I can see that my 1987 260E is starting to show a few rust spots & bubbling on the body and lots of brown rusts under the hood of the car (where the grill mate with the hood). After spending a bundle fixing up the car I would like to hold on to it for a while. My thoughts now turns to keeping the body in good shape. I have thought about maybe sending it in for just painting the rust spots. Or on the other hand maybe have the whole car repainted since the rest of the body is showing its age even though these other parts are not rusting. Its surprising that the rest of the car is not rusted out. If it was my GM I think the think would have rusted all over, somehow these Benz are admirably rust resistance, and I want to keep it for years like this. So, I am wondering what issues I should be thinking about when it comes to repainting the car to look new? Is it possible after a paint job for the car to have the lustre of a new vehicle? Is a repaint job last a long time? or do u have to do it every 3 years or so? How to go about determining which body shop is a good one and which to avoid? I suppose if you take it in to a shop tthat specializes in antique car restorations you should be ok? Lets hear it from the folks who love their benz!!!

I'd sand the rust down a bit, and apply POR-15



then paint.

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-1983 VW Rabbit LS Diesel (5speed, VNT/Giles build)

well, this is a tricky question. it all depends on exactly what is rusted and where. small surface spots that are uncomplicated can be scraped treated with por 15 or some similar rust binder and touched up with match mixed touch up paint.

sanding the whole car down to bare metal is in my mind an extremely risky venture. even the best body shop will never match the original paint for thoroughness of coverage and paint into cracks and so forth.

i use the first touch up method for small areas. this sounds crude but if done carefully and keeping the touched up area confined to the actual rusted area it will virtually disappear on a non metallic paint car. which i mostly buy exclusively.

for an overall i would lean toward careful patching the rusted areas and a light sanding of the existing paint before applying an original color repaint.

a bare metal job leaves open many possibilities for areas that dont get good coverage. these areas are future new rusted areas.

these comments apply to non collector cars which have to respond to some reasonable relationship between invested $ and market value.

good luck

tom w

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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.

[quote=t walgamuth;1361699]

>i use the first touch up method for small areas. this sounds crude but if
>done carefully and keeping the touched up area confined to the actual
>rusted area it will virtually disappear on a non metallic paint car. which i
>mostly buy exclusively.

Oops! I might have a metallic one. I checked the vin and its says the color of my car is Impala Metallic (whatever that means).


>for an overall i would lean toward careful patching the rusted areas and
>a light sanding of the existing paint before applying an original color repaint.

OK, I like this idea. How do I communicate this to the body shop? Is there a special name for this procedure of only slightly sanding the surface and applying a coat of paint to make it look newer? I hope you don't mean the lip service procedure of (DETAILING), which I really think is just a lip service and nothing more.

>these comments apply to non collector cars which have to respond to \
>some reasonable relationship between invested $ and market value.

I am not too concerned about market value and such, I just want it to look nice ie. something shining so that you aren't embarrassed to be seen driving in

We painted the wifes' 400E two years ago and that should take care of that for as long as we own it. If you are looking for a pro job plan on spending some bucks,,,,, 5 to 10 K depending on what it needs and who's doing it. A pro shop should not need to be told what to do and will take the car completely apart and take care of any rust and dings anywhere. Even owning the shop, I had substancial money in my wifes' E since I don't do the painting, but I'll put it up against any 124 on the planet today. You do get what you pay for.

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95 SL500 Smoke Silver, Parchment 64K
07 E350 4matic Station Wagon White 34K
02 E320 4Matic Silver/grey 80K
05 F150 Silver 44K