I really like my 300sd but I'm not rich by any means. I've been looking at vinyl wraps as an option to give my sd a new look with out a lot of money invested. What do you guys think

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84 300sd 2.47 dif 360k
26 mpg needs lots of love
given to me in pitty

89 civic hatchback auto 140k
33mpgs soon to be low to mid 40's
been in the family since mile 1

85 300d with unknown knock. driven over 30k with knock and still going. sold for $800

A lot of vinyl wraps look tacky and cheap to me, and a 300SD deserves better than that. Save your money and get a paint job.

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'81 MB 300SD, '82 MB 300D Turbo (sold/RIP), '04 Lincoln Town Car Ultimate

Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
-German Narrator in a MB Promotion Film about the then brand new W123.

You can probably get a decent paint job for the cost of a wrap if you shop around and do some of the prep work yourself (ie: removing trim)

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Current: 1975 450SEL, 83 300D, 88 Yugo GVX, 90 300D OM603 swap, 91 F150 4.6 4v swap, 93 190E Sportline LE 3.0L M104 swap, 93 190E Sportline LE Megasquirt, 03 Sprinter, 06 E500 4Matic wagon.

You may be able to be paid by companies that advertise on your wrapped car. I offered one of my firms that option on my brand new MB in 1999. The cheap skates wouldn't meet my terms of dollars though.

I've considered it as a fast way of getting my 300D back on the road but from reading about on the subject it seems as though the plastic doesn't last much longer than three years. To my mind this makes it a rather expensive option.

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

I've seen the aftermath of a wrap job after a couple years - one of the cars Vstech acquired.

What a mess.

I would first look into trying to recover the existing paint job. With the right technique I've seen some amazing transformations.

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The OM 642/722.9 powered family
Still going strong
2014 ML350 Bluetec (wife's DD)
2013 E350 Bluetec (my DD)

both my kids cars went to junkyard in 2023
2008 ML320 CDI (Older son’s DD) fatal transmission failure, water soaked/fried rear SAM, numerous other issues, just too far gone to save (165k miles)
2008 E320 Bluetec (Younger son's DD) injector failed open and diluted oil with diesel, spun main bearings (240k miles)

1998 E300DT sold to TimFreeh
1987 300TD sold to vstech

If you have plenty of time but less money, you can paint your car yourself for $100 or so.

Remove trim etc, sand the car, wash with dawn dish detergent.

Buy suitable oil-based paint, thin to about the consistency of milk, maybe a little thicker.

Roll it on with a cheapo foam roller, let it dry, wet sand and wash. Repeat until you've got about 8 - 10 coats.

Polish, wax, done.

This method may take weeks, or even longer if you do one panel at a time, but no special skill or tools are required, no paint booth, just lots of time and patience.

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Respectfully,
/s/
M. Dillon
'87 124.193 (300TD) "White Whale", ~392k miles, 3.5l IP fitted
'95 124.131 (E300) "Sapphire", 380k miles
'73 Balboa 20 "Sanctification"
Charleston SC

I'd plasti-dip it if you're short on dough and it already looks junky. Set your expectations to match the car

I hit the roof of my truck with plasti dip, the only prep I did was washing with simple green and taping it off. Has lasted just fine for 8 months so far.

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

that wasn't a wrapped car, that was a car with ... shelf paper sections applied... a wrap is a MUCH larger process that the idiot that "wrapped" that car!!!

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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!

The problem is not the paint but the rock chips. Huge and deep. I can prep myself. But I heard that good paint cost more than $600. 3m 1080 vinyl is $200 for 200 square feet. I've seen some good looking wraps of 300d's. I ordered 6 square feet and I'll try it and let you guys know how it goes. If I like it I'll do th hood later in the summer

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84 300sd 2.47 dif 360k
26 mpg needs lots of love
given to me in pitty

89 civic hatchback auto 140k
33mpgs soon to be low to mid 40's
been in the family since mile 1

85 300d with unknown knock. driven over 30k with knock and still going. sold for $800

Maybe I dodged a bullet if it's hard on the paint or surface? I guess a new Mercedes-Benz wouldn't have been a very good test case, at any rate.

I'd only wrap my car if the wrap had fish scales

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1987 300E

An older merc shouldn't be too bad since the body lines are pretty straightforward. the raw materials are relatively inexpensive but you need to really take your time to do it well. This means removing trim, doing a very through clean, etc.


Sent from an abacus

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

For a thousand dollars a month??

I meant just in general. If I could get a nice fish skin print.

Now that I've looked at a few cars with this done, it doesn't look bad. Thing is, if I have to take all the trim off anyway, why not just sand it down with a power sander and take it in and get it sprayed for $500.

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1987 300E