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I have owned a 1984 Mercedes 300D for almost seven years. I only drive the car a few thousand miles a year. For the most part, the car has been good to me. However, I am not sure if it makes sense to get a professional paint job. There is a very small amount of rust near the tires and a spot at the bottom of the rear windshield. The auto paint shop said that they will have to remove the rusty metal and replace with a putty-like material. They cannot guarantee that the rusty areas will not come back.
I know I need to do something about the paint. It fades more every year. I am worried that shortly after paying between $6,000 and $7,000 to paint the car, something could go wrong that will make me regret having it painted. I appreciate simply having a chance to post my concern and welcome any insight other Mercedes owners may have.
You might want to take a less expensive route and check with a top notch detailer to get their opinion before you go the paint route. Some remarkable things can be done to bring faded paint back short of a paint job. The paint is fading due to the lack of a routine waxing on a regular basis that protects the paint and keeps it from fading. Any rusted metal that needs to be replaced should be replaced with new metal and not puddy. The puddy won't be durable for the long term.
Depends on what you want to do with the car. If this is a keeper, I would have the corroded areas cut, new pieces welded in and do paintjob after that. From what I see, putty will be a very temporary solution. I would do it right before investing. Also, I would check the car thoroughly. If you have corrosion like that, it is likely that you have it in other spots and have not yet discovered it.
Thanks for your post. A few years ago I met with a detailer. They tried to buff out the paint and ended up scratching the body of the car. They apologized profusely and offered me a discount to detail the rest of my car. They said the car just doesn't have enough paint left.
I agree welded metal would be better. I really have been putting off painting the car far too long. Every year or so some mechanical issue (power steering/fuel tank/axel) will happen and I will just be glad the car is safe to drive.
Thanks for your reply. Yes, I agree there could be something else I have not found yet. I have had the car inspected multiple times and no mechanic has ever been able to know what the next problem would be with the car. Usually it holds up fine. It has over 200,000 miles on it. The engine is fine, but there could be other problems.
I have owned a 1984 Mercedes 300D for almost seven years. I only drive the car a few thousand miles a year. For the most part, the car has been good to me. However, I am not sure if it makes sense to get a professional paint job. There is a very small amount of rust near the tires and a spot at the bottom of the rear windshield. The auto paint shop said that they will have to remove the rusty metal and replace with a putty-like material. They cannot guarantee that the rusty areas will not come back.
I know I need to do something about the paint. It fades more every year. I am worried that shortly after paying between $6,000 and $7,000 to paint the car, something could go wrong that will make me regret having it painted. I appreciate simply having a chance to post my concern and welcome any insight other Mercedes owners may have.
You will get many opinions on this but I will now give you my experience. Welding in new panels will just speed up the rusting process. Guaranteed unless it is done to an extremely high level . Remove all loose rust and apply several coats of Miracle paint to all rusty areas and extend it into good metal. Where necessary use fiberglass cloth in various thicknesses to reinforce along with miracle paint. You end up with a repair almost as strong as epoxy fiberglass. You apply the miracle paint to all rusty areas like inside the doors , in the trunk and on the floor pans, battery trays, fenders etc. My floors in my 300D had rusty gaps as wide as 2 " and are now solid. Some of the new paints like single stage polyurethanes are great and don't need a clear coat. 3 qts will do a whole car and they are $65-80 a qt. The prep is what is important and there are all those moldlings and areas to tape off. It is best to sand to bare metal and then apply over epoxy primer but it is possible to sand thru the clear coat just barely into the base coat and get adhesion for the polyurethane to existing paint. Bare metal will need primer of course.. I practiced on some of my dented junkyard parts and they turned out fine. The labor is where the cost lies. If you want a perfect showroom finish remember perfect is the enemy of the good. When you are working with rusty 35-40 yr old cars it's silly to blow huge sums on cars which have old components and I bet you have a helluva lot of rust in places you haven't seen yet. At some point cut your losses, do a quick detail and find one from rust free regions. If you have perfect mechanicals you might want to keep it for a parts car. I generally walk away from rusty MB cars, too much work and cost.
300D Rear windshield Behind rear tire
You will get many opinions on this but I will now give you my experience. Welding in new panels will just speed up the rusting process. Guaranteed unless it is done to an extremely high level . Remove all loose rust and apply several coats of Miracle paint to all rusty areas and extend it into good metal. Where necessary use fiberglass cloth in various thicknesses to reinforce along with miracle paint. You end up with a repair almost as strong as epoxy fiberglass. You apply the miracle paint to all rusty areas like inside the doors , in the trunk and on the floor pans, battery trays, fenders etc. My floors in my 300D had rusty gaps as wide as 2 " and are now solid. Some of the new paints like single stage polyurethanes are great and don't need a clear coat. 3 qts will do a whole car and they are $65-80 a qt. The prep is what is important and there are all those moldlings and areas to tape off. It is best to sand to bare metal and then apply over epoxy primer but it is possible to sand thru the clear coat just barely into the base coat and get adhesion for the polyurethane to existing paint. Bare metal will need primer of course.. I practiced on some of my dented junkyard parts and they turned out fine. The labor is where the cost lies. If you want a perfect showroom finish remember perfect is the enemy of the good. When you are working with rusty 35-40 yr old cars it's silly to blow huge sums on cars which have old components and I bet you have a helluva lot of rust in places you haven't seen yet. At some point cut your losses, do a quick detail and find one from rust free regions. If you have perfect mechanicals you might want to keep it for a parts car. I generally walk away from rusty MB cars, too much work and cost.
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