Nickelmania-Dal

It seems that, in the old days, a purchaser of a Cadillac could be assured of having better paint on their cars. Maybe it even had a lacquer finish or extra coats of lacquer. My question: Is the paint and body work on an MB any better than a new Buick? Everyone always speaks about MBs interiors being much better than American or Japan cars but what about the exteriors. I dont notice much difference in the quality. They all seem to have plastic grills. Is the MB plastic grills better? Dont get me wrong I love my MB. Just curious on thoughts from the board.
Nickel

Musikmann

The paint job on your MB, even though applied by robots, is about as good as it gets. So is the new ceramiclear clear coat developed from nanotechnology. I know nothing about the plastic grills or body panels, but I suspect those are first rate too.

Diesel Benz

I guess it is as good as it can be with the environmental standards MB follows. If they were not using water soluble stuff etc. it could of course be even stronger. I'm not sure if some other manufacturers make a different compromise here.

K-A

I gotta say, although the Nano looks fabulous, I think it's weak and fragile. My S500 with the older paint seemed thicker, with this nano stuff everytime I accidentally rub the car to strong I get freaked because I thought I scratched it, it just seems thinner.

451/443=EW

Do a search and you will find post about the paint on MB.
I personaly cant remember much but I can tell you based on what iv learnt here on MB. The paint is a harder base and does not scrach as easliy on MB.
So the finish looks better longer. The down side of harder paint is it may chip faster.

Soft paint scratches faster but harder paint chips easier. I dont believe there is technology at least cheap enough to fix both problems.

like I said do a search and yo cna find threads on this topic.

Barry45RPM

Didin't somebody point out some time ago that the sheet metal on an MB is thicker due to some German standard?

The rock solid feel of our cars doesn't come from tightening the nuts & bolts any harder than everybody else. It has to come from each component NOT being made to the thinnest and lightest dimensions possible to meet the minimum standards necessary. If it could be done with lesser weight materials and still achieve the rock solidness, wouldn't every manufacturer reverse engineer the MB to achieve similar feel with lesser quality materials?

So the answer is: An MB is built of better materials, with extra reinforcing materials/dimensions thruout.

55fanatic

Paint is by far the easiest to answer... MB nano technology paint is the best... It is almost a ceramic paint, its VERY hard and can take amazing abuse... my E was in an accident where the whole right side of my car was replaced and painted... the paint was in PERFECT shape even on the destroyed panels... the paint bonds to the metal on a molecular level and will not chip or peel like other manufacturers.

Body work... MB uses more metal, more welds(vs bolting stuff together) and if something needs to be somewhat removable, instead of bolting, they are rivited in place...

These cars are very solid...

Polar Bear

Only comment I can make is my W210 E55 had MANY MANY more paint chips than my 2005 W211. I am not sure if the paint technology is different, but there sure is a difference in the number of chips on the front and hood.

EclassFetish

benzo's definitely do seem to have higher quality paint and thicker metal.

this is evident when trying to "roll your fenders" for clearance issues with lowered cars.

this I'd give props to benz.

55fanatic

new paint for E's came with the 211

enr1co

Not knowledgeable on paint quality but appearance wise mbz paint looks thicker and deeper than comparable japanese cars in their class.

As far as sheet metal, it is definitely thicker on mbz,bmw, vw, mini owned.

The high quality of Japanese makes speak for themselves but the thin
sheet metal used factors into the buying decision for myself. I once gently leaned a door on a honda owned and it produced a ding/impression. In showrooms, I'll put pressure on parts of body panels and doors and you can literally feel the metal pushing in like a soda can.

Nickelmania-Dal

Is funny you should mention metal thickness. I once had an Audi A6 and Ford Expedtion sitting in front of my house during a hail storm. The damage on the Audi A6 was around 4K the Expedtion was over 6K. The Expedtion looked horrible with deep hail dents. The Audi damage was so light that I didnt even repair it. I guess that answers my question in regards to German cars exteriors. I had forgotton about this nasty hail storm fro a few years ago.

dreamcatchr23

My other household car is an Infiniti, and I can tell you firsthand that the difference is night and day... The difference is particularly noticeable when doing any type of paint correction for swirls/scratches (i.e compounding, polishing)... Even my previous 5-series BMW didnt have paint of MB's quality...

sosh

As far as the body goes the steel is better and a higher tensile strength than most manufacturers use, The fit and finish is excellent and quite durable. The engineering is the big difference as it is I believe the vehicle is much more resistant to personal injury in an accident.

lkchris

Spent about 15 minutes in a severe hailstorm on I-40 in our W124/300E which started with us doing 75 and maybe then slowing to 55.

Never found a dent but sure expected the worst.

aceman

After 63K of relatively trouble free miles, the nose/hood of my E is full of chips. some are quite large. Frankly, it may look "deeper" but i'm not a believer in the "nano" hype. I turn cars over quite often, and this car has been the most chip prone car i've ever owned (and i am **** about staying clear of trucks). It could be the geometry of the hood as well, but some of the chips that came off my car are large. Maybe the nano makes it look better for longer, but i don't think it does a darn thing to prevent or reduce chipping - At least in my experience.

Just my opinion!

Aceman

BRABUS_E500

I left my car at a friends house last year in November while I was out of town on vacation. He had parked it in his driveway but next to a sprinkler head a gardener had later broken. My car got sprayed every night for 31 days straight and got rained on for about 8-9 days collectively AAAND was under a tree the whole time. The days there wasn't any rain it was of course nice and sunny with the rays beating down on my paint and sealing in those water spots.

I got back my car was hooooorrible. Tree sap every where hard hard hard water spots. My detailer went to work on the car that weekend (this point 34 days of weather) and 4 hours later it didn't even look like anything had happen.

My detailer is a middle aged gentlemen that details only high end cars (Ferrari's, Lambo's, BMW's, MB's etc etc) I hired him through a friend that used him for about 5 years and he has been doing my car(s) now for the last 3. So I trust what he does and his opinion very much.

I was shocked that he got all that out because I seriously thought I might have to get the car re clear coated or something major. He said to me: "No matter what the weather and how long the cars been out in it as long as its a semi-newer model Mercedes I never have a problem tackling those jobs."

He went on talking about how MB paint and their process and paint quality is of the highest if not the highest he has seen in his detailing career. Very tough and easy to work with I love MB

SPNJHockey

I'm with you on this one. Detailed this weekend, and my front is a mess...including the grill. Looks like it was sandblasted. Have never had a car look like this after 14 months!

LaicepsYdobon

BMW uses what is called 'soft paint' on their cars while MB and Audi uses 'hard paint'. Soft paint is cheaper to put onto cars but as a result it is more susceptible to chipping, flaking and scratches. The hard paint is more durable to weather and normal abuse. The new C-Class took the hard paint idea further by mixing in microscopic particles of ceramics into the paint to make it even more scratch resistant. Rumor has it that the new E-Class will have this kind of paint also. If you hop on over to E90 Post there is a whole discussion about the poor quality of the BMW paint and more and more of their cars have the 'Orange Peel' effect that's their annoying owners.