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'13 SL550 Mars Red, Designo White interior, B and O sound
Paint Defect - Mars Red
I have seen one or two mentions about a paint defect on the Mars Red (option 590) paint but none that matches what I am seeing with mine. Briefly, I took possession of the car at the end of July but two weeks or so ago, after continual rain for a day or two, the spider-web grey/white marks appeared. There is no surface indication of raised clear-coat, no bubbling or orange peel, just this webbing. After a week or so in the sun, almost all of it has disappeared! I've taken it to a reputable body-shop and they (manager and paint specialist) were unable to offer any insight. I checked and the car hasn't been resprayed nor had any ceramic treatment applied to it.
Anyone have any insight, please?
(When I can get through to the service department of the local dealership, I'll be making an appointment for them to take a look. Hopefully, the issue is still obvious and not disappeared completely.)
TIA!
One of four examples of this happening around the entire care
Looks like failing clear coat. A good shop may be able to fix this but you'll be losing most or all of your clear coat without a respray. Hopefully MB will help you out.
'13 SL550 Mars Red, Designo White interior, B and O sound
Oh, dear. I did some more digging around (I don't know why I didn't find this before) and found a whole lot of info on the WWW. Most important, is this site: https://www.marsredpaintsettlement.com
A class action against MB ... Of course, they'll only go 50% on mine as it's 2013 and it's outside the parameters for 100% reimbursement. Still, that's a substantial amount since I've been quoted between seven and nine thousand dollars for a respray. Ugh.
Just deleted my post as you already have the info...
If you have a good relationship with a dealer you should pay nothing but even if you pay 50%, it is still a good deal. That car looks like its spent a lot of time in the sun...
'13 SL550 Mars Red, Designo White interior, B and O sound
Thanks, Wolfman!
(O
ut of interest, from the pictures I posted, how can you tell it's spent a lot of time in the sun? (I don't know but it is a SoCal and Floridian car so that's certainly a reasonable assumption.)
(O
ut of interest, from the pictures I posted, how can you tell it's spent a lot of time in the sun? (I don't know but it is a SoCal and Floridian car so that's certainly a reasonable assumption.)
I got the impression of the paint surface and condition of the metal trim. If you don't know the history of the car a car fax maybe a good resource or check with the dealer for a complete vehicle history. Best if you have a contact at the dealership as they might not want to bother running the report otherwise.
While MB pulled Mars Red due the issues, the cars can be refinished in that color.
I would personally have the car repainted and had that done on a prior MB paint disaster (w220). Came out great and would do it again over some 9 year old paint.
The key for everything is a quality paint shop and our MB dealer has the best one in the state.
It is worth finding the right dealer/shop for any body work.
It is worth finding the right dealer/shop for any body work.
That is definitely the key to a quality repaint. 👍
It’s pretty rare not to find the tell tale signs of a repaint,
but no question it can be done correctly too.
'13 SL550 Mars Red, Designo White interior, B and O sound
Fabulous! Thank you all so much for some encouragement and great advice. I will post how this progresses since there seems to be a general interest. Cheers!
The reason I was mentioning this is because one of these (certified shops for Merceds and Lexus in Chicago) fixed one of my lS 460ss after a rear end collision ( a girls was texting), they do everything like on the factory, they aligned the panels within less than 1 millimeters, there is no orange peel on the paint, and the thickness is to factory spec. there is absolutely no sign of a repair, however, this kind of quality is not cheap but we all know that, in general, quality is not cheap.
I am surprised that you didn't notice this before. I don't understand how a few days of rain could make this appear. Did the previous owner find a way to temporarily cover it up?
'13 SL550 Mars Red, Designo White interior, B and O sound
I think I mentioned earlier, the spiderwebbing disappears after a few warm, dry days. Right now, there is no indication of any issues (that I can see). So, I think it was the temperature drop and the constant rain for a couple of days or so that encouraged or facilitated the water incursion beneath the surface. And that is why the problem manifests as the webbing beneath the surface. I'm not a chemist nor a paint specialist but there are obvious signs of trouble and certainly, there weren't any seen by the seller – whom I trust and who'd been all over the body checking for paint thickness etc. before I purchased it.
2019 SL450, 2019 E450 Luxury Trim Wagon, 2024 BMW I7 xDrive60
In my humble opinion, Mars Red was “THE” best color the SL’s were ever painted. It was a shame that MB behaved in such a childish manner, by completely dropping the color, when it was discovered that there had been a bad batch of the paint. More than likely, by the time the issues with the bad batch started surfacing, the Mars Red paint being used was just fine. More than likely, the supplier of the Mars Red paint supplied most if not all of the other colors used by MB at the time. MB threw the baby out with the bath water! I had a 2004 and a 2013 in Mars Red, both with zero issues. My 2019 would have been Mars Red, but MB had dropped the color by then, so I went with Polar White. Imagine if Ferrari had a bad batch of their solid red. Think they would have dropped the color?
'13 SL550 Mars Red, Designo White interior, B and O sound
I'm with you there on the colour: it's stunning. I had a 2007 that was Storm Red (I think that was what it was called) but this is the business! Here's mine (complete with stoic, unimpressed son...):
2019 SL450, 2019 E450 Luxury Trim Wagon, 2024 BMW I7 xDrive60
Originally Posted by Bitbytr
I'm with you there on the colour: it's stunning. I had a 2007 that was Storm Red (I think that was what it was called) but this is the business! Here's mine (complete with stoic, unimpressed son...):
He's only unimpressed because he isn't behind the wheel. Gorgeous car by the way!
I'm with you there on the colour: it's stunning. I had a 2007 that was Storm Red (I think that was what it was called) but this is the business! Here's mine (complete with stoic, unimpressed son...):
'13 SL550 Mars Red, Designo White interior, B and O sound
Wow. Thank you for the compliments on the car. I looked and looked for this specific model with those wheels and after quite a long time I found this one. The interior is pristine Designo white (where DO they come up with these names? 'Designo', 'Distronic' ... SMH) and the only issue is the center storage box spring on one of the doors. Not a biggy in and of itself. Other than the paint, I love this car.
And I used to love my 2007 too. Until I got this one. LOL But, please, don't tell her...
'13 SL550 Mars Red, Designo White interior, B and O sound
A minor update and question. I had the hood resprayed (road rash and clear cost peeling was annoying me) and it came out very well: it was in conjunction with a front end repair I needed.
I then recently went through the torrential rains of Hurricane Ian and the webbing beneath the clear coat on the fenders reappeared for the first time since I originally posted here. Now, a month later, it's gone again. It's been suggested to me that a good detail shop could do a paint correction and ceramic coat and that would probably take care of the issue: any thoughts from you brilliant guys?
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Paint Defect - Mars Red
Gorgeous car by the way!
