ctC230K

my dealer did a mini detail while i waited, took 30 mins, did whole exterior, wheels, interior, vaccum, windex'd the inside and outside glass, wiped the seats. still managed to get some swirl marks.

benzpro230

Rock Chips are crazy. Near the end of your hood closely look there is mad little bitty rock chips. This paint is wack. I think eventually upgrading to the carbon fiber hood, rather than getting the whold hood repainted. What about the tuch up paint ? Also MB gives free car wash at the service dept ? I never knew that. But detailin your whip cost $200.

diamondblak05

Either your car sits in your garage all day and night or you need to check your eyes again. This new technology with painting...so called nano or water-based paint....is less resistant to chips, fading, swirl marks, etc.... Water-based paint is designed to be more friendly to the environment but terrible in durability. My 3 months old car have more chips in the front bumper and hood than my 93 Honda Accord. If I only knew this beforehand, I wouldn't have bought the metallic paint; it just costed me an extra $680 for nothing.

I'm debating about getting the clear bra because every chips on the hood and bumper is visible on my dark color car.

I never let the dealer wash my car. Those who does the washing are just bunch of high school kids who knows crap about proper car detailing. One time I forgot to tell them not to wash it, the car had water streaks everywhere and lint all over. The car look worst coming out than going in.

Kar don

Nano paint is much better. I saw this at the car show on the C55, the car had no swirls but the lip spoiler was full of swirls... that tells you something. Also the reason you guys are getting swirls and fine scratches is because of how the cars are being washed and dried. No paint could withstand the washes that dealers put these cars through. The dealer has never touched my pre-nano paint C320 and it is still perfect and virtually chip free to this day (has a clear bra).

ctC230K

my paint is looking better and better each day from a couple feet back, its really turning into one big mirror!

Jkw

White '04.5, not sure if it has Nano paint or not but the front end has planty of chips!
Jkw

KingMota

I have been very happy with the toughness of the paint on my 05 Pewter C230K SS. My last 4 cars were black, so having metallic paint is a pleasant change. I have found 1 small rock chip on my hood after 3 months and 3500 miles. I got a couple of scuffs on the rear bumper from a supposedly touchless car wash, but they came out easily with Scratch-X.

mbny

CT230k - what type of products are you using to clean your car? seems like you may need to use different mits, rags and a chamois to clean the car. chamois is great for drying the car, leaves hardly any swirls or surface scratches, if any. use microfiber rags to apply and remove wax, and a nice soft sheepskin mit.

for concealing the swirls and surface scratches you have now, try "Z best" car wax which is very good. it's a wax with added swirl remover. or you can try zaino bros which i hear good things about but never tried it. best is 3M imperial hand glaze but you have to seal it with at least a couple coats of wax. very time consuming. i've used Z best wax on my dad's black 04' E-class and it works great and very easy to apply and remove. real time saver. you can do one coat on the whole car in about 45 minutes

mbny

i've got about 3 or 4 rock chips on my car. noticed them with less than 500 miles on the odometer, but haven't gotten any new ones since. have 1,900 on it now.

mbny

hey, anyone else getting rock chips on their sport 5-stars? i'm guessing b/c they stick out abit, but i've got a few and one really bad one. never had this problem before and it's really annoying me!

skahung

Chips all over the front...Sucks!!! (Silver)

So what does the invisiable Bra look like???

DriveABenz

I too have stone chips on wheels. The chips are on the passenger rear wheel and only the passenger rear wheel. None of the others show any problems at all. I drive within reason, don't spin the tires, and don't take the car on gravel roads - there aren't any gravel roads on my normal commute or daily drives. So I can't figure out what is causing the wheel to get stone pits. One thought is that my car is being used as the "lunch runner" at the dealer and not treated appropriately; it just went in for its Service A and the wheel didn't have any chips prior to the visit. In any case, I'm not too thrilled as my last car never had stone chips on the wheels and I'm much more adult with this car than my last.

delbomber

Believe it or not, that Mr. Clean kit works like a champ...no need to dry at all, just let it air dry --->fewer/no scratches.

It's basically a charcoal filter that hooks up to your hose ridding the water of all the minerals that leave spots, but it does the job, even with Philly water!

Kojack

Kinda confused...So does every 05' model have this new paint technology or just the ones that have the metallic paint for the extra $? I picked up my midnight blue baby last week but need to start being extra careful if I have this so called "wonderful new paint that won't chip".I hate that they push soemthing to be a positive thing and the consumers have to pay when it turns out to suck!

benzset

bad quality got rock chips