whether tis nobler for the eye to suffer the slings and arrows of oxidized paint...blah blah

so i have a fairly rare 1987 190d 2.5 turbo that is mechanically perfect. There is no rust since I am in NC but the black paint is very oxidized.

i'm tempted to get it painted because it needs it. however, i'm just not sure. I would be willing to pay up to $3k if they fix the dents, remove the emblems properly, etc. is that amount reasonable?

i've had the car for over 10 years. i paid $2k for it. in 2015 i had the transmission professionally rebuilt using MB parts for $4k. no leaks, no rust so it is good car. the paint is just faded.

do yall have any advice on which way I should go? i plan on keeping the car for good long while.

thanks in advance for your thoughts.

ps. i've attached a pic but it doesn't really show the bad faded paint that is all on the hood, the roof and the trunk. the sides seem ok and it still has some gloss to it

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Ben
1987 190d 2.5Turbo

Once you've decided to repaint, and before actually doing so, I'd give polishing a shot. Go get a random orbit polisher, some very fine compound, watch some YT videos, and see what you can do. It probably doesn't need a repaint just because of oxidation, and even if you can't polish it all out I bet you can get it good enough that you don't care anymore. Even having a pro do it, a couple hundred bucks vs $3k.

If it winds up not working, you were planning to repaint anyway........

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617 swapped Toyota Pickup, 22-24 MPG, 50k miles on swap

Hi Ben,

A couple of questions or points to possibly consider. If the paint is just oxidized but otherwise intact and structurally sound, you could have tge paint polished back and then clear coat the car only to provide depth and pop for about $1000. This works best on solid colors. Heaviliy oxidized metalics often cant be polished without distortion.

Your estimates are in line for having a shop do it with a partial tear down and trim removal. If you can do the prep, you can save big on paint. The less work they have to do, the less it costs you.

I just got my 87 300TD back from paint, $1k 5 yr warranty, I'm happy, a little overspray on tape lines that I will clean up, but I did all the trim removal myself and basically gave them a sand/prep/paint job that they could turn around in 2 days.

Realistically, the folks at the shop will probably bugger up the car trim on removal. If they dont specialize on old Benzs, they wont take the time to do it right. You will be better off taking your time and doing the trim removal yourself otherwise expect to find double sided tape in lieu of clips.

6 people worked on my car, only one was barely older than the car.

Good luck, the reward is often worth the effort with a keeper.

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Stable Mates:
1987 300TD 310K mi (Hans)
2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee OM642 165k mi (Benzrokee)

Hi Ben.
Is your car painted with metallic paint or not?

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

probably non-metallic but i will take the forum's advice and take it to a place that can buff out the oxidation. i would like to not paint it. i have seen repainted cars and you can tell that they have been repainted. seems like they can never get the right sheen on. what do i know?

anyway, thanks guys. have a great new year!

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Ben
1987 190d 2.5Turbo

Generally a non metallic responds to buffing a lot better than metallic.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

That sounds like a good deal. Was it a base coat clear-coat that you had done? Did that include fixing the typical small dents, scratches?

I'm in So Flo also and the smoke silver on my SD is pretty much shot on all the surfaces perpendicular to the sun. The lowest quote i got was 2K and change at the local Maaco even bringing it in with trim removed.

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'83 SD, 2x '85 SD
You are entitled to your own opinions, you are not entitled to your own facts.

I did mine at Auto Painting USA, they have 3 locations in SoFlo. I got thir Gold package, dings, surface prep 2k sealer primer, and color integrated clear coat with 5 yr warranty. It's my 3rd car done with them. They've been in business for 45 years, so their formula works IMO,

Good luck

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Stable Mates:
1987 300TD 310K mi (Hans)
2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee OM642 165k mi (Benzrokee)

My suggestion is to remove anything you want removed yourself before painting. This includes sunroof and seals, door handles and chrome, bumpers etc.

Even if you give the FSM pages to the shop, they will ignore and disassemble the way they think easiest. You can can remove and bag and tag for easy reassembly.

The other option is to find a quality shop familiar with these old cars and pay a premium if you can in fact find such a shop.

I couldn't. Lessons learned. The paint looks great but the process could be easier.

My exterior trim is stripped to the bone. The only thing left is the aluminum around the side windows and the rear windshield. Shame, I had that rear windshield out less than a year ago and now I'm thinking of painting the body.

I love the thought of having original paint on my 85 W126 but I'm just too old to be waxing a single stage paint. On a good day 20 yrs ago it took me 8 hrs to detail the car including a wax job so with so much trim removed I'm considering going with a base and clear paint. My DA brother 'buffed,' it before he sold it to me then used some snake oil fix on the places he burned through to the primer. There aren't many but they bother me now that the interior is restored.

