mkaresh

Why do you think the 2007s are better?

I have no opinion either way, just wondering what you're basing yours on.

JLP

Well the new S, GL, and E seem to be relatively trouble free thus far. I have a few buddies who are MB techs and they are saying the same thing.

mkaresh

That's especially good to hear about the S-Class. It could certainly be a nightmare if they hadn't gotten it right, with so much complexity. I wish I had enough to collect data on, but the smaller a car's sales are the harder it is to get a decent sample.

gjackson

I recently purchased an '07 SL550 CPO with 22k miles. It had a minor scratch/scrape on the left quarter panel that the MB dealer repaired and painted. Now the panel does not have the same level of "orange peel" in the paint/clear coat, but the black paint matches. Is the "orange peel" appearance applied in the paint or the clear coat process? How difficult is it to get it to match the original factory appearance?

mkaresh

My understanding is that orange peel happens when the paint "runs" a little before drying, so it's not perfectly even. To match the original, the repair shop should paint the car a little less well than they did

gjackson

Thanks for the reply.

Only a small portion of the quarter panel was actually painted but now the entire quarter panel does not have the same level of "orange peel" as previously. I was told that appearance is done during the clear coat process. Is this your understanding and can it be corrected to match the original MB paint with orange peel appearance?

mkaresh

You're beyond my paint knowledge at this point. I wasn't aware that orange peel could be removed by adding clear coat over it, which seems to be what happened. In general people don't want orange peel, so a request to add it will puzzle the paint guys.

gjackson

Thanks for the reply. Just trying to get the 1/4 panel that was repaired to match the rest of the car, that comes with "orange peel" from the factory. Perhaps I should just get the "orange peel" removed from the entire vehicle. :-)