Cleaning / Painting underside of car

[Intex]

When we first restored the 280sl, we did everything , except the engine compartment and underside (except changing mufflers/exhaust)

If we would like to clean up the underside (grease, dirt, etc) what would be the best method to :

1) clean the underside , steam clean, pressure was, de-greaser?
2) re-coat the bottom with undercoating ?
3) repaint/powder coat metal parts?

The underside of mine looks like a black coating, should have been beige?  What product is used.

Thanks

[Shvegel]

You are right it should be beige, grey or almost white without any decernable order that I see.  The problem comes from the fact that after the car was completly assembled they applied a liberal coating or wax rustproofing (Cosmoline) to the entire underside of the car.  This undercoating was sticky when new and picked up dirt so overtime it becomes very dark.  I would imagine steam would be the best way to clean this as melting the wax would be ideal.

If you decide to replace the undercoat after cleaning it U-pol Raptor bed liner is a good subtitute.  Order a white kit and tint it.  4 liters for the underside and 8 liters if you do the wheel wells as well.  Spraying is tricky.  PM me if you decide to go this route.

Some of the areas underneath like the center tunnel and under the gas tank are painted greenish grey.  Ditzler DP-40 is a good match.

[mbzse]

[280SL] ..../...2) re-coat the bottom with undercoating .../..The underside of mine looks like a black coating, should have been beige?  What product is used?

Some info on how the underside of the W113 body was finished can be found in these Forum postings:
https://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=24105.msg172948#msg172948