started tear down for paint

[Saaboteur]

Putting the tax return to good use! When I bought the car in November, it was clear that the paint was pretty rough. Scratch marks everywhere, front bumper hanging a bit loose, some rust bubbles starting on the front right door and fenders. Also due to my own fault, had a run in with my fence post too, so the right front fender was scratched up a bit. Picked up new fenders (made in Taiwan, but fits very well!), new front bumper reinforcement, clear corners and 6000k HID conversion kit for the fog lights. Also have new carbon look covers to go on the b-pilllars. Started Friday night, got the fenders and front bumper off. With a friend's helpd, spent Saturday afternoon taking apart the door liners, rear bumper, tail lights. Also rolled the front fenders too, per the WIS' instructions for the AMGs. Eastwood fender roller is excellent, although the front edge I had to bang in with a rubber mallet because the roller was hitting the caliper. Yesterday afternoon got the door handles, trunk lock, hood star and the interior trim apart too. The one thing I can't stand is wood trim inside cars. Sacrilegious as it may sound, I'm going to have all of those pieces painted too, colour coded to the exterior, which is just going to be obsidian black again. The WIS has proven immeasurably helpful, thanks again to MarcusF for sending me that in the winter. I have printed off a 3" binder's worth of stuff for the car already, I'm on the way to producing my own manual! All in all, it wasn't too difficult. My friend who helped is an experienced mechanic and was telling me horror stories about how difficult Benzes are to take apart. I was pleasantly surprised to find that he was mostly wrong! I need to buy a few plastic clips here and there, and figure out a way to get the switchpack onto the wood trim around the shift lever as that was one part that didn't come apart very easily. Pix later. Car going to body shop on Thursday, hopefully have it back near the end of the month.

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[RANDY_P]

I just dropped mine off at the bodyshop 2 hrs. ago to get basically a respray.

Show pics when you're done.

rjp

[503C43 ////AMG]

Originally Posted by Saaboteur

Putting the tax return to good use!

When I bought the car in November, it was clear that the paint was pretty rough. Scratch marks everywhere, front bumper hanging a bit loose, some rust bubbles starting on the front right door and fenders. Also due to my own fault, had a run in with my fence post too, so the right front fender was scratched up a bit.

Picked up new fenders (made in Taiwan, but fits very well!), new front bumper reinforcement, clear corners and 6000k HID conversion kit for the fog lights. Also have new carbon look covers to go on the b-pilllars.

Started Friday night, got the fenders and front bumper off. With a friend's helpd, spent Saturday afternoon taking apart the door liners, rear bumper, tail lights. Also rolled the front fenders too, per the WIS' instructions for the AMGs. Eastwood fender roller is excellent, although the front edge I had to bang in with a rubber mallet because the roller was hitting the caliper. Yesterday afternoon got the door handles, trunk lock, hood star and the interior trim apart too.

The one thing I can't stand is wood trim inside cars. Sacrilegious as it may sound, I'm going to have all of those pieces painted too, colour coded to the exterior, which is just going to be obsidian black again.

The WIS has proven immeasurably helpful, thanks again to MarcusF for sending me that in the winter. I have printed off a 3" binder's worth of stuff for the car already, I'm on the way to producing my own manual!

All in all, it wasn't too difficult. My friend who helped is an experienced mechanic and was telling me horror stories about how difficult Benzes are to take apart. I was pleasantly surprised to find that he was mostly wrong! I need to buy a few plastic clips here and there, and figure out a way to get the switchpack onto the wood trim around the shift lever as that was one part that didn't come apart very easily.

Pix later. Car going to body shop on Thursday, hopefully have it back near the end of the month.

NO NOT THE WOOD!!!!! That is REAL BURL wood and it is REAL expensive. The piece that goes across the dash is $500. If you want a change they make carbon fiber replacements. I would suggest painting those instead of you EXPENSIVE wood pieces. But then again I think the wood looks CLASSY

[Saaboteur]

Going to grab some Rust-a-Verter and hit a few spots with that, and also some body sealer to fill in the gap between the rolled fender lip - noticed that the stock ones have sealer in them.

Re: wood trim - to each their own I guess. I just cannot stand the look of wood or chrome in cars (with the exception of the chrome on Audi S cars' mirror covers). Problem was, when I looked on eBay and whatnot to try to find the 'regular' trim, wasn't too successful. Not for all of the pieces together, anyway. I'll look into having them professionally wrapped instead - in carbon look material - but chances are that's going to cost me more than having the pieces painted. Besides...it's still real wood underneath the paint...

[BALLLR]

Where can one find these WIS instructions u speak of? This sounds like useful stuff! Please advise.

[Saaboteur]

I got the WIS from another forum member, but you can generally pick them up on eBay. There are probably torrents out there too. Invaluable. I now need to find an EPC, electronic parts catalogue somehow.

[503C43 ////AMG]

Originally Posted by Saaboteur

I got the WIS from another forum member, but you can generally pick them up on eBay. There are probably torrents out there too. Invaluable. I now need to find an EPC, electronic parts catalogue somehow.

Mercedes has a EPC and its free....I believe its called STARTEK You have to register and the registration lasts for 1 year.

[Saaboteur]

I've seen that, and have tried registering, but I cannot as I'm Canadian and it requires a US billing address - even though it's free. I can't get past the second step for registration.

I even have a US shipping address to which my VISA is attached, but it still won't let me.

