View Single Post
  #4  
Old 03-15-2005, 04:51 PM
dieseldiehard's Avatar
dieseldiehard dieseldiehard is offline
Dieseldiehard
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Bay Area No Calif.
Posts: 4,369
Orient red? no where close to Burgundy red. Dark red is yet a differnt shade altogether.
To get matched paint you need to take the car to a paint shop that can perform a paint match. There isn't likely to be an auto body shop that will do that without doing the body work and the painting. If they do they may grumble a bit and charge you extra.
But if you find one, the process is to order the paint according to your paint code, and it looks like you haven't got that yet, its located on the Code plate, a 3 digit number with a letter that indicates the manufacturer of the original paint used on your car. PPG and DuPont makes great paints to MB paint codes. Its not the quality of the paint you are worried about here its the prep and the color matching. To match well you apply some (unmolested) paint to a piece of metal and let it dry, using a hot air gun in some cases, or overnight. Then its compared to your fender or hood to see if the shade appears lighter or darker IN THE SUN. Then you skillfully blend some other colors to change the shade until they match the paint as closely as they can by eye. What to add is based on training and experience. Computer matching stuff is great for a start but the final analysis is best done by eye.

I plan on repainting my burgundy '85 300TD someday, using a slightly new color that MB came up with since then on 201 and 124 and 126 chassis. A light metallic appearance I believe its code 567 metallic called new Burgundy Rot, not 573 Dark Burgundy Rot or 513 Burgundy Rot.
My experience with Body Shops lately has been awful. I recently wrote the episodes of a 2 month stay in the body shop for a simple hood replacement. Kids jumped up on the hood to steal the hood star and in the process caused my insurance to pay over $2000 for repairs. The paint was not the problem, it was the fact nothing worked right afterwards. The hood was way out of alignment, a hood hinge broke, the hood would hardly close, cowling clips weren;t fitted correctly and they left the paper labels on the vent covers (on the UNDerside!) spray nozzles weren't aimed and they even broke the radiator in the process (proof positive that resting ones body on a delicate Behr radiator neck will break it!) and to add insult they plugged the drain holes and this caused the car to get wet floor boards when the car sat out in a rain storm. I never will deal with that particular shop again!
__________________
'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!
Reply With Quote