get the number for their clear / activator when I stop by the garage.
 
#41 ·
Al

Nason sells auto paint under 7 different sub-groups. These represent different technologies. Some are primarily fleet and industrial, so their color range may be limited, but their finish might be especially durable and sun resistant. Some are single stage, so they shine on their own and don't need clear. They are all good systems for their particular application, but the technology is over 15 years old and sometimes much older than that. One of the limitations however, can be in the ability to make and match colors. They may not be able to, or want to match some of the newer and more brilliant colors.
They also sell 4 different types of primer and 4 different types of clear. These can have a dramatic effect on the appearance and durability of the finished paint job. Be careful when choosing.
Anyweay, it's good stuff. You made a good chooice using it, IMO.
 
#42 ·
It's amazing, really.

I've been out of the automotive side of things for 20 odd years. But every time I need to stick my toe back in I'm amazed at how FAST things of changed and how many CHOICES there are.
However, choices are soon going to dry up as the war on VOCs continues.
 
#46 ·
Actually.......they gotta cream for that!


The 8000 grit sandpaper I have was used to polish aircraft windows.....but it can be used for anything.
It was one of the stages in the Penta Polish saga.
 
#47 ·
Nobby

The rumor is that DuPont and the other major suppliers are going to drop solvent based color and sell water borne only within 5 years. This backs up your theory, but now I wonder if they'll just drop all their solvent based lines into the Nason group? Thanks for mentioning that, now I can ask my jobber next week.

You have, or will, hear a lot of talk about water bourne, or water based, paint in the future. The paint is reduced with water instead of petroleum based solvents. This is base color only and it is in order to reduce solvent based emissions when body shops shoot paint. Since primer, sealer and clear is still solvent based, I think the benefit is marginal and plan to wait as long as possible to change over.
 
#48 ·
I've been using waterborne top coats for about 5 years, now. The US military.......or parts of it....demand it.

The waterborne primer is just coming online now......but no one has yet asked us to switch....

I know the local paint supplier stock piled stuff because the rules in Canada changed last year. I'm not sure what they entail.

But sooner than later....you'll need a license to buy the good shit.
 
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