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'94 NSX,'99 NSX Z,'12 C63 Black Series (Prior: '07 E63, '08 CLK63 Black Series,'14 E63-S & 16 C63-S)
C63 Black Series - How to un-modify with brake cleaner, hair dryer, and free time.
So, when I bought my C63 Black Series last year, the previous owner(s) had done some modifications (I won't call them 'upgrades' because I don't think they were), and after a few months I decided this car was too good for that, and I wanted it to be back to as Mercedes intended. Stock. I mean, who goes an looks at the Mona Lisa and says, 'You know....she could stand to have a mustache painted on her, and have some black vinyl put around the edges'?
The modifications were light, and seemingly common for this car. They had painted the (2) hood vents black, and the rear lip spoiler had a black vinyl wrap on it. While I knew the vents were painted by a previous owner, it took some digging to sort out if the rear lip spoiler was supposed to be black or not, because there are SO MANY people that have elected to wrap theirs.
Skipping right to the hood vents, I had originally gone to the Mercedes dealership to get an estimate together for them to paint them back to OEM, figuring that having the Mercedes dealer do them would be the most correct for such a special car. The only thing that really made me nervous was that my car has not had any bodywork done, and trying to match pearl white paint on just the vents may be 'challenging' to say the least, and I wanted my car as original as possible. Literally staring at the vents one night, I realized they had likely been painted by either a rattle can black matte, or poorly by an incompetent idiot. Now, knowing a lot of incompetent idiots, I know that 98% of the time they are usually too cheap and lazy to prep things properly. In such case, there would be a high likelihood that this particular moron probably did not sand down the vents prior to paint, and that they likely just sprayed over them with minimal if any prep work. In such case, I thought about the famous quote by Michelangelo, "The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material". In other words, the factory applied Diamond White paint is probably still there and in tact, I just need to carefully remove the black paint that is on top of it.
I do a lot of work on my own cars in order to keep me semi-sane, so with that comes having a LOT of detailing supplies and other random chemicals. Figuring that this was the aforementioned spray can paint, I lightly applied some paint cleaner to a cloth and tried that. Not strong enough. Slowly ramping up the attack, I ended up with brake cleaner. Now, caveat, be VERY careful with how you use this. VERY careful. Because you can cause some very expensive mistakes. In this case I took my time and applied light amounts to a cloth, and low and behold......WHITE PAINT!! I was so happy. My assumptions about the prior moron had been correct. They had NOT sanded or done anything else except paint over the vents and call that job done. Ever curious what it looks like to have one vent painted black and one not? Well, your prayers have been answered. Here you go!
12/2/22 12/2/22 12/3/22
Over the course of the night of December 2nd and into December 3rd, I slowly worked to restore the beautiful white vents of my baby. Kudos to Mercedes Benz for making such strong and durable paint and clear coating, because after working to remove the final bits of black spray paint, all I had to do was a simple wash of the vents. Clay bar, a bit of paint cleaner and polish, and a protective coat of wax, and they were literally back to new without ANY paintwork. The original paint from the factory had been saved and restored. HOOORAY!!
12/3/22 12/3/22
On to the nefarious wing wrap!! This was the easier of the two, but still a bit nerve wracking. Mainly, because I didn't know a couple of things as definitive. First, I had still not confirmed for certain if this was aftermarket or factory. I had people telling me 'for sure' both ways. Secondly, not knowing how long the wrap had potentially been on the car, extreme caution needed to be taken not to damage the white paint underneath. For those who have not walked this road before, you cannot just walk up and rip off vinyl wrap. Well, you technically can, but you could take some paint away with it if you don't consider how it was applied and how long it had been on the car. So, having just got the car back from my detailer, I cranked up the heat in my garage to somewhere just south of being on the face of the sun, and I let the material get nice and soft to loosen the adhesive. Additionally, taking the hair dryer that my (13) year old daughter has (which makes a professional heat gun seem like being breathed on by an old dog), I knew I had the right tools for the job. So, I proceeded to slowly heat up small sections of the wing and vinyl using my daughter's 'Sun Scorch 5,000' hair dryer, and after about an hour I had removed the last bits of the hideous black vinyl. YEA!! The extra work here was that I did end up having to use some automotive spec 'Goo Gone' to remove the last bits of stubborn adhesive, and then I spent quite a bit of time cleaning and restoring the paint so that it was healthy again.
