What silver paint do I want.
 

My Benz is in pretty good shape body wise but there are a few areas that need to be freshened up. I was at autozone, they had a lot of silver spray touch ups available. My plan was to just keep buying them and see which matches the best. My wife mentioned, "why don't you ask your friends on the forum" so I will.

Here is what I found after removing the bubbling paint. I used a rotary brush on my angle grinder. It is very aggressive and even burned through in a couple of places that there wasn't any apparent hole.
http://veloliner.com/mb/benzillalefttaillight.JPG

I put on KBS systems base paint. I have used it in the past and it forms a real durable finish on the metal.
http://veloliner.com/mb/benzillareartaillightprimer.JPG
Before it cures hard we used epoxy and flox to fill it in. Actually my wife does this better than I do. Probably am going to use some spot putty and primer before painting.
http://veloliner.com/mb/benzillaleftflox.JPG
The lower area had a lot of filler in it so this was not the first time a repair had been made.

I don't want to spend a lot of money so repainting the car is not in the cards. The finish is very nice over 95% of the body.

Which sprays have looked good and which have looked poor too. I have used some of these in the past and had pretty good results.

The body shop that did my car used some type of spectrometer to accurately measure the color and pigment of the paint. You may want to consider that for an exact match.

That would be ideal RSCurtis. I'm hoping to get it looking acceptable for 20-30 dollars. Their cross references only went back 10 years, although that would be a starting point, a 2003 color.

I will be sure to post up after photos.

Look up your car here and get the factory color match.

Automotivetouchup.com Touch Up Paint, Aerosol Spray Paint and Touchup Paint Accessories | AutomotiveTouchup | 888-710-5192

I've used them for 3 different colors, two of them metallic, and they were a solid match.

EDIT:

My CD is Smoke Silver (702) and my SDL is Astral Silver (735).
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/b...L/Detailed.jpg

Thanks for the info...
I looked at my car and the only code that matched was 735.
http://veloliner.com/mb/benzillapaintcode.JPG

You got it. Code 735 G is Astral Silver, the G is for Glasurit.

If you have a bodyshop supply store in the area they will mix paint on site. They have books of colour chips from all manufacturers (and at least at the one I go to, their listings go all the way back to the 1960s). If you bring them your paint code they can mix up a spray can for you on the spot.

Spray cans sold by auto chains are the last resort. Because they are designed to have a long shelf life, they are formulated differently and tend to not have the same shine when dry without some manual polishing.

So a bodyshop guy told me, I'm no expert.

I wanted to get it covered up and had some zinc rich equipment paint. I brushed it on leaving a few streaks, still it sealed it better than leaving the repair open to the air which may be a few weeks. Although it doesn't show it the body work is pretty smooth and may be ready for a final light sanding

http://veloliner.com/mb/benzillaquartpanelbrush.JPG
The paint matched pretty well. I may try blending it into the fender until I can get it truly finished.
Am I happy with it as it stands, no but at least the rust has been slowed down.

I'll check out the local body shop. I will probably paint it with my regular spray gun as the smoothness of the finish using spray cans sucks. Thanks for reminding me.

Silver metallic is very hard to match, even a slight change in how the metallic lays down will give a different shade.

The last pic on your first post looks like something from the " How To Use Filler " instruction sheet that comes with a can of filler.

I vote for a black bumble bee stripe up the quarter panel and across the trunk! ( Like a 70's Dodge Charger or a 2K Dodge truck )

Extra points if you incorporate a Mercedes star in the middle of each quarter.

Chad, Any idea what the bumper and lower cladding paint code is on the SDL? I'm about to have the silver SD repainted and cannot locate the proper trim paint.

I would agree that silver is a difficult color to match. I probably will paint the lower half of the fender. It should be easier to blend at the top of the wheel arch. The metal beltline trim can hide small differences. I don't plan on entering any concours events.

I don't think muscle car graphics would work well on the silver eagle.

Fun fact: Astral Silber is the same paint code used for the bundt wheels.

When you buy paint from the paint code, you're getting what the car looked like 27 years ago. What the paint looks like today my be slightly different, unless the car was garaged and maintained for its entire life- not likely in your case and certainly wasn't with my car. Matching the existing finish on the car may give you a better match.

Beautiful SDL !!!
 

Chad --- your SDL is very nice!:)

I ordered their paint system. two part primer, base coat and two part clear coat. I should have enough to paint my RD350 tank too.