I’m posting this here because it’s not a Mercedes-Benz, and the subforums get very little traffic, I hate to say it.

I’m going to try to make my ‘89 Chev G20 van halfway cherry, at least on the outside. The existing bonnet had been dinged hard before my time, Had a dimple that would be hard to take out, and the attaching piece underneath that firms it up had been broken free somewhat. All wobbly and weird.

I found this one at the boneyard, has one small issue that needs some Bondo, but much easier to repair than the original would have been.

Speaking of the original:



Here it is with the new unit in place.




How to deal with this paint peel on it is perplexing.



I can’t just paint over it, the ridge of the old paint will show under the new paint. And if I try to feather it into the primer below, I’m afraid it will just chip out, the feathered part being so thin.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

I would feather it back to a solid substrate. If you try and fill that it will peel with the new paint. Just use a sealer before laying color.

I’m wondering if I should chemically strip all of the old white paint. I’ve never stripped auto paint, I have done it with housing paint many times. I have some of the orange oil stripper, I could always just give that a shot. Might need something a little more heavy duty for auto paint though.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Not sure what you mean by a sealer. One thought I had was to use two part filler epoxy such as Smith’s Fill-it. I know from construction work that the stuff is much better glue than bondo. I was thinking to scrape on the paint edge until no more easy chipping takes place, and then putty knife in a thin film of the epoxy to ideally prevent future chipping.

I am a bit chagrined at how little I know sometimes, well, oftentimes. The gray surface beneath the paint must be some kind of primer, because there is not a trace of rust. I don’t quite get it. It seems like bare metal.

I just now found this site, purveyors of chemical stripping products for auto paint. But that goes down to bare metal. I guess I could use spray can primer. One thing I am in the dark about is the effectiveness of using that underneath more professional type auto paint.

https://tinyurl.com/4ubsexjn

They have a couple of videos on using their stuff, and their point is well taken, there’s no noise in dust from using a palm sander to take the paint off.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Sealer keeps the surface being painted from affecting the finish coat. Existing paint, primer and bare metal can cause the applied paint to lay differently and show up in the final finish. I wouldnt use a filler that isnt designed for automotive paint. Just sand smooth and seal it. Then paint it.



https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/duplicolor-primer-sealer-primer-sealer-gray-12-oz-aerosol-dap1699/7140885-p?c3ch=PLA&c3nid=7140885-P&adtype=&product_channel=Online&store_code=&msclkid=1ba4d9b3e85014e980f7bb67e4bbe066&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=b_shopping_all_paint%2Fchemicals_gen_gen_gen_evergreen_eng_aap_us_all&utm_term=4580771611308366&utm_content=Bing_All_Paint%20%26%20Chemicals_Primer&gclid=1ba4d9b3e85014e980f7bb67e4bbe066&gclsrc=3p.ds

Sounds like good advice. Do you think a small skim coat of Bondo at the joint of the where the old paint is sloughing off and that part feathered down would yield good results?

It’s more than a little ironic that I have major, mass experience with Bondo but only in home construction. I have never used it on a vehicle. I don’t know if it should be only applied to bare metal or if it will work over paint. One weird thing about Bondo for me is it is lousy glue, and yet it will stick to various surfaces pretty well. But it does not work well at holding two items together, whereas the two part epoxy filler is excellent glue as well as excellent filler.

Bondo is much more user-friendly for filling, you can sand it in about a half hour, seems fully cured in an hour. My favorite epoxy filler, Smith’s, takes about 12 to 24 hours to be sandable and is pretty expensive. They also went to mail order sales only. I wish they hadn’t. There are times when I am running out and really want more today.

I am almost leaning to getting that paint remover. It has some pinstriping that will have to be removed, it’s raising up around the edges. I also got a passenger door from the same vehicle, really nice shape compared to my existing door. The paint is pretty good on it, but it also has copious pinstripes that need to be removed, I’ll just try sanding with 220, down to 400.

