When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I have never seen any Mercedes-Benz with orange peel in it's factory applied paint and finish. None. Orange peel is a sure sign of a repaint.
On a 19 year old car, you can't harm anything playing with the finish. My faultlessly painted 2001 is worth mere penneys. That said, if you mess it up, another repaint will cost twice what the car is worth.
My 2017 W166 has orange peel on every panel. Today’s MBs are garbage compared with 20+ years ago.
My 2017 W166 has orange peel on every panel. Today’s MBs are garbage compared with 20+ years ago.
Dunno about garbage per se but my '13 and my friend's '19 both have visible orange peel. So does my '05, except for where a deer did a backflip over the hood. The new hood is smooth as glass, and the paint match is perfect. In other words, it isn't the product as was inferred above. It's the application of the product.
Every MB I’ve had, has exhibited orange peel... some colors it’s more apparent on and some years it’s been better or worse.
Black ‘95 E320 that I just finished a 2-stage correction on is pretty apparent from distance due to color. ‘11 E550 has it as well, but being palladium it’s harder to see.
It’s hard to capture, but the waviness in the reflection, edges of things, is the orange peel. Car is my beater, I never noticed nor paid much attention as it was heavily swirled and scratched. That actually hides certain defects, your eye doesn’t pick up.
Defiantly don’t wet sand a newer car, they have near zero clear coat. Maybe a spot correction, not the whole car. These aren’t show cars...
2016 E350 4Matic wagon, 2019 Ford Expedition, 2019 Chevy Bolt EV
our white 94 W124 wagon and my pearl black metallic 1993 W124 cabriolet both had excellent paint. the clear coat was failing in places (hood, mostly) on the cabrio after 25 years, but thats common on a dark metallic color
2016 E350 4Matic wagon, 2019 Ford Expedition, 2019 Chevy Bolt EV
only major problem I ever had with the monowiper on my several 124's was one that had gummed up grease in the gear mechanism in the hub, disassembly, cleaning, and regreasing and it was fine.
minor issue, only the MB branded wiper arms really cover the whole window properly, aftermarket wipers, even the Bosch 'exact-fit', just don't quite cover the lower corners.
If you have never seen orange peel in a Mercedes, you have either not been to a new dealer showroom in the last 5 years or you are blind!
The only Mercedes paint that does not have orange peel are the flat dull colors. I am sick with my 2021 GLC Coupe 63S. It has absolutely the worst
paint job I have ever seen. I am jealous of Ford F-150's with their glass-smooth paint jobs. Heck even look at a Kia or Mazda they make a
Mercedes look like it was painted in high school shop class. It is high time that we owners and future buyers of Mercedes in the future
stand up and demand better classier paint jobs. I just wish Mercedes would stop tempting me with these engineering marvels. I like to get
out of my car and take a glance at it as I walk away, now I try to not look back. How can they build such a great car and not be able to paint it?
I have seen the same exact thing on Mercedes dealers lots on four door AMG GT's
Wet Sand and buff is the only way to smooth out a garbage orange paint job. I took my 2021 GLC AMG 63 to 2 different detail shops. They both
said that the paint was too thin to attempt the fix. They measured thicknesses of 4 mils and found an area on the rear fender of 3.25 mils.
Great engineering but body assembly (uniform panel gaps) and very pure paint will make me check out Audi and BM W first.
