I've been looking at purchasing a new SLK, but have had some trouble in deciding between two colors. What is the difference between the Iridium Silver and the Tellurium Silver? I was not able to tell the difference in the pictures I have seen. Has anyone seen these colors in person? Which one looks nicer?

Thanks!

My SL was Tellurium Silver (though it has a different name in the US - Diamond Silver) and I have seen a 8x10 inch paint sample of Iridium silver at my dealer. We do not have any models with Tellurium here in the U.S. yet although it was apparently mistakenly announced at one point that it would be available on the now available 2005 ML's.

First off, Tellurium or Tellurite (paint code #762) is a slightly bluish silver although depending on the lighting its hue can change.

Iridium (code #775) is a close match to the former Brilliant Silver (code #744). Holding the Iridium sample in the sunlight side by side with a car painted in Brilliant Silver the main difference was that Brilliant Silver had a very slight golden or copper-bronze tinge to it while Iridium Silver appeared to be a much purer true silver. I would describe Iridium Silver as being closer to the hue of the special edition Silver Arrow silver (code #777), but with less metallic flakes in it than Silver Arrow. (Is it more than coincidence that the code number is also numerically closer?)

Iridium Silver is a slightly more masculine color while Tellurium Silver is prettier and thus has a slight feminine look. I note some of the British posters call Tellurite (its British name) a "hair dressers color," whatever that means.

Thanks for the info Northbenz!

You are welcome. I have edited the response to add the paint code numbers if that helps. The paint code numbers stay the same regardless of the different names for the same paints in Europe, Britian, and the U.S.