I’ve had the van about 12 years, have never had a working power window on the passenger side. Everything I read about putting in a new motor was daunting. The donor vehicle was a wheelchair lift unit. Given the excellent shape of the passenger door, I’m hoping the power window still works well, would be a bonus.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

I would feather it back with some 320 about two inches. Then sealer primer and color.

That does sound workable. The only reason I’m still leaning maybe to stripping it all is to get rid of the pinstripes in the front. The edges of all the stripes are raised slightly, it would definitely show under new paint. I tried to sand them down by hand, would be major work, perhaps the palm sander would do a lot better. I’ll give that a shot soon.

The pin stripes on my original paint job are likely to be a challenge as well. I ran into a guy with a cherried out to the max G 20, looks a lot like mine, he said he wouldn’t sell it for less than $60,000. Of course, his paint job, his total restoration is first rate.

Not sure if I’m going to aim for that.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

3M makes a tool that removes decals and pinstripes.


https://www.amazon.com/Adhesive-Remover-Graphics-diameter-threaded/dp/B00063VT0G/ref=asc_df_B00063VT0G?tag=bngsmtphsnus-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=80470624769032&hvnetw=s&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=m&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4584070153379258&psc=1

White paint obviously is not well bonded to the substrate. Do it once and do it right. Remove hood strip paint and start over. Paint chipping off says it all basically.

Power window is more likely functional than not in the passenger door you picked up.

Dang, I might end up wearing out one or two of those. On my original paint job are various places where the stripes sort of merge into larger areas of paint. Most of those parts are solid enough, not peeling or anything, but the edge is noticeable to the touch, would show under new paint.



I like the old truck, but I’m not sure it’s going to get the Counting Cars treatment of full renewal, complete with paint removal, sandblasting, etc. The interior is not horrible, but it has numerous rips and tears.

At this point, I’m thinking just to bring the body close to cherry, get a new front grill (has some damage after the photo was taken) and paint. The grill is apparently still available, just now had a thought that I should move quickly on that.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Since the hood is a pretty small area, I’m thinking total paint removal would not be a big job, might be the most trouble free over the long haul. The van the hood and the front door came from looked in pretty good shape. Since it had the wheelchair left, my thought is that the passenger door might not have been used that often. It was perfect in every way, inside and out. Only cost me $60 at Pick n Pull.

I found this photo somewhere of a similar van, I like the color scheme. Not too fancy, no stripes, but dang, good looking. Not planning to get any roof extension ornaments at this point although that air vent thing that I have in the back, the square thing, is not too attractive. I put it in myself about 10 years ago, it is handy to have a vent fan. I might be able to find something that would serve the function of that, give extra headroom, and look better all in all.



*Edited to add*

Oops, that was incorrect, there are some stripes at the bottom. Might even be some small stripes on either side of that large, darker horizontal band. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Really unlikely that the owner of that van will ever know about me, and that is the coolest looking G20 paint job I’ve ever seen.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Those stripes on the main body look painted. If your not going for a show car job youll at least need to feather all those edges down. Then bury them in filler primer and sand smooth.

Used car shops would mask the existing painted stripes, scuff and paint then mask the newly painted stripes and paint the main body. Then bury it all in cheap clear coat.

A professional job would take it all down to a solid base, body work it, filler prime, block sand flat and seal/paint. That job would dance around $4500.

Just do this

“Filler primer.” Haven’t heard of that, is it somehow thicker than regular primer?

That looks pretty hot. I was afraid it might be up around $4500. That’s why I’m hoping to do a lot of the prep myself. I got another offer on it yesterday, well not a cash amount offer, just an inquiry if I was selling it. Happens quite a bit.

I’ve only painted one rig ever, that was back in the mid-70s. My first vehicle, a ‘59 International Travelall panel. It had been a Sears service van, “Sears” had been painted over, the letters “we service what we sell” still visible. I sanded all of that off and used an airless sprayer. The color was a bit weird, I had planned to put some brown and red sections and striping but never got around to it.



That’s my hippie dippy ass of course, 1975, outside of OlyWA.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K