Doody

does MB have a program like BMW Individual or the Porsche paint-to-match stuff?

specifically, can you get your R230 painted specifically to a color of your choosing?

and if so can you do it on AMG stuff too (SL55)?

haven't asked my dealer yet, but i can't find any info on the www site. i know BMW Individual is hard to find on their site, so maybe it's in there and i just can't find it :-)

thanks.
doody.

jco-amg

MB has a program for it in Europe but as far as I have been able to find MBUSA won't do it....if you find out otherwise please let me know!

as an example here is the full Designo offered in the UK that Richard kindly posted a while ago:

Designo list

Doody

from what i can tell, the designo stuff just lets you pick and choose from a larger palette with no restrictions.

i'm thinking i would like to dictate the specific paint (manufacturer and product number - or at least an identical match to same in whatever manufacturer they use) - which isn't likely to be on the deisgno lists.

porsche does a nice job with this. it adds 4-8 weeks to your car's schedule, and they charge you through the nose for it, but it's nice. you can even do deviating stitching in the upholstery to match, etc. etc.

doody.

victoryroad

Has anyone seen the color combinations on the 03 CL 55's?

Tezta

Damn MB europe has so much more than MBUSA, its a shame.

blueSL

I wouldn't be too uptight with MB USA.

At least the delivery times for the SL are reasonable in the US, which takes more than half production. By the time Germany has had theirs, the remaining markets pick up the rest and the lead times of 4 years are common.

My cousin lives in London and he's expecting delivery in 2006. Some countries have already sold (or have deposits on) more than their entire lifetime production and then some.

Felix

taken this photo at our mercedes-benz dealer, i think its not a standart colour but designo could it be?

northbenz

Felix - did the above car have a paint code number on it? If so I'll check the number code to see if it is a standard US color. It looks like there is more blue in it than what we call diamond silver over here - but would say it is closer to diamond silver than anything else.

Felix

here another pic showing a brilliant-silver E-Class and CLK, besides the SL and me. will try to find out what colour it could be today.

Callaway

You guys have it too easy in the States!!

In Australia we have to wait about 18 months for an SL if you order one today.

We also have quite long waiting lists for both the CLK and new E Class due to our small allocations.Plus the prices of these cars are very,very much higher than in the States.

Again,you guys have it too easy!!

Doody

I feel bad for the Australian allocations, but do keep in mind that the population of just the NYC metropolitan area is larger by a million or two people than the entire country of Australia. No surprises on allocations. It sucks I'm sure, but it's not surprising.

So nobody has a definitive answer to my original question? Can you do a custom "paint to match" on an SL55?

Thanks.

Doody.

GMW

Yes you can do a custom paint to match on an SL55 AMG as well as other models. Aside from visiting Brabus in Germany who can also make the leather to match ANY color on earth you can get Designo (in Germany) to do it. It will cost quite a bit extra and some extra weeks in delays but if you are willing to spend then they shall oblige!


_________________________
SL55 Brilliant Silver / Anthracite

Doody

thanks for the info!

doody.

jco-amg

Are you talking about cars ordered through MBUSA??? or only European orders? please clarify...and how does one arrange this? Can this be ordered through the dealer or does one have to go directly to MBUSA???

Thanks

GMW

Hi jco-amg,

1) I'm not talking about cars ordered through MBUSA.
2) It's for any ( I believe) country main authorized dealer who deals directly with DaimlerChrysler AG, Mercedes-Benz in Germany.

So basically, the customers in places like Europe, Africa, Middle East, possibly Asia have a few choices in customizing colors.

They can:
a) Get Designo (an inhouse Mercedes interior/exterior customiser) to paint their vehicle some special color of their choice at extra cost of course. This is above and beyond what Designo offers in its catalog. As far as I know and from my experience you can only get this done for Mercedeses assembled in Germany. The cost may be a bit high but the quality is excellant.

b) Get Brabus (Germany yes but other branches I don't know) to re-spray your vehicle in the color of your choice. Again at extra cost and from what I hear also a high quality job.

c) get it locally sprayed (more risky as far as finish is concerned)

If you are in the U.S. and want a special custom color then you can either contact MBUSA directly, though I doubt they would help much, or contact your nearest Brabus official dealer. I believe they only have those in Miami and L.A.?

If you were in the Europe or another continent you could approach your country main dealer and have them help. It really depends on whether they want to go through the procedures or not. It would involve them informing their contact in Germany once your order is placed that you want x color to be sprayed by Designo. They would have to keep an eye on your vehicle as it moved through the production line to make sure it was taken off at the right time, etc. Whether Designo remove the basic frame of the vehicle from the production line or re-spray the vehicle I don't know, but they are the only guys who would most likely have the best equipment and most skilled personel to spray your car that you wouldn't know either way if its the very first color or not.

I can only speculate as to why I believe MBUSA might not be willing to do it. They are probably afraid that there could be legal liabilities. For example, if you get a scratch and need a respray what is the color code? Most likely there won't be one because the paint is customized and not on any color chart so it will be match by sight. Now that would be a mess. If they entertain one order like that then what happens when about 10,000 other people want it in the U.S. alone. Then delays could go well into years rather than weeks. I believe the day they develop a way to spray cars any color while on the production line will be the day MBUSA will offer a free for all color choice. Otherwise right now they would be creating their own logistical nightmare!

