Looking to remove the pin stripes on the sides of the SL.
Been slowly picking away at them with my (abused) finger nails, but this is getting nowhere fast.
Get a power eraser you can chuck into an electric drill. The soft rubber does a pretty good job of peeling off the stripes. A bit of rubbing compound and polish finishes the job.
Your model is an Euro version. Should not have these. To the best of my knowledge, Pinstripes were used on American/North American cars. Not on Euro/ROW models.
Quesion: Did these come originally from the factory or were they dealer installed in the US/North America?
Foto: Not sure about hair dryer, as I'm not sure about how much heat to apply to the paint, but willing to try. Let you know.
slfan1: These are the plastic strip types, not painted on. Not sure where these were put on, but the paint is original (PO, my wife's uncle, was very good to this car). The stripes look like they've been there for a long, long time and show it. Maybe they were placed on once the car got to the US, but as far as I know, this was a diplomatic imported vehicle, so not sure if a dealer added anything prior to handing the car over (but maybe).
Hey guys, wanted to update my pinstripe removal situation:
Used the hair dryer to remove most of the plastic stips, leaving the glue behind. No problems, so far.... get to the rear panels and find that the pinstrips have been covered in a clear gloss that makes it imposible to remove without taking this film off.
So, having the car half way done, I decide to take it to a good body shop to get an estimate for removal and they tell me they have to sand and repaint the area.
To paint or not to paint ?? Can´t just paint half the car, so have decided to go ahead and get the whole thing painted - original Signal Red.
I was not counting on this expense right now, but have little choice and don´t want to cheap out and get a shitty paint job done or drive around with a two tone red colored car - worthy of the hall of shame !!
Why don't you try to sand off the clearcoat and stripes yourself? You might find that a gentle hand with extra fine paper will leave the red paint intact enough to buff out.
You have nothing to lose if you are prepared to repaint anyway.
Dugald, thanks, but the shop has the car and I figured I may as well have them place the soft top cover seal & door seals while it´s in there.
This is the main Toyota dealer down here and their shop is supposed to be the best. Luckily I know the manager and hope to get a good job done with his supervision.
The job is supposed to take approx. a month , but considering I´ll be gone on vacation for half the time, it´s not that bad.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Mercedes-Benz Forum
7.6M posts
693.6K members
Since 1999
BenzWorld.org forum is one of the largest Mercedes-Benz owner websites offering the most comprehensive collection of Mercedes-Benz information anywhere in the world. The site includes MB Forums, News, Galleries, Publications, Classifieds, Events and much more!