So, the only remaining project I have is to source a factory exhaust so that I can put back the secondary cat deletes that were done prior to my ownership, and my little buddy should be back to factory fresh. So, if you happen to have those parts laying around, please let me know, as I am actively looking for them to make my car showroom new and correct again. I hope you enjoyed the read as much as I love this car. Having owned the CLK63 Black Series before this, I can say that my appreciation for these very special cars grows each and every time I climb inside. Thank you, Mercedes Benz. Thank you for letting some very talented Engineers make a wonderfully special and amazing car that we will likely never see created again.
Cheers!
Last edited by Meeyatch1; Jan 28, 2023 at 10:15 AM.
'94 NSX,'99 NSX Z,'12 C63 Black Series (Prior: '07 E63, '08 CLK63 Black Series,'14 E63-S & 16 C63-S)
Originally Posted by SEAMG
Never seen a C63 BS with body color side mirrors and spoiler. Thought all of them came in CF. This is most likely a 1 of 1 spec in US.
Thank you. I have never seen another either. I would love to find out if it is a truly 1 of 1. I will still drive it every single day, but it just makes it more special to know I have the only one like it.
2012 C63;1971 280SE 3.5(Sold);2023 EQS 450 SUV 4 Matic (Wife's)
Standard Exterior Highlights: here are a couple-
- Front splitter, side skirts and rear diffuser in gloss black
- Body color trunk lid spoiler
No mention of the mirror caps for some reason?
I have attached a copy of the DOG in case you may not have seen it.
Yeah the order guide helps here. For the BS, the CF mirror caps were an option under the "Exterior Carbon Fiber Package - Code 773", if the car was not optioned with code 773, then the car mirror caps would have come in body color.
The 773 option didn't offer any value other than a visual appearance (someone correct me if they know different) so 773 options wasn't helping reduce weight or improve aero because those CF pieces were just covers going over the gloss black and not a replacement.
12 C63BS Magno Alanite Grey, 25 X5 Msport, 08 BMW E93, Ducati Hyper 698
Originally Posted by SEAMG
Yeah the order guide helps here. For the BS, the CF mirror caps were an option under the "Exterior Carbon Fiber Package - Code 773", if the car was not optioned with code 773, then the car mirror caps would have come in body color.
The 773 option didn't offer any value other than a visual appearance (someone correct me if they know different) so 773 options wasn't helping reduce weight or improve aero because those CF pieces were just covers going over the gloss black and not a replacement.
Yes the carbon package probably added weight as the carbon is just glued over the black pieces except the mirror caps and lip spoiler might be lighter. With the aero and carbon package you do get a larger front spoiler so that would improve downforce a little possibly.
C63BS, G63, Ferrari Challenge Stradale, Ferrari 458, and others
Originally Posted by Meeyatch1
So, when I bought my C63 Black Series last year, the previous owner(s) had done some modifications (I won't call them 'upgrades' because I don't think they were), and after a few months I decided this car was too good for that, and I wanted it to be back to as Mercedes intended. Stock. I mean, who goes an looks at the Mona Lisa and says, 'You know....she could stand to have a mustache painted on her, and have some black vinyl put around the edges'?
The modifications were light, and seemingly common for this car. They had painted the (2) hood vents black, and the rear lip spoiler had a black vinyl wrap on it. While I knew the vents were painted by a previous owner, it took some digging to sort out if the rear lip spoiler was supposed to be black or not, because there are SO MANY people that have elected to wrap theirs.
