Dull Painted Wheels (wet sanding?)
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 466
Likes: 0
From: South Florida
05 E500
Dull Painted Wheels (wet sanding?)
I have just had my wife's wheels on her '03 C Sedan painted again by the outsourcing agent of our MB dealer.
The original (7 spoke) wheels were beautiful and radiant with deep shine.
But some minor disagreements with curbs (must have been valets!) caused some digs on this very weak paint (which MB has now improved for '05).
After a couple of failed attempts by the dealer to remedy this, the dealer finally sent all four wheels in to be completely repainted. I cannot complain because they did me a real favor on this, but the color of the finished product badly lacks the same vibrance of the factory paint. (I have heard that there's usually no substitute for factory paint finishes, especially with MB, but now I see this as fact first hand, at least per my experience.)
Anyhow, how can I attempt to bring back some of the former deep glow and rich reflecting shine? The wheels look cloudly or meerky as if they had the haze of old wax or something, yet have never been waxed. They were only repainted two weeks ago.
Would a wet sanding session be the way to go?
How about some special polish or wax?
I have a small orbital buffer (which I've never used but will try to here).
Is this something an amateur can do, or should I visit a detailing shop with experience with MB painted finishes? (I live in Fort Lauderdale; perhaps there are some applicable shops in the area for this?)
Thanks a million for any insight.
The original (7 spoke) wheels were beautiful and radiant with deep shine.
But some minor disagreements with curbs (must have been valets!) caused some digs on this very weak paint (which MB has now improved for '05).
After a couple of failed attempts by the dealer to remedy this, the dealer finally sent all four wheels in to be completely repainted. I cannot complain because they did me a real favor on this, but the color of the finished product badly lacks the same vibrance of the factory paint. (I have heard that there's usually no substitute for factory paint finishes, especially with MB, but now I see this as fact first hand, at least per my experience.)
Anyhow, how can I attempt to bring back some of the former deep glow and rich reflecting shine? The wheels look cloudly or meerky as if they had the haze of old wax or something, yet have never been waxed. They were only repainted two weeks ago.
Would a wet sanding session be the way to go?
How about some special polish or wax?
I have a small orbital buffer (which I've never used but will try to here).
Is this something an amateur can do, or should I visit a detailing shop with experience with MB painted finishes? (I live in Fort Lauderdale; perhaps there are some applicable shops in the area for this?)
Thanks a million for any insight.
Last edited by c2jones; Sep 7, 2004 at 07:43 AM. Reason: Added Photo