[Saaboteur]

Here's some 'before' pix of the worst affected bits - rust on the fenders, rust spot on the door, rust around the front jack point, the stock painted grille with the paint flaking...

I've tidied up the jack points with some rust-a-verter, it's mostly just surface crap, but of course the bodyshop will be doing the door.

Also, found out that my car was pre-wired from the factory for the optional car phone. I've found the wiring in the centre console, but then also found another wire going out of the left rear quarter panel, through a grommet, into the rear bumper skin. Related to the phone?

[Saaboteur]

A few more pix...including the wires going to the rear bumper. The wire end in trunk wasn't connected to anything though.

Also some pix of one of the cardboard templates I made for the trunk badges' placement, the car as it sits now, and then a couple bonus pix of a lowered C36 I saw in Vancouver a couple weeks ago. Anyone on here?

[ob1kenobi]

Parktronic perhaps?

Originally Posted by Saaboteur

A few more pix...including the wires going to the rear bumper. The wire end in trunk wasn't connected to anything though.

Also some pix of one of the cardboard templates I made for the trunk badges' placement, the car as it sits now, and then a couple bonus pix of a lowered C36 I saw in Vancouver a couple weeks ago. Anyone on here?

[Saaboteur]

Car dropped off this morning, hope to see it again in a couple/three weeks and reassemble!

[CatButt]

Originally Posted by 503C43 ////AMG

NO NOT THE WOOD!!!!! That is REAL BURL wood and it is REAL expensive. The piece that goes across the dash is $500. If you want a change they make carbon fiber replacements. I would suggest painting those instead of you EXPENSIVE wood pieces. But then again I think the wood looks CLASSY

Where can one find carbon replacements for the trim. I have looked around and really did not find any current sources.

Thanks in advance.

[503C43 ////AMG]

Originally Posted by CatButt

Where can one find carbon replacements for the trim. I have looked around and really did not find any current sources.

Thanks in advance.

Saw them on ebay or something a couple weeks ago..they are around.

[Saaboteur]

Went by the bodyshop this morning and snapped some 'in progress' photos of the car. They have sanded down the car and it should have been shot with paint already now. Hoping to have it back by mid next week.

Shot of the fender shows the inside and the seam sealer I asked them to apply to the rolled up inner fender lip.

[503C43 ////AMG]

Originally Posted by Saaboteur

Went by the bodyshop this morning and snapped some 'in progress' photos of the car. They have sanded down the car and it should have been shot with paint already now. Hoping to have it back by mid next week.

Shot of the fender shows the inside and the seam sealer I asked them to apply to the rolled up inner fender lip.

WOW I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO JEALOUS...... paint is last on my list, fortunately for me my body and paint are pretty straight. PLEASE POST FINISHED PICS

[Saaboteur]

Spoke with the bodyshop...should be good to go to pick it up tomorrow!

Reassembly on the weekend!

I had ordered a few new pieces of trim from the dealer, but when I went yesterday to pick them up, one of them was not correct. The rubber piece that goes on the fender between it and the skirt. Right part number, but some other part had been mislabeled. Doh. Another week's wait, at least, from Germany for that piece. So much for thinking ahead and ordering it in advance!

[503C43 ////AMG]

Originally Posted by Saaboteur

Spoke with the bodyshop...should be good to go to pick it up tomorrow!

Reassembly on the weekend!

I had ordered a few new pieces of trim from the dealer, but when I went yesterday to pick them up, one of them was not correct. The rubber piece that goes on the fender between it and the skirt. Right part number, but some other part had been mislabeled. Doh. Another week's wait, at least, from Germany for that piece. So much for thinking ahead and ordering it in advance!

wow you really are taking this to the next level. I was looking at that rubber piece the other day when I took my bumper off. How much did it cost?

[Saaboteur]

Heh...that trim piece was about C$17. I only ordered them because I broke the one on the left side. Of course, the one that didn't come because of the mislabeling was the left side piece.

I also ordered the rubber trim piece for the rear, where the skirt meets the fender. Those were about C$7 each. New clips to hold the front trim piece to the fender were about C$18 total. There are six clips, but there are two parts to them, and each clip was about C$1.50 or so.

The other rubber gaskets/trim I'm going to reuse. The trim around the door handles, at the rear by the licence plate - I washed them all and then hit them with some rubber protectant. They look and feel brand new again!

[Saaboteur]

Brought the car home over the lunch hour...v. excited! Came down with a throat infection, but it will not sideline me from working on the car this weekend!

I'll post some pix later.

[503C43 ////AMG]

Originally Posted by Saaboteur

Brought the car home over the lunch hour...v. excited! Came down with a throat infection, but it will not sideline me from working on the car this weekend!

I'll post some pix later.

CAN'T WAIT TO SEE!!!!! IM SURE IT'S BEAUTIFUL

[Saaboteur]

Pix as promised!

It looks like....a freshly painted but stock C43 taken apart!

[MarcusF]

Assembly this soon? No worries about scratches during assembly?

Looks good.

[Saaboteur]

Just gonna be careful, take my time...wish me luck!

[503C43 ////AMG]

Originally Posted by Saaboteur

Pix as promised!

It looks like....a freshly painted but stock C43 taken apart!

I AM SO JEALOUS....... Looks like the day she was born KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!! Please keep me posted on your HID conversion for the fogs. I just ordered the crystal fogs and they should be here next week, I plan on doing the conversion as well. Hopefully you can do all the hard work, figure it out, and then post the how to pics for me