Hope this helps

GMW

jco-amg

thanks GMW...

that's pretty much what I thought...it would be very difficult if not impossible from the US...first of all with the AMG cars MBUSA will not divert a car in Germany for other work although I am working on that...you either have to buy a Euro car, have the work done in Germany and then import and convert it yourself...or take delivery of a US spec car and then have the work done aftermarket...neither of which is very convenient or very cost effective.

I was told essentially the same reasons by MBUSA....not cost effective and a logistical nightmare...which is a bit lame since you can get it done anywhere else...it really sucks that MBUSA even though wholly owned by DC has isolated it's operations in such a way...seems a bit bizarre to me given the size of the market...

Doody

i understand that it's "work" but that's why they charge a big premium for it. if there's risk involved and extra labor then they up the prices.

you can order any porsche paint-to-match, and stitching-to-match. the produce far more cars per year than AMG does. they wouldn't have to offer this for C class cars - just reserve it for the expensive, high-end stuff where the customer is happy dropping an extra $10K on a $100K car (obviously the guy buying the $28K C class ain't gonna opt for the $10K custom finish job!). and if $10K doesn't cover it - make it $15K. etc.

they're just whining.

doody.

blueSL

SL55 AMG cars are indeed lower volume than 911s but Porsche only make the 911 at their plant in Zuffenhausen, north of Stuttgart. By comparison, the Bremen plant is huge and they also make SLK, CLK and left hand drive C class there, probably 20 times the production level of 911s.

Haven't been inside Bremen but if it's like other plants I have been to, the different mix of cars will go through the same paint plant with the robots knowing what type of car it is and having access to much the same palette of colors for all the cars made there.

Taking a car off the line half way through the painting process to paint it flourescent pink must be a logistical/quality/contamination nightmare as well as eating into skilled resources to paint the car by hand which are better deployed painting the parts the robots cannot handle and in defect correction.

It's no wonder this is not widely offered. Mercedes may be upscale cars but they are still volume-produced cars, which is why the SL55 offers comparable performance to the Ferrari 575 Maranello at a little over half the price.

Doody

bluesl - i was under the impression that the AMG cars were pulled from the line once some of the assembly was done and shipped to another facility where the "AMG magic" was done. i was under the impressions that at the end of the R230 line it wasn't like you'd see an SL500 roll off then an SL55 and then a few SL500s and then another SL55, etc.

so they're already being pulled off the line. i remember one of the early R230 buyers here on this board from sweden (?) explained the process for the designo exercise, which involved pulling the car off the line, trucking it somewhere else, and then bringing it back later. all i'm looking for is a specific paint once the truck drops it at the designo plant.

porsche produces something like 3X more cars per year, all customizable, than MB produces R230s.

why can BMW do this with the BMW Individual program (available in the US) but MB cannot?

i think you guys are cutting our friends at MB way too much slack!

at the end of the day, this service is available for non-US cars. so clearly they CAN do it and in fact they DO do it. they simply have chosen, probably for volume reasons, not to do it for MBUSA.

silly decision. just charge more. they're leaving money on the table.

doody.

blueSL

I don't work for Mercedes so do not know how the SL55 is built but it doesn't make much sense to ship the car several hundred miles just to put a few different bits on it. In the past, they may have shipped cars to a different location when AMG was a separate company but now they are part of MB.

Better to ship to parts to Bremen and have a big box marked "SL55 calipers" and "Regular calipers" and let the guy pick what he needs., Wheels, body kit, seats, steering wheel, trim, all of this stuff is completely interchangeable on the line. Maybe the rear subframe which is steel in the SL55 and aluminium in the SL and the engine are a different matter.

As for painting the body a special colour, I wonder how much difference there is between a body in white for an SL500 and an SL55. The Designo is obviously designed to go some way to allowing free customization, but not as far as you want to go. I assume Mercedes know that can sell every car they can make so there's little incentive to provide it.

I agree Porsche make 2 - 3 times the SL production, but I didn't know the Boxster could be had in any color.

What color did you want your SL painted in?

jco-amg

I agree with you...It just doesn't make sense to me particulaly in that DC makes this option available everywhere else!!!

I remeber some of the reports from tours of the AMG plant (I have some pics saved that show this)....that AMG pulls the bodies off the main production line and then finishes the cars...engines, transmissions, running gear, and interiors at it's own plant...I don't know if Designo cars are painted at the main plant or somewhere else. It is really a matter of MBUSA not wanting to trouble themselves with this...I agree it's stupid...given that there are people will to pay.

Here is a pic of bodies waiting at AMG Factory
Courtesy AMG

blueSL

I've now had it confirmed the SL55 is built in Bremen, using engines shipped in from the Mercedes-AMG plant in Affalterbach.

Originally, when AMG was a separate company, the cars were trucked around the place for finishing but no more since AMG is part of DaimlerChrysler.

Which kind of makes me think all SLs are built on the same line and they just fit whatever bits they need to end up with the car they need.

I've seen similar at Porsche where the different engines (turbo, non-turbo, country variants) are queued to marry up exactly with the order, specification and destination of the cars coming down the line.

northbenz

Having just gotten back from a factory tour, it was amazing to see just how automated Mercedes has become. The line I watched was the C Class and it seemed no problem at all for the robots to differentiate between a coupe and a sedan as they moved down the line. It was eerie looking for the people making the cars as all the work was being done in robot cages that humans didn't even have access to enter.

The SL500 and SL55 AMG would have even less problems sharing the same line than for both the coupe and sedan variants of the C Class in addition to both left and right steering and the multitude of various engines from diesel to kompressor all mixed in no special order.