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#1
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Anyway to turn factory finish to matte finish?
Guys don't kill me. I grew up around hot rods and am a big rat rod fan. My plans for my TD once I'm done using it as a DD (probably this fall), is to go the Euro Rat route. Plans are to drop it about 2" with shorter front springs and lowering the SLS in the rear a bit and running stock steelies with the Benz hubcaps. Slow and low, that is the tempo.
I've got some rust-thru to take care of on one rear fender arch, the rear corner of both front fenders and the lower wings on each side of the front fascia. All of the hype around the factory finishes is well founded. What's left of the good paint really does come back to a nice shine with just some wax. The problem is "what's left of it." There are a lot of bigger chips and scratches all over and some stains in some other spots (the PO left it parked outside under pine trees for 10+ years, it'd get washed every now and then but never waxed in that time). Money will be tight on this project so I'll probably be going the POR-15 route with some of their fiber mat on the bigger holes. The point of all that was that it's not in great shape to begin with. The car is never going to be a show car without a quality repaint so if I ever wanted to go that route I'd have to repaint it any way. As much as I like matte black, everybody goes that rat route. That got me to thinking, is there a way I can matte my China Blue? Is it as simple as taking some wet 1000 grit to it? I wondered how even it would look. Maybe with a long board? I've never done any painting so I just don't know. I was thinking matte China Blue would look pretty cool since that's almost what it looks like now.
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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15 '06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod) Last edited by SwampYankee; 09-01-2011 at 04:40 PM. |
#2
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I guess you're not going for a 100% perfect job and 'cos you want a dull finish you don't really have to worry too much about sanding sanding and sanding...
So I would say you could probably get away with sanding the existing paint to get a good key and then spray (with aerosols even!) a layer of china blue. Then just go over the top of the colour layer with a matte clear coat. I'm kind of teaching myself to paint at the moment (when the weather is good enough) and I have found that I'm often quite happy with the finish of a dull primer coat - until I spray on the shiny colour coat and see all of the imperfections... dull paint work hides loads of stuff!
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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver 1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone 1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy! 1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits! |
#3
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I would just clean it up, mask it off and shoot it with matte clear-coat. Sherwin Williams Ultra 7000 will give you that old school look.
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BENZ THERE DONE THAThttp://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...c/progress.gif 15 VW Passat TDI 00 E420 98 E300 DT 97 E420 Donor Car - NEED PARTS? PM ME! 97 S500 97 E300D 86 Holden Jackaroo Turbo D 86 300SDL (o\|/o) |
#4
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Thanks, guys!
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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15 '06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod) |
#5
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Alternatively, you could drive it out here next spring before you get busy at work, tour the local sights, sit around, shoot the bull, have a few brews, leave the car in my driveway, fly home, come back in the fall after it sits for the summer and drive it home. Voila', instant, well sort of instant, matte finish (clear coat peel, free of charge)!
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#6
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Quote:
Unfortunately mine would need a colour change, as I can't see light tan on a rat rod.... I was thinking of the Trem-Clad treatment myself, along with some dark-coloured alloys that were originally on a vintage Volvo (I have actually had hub adapters made to match them to the wagon). Good luck with it!
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Mac 2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d “Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22 |
#7
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China blue is such a beautiful color. Would be a shame to spoil it. With all that effort you could just give it a cheap respray. As far as the steel wheels you could use the "steel" alloys and fit them with hubcaps. That's what I have on my china blue 240D. My wheels are stock - all the benefits of the light bundt style alloys but with the classic old look of hubcaps.
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