jahquan3

Nice. Can't wait to see it.

mercedesbenzs55

PDR'd it as planned. I didn't want my car blasphemed with bondo.

kn51

Don't really have a horse in this race but you saw it through to completion and this thread provided quite a bit of laughs. Somewhat at your expense, but hey, you're young and in 50 years who will care? If you are happy with the results that is all that matters.

You've learned, we learned. We laughed and cried together.

Looking forward to the fridge project. I expect some cans of Busch Light in that dang thing.

nycphotography

Baltika. In bottles.

KNBS550

Looking forward to see the results. To think, you were going to tie the bumper to a tree at one point. Glad that didn't happen. You didn't do it for $1,000 like originally planned, but I applaud your fortitude in getting the project this far.

mercedesbenzs55

My favorite is a local beer called Widmer Hefeweizen. Delicious!

DaveW68

LOL!!!!!!

Stop teasing and get those detailed pic posted.

mercedesbenzs55

Here the PDR result. Should I have used bondo?



Pinky up!














Rape Van

DaveW68

It looks like you still have a small dent in the left quarter panel. Please take some straight on close up shots of where the dents are/were. Your side photos with reflections mask the details. Were you using a 1.3 MP camera from a flip phone?

1bad540

Looks pretty good to me. I say a job well done. Dave is Pming his 1st offer to buy the car!!

mercedesbenzs55

The small dent on the left is the before picture. The one following it is the after picture.


Pics were taken on a Nokia Lumina 20mp phone w/ Karl Zeiss lens.

screw991le

How much to get her up to par?

jahquan3

Not bad at all. You overcame and conquered. So you're an example of putting in the effort and getting solid results.

My one questions would be what would you have done different if you had to do it all over from the beginning if you'd have done it at all?

nycphotography

Don't forget, the frame is destroyed and it's unsafe to drive with his family in it.

compaddict

iTrader: (1)

Good job man!
Think of all the money and time you would have wasted if you did everything that was suggested. ****! You got a great looking wood steering wheel and a fridge for free!
Prolly even have extra money in your pocket.
Vince

DaveW68

It sounds like he went about $4-5k over his original budget of $1000 and mallet whacks. Overall a decent result as most of us expected it to cost much more than that.....and it would have if the repairs were done in a conventional manner deserving of a Benz. He certainly took the unconventional path for a high end car like an S-class by repairing it like it was a 10 year old Chevy Cavalier that was being taken to the dealer for trade-in. But from what I've seen so far, it doesn't look horrible. Perhaps not up to Benz' self-proclaimed perfectionist standards, but it could have been a lot worse. I have to imagine that there are plenty of stress cracks in the paint in the spots where the PDR was used...because paint shouldn't stretch that much without cracking. If there are no stress cracks in the paint, I'll be truly amazed about Benz paint.

What I'm most disappointed about was that he didn't get to use that mallet to bang the dents out.

Now the real fun begins: owning an undocumented 10 year old NYC S-class with 80k miles and zero warranty coverage.

mercedesbenzs55

Ya 'Cedes paint is incredible, not a stress crack to be found.


I still have to hang a panel out so the mallet will see use.


Yours is the only car that smells like citrus Dave.

mercedesbenzs55

lol! Good times. Amazing how much hate from the heart there was. At times it was near crippling. I'm happy for all the people that encouraged and guided me. Without you, I may have given up and scrapped it.

mercedesbenzs55

compaddict, thank you for being the only person to believe in my project enough to donate your hard earned money to it!

mercedesbenzs55

Very good question. I would have not supported a a high end car cross country. Many cars get parts taken off/replaced during transport cooking from auctioned like Copart. I would not have bought a car from a salt state or one with such heavy car traffic.



Unless you are a mechanically inclined like Expl0sive or Alx, Quadcammer, ect., This it's not a project for you.


I will do this again someday. I feel at the end of the day I have learned alot from people on here with much more life experience. I learned how to get a car in shape on a budget. If sold within 14 months ill make money on this car.

DaveW68

Benz must use a very pliable paint on the panels....even more pliable than what is used on the bumpers. I've never seen a panel dented as severely as yours that didn't have at least stress cracks in the paint. Most times the paint cracks and starts chipping off.

The only time my car smells like citrus is when I'm using Goo Gone to remove the prior year city sticker. Otherwise it smells like new Napa leather.

DaveW68

I think what you should be most proud of is that you got to see a screen play about your experiences in its infancy.

If you sell your car for more than what you have into it in the next 14 months....or at any point, you truly will be the Jedi master at finding a sucker. Your branded title repaired car likely isn't worth any more than $10-11k right now after the repairs....and will keep depreciating as time and miles pile on. But I hope that you decide to keep it long term and not pawn it off on some unsuspecting person.

Wolfman

Just came across this hilarious thread. What a treat! Kudos to Mike and Dave for the screenplay efforts. Couldn't put my iPad down!

Re. the car itself, it does look fine from a distance (or maybe even close-up) but I am not sure that any savings were realized for the added risks. I come across local S550's with clear titles and well optioned (sport package, tail light updates, night vision, wood steering wheel) that are within $1-2K of the money spent.

That's without the work and risk (to your life and wallet).

The biggest risk is still repair and maintenance costs that can come up anytime. Much more relevant than resale value.
I remember having more than $8k in repairs on our SL600 during one year (with more to follow).

DaveW68

Yes....I'm willing to go $5500 on his car....as long as the fridge is part of the deal.

Then I'll try to sell it to Mike and Ed from Wheeler Dealers and let them work their magic. Although they may have a hard time finding a profit in it after Ed's work. It's anybody's guess how many problems still haven't been uncovered yet.

mercedesbenzs55

There are no other problems as of yet. After fridge is installed I could get my money back.