After polishing (COMPLETELY, even the inside of the windows and the insides of the rims) five of these wheels, I can tell you that this is an extremely laborious job. The original paint was very thick and hid a lot of grinding flaws and forging imperfections. It took a great deal of time and material to remove these with a die grinder. The center hub area, in particular, was very difficult. This is described in this thread:

Polishing Bundts - Not "Fun"


For less effort and great, low-maintenance results, I'd powdercoat, and shop around, because price varies wildly. Caswell Plating sells a powder that claims to be "Mercedes silver".

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86 560SL
With homebrew first gear start!
85 380SL
Daily Driver Project

http://juliepalooza.8m.com/sl/mercedes.htm

The weird thing is that the spare is painted.

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Britton McIntyre

68 280 SE coupe 'Hairball'
70 280 SL
71 280 SEL - RIP May 2010

Here is what i did for my Mercedes and my Miata and untold numbers of other cars:-Scrub em up,sand and scuff with 800 grit, base coat a silver color of your choosing and clear coat them suckers.... Not much work and THEY LOOK FANTASTIC!

Newer clear coats are very durable and they wash up easy.

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"Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration...
don't Fail Us Now"

Try the thread called First Class Wheel Refinishing. Has much information. Take a look at the last page and you will see my wheels and exactly how I repainted my bundts for 1981 300SD. Been about a month or so and they are holding up well so far. There are a lot of various kinds of information on that thread including techniques, paint colors, paint companies, stripper, powder coating, etc. A cornucopia of information for someone interested in good looking bundts.

When did Bundt wheels first come available ?

First available as an option on W108,W113 and W109 since April 1968

im in the process of refinishing a set of bundts.

I have sanded and applyed primer. But im having a problem with the duplicolor paint. I used the duplicolor wheel paint and the first coat was fine. The second coat looks like texturized paint, very rough. I can't don't know why I didn't do anything different.

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1985 300TD Turbo Euro-wagon
1979 280CE 225,200 miles
1985 300D Turbo 264,000 miles
1976 240D 190,000 miles
1979 300TD 220,000

GONE but not forgotten
1976 300D 195,300 miles
1983 300D Turbo 175,000 miles

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...e485-1-2-1.jpg

Not a clue. I put several coats of the Duplicolor paint on before doing the clear coat. Did you perhaps mix up and use lacquer vs non-lacquer paint or primers? I had to read the cans close to find out that the clear coat I had originally purchased (anyway I think it was the clear coat but you get the idea) was not compatible with the color paint - one was for lacquer and the other was not.

Did you let it dry sufficiently? Did you keep shaking the rattle can while you were painting?

Last idea - maybe it was just a bad can of paint???

Not a clue. I put several coats of the Duplicolor paint on before doing the clear coat. Did you perhaps mix lacquer and non-lacquer paint or primers? I had to read the cans close to find out that the clear coat I had originally purchased (anyway I think it was the clear coat but you get the idea) was not compatible with the silver paint - one can of clear coat was for lacquer and the other was not.

Did you let it dry sufficiently? Did you keep shaking the rattle can while you were painting? Was the weather temperature and maybe humidity within bounds of what is suggested on the can?

Last idea - maybe it was just a bad can of paint???

yeah, it dried for about a week.

I'll make sure I have the correct paint type.

It could very well be a bad can of paint.

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1985 300TD Turbo Euro-wagon
1979 280CE 225,200 miles
1985 300D Turbo 264,000 miles
1976 240D 190,000 miles
1979 300TD 220,000

GONE but not forgotten
1976 300D 195,300 miles
1983 300D Turbo 175,000 miles

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...e485-1-2-1.jpg

here are some pics.

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1985 300TD Turbo Euro-wagon
1979 280CE 225,200 miles
1985 300D Turbo 264,000 miles
1976 240D 190,000 miles
1979 300TD 220,000

GONE but not forgotten
1976 300D 195,300 miles
1983 300D Turbo 175,000 miles

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...e485-1-2-1.jpg

Or, you can simply strip the wheels, polish them, and have done with it.

Attached Thumbnails

 

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Don't Chrome them; polish them

get them powder coated

Don't you need to clearcoat to prevent the finish corroding?

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1969 280 SEC
1982 300TD

It looks like the paint was drying before it hit the surface... If you're doing this in really warm temperatures, this will happen.

Refinished bundts on Defiant.

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1985 500SL Euro w/ AMG bits 130k
1984 300SD Turbodiesel 192k
1980 240D Stick China 188k
2001 CLK55 AMG 101k
2007 S600 Biturbo 149k Overheated Project, IT'S ALIVE!!!