I am considering doing the nick and scratch repair myself and that little rusty spot above the rear bumper cover is ready to trim with the replacement section waiting on me to complete my mig training.

All the interior is finished but I haven't installed anything behind the front seats because I may remove that rear windshield. If I had a paint booth or access to one I might personally shoot the paint.

Frankly, it upsets me to think I might have to trust someone else with painting it.

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84 300SD
85 380SE
83 528e
95 318ic

I am working with a shop to paint my 84 wagon right now. I am not loosing sleep worrying about factory paint. The rear quarter on the driver's side already had 4 coats on it!

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1985 300 TD 448K
1984 300 TD 278K

1983 240D euro 240k
1994 f-250 idi turbo 330K
1986 f-350 IDI
1987 F-350 IDI

1985 JD 1050 4wd
1965 IH 3660

Someone mentioned a really great idea about this years ago here. They said before taking it in, just razor blade off the rubber rim off the edge of the windshield seal so the paint shop can paint under the lip. Then pop the window out and put in a new seal when you get the car back.

There are the pluses and minuses of replacing with a URO seal that are a topic for another discussion. The URO is narrower and exposes more of the body. When I replaced mine it exposed the ugly mask line of the prior owners cheap respray. At some point I’ll either pull my windshields and have it resprayed or do the razor trick. URO seals are inexpensive unlike the mb but they do have this drawback. I guess that’s the gist of it.

I’ve always wanted to learn how to paint a car. I’ve done motorcycles in the driveway with cheap harbor freight gun as a kid and had average results. It’s part of my bucket list to do a base coat clearcoat metallic like my diamond blue on the 300d but the older I get it seems easier to just take it in. I’m not a kid anymore with overspray all over my face. But part of me still wants to nail it just because. I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube videos on diy spray jobs and it looks doable.

When you count trim stripping, masking, sanding and absorbing the new 2k paints in the body I guess a few thousand isn’t much. I have my car together engine, tranny, interior and chassis wise. It just pesters me with its cheapo maaco respray the PO did. It’s a metallic done single stage and it’s peeling wherever they didn’t properly prep.

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79 300TD “Old Smokey” AKA “The Mistake” (SOLD)
82 240D stick shift 335k miles (SOLD)
82 300SD 300k miles
85 300D Turbodiesel 170k miles

I feel for you on the amount of work you've done and how it ended up with paint that shames your efforts.

My project started as two cars. A white 84SD and a black 85SE. Now I have a black 85SD after swapping engines, wiring, rebuilding everything rebuildable on the project except a fine running om617 and the transmission attached to it. I learned how to learn again.

It's a long term project. I removed a windshield which had the frosting in the lower corners and installed one from a 91 SE which was pristine using the rope method and a new MB brand seal. I paid 135 bucks for it, followed the directions and installed this with great prejudice. I'm not cutting anything.

I decided to sand the coating off the alum trim and buff all the trim and didn't do such a good job on the rear windshield trim because it was in place. This, imo, is a chance to make it look like it should. I will work that inside lip starting at the top until I get this glass out without damaging the seal.

I use some jackleg primer on a bit of surface rust under the seal too. It's what everyone here swears by but it's not a 2K primer so that can be rectified while I'm in there.

I'm looking for a garage to get started on this today.

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84 300SD
85 380SE
83 528e
95 318ic

Not for the traditional M-B owner, but us bottom-feeders who now own the cars might be interested in the thread "Paint your car for $50" (or such) by a guy named 67Chargeryeehaw (or such). Don't ask, google it. It is about the longest car thread on the net. He surprisingly worked on a classic Dodge Charger (valuable today), while others did everything from a beat-up Jap economy sedan to a Porsche. Some use Rustoleum cans and others pricier Interlux Brightsides polyurethane "boat paint". I painted my camping trailer w/ later using the same "roll & tip" method as boats and came out smooth and shiny (has flush sides). Did the top of my 1965 Dart w/ the same white paint and method, and interior and trunk (spraying). Might use on my M-B cars which have severe clear-coat damage from CA sun. The roller method wastes less paint. For any application method, you must wet-sand to get it perfect.

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1984 & 1985 CA 300D's
1964 & 65 Mopar's - Valiant, Dart, Newport
1996 & 2002 Chrysler minivans

Frankly, I would discourage anyone from putting himself through what I've gone through over the last few years with my project car. I have the strange sensation that as soon as I roll this car out some idiot texting is going to destroy what I've done.

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84 300SD
85 380SE
83 528e
95 318ic