Skipping right to the hood vents, I had originally gone to the Mercedes dealership to get an estimate together for them to paint them back to OEM, figuring that having the Mercedes dealer do them would be the most correct for such a special car. The only thing that really made me nervous was that my car has not had any bodywork done, and trying to match pearl white paint on just the vents may be 'challenging' to say the least, and I wanted my car as original as possible. Literally staring at the vents one night, I realized they had likely been painted by either a rattle can black matte, or poorly by an incompetent idiot. Now, knowing a lot of incompetent idiots, I know that 98% of the time they are usually too cheap and lazy to prep things properly. In such case, there would be a high likelihood that this particular moron probably did not sand down the vents prior to paint, and that they likely just sprayed over them with minimal if any prep work. In such case, I thought about the famous quote by Michelangelo, "The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material". In other words, the factory applied Diamond White paint is probably still there and in tact, I just need to carefully remove the black paint that is on top of it.
I do a lot of work on my own cars in order to keep me semi-sane, so with that comes having a LOT of detailing supplies and other random chemicals. Figuring that this was the aforementioned spray can paint, I lightly applied some paint cleaner to a cloth and tried that. Not strong enough. Slowly ramping up the attack, I ended up with brake cleaner. Now, caveat, be VERY careful with how you use this. VERY careful. Because you can cause some very expensive mistakes. In this case I took my time and applied light amounts to a cloth, and low and behold......WHITE PAINT!! I was so happy. My assumptions about the prior moron had been correct. They had NOT sanded or done anything else except paint over the vents and call that job done. Ever curious what it looks like to have one vent painted black and one not? Well, your prayers have been answered. Here you go!
12/2/22 12/2/22 12/3/22
Over the course of the night of December 2nd and into December 3rd, I slowly worked to restore the beautiful white vents of my baby. Kudos to Mercedes Benz for making such strong and durable paint and clear coating, because after working to remove the final bits of black spray paint, all I had to do was a simple wash of the vents. Clay bar, a bit of paint cleaner and polish, and a protective coat of wax, and they were literally back to new without ANY paintwork. The original paint from the factory had been saved and restored. HOOORAY!!
12/3/22 12/3/22
On to the nefarious wing wrap!! This was the easier of the two, but still a bit nerve wracking. Mainly, because I didn't know a couple of things as definitive. First, I had still not confirmed for certain if this was aftermarket or factory. I had people telling me 'for sure' both ways. Secondly, not knowing how long the wrap had potentially been on the car, extreme caution needed to be taken not to damage the white paint underneath. For those who have not walked this road before, you cannot just walk up and rip off vinyl wrap. Well, you technically can, but you could take some paint away with it if you don't consider how it was applied and how long it had been on the car. So, having just got the car back from my detailer, I cranked up the heat in my garage to somewhere just south of being on the face of the sun, and I let the material get nice and soft to loosen the adhesive. Additionally, taking the hair dryer that my (13) year old daughter has (which makes a professional heat gun seem like being breathed on by an old dog), I knew I had the right tools for the job. So, I proceeded to slowly heat up small sections of the wing and vinyl using my daughter's 'Sun Scorch 5,000' hair dryer, and after about an hour I had removed the last bits of the hideous black vinyl. YEA!! The extra work here was that I did end up having to use some automotive spec 'Goo Gone' to remove the last bits of stubborn adhesive, and then I spent quite a bit of time cleaning and restoring the paint so that it was healthy again.
So, the only remaining project I have is to source a factory exhaust so that I can put back the secondary cat deletes that were done prior to my ownership, and my little buddy should be back to factory fresh. So, if you happen to have those parts laying around, please let me know, as I am actively looking for them to make my car showroom new and correct again. I hope you enjoyed the read as much as I love this car. Having owned the CLK63 Black Series before this, I can say that my appreciation for these very special cars grows each and every time I climb inside. Thank you, Mercedes Benz. Thank you for letting some very talented Engineers make a wonderfully special and amazing car that we will likely never see created again.
Cheers!
Sounds like that prior moron did you a huge favor by not sanding nor prepping the vents prior to rattle can painting. Looks good restored to OEM.
