Pagoda SL Group
W113 Pagoda SL Group => Body, interior, paint, chrome, and cosmetic items => Topic started by: chumps on February 11, 2015, 18:00:58
-
I have a 1971 280 SL that I bought 16 years ago with 80,000 miles on it.. It is an excellent car with just over 100,000 original miles on it. I'v driven about 20,000 miles in that period of time. The previous owner had it painted a couple of years before I bought it. It was painted with a color coat and clear coated which was popular back then. I'm not sure of the kind of paint or exactly what color white it is. The paint still looks beautiful. My problem is that the car has chrome wheel well trim that I am not too fond of.
They look great on some cars and some colors, but in my opinion, not mine. When I bought the car I assumed I could just take them off. It turns out that the paint under the chrome has yellowed. I don't know if it is the color coat or the clear coat and I can't find an auto body shop that can figure out how to go about repairing the paint other than sanding and repainting. If i go that route and it does not come out right with the same color and finish I'll have four odd looking areas. They have, as I have, tried to rub it out, colorsand it out and other misc. procedures. Any suggestions that I could try or references to good custom body people in the Southern California area? Any hints would be appreciated. Terry
-
A lot of places are using a scanner to figure out odd colors or even those that have faded. Single stage paint is the way to go on our cars.
-
It isn't a difficult repair for a good paint shop but not inexpensive. Basically the entire panel is sanded and a new white base coat is applied around the wheel well and then some of the basecoat is mixed with the appropriate thinner and the paint is blended up 6" inches or so to make a nice transition to the original color which leaves the original color at the meeting panels etc. The entire panel is then given a new coat of clear, sanded and buffed. Off the top of my head about 30 hours of body shop time plus materials.
-
Thank you Dan and Shvegel for you comments. The car is not the original color (the original color is 304 Horizon Blue {although the Tech manual shows that color through 1968 only, my car is a 1971}) If it is going to take as much work as Shvegel says to do a proper touchup I may as well do a total engine out strip down and return to the original color which I like quite well. Thanks, Chumps