King320

Well, over Thanksgiving break i spent most of my time in the garage with a porter cable buffer, four different types of polishes, and lots of Zaino products try to get out some stubborn swirl marks and scratches (thank you previous owner). I met with mixed success. I'm going to have to have the hood repainted (lots of tiny paints chips) and maybe do the same for the trunk. Anyways. here's what it looked like when i was done (sorry for the ugly background, it was raining outside)...

The other car (reflected in my car) is my father's E430 that i did also after the dealer swirled his up with a "courtesy carwash". I will take better pics later when i get some time. My question is this: does anyone know how to remove the side impact strips? I am referring to the gray strip of plastic that runs around the car that is body colored on the 430s and 2000+ 320s. I got an estimate today of $500 to paint them black, but that included $140 of labor taking of and reinstalling them. If its not too much of a pain I'd like to do it myself. I searched and not much came up. Help appreciated.

superstar

very shiny! how many coats of Zaino is that? I use meguiarse NXT and it really helps for the swirl marks.

King320

Thanks superstar. Thats a dawn car wash, clay treatment (zaino clay bar w/ mix of Z6 and water for lube), four zaino coats on the sides (2 Z5, 2 Z2). I put 8 (4 and 4) on the hood, and probably 10 (5 and 5) on the back. The hood i just kindof gave up on, the trunk turned out beautifully. I also used Z6 between each coat (i used half a bottle). I didnt try NXT, might do that next time. Before the Zaino treatment I used a porter cable polisher with Scratch X (bad scratch places only), Meguiars Dual Action Cleaner Polish (#82), Meguiars Swirl Remover (#9), and 3M Swirl Mark Remover for dark colored cars (which did the most out of all of them).

scorchie

The ones on the doors are held by a single screw towards the back. Remove this screw and the strips slide to unlock and then can be pulled out. All other strips are pushed into the car, so can be removed with a plastic wedge and some careful force. The exception is the front bumper strip on a US-spec car (or any W208 with side marker lights in the front bumper strip). This strip also had additional metal clips mounted to retain the strip around the marker lights, as the strip is weaker at this point due to the large hole for the marker light.

-s-

King320

by "pushed into the car" do you mean with an adhesive or with a lock type mechanism that will allow the strips to snap off with pressure? And on the front bumper, would i have to pry off the side markers first then undo the metal clip or take off the entire front bumper?

H-MAN

Nice job with the wax your car looks great.

King320

Thanks man, i went to Ian's body shop and got taht estimate. Im going to remove the side strips sometime and take them in, should help out the car's appearance.

smalldog

good job. We have to meet some time. I think it's only 3 or 4 guys from NC.