JamesKim

Sooooo, the inevitable happened (well at least in my city), I got into a car crash. Wet, slushie day and some truck driver lost control and slammed into my rear passenger door/bumper/fender area. So the good news is I'm not at fault, bad news is the factory paint is about to go.

I really want the paint to watch factory paint as closely as possible, but unfortunately I realize that most shops probably won't carry the right clearcoat for the job. I've looked up Mercedes Benz approved repair shops, and none of them are in my city. I called the dealer and asked them where they did the repairs and talked to the shop's front desk, who had no idea what I was talking about. She said she'll get someone to call back and confirm this, but I doubt it. I've called up an independent European luxury car repairsman with not-so-good English. When I asked him if he does the Nano Ceramic clearcoat, he paused for a split second and said "yeah yeah yeah, come right away". I had a really bad vibe about the way he said it. I asked to confirm again if he knew what it was, and he just said yeah. Can I trust this guy? Place is called Euromart, and its in Winnipeg if anyone knows about it. Its just the way he said it really throws me off, it just seemed like he was nodding along and trying to get me to come that day.

I really don't want to lose a part of the car that makes it special, anyone have any experience or tips?

Samaral

Sorry if this will sound crazy, but what about bring the car to Toronto to repair here?

220S

I certainly wouldn't give it to Euromart. There website looks cheap and they seem to be more into selling wrecked cars that they've fixed than anything else.

Call and/or email MB Canada and get info from them (esp if the dealership can't give you a satisfactory answer.) The approved repair shops are listed here: http://www.mercedes-benz.ca/content/...t_repairs.html Since there are none in Winnipeg, then get the car transported to one. After all, MB Canada says: "Insist on only the best for your repair - a Mercedes-Benz Approved Collision Centre."

So that means insist. You have every right to get it repaired properly and where you want and to be repaired as approved by Mercedes Canada. Even if you have to transport it elsewhere (tell the truck owner's insurance company you will absolutely fight it otherwise and show them the Mercedes Canada website.) Also be sure to have them give you a free rental of a comparable car, etc.. (don't deal with your insurance company but the truck owner's insurance company.)

Bottom line is to get it done to your satisfaction no matter what.

220S

Not crazy at all. It's what I'd insist on if I were in the OP's shoes. Transporting cars is no big deal and the insurance company will cover it....

JamesKim

Not that crazy, I thought about it. I don't think I need to go quite that far, but im receiving some confliction information that you can't actually apply the factory style ceramic clearcoat outside of the factory. I wonder if this is true.

JamesKim

Thanks for the information. The insurance is government run in my province and there are no alternatives. You're definitely right on insisting until I get the right repairs, I'll have to fight the good fight. I'll give MB Canada a call. The shop that does for the Mercedes dealers here told me that they don't use Ceramic clearcoat and the Euromart seems like a sham.

I'll keep this thread updated, thanks.

220S

It's a bit ironic that an article about nano ceramic paint was in the Winnipeg newspaper and yet there's no place in Peg City to get it done. http://autos.winnipegfreepress.com/n...ishes/id-5174/

It's not material only specific to the factory, but can be done by any shop that uses the correct material (which is how they get 'approved' by MB): "If your car has the nano-particle paint technology and you happen to be involved in a collision, this technology can be duplicated by local bodyshops using Mercedes-Benz approved methods and paint materials."

Several years ago when I owned my E63, I was hit by a motorcycle. His insurance paid for everything including an E350 rental for two weeks. I picked the place to do the repair and it was a super high end shop in Los Angeles that does only Italian supercars, RR, Bentley, etc., (there was a MB SLR McLaren in the shop at the time mine was being repaired and when I picked up my car there was a Veyron in their driveway...) Anyway, they used the proper materials. After my repair, a paint meter couldn't even register the difference.

Be sure to get it done right. Put it on a flatbed and send it to TO if necessary.

Good luck, hope it all works out.

Cleanbenz

I went to get an estimate in my tiny fender nick and asked the same thing at every local certified MB collision center and they all said the exact same thing. "The ceramic clear coat is no longer used or made to repair mercedes, Glasurit and the other factory approved paint suppliers for MB have a ceramic like water based clear that performs equally as well as the nano tech clears formerly used". This seems to be the truth as MB has stopped using the ceramic clear. If your paint code doesn't begin with C as in C040 in my case, it doesn't have ceramic clear. They all promised I would be happy and never be able to tell the difference. Not sure who or what to believe.

keith100

I seem to recall a very knowledgeable member of this forum saying that Glasurite was indeed now used by MB.

hth

220S

fwiw, it's Glasurit not Glasurite. There are different lines; 22,55,90. 90 is the modern low VOC waterborne automotive paint. Mercedes, BMW, RR, etc., all use the 90 line Glasurit.

But Glasurit has always been used by Mercedes. The difference is that after 1993 they went from solvent oil based Glasurit to water based Glasurit. The nano ceramic clear was developed with Sikkens (Sikkens provides the paint for the McLaren Mercedes Vodafone F1 team cars.) It started in 2003 and is no longer used since it's kind of old technology now (BMW used a powder clear coat instead at that time and Mercedes marketed the nano ceramic technology to their benefit.)

But Mercedes makes the point that this technology (a hard clear such as the original nano ceramic) can be duplicated by local body shops using Mercedes-Benz approved methods and paint materials. The approved centers in the US and Canada will use Glasurit. They might tell you it's BASF, but that's because the parent company of Glasurit is BASF. However, the issue globally is that manufacturer-approved paint suppliers can vary by country due to individual environmental laws, and so some shops may not be able to use BASF/Glasurit.

The BASF/Glasurit system is one of the best and their clear coat is a similar nano particle infused product like the original Sikkens/Mercedes formula (with around a 50-60 micron thickness.) If you use a Mercedes approved body and paint shop, then you'll get those materials (Glasurit base and clear) which will be just like a factory paint job. Otherwise it may not exactly the same. So if the OP is concerned, then they should find an approved shop to get a factory-like paint (in the US, high end shops tend to use Glasurit while most production shops normally use PPG.) When my E63 was repaired, the shop used Glasurit.

RLE

Glasurit is a paint brand used by everybody for decades. Not a specific paint.

JamesKim

So the place I've thought about bringing my car to is the official place that the dealer here sends the cars to. Its not a certified center, but he says he only uses OEM parts and he uses the Sikkens paint system that seems to be equal to Glasurit in quality. Since there was no frame damage and its just panel + repaint, do you guys think its worth the hassle to insist on a repair so far away? I really don't care as long as the repairs are of close to equal quality and this guy says he offers lifetime warranty on his paint job. Since ceramic clearcoat is no longer used, there's probably not that much of a point in going through the effort? no?