First paint:
I've got a burgundy 82 wagon. It oxidizes.... bad. After a nice waxing, the top and passenger side look great. Given a little time, they get chalky (especially the top!) Would a washing and clear coating help???

Next, suspension:
Okay, here's a text representation of what my wagon looks like with the head lights staring right at you

/ Oo (---) oO \

Unfortunatley, the / and \ are the wheels. They look a bit slanted like that. Just new shocks would fix this? If so, do you guys have a good tutorial anywhere?

Next step, fixing vacuum issues, and seeing if I can use some LED's in my instrument panel....

Thanks,
Chris

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'90 300SE --- 173k miles --- (Odometer just stopped working!)

'85 Cali 300D --- 193500 miles --- (Second one) Sold Nov '10

'82 300TDT --- 236,xxx miles --- (My first one) Sold July '09

the camber is off... ball joins, and other suspension pieces could be at blame.. the paint issue.. i dont know i have no education on paint

How often do you wash/wax the car? That is oxidation, and my non clearcoated cars from the 70's did that every 3 months. Paint can oxidize under the clearcoat, and it looks real bad, so if you do put clear coat on top of the paint, get it professionally done with a written warranty. If you want to go clearcost the best way is the most expensive way, and that is to have the car sanded to bare metal, primed and painted.

The wheels leaning in is negative camber. Either really badly out of alignment, but usually that kind of lean is caused by either worn out control arm bushings or failing ball joints.

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RRGrassi


70's Southern Pacific #5608 Fairmont A-4 MOW car

13 VW JSW 2.0 TDI 193K, Tuned with DPF and EGR Delete.

99 W210 E300 Turbo Diesel, chipped, DPF/Converter Delete. Still needs EGR Delete, 232K

90 Dodge D250 5.9 Cummins/5 speed. 400K

Gone and still missed...1982 w123 300D, 1991 w124 300D

I'm no detailer, but I think your car needs a compounding, polish and then wax. My mom's 76 Volvo was a terribly chalky and faded maroon. when it was time to sell it, I compounded, polished and waxed it. It really shined. Snapped a few pictures and put it in the local online venue. My folks were practically mobbed with eager buyers.

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'82 300SD - 361K mi - "Blue"

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

listen, look, .........and duck.

compound, polish, wax? what brand do you recommend??

also, the suspension issue... I should mention that if I press down on either front quarter panel, I sometimes hear a bit of a squeak/crunch.... me no like-y

__________________
'90 300SE --- 173k miles --- (Odometer just stopped working!)

'85 Cali 300D --- 193500 miles --- (Second one) Sold Nov '10

'82 300TDT --- 236,xxx miles --- (My first one) Sold July '09

Turtle wax makes good polishing compounds. Try the white one first, as it does not have a much grit as the red one. Mother's makes a good wax.

You need to rais up the front of the car and "wobble" the top and bottom while looking at the suspension. Squeak and crunch is not a good sign, could be ball joints, but sounds like control arm bushings.

__________________
RRGrassi


70's Southern Pacific #5608 Fairmont A-4 MOW car

13 VW JSW 2.0 TDI 193K, Tuned with DPF and EGR Delete.

99 W210 E300 Turbo Diesel, chipped, DPF/Converter Delete. Still needs EGR Delete, 232K

90 Dodge D250 5.9 Cummins/5 speed. 400K

Gone and still missed...1982 w123 300D, 1991 w124 300D

Well I'd like to fix the wheel problem asap...

Do you have any resources for tutorials on fixing any of that?

__________________
'90 300SE --- 173k miles --- (Odometer just stopped working!)

'85 Cali 300D --- 193500 miles --- (Second one) Sold Nov '10

'82 300TDT --- 236,xxx miles --- (My first one) Sold July '09

The one problem with rubbing compund is that it takes a small layer of paint off every time you use it. Once you start down that road, you will forever need to clean, compound and wax to get your car shiny. Also, it shortens the lifespan of your paint job.

