Drop JMK a line regarding the paint. He mods the body work forum.

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“Whatever story you're telling, it will be more interesting if, at the end you add, "and then everything burst into flames.”
― Brian P. Cleary, You Oughta Know By Now

Where are you in the Midwest? I may be able to give you a recommendation. PM me if you want. Got a guy doing rust work on 3 cars from the family right now. He says "Summer is good blasting weather!"

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'89 260e (212K Mi.), '92 400e (208K Mi.), '92 400e (not a misprint) (146K Mi.), '95 C220, '81 240D--Sold

Mike, I will do some more searching of the forums before I bother JMK. I'm sure the info is out there, just need to do the homework.

Parshoot1, I'm near St. Louis. Anything you know of around here? Thanks

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63 220S W111
76 300D W115
2013 VW JSW TDI M6

previously-
73 280 SEL 4.5
86 300E 5 speed
2010 VW Jetta TDI M6

water is fine, there really isn't much in the way of ":bugs" to be worked out, BUT FWIW I own a resto shop and am avoiding it as long as I can. I have NO worries about getting solvent based paint in the future. Hell, I still buy black lacquer

As for your cars....15k is a good start for a nice restoration on ONE of them. 15 for both isn't going to go very far unless you completely disassemble them, reassemble them, and possibly even strip the old paint off. You also need to be very clear about what you want in the end. Your driver, or show level probably won't be the same as the shops driver or show level.

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http://www.kahikocustoms.com/auto-projects

Thanks Scotty b for both replies. The paint they are using is DuPont Chroma. Is that good stuff? It's a resto shop.

The plan will probably be to fix the rear quarters on the 115, strip and paint the rear fenders and blend that into the doors and stop there. It has blemishes but the other areas aren't a rust concern. The fin will probably need more patch panels and other things, using up most of my funds for now.

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63 220S W111
76 300D W115
2013 VW JSW TDI M6

previously-
73 280 SEL 4.5
86 300E 5 speed
2010 VW Jetta TDI M6

It's " o.k. " paint. I've painted a LOT of cars, and the ONLY time I have had a reaction with paint was with Chromabase. IMHO it's midline pain. It costs more than it should and doesn't cover very well.

I laughed my ass of during one of the episodes of " Am HOT ROD " the show about Boyd Coddinton, when the painter was told they were changing a cars color from black to yellow and he pitched a hissy fit. He made the comment " it's going to take 13 coats to get this thing covered now " .....yep Chromabase mixing bank.

Paints like Spies Hecker, GLasurit, and PPG DBC cost a lot more than Chromabase, Shopline or Nason etc BUT I can get full coverage in higher priced paint in 2-3 coats where I have had cheaper stuff take 10-15 ( yes seriously ) to cover. I shot a 911 last winter for a friend, he wanted to cheap out so we used Shopline ( PPG's mid grade ) the color was chocolate brown, so it SHOULD have covered well. 9 coats and it was still transparent ( you could still see the light grey primer under it !!! I went and got it in DBC and it was covered in 2 coats. So in the end, you really don't save any money on the color when you have to buy 2-3 times as much, and the color match is never dead on with cheap paints. That's a whole other discussion

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http://www.kahikocustoms.com/auto-projects

Scotty, as a shop owner perhaps you can answer this: If I were to ask the resto shop to buy a different paint on my dime, would they be pissed? I don't know if that's customary.

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63 220S W111
76 300D W115
2013 VW JSW TDI M6

previously-
73 280 SEL 4.5
86 300E 5 speed
2010 VW Jetta TDI M6

That all depends on the shop owner. I have customers do it. I have had customers supply their own paint. HOWEVER, I have gotten to the point I won't anymore. I have had a couple times where the customer supplied paint that turned out to be VERY problematic ( epoxy that never hardened was one. i ended up having to sand the whole car back down. Went through most of a roll of 80 grit sandpaper)

Typically a shop will stick with what they are familiar with and know won't create an issue for them. I now will run through why I won't use anything other than PPG or sPies Hecker, with my customers and so far all have understood. The main thing is if the shop owner can't explain why he prefers his paint, it means he probably doesn't understand the actual chemical makeup and why it is better, he just knows he can make it work, so to him it is the only thing to use

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http://www.kahikocustoms.com/auto-projects