i have a metallic green 95 c220 with 95k miles on it. the car is washed and waxed regularly. however the front bumper and the hood is severely damage from day to day driving. it has hundreds of small white spots on the paint surface some as big as 3mm in diameter. when i polish the car and the polish gets trapped in the hole, it dried up white and extremely noticeable. i guess the easiest thing to do is to repaint the hood and the bumper. any other option i have? how about repaint them myself? i don't mind the work and i can be very patient too. any good website i can learn about how to paint a car?

Repainting will lead to rechipping...you can start using car-color related wax...In that case you don't have the irritating white spots anymore.
I had my hood and bumper repainted (lots of stone chips as well) last year (75k km ago) and both parts have stone chips again...

greetingz,

__________________
1990 300SL-24
1993 C250D with a minor 600+k kilometer
www.MBenzNL.com(the Netherlands)

First of all, I'd hesitate to paint the hood myself unless you've done this before and have the facilities and equipment. Mess it up, and you'll notice the errors every day for the rest of your natural life. (You also may have a problem matching the color.) Second, I'd suggest avoiding the circumstances leading to the chips. If you travel on gravel roads a lot, best bet is to leave plenty of distance between you and the car in front. Third, you might want to try painting the bumper. I have rubber bumpers on my 380SE, and they were marred. Picked up some spray bumper paint at Auto Zone. Then sanded the bumper, masked it and painted away. Worked beautifully. The bumper paint is supposed to be somewhat flexible and not crack when touched by another bumper in a parking lot. Bumpers now look brand new. Good luck.

thanks for the replies!!
i will try the colored wax on my hood this weekend.
the bumper spray paint sounds wonderful too. but how do you color match it? my bumper cover is plastic also but it is painted body color. i don't think autozone has mb metallic green spray paint sitting around.

My bumpers were gray, and I found gray paint that was an exact match. I'm sure it comes in other colors, too. It's called Dupli-Color. It says on the label, "Flexible Bumper Coating." It is made by Dupli-Color Products Group, The Speciality Division, Division of Sherwin-Williams Co., Solon, OH 44139. You might want to contact them to inquire about colors. Also, in some major cities, there are paint retailers who can mix and match spray paints. I doubt, however, that the paints would be "flexible." One last thought: Maybe MB has such a paint. I never inquired, but it might be worth a phone call to find out. Good luck.

thanks mjgwmoore! i will call my mb dealer tomorrow. the grey bumper paint does not shine like the body paint does it?

No, it doesn't shine, apprentice. It's not glossy; it's flat. Good luck.

Apprentice,
I have the same problem with my front bumper... and it looks terrible in the sunlight! I have been thinking about taking it to a paint shop and just having them repaint the bumper... but I think I'd keep the car, unless I could get a free rental.
MY POOR C-CLASS DRIVING AROUND TOWN BUMPERLESS!! AGHH!!

__________________
2006 E350 w/ 155k miles (Daily Driver)

Previous:
1993 300E 3.2L Sedan w/ close to about 300k miles
2003 E500 Brilliant Silver (Had 217k miles when totalled!)
1989 300E with 289,000 miles (had for <1 yr while in HI)
03 CLK 500 cabrio (Mom's)
2006 C230k (Dad's)
1999 S420 (Mom's/Dad's)
2000 C230k Sport sedans
2001 CLK320 Cabrio (Mom's)
1995 C280 My First Mercedes-Benz... (155k miles. EXCEPTIONAL AUTOMOBILE. Was Very hard to let go of!)

outside my house today parked the following car: 95 c220, 94 318i, 96 318i conv, 95 nissan quest, 99 nissan frontier,97 audi a4. my c220 is the only one has such severe paint chipping problems!!!! i drove all of those cars on regular basis (so it was my bad habit of tailgating, alone at least) and none of the other cars has any more than minor paint chips from larger pieces of rocks from the street. so my conclusion: mb paint job sucks!!!!!! eventhough the rest of the body shines pretty well/better than other car, but i think it's not as durable/strong as the other cars. and i don't think my c220 is the only one having problems with the paint chipping off, at least many people on this forum have the same problem. i don't understand why!!! mb with inferior paint job????????

