E350 S212 White paint, not quite white?

[KingoftheSandy]

Hi,

My 2016 E350 S212 has a bit of a paint issue that I'm unsure where to go with.

Picked it up last year and the exterior paint was, even then, a little creamy looking. It is now getting the point where its beginning to annoy me and I would like to do something about it.

Granted the pic I'm posting shows the car to be a bit grubby, however the comparison between the door sill and the paint on the exterior panels is very obvious.

Is this due the car being white and thus a good machine polish will sort it, or is this change in colour indicative of a problem with the paint itself and I should contact MB for advice?



Cheers

Sandy

 

[Craiglxviii]

White paint is a really subjective thing. You actually need special training to be able to correctly distinguish between different shades and hues of white (as well as a calibrated colour cabinet).

from looking at your image it’s hard to see whether the difference in sill to panel colour is the paint itself, or the white reflecting the colour around it. The panels are e-coated then painted all together so they all get exactly the same paint on all surfaces.

 

[KingoftheSandy]

White paint is a really subjective thing. You actually need special training to be able to correctly distinguish between different shades and hues of white (as well as a calibrated colour cabinet).

from looking at your image it’s hard to see whether the difference in sill to panel colour is the paint itself, or the white reflecting the colour around it. The panels are e-coated then painted all together so they all get exactly the same paint on all surfaces.

That is quite interesting regarding the e-coat/painted as one panel, it could be helpful when trying to narrow down what is discoloring the paint

Although you point out the reflection of the colour around the panels could be a factor, there is a very distinct change from what I would consider white, to now what appears to be cream/off white that is obvious.
I am unsure as to what is the source (Paint contamination / UV damage), and was wondering if anyone else had experienced any change in their white paint?

 

[EmilysDad]

it seems there are more shades of white than there are of grey. My EmilysGrandad used to drive an aged wedding car for work. Just about every panel had at least 2 shades of paint on it where it'd been touched up over the years.

 

[V6Matty]

If it were me I’d get it into a body shops lighting booth and have another look, it will then at least remove the question of shades being picked up from other factors, I think you likely need to go down a full detail route to decontaminate the paint and freshen it up.
Do you live near a cement works by chance or somewhere that burns a lot of waste?

 

[KingoftheSandy]

If it were me I’d get it into a body shops lighting booth and have another look, it will then at least remove the question of shades being picked up from other factors, I think you likely need to go down a full detail route to decontaminate the paint and freshen it up.
Do you live near a cement works by chance or somewhere that burns a lot of waste?

This would probably be the most likely outcome, I was just curious to see if anyone else had their paint change in such a way that was more indicative of a fault with the paint rather than contamination.

 

[Craiglxviii]

This would probably be the most likely outcome, I was just curious to see if anyone else had their paint change in such a way that was more indicative of a fault with the paint rather than contamination.

The main problem colours are red for stability- it’s the weakest of the pigments, and blue for colour matching- the human eye can detect variations at the blue end of the spectrum 20x finer than at the red.

I must admit I’ve not heard of any problems with white paint.

 

[sonic]

I have a 10 year old 212 in diamond white & I don't have your problem. However its always in the garage when not in use.

 

[Headhurts]

I was intrigue, I have a 2016 E350 S212 in polar white that I have owned from new and it’s garaged so I drove it out of garage for a look.

Could it be a trick of the light? Mine looked to me different depending how the light hits it, photo attached.

Robin

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

This makes for interesting reading on white paint in the environment from detailing world:

My white car seems yellowish - Detailing World

My white car seems yellowish Help..!

www.detailingworld.co.uk

 

[KingoftheSandy]

I was intrigue, I have a 2016 E350 S212 in polar white that I have owned from new and it’s garaged so I drove it out of garage for a look.

Could it be a trick of the light? Mine looked to me different depending how the light hits it, photo attached.

Robin

I can see a difference which is similar to my own. How intriguing.

 

[KingoftheSandy]

This makes for interesting reading on white paint in the environment from detailing world:

My white car seems yellowish - Detailing World

My white car seems yellowish Help..!

www.detailingworld.co.uk

This is what I'm after - thank you sir.

 

[KingoftheSandy]

Just re-igniting this as I stumbled across a video on Youtube that shows the difference in white between my paint, (DIAMOND WHITE - METALLIC PAINT (799U) and POLAR WHITE 146.

Quite stark, and answers quite a lot in regards to the finish on my car.

Quite thankful to whoever specified the more expensive paint job when the car was initially ordered.

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

I had noticed this and often wondered - thanks for posting