Benz folks -

Looking for suggestions on how to clean-up the painted areas under the hood. There is a sooty oxidation from years past, and I'd just like to get it to a nice clean look. Waxing/polishing/compounding seems futile. BUt maybe it's the way to go. Thoughts?

-Reed
'84 300D/T

hmmm same case as my friend had on his 190e over the years he forgot to put a new hood pad... anyway what we did on his car was. We cleaned first the underside of the hood with liquid detergent soap ( i.e. dawn, palmolive dish soap) to remove the oil. Then proceeded with a cleaner wax and show car polish. You won't believe how clean, smooth & shiny it was.

just my 2 cent....

I use and love P21s TOTAL AUTO WASH..It has a citrus smell and works wonders on bugs, tar, dirt, etc, etc...

goto the web at www.p21s.com

For underhood cleaning of a non "garage queen" or "trailer queen" (show car/weekend toy) a general purpose degreaser and some intelligently applied hose pressure can work wonders. Mostly you are trying to de-dust and remove old grime. A trick to do this quick as heck and still well is pick up one of those lawn sprayers (pump handle, hose with spray wand, about a 1-2 liter capacity) and put in your degreaser of choice. Then just pump her up, hit all the spots in the engine bay, and hose. Repeat as needed for the esp grimy areas. Of course, don't do any underhood spraying/hosing/cleaning when the motor and underhood bits are still hot from driving.

Hope this helps,
Lee