E class rust - wing replacement

[stivesvelo]

Well, having had the rust on the drivers side wing on my 2002 E class estate attended to last year it has gone badly rusty & the nearside one has joined in and also gone rusty over the winter. I visited Mercedes in Cambridge today & it is now going in again on Tuesday to have both wings replaced.

Anybody have any thoughts on colour matching (car is silver) as the paintwork carried out last time is a different colour to the original (looks blue against the original which appears to lean towards gold, or the other way round) subtle but also obvious at times.

Question is how good a colour match should I reasonably expect, I would say it shouldn't be noticeable otherwise it looks as if it has been repaired & is detrimental to the value of the car (not great now I hear you say) & I don't like the look of it , is this reasonable to expect?

The wheel finish is also falling apart (17" alloys which were refinished as part of the purchase just over 2 yrs ago, when I brought this up the supplier said that they only guaranteed them for 6 months because they had what they described as the 'diamond' finish, basically clear lacquered alloy, only he didn't say it at the time) Any suggestions on how to treat them without having to send them off?

Also would consider a set of steel 16/15" (as per the spare) wheels as the 17" ones aren't that comfortable & keep the alloy ones for 'best'

Rob

 

[television]

The colour match should be perfect, and I would think that the wrong colour was used

Take the colour number from the rusky VIN checker and you will have the correct one

 

[Multi-Tech]

They should be able to match the colour almost spot on, but with silver being the worst colour to paint you sometimes have to blend the next panels to help flow the colours.

As per the wheels if they have started to go then you wont be able to do anything without sending them away, diamond finished wheels often pop up on hear and i think most say that they would never have them because of that reason of they just dont last unless you enjoy cleaning your wheels ever time you use the car.
If you was to have them done have them in a bright silver or chrome paint finish it will last alot longer

Lets us know how you get on

 

[stivesvelo]

Thanks,

I'll see what they say next week when I take it in, it looks as if the passenger door & wing are a different colour to the rest of the car.

Re: the wheels I didn't want the diamond finish, just paint having had the experience of motorcycle wheels with polished & lacquered edges. In the end I stripped the lacquer off the edge (this is the bike wheels, more or less peeled it off up to a sharp edge) & polished them with metal polish. They stay in much better condition this way & I hardly clean/polish them at all.

I'll post an update when they've done the wings

 

[AndrewIles]

If MB are doing the work they should be using either their own paintshop or a local MB approved paintshop. They will be using the most up to date equipment and the end result should be spot on.

If you can spot a difference in the colour then, if it were me, I would reject it and ask for it to be done again.

My C class had both front wings replaced (and rear wings repaired for rust!) under the MB warranty the paint job is flawless. Admittedly the colour is metallic Emerald Black which may be easier to colour match than silver shades.

As Malcolm says they may have used the wrong shade of silver last time.

I used to have an E class and the colour was called Smoke Silver but in reality the colour was a very pale gold. It was only in really bright sunlight that it would be recognised as a silver car. Maybe your car is the same shade!

 

[Xtractorfan]

With todays waterbase paints one of the best features of that paint is its colour matching ability, basically because manufacturers have been using waterbased paints for nigh on 20 years now, tho I was talking to the local merc bodyshop estimator recently and he said they were having problems with silver edge to edge matching. they were using glasurit paint....
As said if the colour match isnt good dont accept the car.. and dont listen to the fresh paint vs weatherd paint argument..

 

[Multi-Tech]

Can be done but edge to edge on silver never really works, worked for a merc bodyshop and always blended the next panel

 

[stivesvelo]

Well, dropped the car off this morning and asked about colour matching and was told that it's not possible to get colours to match perfectly due to the allignment of the particles in the paint, age of paint & that different parts of the car are painted at different locations during manufacture & that this is visible on a new car, so it's not possible to achieve.

Sounds fishy to me & I can't say that I'm particularly impressed with the answer, any suggestions about where to take this up before (apart from the paint shop) I need to go and collect the car & possibly reject it.