Originally Posted by SEAMG
Never seen a C63 BS with body color side mirrors and spoiler. Thought all of them came in CF. This is most likely a 1 of 1 spec in US.
Most C63 BS appear to have the exterior CF option but I have seen a few without and have body colored mirrors and rear lip spoiler. Here's one:
oh man, i actually thought the blacked out hood vents & spoiler go well with the limo tint on the windows.
Originally Posted by SEAMG
Never seen a C63 BS with body color side mirrors and spoiler. Thought all of them came in CF. This is most likely a 1 of 1 spec in US.
Not common to find the basic ones without any option that's for sure; yet not 1 of 1 as others has pointed out, "usually" the ones without the 773 option also doesn't have the B26 aero option and the 752 matte black wheel option, exceptions are out there, of course.
Without the 773 option (and without the B26 aero option), it is definitely cheaper to replace worn pieces, like Mitch's car in pictures above, if he decides to take care of the scuffs on the lower edges of the side sills & front lip (as one of the previous owners has pointed it out here: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/20...nz-c63-amg-35/), then the cost would be drastically lower than the C63BS with 773 & B26 options.
It also helps when the car already has such higher mileage, Mitch can most likely find used OEM mufflers/exhaust setup from non-BS and not worried about if the parts would have more miles than the car, this would save him over $10k from buying them new.
Originally Posted by SEAMG
The 773 option didn't offer any value other than a visual appearance (someone correct me if they know different) so 773 options wasn't helping reduce weight or improve aero because those CF pieces were just covers going over the gloss black and not a replacement.
Having the 773 options means the side sills will have the same carbon with B26 aero option, the rarer combination is actually seeing one with B26 aero option but not having the 773 carbon option like this gem:
'94 NSX,'99 NSX Z,'12 C63 Black Series (Prior: '07 E63, '08 CLK63 Black Series,'14 E63-S & 16 C63-S)
Originally Posted by Mort
Standard Exterior Highlights: here are a couple-
- Front splitter, side skirts and rear diffuser in gloss black
- Body color trunk lid spoiler
No mention of the mirror caps for some reason?
I have attached a copy of the DOG in case you may not have seen it.
'94 NSX,'99 NSX Z,'12 C63 Black Series (Prior: '07 E63, '08 CLK63 Black Series,'14 E63-S & 16 C63-S)
Originally Posted by 1JDM911
oh man, i actually thought the blacked out hood vents & spoiler go well with the limo tint on the windows.
Not common to find the basic ones without any option that's for sure; yet not 1 of 1 as others has pointed out, "usually" the ones without the 773 option also doesn't have the B26 aero option and the 752 matte black wheel option, exceptions are out there, of course.
Without the 773 option (and without the B26 aero option), it is definitely cheaper to replace worn pieces, like Mitch's car in pictures above, if he decides to take care of the scuffs on the lower edges of the side sills & front lip (as one of the previous owners has pointed it out here: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/20...nz-c63-amg-35/), then the cost would be drastically lower than the C63BS with 773 & B26 options.
It also helps when the car already has such higher mileage, Mitch can most likely find used OEM mufflers/exhaust setup from non-BS and not worried about if the parts would have more miles than the car, this would save him over $10k from buying them new.
Having the 773 options means the side sills will have the same carbon with B26 aero option, the rarer combination is actually seeing one with B26 aero option but not having the 773 carbon option like this gem:
My intent is to very carefully remedy any and all scuffs and chips and re-apply PPF in the proper areas, but keep the paint and chip correction to an absolute minimum and document the absolute heck out of it so that it retains as much originality as possible. That way the the paint can be full explained as reconditioning, and not something more nefarious. I don't want to hear keyboard warriors lambasting me for the car having 'had paintwork' when it is for a genuine good reason, and kept minimal. Basically, I want it perfect again.
Last edited by Meeyatch1; Feb 1, 2023 at 10:33 AM.
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren
Slideshow: A one-of-one U.S.-spec Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster became even rarer after a factory-backed transformation at McLaren's headquarters.