I HAD a lot of paint chips. It costs a fortune to get the hood and bumpers repainted every other year. If I dont get it fixed, the whole front end (front windshield, headlights, bumper, and hood) of the car will look terrible after a few years from rock chips, bugs, etc.

One thing you can try is airbrushing it. I have heard good results from it. I havnt experienced it myself though.

I would NOT attempt to repaint the hood or bumper yourself, the color will not match, there will be dirt in the paint while its drying, and unless it can be cured properly, the paint might flake off, etc. in around a years time.

I leave the painting to the bodyshop.

As far as MB paint, I dont know, all my cars are MB's so I cannot really compare it to other cars that I would drive on a daily basis. If I compare it to my parents cars and my friends cars, then yes the paint gets chipped more easily, but i cannot say that for certain cause I dont know how and where they drive.

There is a product called Armourfend available. It is a transparent film which is supposed to protect paint from anything including stone chipping. It is quite expensive and has to be applied professionally. Apparently it is almost invisible once applied.

My car is presently having the bonnet and bumper painted at a Porsche Approved Bodyshop (one that has been recognised as the best in the UK) and I am going to ask them about this stuff. Their website is http://www.armourfend.com.

In the meantime you could try filling the chips with a paint stick (available from the dealer). You should flood the chip several times over the course of a week until the level of paint in the chip is higher than the surrounding area (so the chip is domed). Allow this to dry for two weeks and then use a cutting polish to cut back the domed paint to the level of the surrounding area. This can work quite well.



[Edited by jjrodger on 07-02-2001 at 05:19 PM]

__________________
JJ Rodger
2013 G350 Bluetec
1999 SL 500
1993 E300 diesel T
1990 190

I too have explored Armourfend whose kits are very expensive.They use 3M material which can be obtained from the manufacturers or outlets & can be applied with relative
ease except for heavily contoured areas, if the advice on http://www.xpel.com/faq/html is adhered to.They also provide kits for most Mercedes models. Unless money is no object, do it yourself.

Tigerfox,

Have you purchased any products from Xpel? Although they are US based, I see that they have an international delivery feature. Or can you recommend a similar alternative? I too thought Armourfend was rather expensive.

__________________
JJ Rodger
2013 G350 Bluetec
1999 SL 500
1993 E300 diesel T
1990 190

Jonathan,
I am in the process of purchasing 12 inch x 8mm protection film as the 3M tape(4") is not wide enough for some areas
on my car.As you say they export their products & are well established. I checked with HM Customs & import duty may be overlooked but at worst 1.5% plus VAT on the total package.
I find the 3M tape is easy to apply using the "Wet method"
The isopropyl alcohol is not too readily available in my part of the country but can be obtained via internet firms.
I believe that post 1997 C class cars kits are available from Xpel & Brian K has fitted one to his E class with no
problems & total satisfaction(See my Waterbased paint post,earlier in this forum}.
The kits are produced slightly undersized to allow for stretching on contoured areas & to reproduce this & maintain straight edge lines on the raw material requires a degree of skill but it can be done. It is of course,a considerable saving over Armorfend & a respray .

Finally, there is another USA firm that Shaun McCarron recommended in one of my posts on paint chips...Stormcote
or something similar but I found them uncompetitive.
If you do settle for Armorfend, I am reliably informed that
many Porsche owners utilise it & find it entirely satisfactory.

I tried the color matching wax by Turtle Wax and was VERY impressed with my results. If you have a dark color paint like my Pearl Black, you will be expremely happy with the $8 you spend for this stuff!

Give it a try guys, this is a temporary fix you understand but you will have no more white primer chip marks.

BTW, if you do fill in the chip marks with paint as it should be done, try going over the paint with clay after the paint is dry (1-2 hours) to knock the tops of the "paint bubbles", this will also condition and smooth the rest of the paint and give you a great shine.