The paint finish on my '95 E300 Diesel is toast. Fading, cracking, chipping etc (the interior is perfect- you can't kill MB Tex!). The car is my daily driver and sits outside (my SL and S class reside quietly in the garage!) hence the fading, etc (smoked silver). It really does look bad.

I got 3 estimates ranging from $1850 (MAACO's best) to $6500 for a first class job that the body shop swears will make the car look like " it just came off the line".

My first question is would you bother to have it painted at all? It will still sit outside in all weather. AND if you would get it painted would you bother to have the first class job or do the MAACO route?

Thanks everybody!

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1993 S 500 (Wolfgang)
1992 500 SL(Jurgen)
1995 E 300 Diesel (Dieter)

if it were mine, and I was planning to keep it a LOONG time, and I wanted it babied to perfection, I'd go the 6500 route...

since it appears you do not have these aspirations for the car, I'd not even go the maaco route, I'd hit the faded clear with an orbital, remove the clear fade, and tape off the trim/windows, and such, and have a cheap clear spray done. should cost you around 300.00

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

You might want to talk to some different body shops. The shop I use (in Massachusetts), which does absolutely first rate work, quoted me $1600 to repaint a 1986 300SDL. My suspicion is the some people pay a lot more than they need to for high quality paint jobs.

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14 E250 Bluetec "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 153k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 171k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver, 142k mi, wastegate conversion

19 Honda CR-V EX 61k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

Well....if this were the car I drive daily, I'd want to have it in the garage. If you really want to keep the other 2 cars, maybe one of them needs to find a home in a detached garage or storage.

I would definitely keep shopping for more quotes.

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daw_two
Germantown, TN

Links:
Sold last car --- 05/2012 1984 300D Light Ivory, Red interior
Cluster Needles Paint
New Old Stock (NOS) parts

Past:
3/2008 1986 300SDL "Coda"
04/2010 1965 190D(c) "Ben"
& many more

BINGO

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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)

I would wet sand and respray clear coat only.

Once the clear coat fails, the base underneath it deteriorates very quickly so you're not going to get away with just shooting a clear. It may buy you a couple of months but that's about it.

Being in Kentucky, I think that you can shop this around and find a better deal. $2k should get you a decent paint job in base / clear.

Maaco is a franchise, so they're only as good as the people who run them so choose carefully. $6500 is too much to spend on painting a car that's only worth $3-4k

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With best regards

Al

Clean and disassemble the car yourself. Dont do any bodywork that will have to be undone. Will save a lot.


Sent from my iPhone 4 using Tapatalk

Have you taken it to a professional car wash/ detailing place? I'd imagine you could get an amazing wash/wax/polish for under $100-that might be the fix you're looking for.

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$60 OM617 Blank Exhaust Flanges
$110 OM606 Blank Exhaust Flanges
No merc at the moment

my hood faded all the clear coat came off.I bought Dollar Gerneral Clear spray,its been 6 months and still looking good

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1999 w140, quit voting to old, and to old to fight, a god damned veteran

a local Voc Tech school nearby with an Auto body program?

They (should) do it for the cost of the materials.....or if time permits and you have the interest, a lot of these schools run night programs where you can learn/do the work yourself......

Just my .02

I did a driveway (outdoors) paint job on son's '88 300E which came out pretty decent. Never painted anything before. Went to local mom and pop auto supply store who also carry automotive paint, got second level (not their best) paint, had the guy tell me how to mix and thin it.

Went home and stripped the car as much as reasonably possible, and sanded and bondo'ed a few dings and used a rattle can to spot prime.

Then used my random orbital polisher with sanding disks to wet sand the whole car lightly, (very messy) wiped it down with prepsol and taped and masked it all off.

Waited for an afternoon with no breeze and had at it with a borrowed paint gun. No HVLP, this was old school binks with a lot of fog.... Apart from a few bugs it turned out not half bad. Admittedly a lot of work, but it only cost me a few hundy.

Rgds,
Chris W.

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Objects in closer are mirror than they appear.

Whats the name of that shop in Mass? I'm in the area and have been looking for a reliable place to bring my 1981 300TD thats not insanely overpriced. The body is in really good shape, but it has a few rust spots that should be taken care of. I've held off from getting the work done because I'm nervous about bringing it to some random place thats just going to do the quick, easy, half-ass version of a paint job on my beautiful classic Benz.

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1981 300TD Wagon

I personally would not paint it will have to be stored outdoors. If you can keep it garaged most all of the time and you plan on keeping it a LONG time, then it might be worth a NICE paint job. If I were going to do it, I wouldn't mess with a cheapie paint job like MAACO's.

Good luck with it.

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2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

DietertheDiesel,

Check out every community college within about 2 hours of your home. - My GUESS is that there is at least ONE that will do a great job for the COST of the paint & a "donation" to the college of 100-300.oo.

St Phillips here in SA offered to re-paint my 3/4 ton,longbed PU in TWO-TONE for 700.oo total & they do GREAT work.
IF i didn't have friend, whose father is paint & body man of 40 years experience & who owes me a BIG favor, my 1986, "new to me", 300sdl would be going to St Phillips for "the works".
(I'm paying Steve's dad for the wholesale cost of paint & materials. = about 300.ooUSD.)

yours, satx