I don't know if this should go into detailing or not, but also has to do with a repair, so I am placing it here.

Some bozo backed into my 560 SEL, and it got a nasty dent in the trunk lid. It was a hit and run at a local Costco parking lot, and I was not there when it happened. My car is otherwise dentless.

So after looking at different options, I decided I could save dough (insurance deductible is $250) by getting another trunk lid at the boneyard (in this case, Potomac German Auto Parts). They sold me a nice lid, undamaged, for $68, mostly matching in color. It was a breeze to put on.

MOSTLY matching in color. Since it's a boneyard, almost everything visible has those yellow crayon markings all over it. So did, of course, the trunk lid. It does not visually harmonize with the overall black color of the vehicle.

So here is the question to the experts: How do you get rid of the yellow, near flourecent crayon marking without damaging the paint (or repainting the entire car flourescent yellow)? Is rubbing alcohol ok?

Thanks!

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Henry Bofinger
1989 560 SEL (black/black)
2001 Audi TT Roadster (silver/grey)

I would first try something that is made to take tar off of car paint. Be sure to wax the paint after you're done.

Of course polishing or rubbing compound would do it. But I am trying to keep as much of the paint as possible.

Totally agree - Mother's cleaner wax all over the thing, more than one application, once the yellow stuff is off... It will come back nicely.

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Henry Bofinger
1989 560 SEL (black/black)
2001 Audi TT Roadster (silver/grey)

Rubbing alcohol should be pretty well tolerated by the paint, but I don't know how well it will take off the crayon.
I think the earlier post about tar remover referred to one or another of the clear-solution organic solvent products that are out there. I've used them on smallish spots for tar, and they work pretty well; haven't had problems with paint but I always try to minimize the exposure, and then rewax of course. Might be fairly effective on crayon; don't know if it would work better than the cleaner-wax idea.

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Craig Bethune

'97 SL500, 40th anniversary edition

'04 Olds Bravada (SWMBO's)
'06 Lexus ES330
'89 560SL (sold)


SL--Anything else is just a Mercedes.
(Kudos to whoever said it first)

Looking at it again tonight - the junk comes off easily after all - I'm not worried anymore. Beyond finger-nail scraping (ough!!!) it looks like a cleaner wax might do it.

Am I insane in keeping an almost mint black on black (exterior/interior) 560 SEL alive, or is this one of the best sedans ever built? (The only alternative in this class I see is the Audi A8, it's classy, all alunimum body, but I still like the accessible engineering of Benz on this one.)

Comments are open, but please don't forget I'm originally from Stuttgart, and I love honesty in engineering....

(Please tell me if I am a cult freak...)

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Henry Bofinger
1989 560 SEL (black/black)
2001 Audi TT Roadster (silver/grey)

FWIW, if you ever get permanent marker on leather or MB Tex - a spray of Lysol (not the kind in a bottle - the aerosol surface disinfectant) followed by a wipe will get most anything out. I used to drive a school bus and that is how I would get graffiti off the seats.

I really like Goo Gone. Although you should TEST any surface on a nonvisible area before applying, I haven't found anything it won't take off (either immediately or by letting it sit and then rub) and I haven't found anything that it damaged.

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

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

Was taught this years ago by a car nut..

He dipped a paper towel into a little gas at a gas station and wiped the yellow crayon stuff off.

We then took the car through the car wash.. Make sure to do this so the gas doesn't attack the paint.

You wouldn't have ever known the numbers were there! The gas somehow just ate up the crayon or it transferred to the paper towel..

Neal

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'83 300SD 335,000km (207k) mi SOLD
'87 560SL 163,000km (101k mi) SOLD
'86 300SDL 356,000km (220k mi) SOLD
'92 500SEL 250,000km (155k mi) SOLD
'90 300SL 140,000km (87k mi) SOLD
'01 S430 260,000km (161k mi) SOLD
'03 SL500 167,000km (104k mi) SOLD
'07 S550 4MATIC 235,000km (146k mi) SOLD
'07 GL320 CDI 4MATIC 348,000km (215k mi)
'13 GL350 BlueTec 4MATIC 170,000km (105k mi)
'14 SL550 72,000km (43k mi)

THIS IS ONE I WILL REMEMBER! I will try this out - not on the Benz, but on a piece of leather furniture I have already given up on.

Thanks! (Don't worry - I'll be careful trying it, test it, etc.)

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Henry Bofinger
1989 560 SEL (black/black)
2001 Audi TT Roadster (silver/grey)

Hair spray will take ink out of or off of anything.

Turns out that this crayon stuff is very tough, so

• Tar remover does not work
• Cleaner wax does not work

However, Isopropyl rubbing alcohol dissolved it instantly, and the white towels I used to wipe the stuff away had no black markings on it, i.e. besides absorbing the dye and some surrounding dirt, the paint was not coming off.

Thanks for all the help, everybody! And there are some great tips that came along the way and that I will remember!

__________________
Henry Bofinger
1989 560 SEL (black/black)
2001 Audi TT Roadster (silver/grey)