Faded paintwork

[Chazchuzzlewitt]

hello, the light metallic green on my 280 has faded in a slightly odd way, on the doors to an extent but the most obvious being the rear either side of the boot lid, being the 'proper' colour on the left side, then it fades evenly behind on the part behind the rear screen to a lighter shade on the other side... the boot lid itself is a uniform colour...is there any way to restore the colour without respraying?

 

[stephen coy]

Possibly had part respray before you had the car.My ce 230 w123 has an exellent body/paint,but I know some work has been done previously(looking at the car under a street light at night shows up newer paint straight away)

I would have thought a metallic paint finish would not respond to 'T cut' or similar,because it has a clear laquer top coat.

Cheers Steve

 

[television]

Through some reason that colour does not hold very well, that one and the red both suffer from UV damage, MB's are not alone in this, Jag's and many others also suffered in this colour. It could be down to the fact the the car has been parked the same way for many years. Red and gold are the weakest pigments,and always require that the correct undercoat is used.

Malcolm

 

[OmniCognateNeutronRangler]

my boss had a VW Corrado. In thoery it was red, but after 3 years of abuse (he never cleaned it) it turned pink in places. That had never been resprayed, the paint just changed colours.

As Malcolm says, it happens.

 

[television]

Very nice car though in the picture, it looks mint forgot to say that ealier.

Malcolm

 

[jberks]

Hard to tell from photos, but the difference between the boot lid and O/S wing looks dramatic. This would imply that it is different paint as I would expect anything else would be more gradual. You could try tcut, but I suspect, being laquered metallic, you aren't going to get very far as it's the paint, under the laquer that's lost it's pigment and you can't get to this without rubbing through the laquer. I had a cavalier (red) that frequently dulled and this polished up beautifully but there was no laqueur so you could simply polish up the paint itself.
I suspect the only cure will be another respray.
Magnificent car though.
Takes me back, I remember looking at them in the showrooms back in 1979 with my Dad (he was looking for W123). They were awesome. Most you see these days are sadly tatty - that one looks like they did back then - it's a credit to you.

 

[Bolide]

I shiver when people talk about T-Cut. Evil stuff. If you're going to try and rejuvenate paintwork use a mop and proper compound to do it

If it's a metallic colour it'll have a lacquer coat and there's nothing you can do - it'll need a respray

Cars like the Corrado used a water-based red paint that fades like fury. I don't think VW used a lacquer coat on solid colours so you can mop them but they'll just fade again

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

 

[stever]

I had a w123 in that colour - bought some touch up paint from my MB dealer, and it was almost a different colour! The paint had faded quite considerably over the years.

 

[shooter]

I would be very surprised if it needed painting to sort, as mentioned its just faded, the top few microns just need buffing off to bring back the true colour, especially if not clear coated. Once buffed properly using a high quality glaze, sealant and wax which have UV inhibitors will help to keep the fading at bay.

I've brought many sorry looking cars back to life, looking as good if not better than the day they left the showroom, its really down to getting a proper job done and not using aggressive products which actually do more harm than good, especially in the long run.

As mentioned T-Cut isn't actually good for you paint, although in the short term it will help to make it look good, but one of the main components of T-Cut is ammonia (just open a bottle and smell it) ammonia strips the paint surface, helping to remove the dead paint but also it'll bleach the good paint under it, paint is like you skin it actually needs to be moisturised to keep it looking fresh, let it dry out and it'll look old very soon. I know this may sound silly but over 10 years in auto paint trade and now professional detailer I like to think I do know a little about how to make and keep any motor looking good.

 

[television]

Its true what I said earlier,its UV damage,and only affects gold and red, if the car is parked the other way round for the next 10 years, that side will fade, then do the back,then the front, so by 2036 it will be all the same. lovely car though.

malcolm

 

[OmniCognateNeutronRangler]

perhaps take it to a tanning salon, even things up a bit.

 

[television]

perhaps take it to a tanning salon, even things up a bit.

A guy near me fitted some new fluorescent tubes in a shop near me, they were made for a sun bed and the staff got browned off, this is true.

Malcolm

 

[Chazchuzzlewitt]

hehe, thanks for your suggestions... I think, as has been suggested, the boot lid was resprayed at one time, and the rest is UV fading... I was thinking of having a go with a buffer until I can afford to get a respray done. Next job is to get colour-coded wheel trims on...

Here's the side which isn't too bad...

 

[jberks]

What trims - looks perfect to me!

 

[OmniCognateNeutronRangler]

it's nice to see one without the drugs-dealer chrome wheel arches.

 

[television]

it's nice to see one without the drugs-dealer chrome wheel arches.

Its not to late, they are on sale at Ebay de, what a fantastic car.

Malcolm

 

[Chazchuzzlewitt]

I deliberately made sure I got one that hadn't had those trims put on..!

 

[television]

I deliberately made sure I got one that hadn't had those trims put on..!

Only joking

Malcolm

 

[124coupe]

The question is - clearcoat or not?

If clearcoat then the meguiars paint cleaner removes any oxidation without abrasives and makes the clearcoat transparent again so the real colour shows through. So you can see if its really faded.

If not clearcoat then T-cut will cut off colour-coat oxidation and reveal un-faded colour.

Otherwise respray.

 

[television]

The question is - clearcoat or not?

If clearcoat then the meguiars paint cleaner removes any oxidation without abrasives and makes the clearcoat transparent again so the real colour shows through. So you can see if its really faded.

If not clearcoat then T-cut will cut off colour-coat oxidation and reveal un-faded colour.

Otherwise respray.

Hi 124 coupe, these were finished in 2k paints, apart from the weak gold and red it was a better product than the system used on the early 124's as it did not suffer from the huge stone chips. 2k was a lethal system to use, if you did not have the breathing gear
Interesting that the water based red and gold.do not seem to fade or change colour.


Malcolm