(this is MB approved paintshop in Bishops Stortford who I was dealing with at MB Cambridge branch where they have a presence a few days a week)

 

[AndrewIles]

As they are an MB Approved paintshop why not wait and see how good the finished work is before escalating it?

I agree with them that it might not be a 'perfect' match i.e you have to examine the car at close quarters for a couple of minutes before you spotted a difference. What you don't want is an obvious colour difference i.e. clearly obvious at just a glance.

Have they said they would blend with the next panel? I should have thought they would
do this as a matter of course.

 

[stivesvelo]

Andrew,

They didn't say, but I had the impression that they wouldn't as they didn't mention it when I brought up the subject of colour matching. I'll just have to wait and see.

Rob

 

[Xtractorfan]

Part of the job is to ensure that the new panels match the rest of the car, blending or loseing the paint into the next panel is one way of achieving this. Walk round the car and view it from different angles, and always ask others opinions....

 

[The Rock]

On previous cars I've always been able to see the difference in "metallicness" of repaired panels (silver W202 and titanite W210) but the actual colour has always been the same or sooooooooo similar it makes no difference. The particles are impossible to get exactly the same - it's a living thing until it begins to set.

If you're not happy I'd say you're doing the right thing by going back. If it's obviously different then it's obviously wrong.

Rock

 

[maddog]

On my Silver 01 W210 estate the colour match was lousy , very hard to get perfect in all fairness but mine was poor

I'd be shocked if you couldnt tell the paintwork had been redone

Driver side was worst

 

[Top Cat]

Is colour matching more difficult with lighter colours?

I ask because about 5 years ago I had a rear wing repaired on a car that was a deep metallic ruby red and I could not even find the join where it was filled and blended, let alone any colour/surface difference between new and old surfaces (and I went over it with a torch, in bright daylight and from all angles). Had i not known about it, I truly would never have beleived a body repair could be done so well.

 

[turbopete]

i see what you mean maddog. that is a pretty poor colour match! could stevie wonder have matched it better i ask myself.....:lol::lol::lol:
seriously though, how could the bodshop NOT notice a difference THAT obvious?

 

[Xtractorfan]

There arent two panels on that car that match, the drivers door is lighter than the rear door which is a shade darker than the qtr panel, but the qtr panel and rear door could have been repaired/blended and the diference is minute and could even be the fault of the light or camera.. The painter who let that off colour wing go out of his shop was only interested in dollars and not in the standard of his work....

 

[maddog]

The only areas that had paint was the drivers wing and rear wheel arch (which was very well blended) , the other panels all matched as they were factory painted its a trick of the light or the camera

A pre rust repair picture complete with the ding in the wing my wife left

 

[Top Cat]

Just seen this on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Mercedes-Benz...286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66:2|65:10|39:1|240:1318

same colour as yours and the panel to panel shade differences on the N/S are awful.

 

[philharve]

Paint matching

Hi stivesvelo

Silver-coloured cars do seem to show paint differences between adjacent panels more readily than darker colours.

A neighbour has a silver Corsa and the front offside wing catches my eye every time I pass by. But according to my bodyshop it does not have to be like this. A perfect match is possible with the correct type of paint and painting equipment. However, only the best bodyshops have this expensive equipment which leads me to conclude my neighbour did not use one.

I visited an MB showroom about 4 years ago and every model was in silver. Curious! But what I noticed most of all was that even on new cars there were slight differences in paint shade, mainly between the chassis/body and the bumpers & other aerodynamic accessories. I have come to expect this with cars that are a mix of iron/steel and composites.

REGARDS

Phil

 

[television]

Just seen this on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Mercedes-Benz...286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66:2|65:10|39:1|240:1318

same colour as yours and the panel to panel shade differences on the N/S are awful.

Yes that link really shows up the sprayed panels, blending is possible, but only by using a very high powered thinners.

Things that affect the colour are, the air temp, the spraying pressure, and the angle of the gun. Fading is done with the clear top coats, the problem here is that modern top coats are not as thick as they used to be, and there are limits as to how much you can put on due to the weakness of having no pigment