My 560 has a few components that are, err I should say were, gold in color. Such as the ABS module (not the cover though), the cruise actuator, idle air valve and maybe a couple other things.

Were these originally anodized? If so, has anyone restored these parts to original luster? And how so? Not familiar with anodizing, but it sounds like a submergence process into a liquid with some electricity involved.

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1991 560 SEL / 185k miles
1992 750il / 17k miles - project car

It's the old cosmoline wax that was on all the aluminum components; not sure if there's a way to restore the wax though...

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1987 560SEL (210,000 miles)

Actually it's cadmium plating.

+1

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90 300TE 4-M
Turbo 103, T3/T04E 50 trim
T04B cover .60 AR
Stage 3 turbine .63 AR
A2W I/C, 40 LB/HR
MS2E, 60-2 Direct Coil Control
3" Exh, AEM W/B O2
Underdrive Alt. and P/S Pulleys,
Vented Rear Discs, .034 Booster.
3.07 diffs 1st Gear Start

90 300CE 104.980
Milled & ported head, 10.3:1 compression
197° intake cam w/20° advancer
Tuned CIS ECU
4° ignition advance
PCS TCM2000, built 722.6
600W networked suction fan
Sportline sway bars
V8 rear subframe, Quaife ATB 3.06 diff

Eastwood sells products to restore the gold color.

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Present
1987 300SDL
1991 300SL
1990 560SEL
2001 ML320

Past
1969 200D 1979-82
1983 300SD 1984-85
1972 250C 1982-02
1995 S350 2011
1997 S320 2012

It's indeed cad-plating and it does wear off with heat and age. You can restore the finish if you care to, but you can just clean up the parts to a high level as-is and they will look quite nice without the gold finish.

If you do go the route of re-finishing -- DO NOT get the "gold paint" types of products. Remove the part(s) you want re-finished and have them properly plated by a business that knows how to do the work. Get some references from your local hot-rodders as to who does good work.

Cheers,
Gerry

You can carefully remove the color with oven cleaner.

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2009 E320 Bluetec 117,000
1995 E300D 306,000 Sold
1996 Ford Taurus LX 130,000 Sold
1985 300TD Still 225,000 Sold
2016 Ford Fusion 24,900

I've never heard of someone deliberately removing cad-plating.....

I dont want to. But if I want to prep the surface, I guess its one way. I will probably end up bead blasting the parts that I can and apply an enamel of some color.

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1991 560 SEL / 185k miles
1992 750il / 17k miles - project car

"I've never heard of someone deliberately removing cad-plating..... "

Way back when, in the custom bike business, some of our customers could only get a particular part in some ****ty color. Under the red or yellow was always plain metal color. Oven cleaner worked great. We didn't have any kind of blaster.

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2009 E320 Bluetec 117,000
1995 E300D 306,000 Sold
1996 Ford Taurus LX 130,000 Sold
1985 300TD Still 225,000 Sold
2016 Ford Fusion 24,900

Its fairly cheap to have re-do. I have a friend who restores pagodas and 190SLs and he uses a shop that has a flat price. A 5 gallon pail of parts is like $70 to do, if it fits in the pail it gets plated at the same price. I wanted to send off a ton of stuff under the hood of my '87 but I haven't gotten to it.

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68 280SL - 70 280SL - 70 300SEL 3.5 - 72 350SL - 72 280SEL 4.5 - 72 220 - 72 220D - 73 450SL - 84 230GE - 87 200TD - 90 190E 2.0 - 03 G500

Nissan GTR - Nissan Skyline GTS25T - Toyota GTFour - Rover Mini - Toyota Land Cruiser HJ60 - Cadillac Eldorado - BMW E30 - BMW 135i

This is also consistent with my own past experience with having parts for my 300SEL 6.3 cad-plated.

Cheers,
Gerry

Thats good to know. My biggest concern is the process. I do know know it. But I wonder how far I would have to prep things like the ABS pump housing, cruise actuator, etc.

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1991 560 SEL / 185k miles
1992 750il / 17k miles - project car