rovermark

Is Designo paint "scratch resistant" (as per Mercedes) compared to other Mercedes paint, or is all Mercedes paint that way?

jvc300

The clear coat is what creates the scratch resistant.

Friday December 5, 2003

Mercedes-Benz has developed a scratch-resistant clearcoat using tiny ceramic nano-particles, each less than a millionth of a millimetre in size. The new clear lacquer is set to go into series production at Mercedes-Benz at the end of the year after four years of R&D with the E, S, CL, SL and SLK-Class series being first models to become in available with this new paint system.

The microscopic ceramic particles float around freely at first in the liquid clearcoat, before cross-linking as the drying process takes effect. The particles link in with one another in such a way as to create an extremely dense and smoothly structured network that is considerably more scratch-resistant than conventional paintwork.

According to Mercedes-Benz the nano-particles provide a three-fold improvement in the scratch resistance of the paintwork and ensure visibly enhanced gloss over an extended period of time. Following extreme tests in a laboratory car-wash, Mercedes engineers noted an around 40-percent improvement in paint gloss compared to conventional clear lacquers.

New nano-particle clearcoat will be introduced as standard for both metallic and non-metallic paint finishes.

YYZ-E55

Nano paint is on all cars except the NGCCs. designo paint is the same as standard paint, with the exception of the mystic, MAGNO, and ALUBEAM paints obviously. Mystic gets the nano clear, not sure about ALUBEAM.

alsyli

What does "NGCCs" mean?

konigstiger

“new generation compact cars” A-Class

alsyli

Thanks. =)

YYZ-E55

New Generation Compact Cars. A/B/CLA and more to come

ddeliber

Well, to complete the question, and pardon my ignorance but what are the Mystic, Magno and Allubeam paints?

alsyli

I can partially answer this question.

http://www.mercedes-amg.com/designo/designo_home/en/

I'm only familiar w/ Magno and Alubeam. I thought Mystic was simply a "descriptive" term for the Designo blue (which is quite unattractive, IMO). Magno is the satin (not quite matte) finish (which is really pretty and quite subtle). And isn't Alubeam the special "liquid" silver color MB uses for its concept cars (and which I think is only available on certain models like the SLS?).

YYZ-E55

The mystic paint has a very micro metallic flake to it. Its really quite beautiful and has great depth - a very rich color. I know for sure it was offered in Red, Blue and Brown, perhaps other colors as well.

petee1997

Do current 2013 models have new generation paint?

rovermark

I have Mystic Red, and the colour is beautiful..see below.

Mystic Green is also quite nice. I would buy a car in that colour.

What is the difference between nano and nano clear?
Both have the same scratch resistance I presume?

steelgrey

There is only one major problem with the new Nano technology. Yes it is very hard but, it is also very thin. If you would take a rotary buffer with a cutting pad to this paint...you could very quickly burn through the clear coat layer. The other thing that I have noticed is that it seams to be brittle. Stone chips appear to go all the way through the base coat.

rovermark

I don't find it any worse on the Mercedes than on my Volvo, and I do 90% country-road driving.

steelgrey

Don't get me wrong here...I absolutely love the MB Nano tech. I have a black E350 coupe and you can get a remarkable shine that feels like glass.

I have been detailing for 10 years now (Black Infiniti G35 coupe) and what I've observed...that when you get a stone chip normally there is some base coat left behind. Not so with MB Nano tech...the chips go straight to the primer. I guess I spend way to much time checking my paint with my Brinkmann Maxfire Dual Xenon Spotlight.

DavidNJ

I think the designo paints are $2300 or $3800 for matte. They seem to be very nice colors with deep metallic luster and better application than the stock paints. Remember that the metallic is $795 extra, so the designo is really just $1500 more.

The car will always look better. If it is purchased and privately sold, the better presentation of the designo paint may add to the value by making the sale easier.