__________________
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h2...ep6869/FSM.jpg
"I believe the government that governs best is the government that governs least. And by these standards, we have set up a fabulous government in Iraq."-Steven Colbert

Or online manual.....

__________________
'90 300SE --- 173k miles --- (Odometer just stopped working!)

'85 Cali 300D --- 193500 miles --- (Second one) Sold Nov '10

'82 300TDT --- 236,xxx miles --- (My first one) Sold July '09

I am in the process of purchasing my first 300D as well. I would go to an auto parts store or goto Amazon and order a Haynes manual for the car you have.

Also search this forum using search words like "ball joint replacement", or "control arm removal", etc.

And as posted earlier, you do have to go easy with polishing and rubbing compounds. On older cars that do not have clearcoat, any type of cleaner wax or compounding always removes a little paint. That is evident by the towels and such becoming the color or your car. It is easy to "burn" your paint. If you hit primer while polishing, you just "burned" your paint.

__________________
RRGrassi


70's Southern Pacific #5608 Fairmont A-4 MOW car

13 VW JSW 2.0 TDI 193K, Tuned with DPF and EGR Delete.

99 W210 E300 Turbo Diesel, chipped, DPF/Converter Delete. Still needs EGR Delete, 232K

90 Dodge D250 5.9 Cummins/5 speed. 400K

Gone and still missed...1982 w123 300D, 1991 w124 300D

I would take the car to a bodyshop you trust, and get an estimate on having the clearcoat wetsanded and recleared. Did that with a MR2 that looked terrible before, and came out nice and shiny afterward. And stayed that way.

-TB

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"Ninja monkeys are meeting as we speak, plotting my demise."

1982 300D "Melba" 332k
1985 4Runner "billygoat" 204k

re rear end, does the SLS work?

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http://superturbodiesel.com/images/sig.04.10.jpg
1995 E420 Schwarz
1995 E300 Weiss
#1987 300D Sturmmachine
#1991 300D Nearly Perfect
#1994 E320 Cabriolet
#1995 E320 Touring
#1985 300D Sedan
OBK #42

I can help you out here.


Do NOT use rubbing compound on your car. Most likely you don't need it and will cause more harm than good. Start with a good hand washing using car soap and not dishwashing soap. Once it's hand dried, you need to run a clay bar over the entire paint job. Once you finish, the paint should be smooth as glass though it may not look all that nice. You have to really rub the clay on some spots.

If you haven't invested in a Porter Cable dual action polisher, I highly recommend one as the next steps will take you a while.

Mask all of the trim with some masking tape. Two rolls should do the trick. I use Meguiars products as they are readily available at most auto stores and work great. They have a three step system that gets really great results. The first is a cleaner. This will remove the oxidation and get the paint ready for polishing. Follow up with step 2 (the polish) and polish the car. Once this is done, you are ready for two coats of wax. I don't use the step 3 wax, as I have a dark blue car (I use #26 wax). Use two coats of wax as it will prevent the underlying paint from oxidizing. This entire process took me over 10 hours start to finish using a dual action polisher. It would probably take much longer by hand.

Here are my results. The first pic really doesn't show how bad the paint looked up close, but the three tone blue speaks for itself.




10 hours later, this puppy shines like a diamond ring!! Ok, I added some new tires and stock rims, but the pics are taken less than 24 hours apart!!

where can I obtain this 'clay bar'??

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'90 300SE --- 173k miles --- (Odometer just stopped working!)

'85 Cali 300D --- 193500 miles --- (Second one) Sold Nov '10

'82 300TDT --- 236,xxx miles --- (My first one) Sold July '09

They sell it at any auto parts store. I believe I used Mothers clay bar. It comes with a bottle of lubricant (Quick detailer) but you should pick up an extra bottle of this stuff, especially if you are doing the whole car. When you do this, be sure to break the clay bar in half. This way, if you drop it, you still have some to finish the job. If you do drop it, throw it away!!