My Detailing Adventures

[Arzaam]

No manufacturer uses any solid paints whatsoever, no matter what you have been told..all paint finishes since the 80s has been clear over base, even blacks and whites.
Find any black car that has not been repainted get a piece of fine sandpaper and rub it lightly with water, or even dry, the residue will be white... white equals clear coat...
No paint manufacturer has used cellulose paint since the 40s.

Mercedes benz or any manufacturer never used Two Pack paints.. Two pack paints were solely invented for the refinish market, ie the bodyshops.

Some smaller car makers like Morgan do use 2 pack lacquers on their cars, as their limited production run would never stretch to a fully blown state of the art painting process.

are you sure about solid paints? i have a 2010 and 2006 toyota altis, in solid black and if i use compound and a white applicator pad the applicator pads does get a little black residue off it while if i use compound on a 1996 pearl green mitsubishi the residue is white, no repaint whatsoever though i might be mistaken

 

[television]

No manufacturer uses any solid paints whatsoever, no matter what you have been told..all paint finishes since the 80s has been clear over base, even blacks and whites.
Find any black car that has not been repainted get a piece of fine sandpaper and rub it lightly with water, or even dry, the residue will be white... white equals clear coat...
No paint manufacturer has used cellulose paint since the 40s.

Mercedes benz or any manufacturer never used Two Pack paints.. Two pack paints were solely invented for the refinish market, ie the bodyshops.

Some smaller car makers like Morgan do use 2 pack lacquers on their cars, as their limited production run would never stretch to a fully blown state of the art painting process.

Mercedes Black and white are solid colours, check on Benzworld.

 

[television]

2 pack paints, mainly clear lacquers, are used only in the aftermarket/ refinishing. mainly due to the inability of bodyshops to bake cars to a high enough temperature to cure one stage finishes. mainly because plastics and fitting on cars would melt and warp...
The latest range of fillers, undercoats and top finishes can be infra red/ UV cured in a matter of minutes.
2002 MB cars could easily have had ceramic lacquer as many new technologies are field tested before commercial release. I would assume that there was a long development period before the ceramic finish was released, and with paint who would even know that a new or different paint had been used.
Letters are normally used to denote different processes and different factories,. so using a U which I have deciphered as Ultra for a different coating process, would seem plausible.

My 2002 SL did not have ceramic paint, I know as I feathered and blew in in a couple of places. U could mean UV finishing and plausible, the same as C before the number could denote ceramic, but in German that would be a K .

 

[television]

2 pack paints, mainly clear lacquers, are used only in the aftermarket/ refinishing. mainly due to the inability of bodyshops to bake cars to a high enough temperature to cure one stage finishes. mainly because plastics and fitting on cars would melt and warp...
The latest range of fillers, undercoats and top finishes can be infra red/ UV cured in a matter of minutes.
2002 MB cars could easily have had ceramic lacquer as many new technologies are field tested before commercial release. I would assume that there was a long development period before the ceramic finish was released, and with paint who would even know that a new or different paint had been used.
Letters are normally used to denote different processes and different factories,. so using a U which I have deciphered as Ultra for a different coating process, would seem plausible.

OK I will have to agree about the UV finishing in the factory I had in the past had given thought to the problems in mixing 2k paints as it has a working shelf life once mixed, and this would be near on impossible to control with the very large quantities used in a factory, plus you cannot add new to ready mixed paints.

Add to that all my ICI papers refer to the car refinishing trade.

So something learned here and that can only be good.

 

[Xtractorfan]

Mercedes Black and white are solid colours, check on Benzworld.

No Malcolm they aren't solid colours.. ask anyone in the trade..Whoever said that on Benzworld dont know much about painting cars.

Car manufacturers aren't allowed to use solid colours anymore, EU legislation, sometime in the last decade.
Black and white are waterborne paints and then clear coated.
They haven't invented a waterbased top coat as yet..It has been tried but doesn't have the durability or characteristics of proper clearcoat.

Solid black, white, red and blue are still avaialbe over the counter, but cannot be used for the repainting of vehicles..Even solvent basecoats cannot be used for refinishing cars, all paints must be waterbased and all clear coats must be regulation compliant.

 

[Xtractorfan]

are you sure about solid paints? i have a 2010 and 2006 toyota altis, in solid black and if i use compound and a white applicator pad the applicator pads does get a little black residue off it while if i use compound on a 1996 pearl green mitsubishi the residue is white, no repaint whatsoever though i might be mistaken

There is a possibility that non european cars could be finished in solid colurs.
The regultions regarding the finishing of cars in waterbased paints and compliant lacquers only applies to Europe, and most states in the usa.

many vehicles are built and painted in countries outside of the EU and the regulations dont apply.

Paint companies still manufacture solvent based paints as there is a very big market outside of the EU.

 

[Arzaam]

how about i e-mail mercedes benz in germany and for once and for all ask about what the U stands for, i mean they should know, as well as whether they offered ceramic paints as early as 2002, any other question?

what do you say?

 

[Xtractorfan]

Yes by all means go for it... ask them also about black and white 'solid' colours and if ever they used 2 pack paints...Oh and if they still finish their cars in Ceramic lacquer or Nano paint.
But whatever you do don't mention the rust.............

 

[Arzaam]

I have emailed Daimler AG as well as Mercedes-benz uk so now waiting for their reply, whatever happens i will keep you guys posted

 

[Arzaam]

this is what i emailed btw

i had a few questions pertaining to my 2002 w203 mercedes benz c class as well as a few general questions if you would be kind to answer them.

the spec sheet using VIN number of my car shows my SA paint code as 189U, what does the U stand for in Mercedes-Benz Terminology?

did mercedes benz offer ceramic paint finishes as early as 2002?

does mercedes- benz still offer solid black and white paints?

did they ever used 2 pack paints?

would be waiting for your prompt reply

kind regards
Arzaam
A concerned owner of Mercedes-Benz

how long before they reply you think? a day or a week?
lets see how good the customer service is and which is quicker the main company or the lads at UK headquarters

 

[television]

http://www.carwow.co.uk/blog/mercedes-c-class-colours-guide-034
http://www.basf.com/group/pressrelease/P-13-504

 

[Arzaam]

exactly like in the first article, mercedes, bmw all make you pay extra for any other colour than black and white so they must be solid

 

[Arzaam]

so sprinters are white, silver and black all solid colours, btw couple of senior members at my home forum said that the U simply stands for upper paint and there would be a L too if there was lower paint, and its not specific to mercedes benz even GM uses U and L at the end of paint code to signify upper and lower, and all say mercedes does still definitely offer solid paints,

they also said that older paint codes had G and H which were actually the manufacturers of the paint which were Glasurit and Dr Herberts. MB offer a rainbow of colours on their cars but all markets had a limited selection meaning that you could not just walk into a dealer in south africa and order a car with japanese colours.


hope it helps

meanwhile still waiting from response form mercedes, ill post that too

 

[Arzaam]

some interior cleaning and protecting 50/50 shots, trims were resorted using Meguiars professional line Hyper Dressing

DSC02419 by Arzaam Bhatti, on Flickr

DSC02418 by Arzaam Bhatti, on Flickr

DSC02424 by Arzaam Bhatti, on Flickr

for seats, upholstery cleaner, detailing brush and steam machine was used

 

[Xtractorfan]

Solid colour just denotes that the colour is without metallic..ie just plain white, black red or blue..
It is a waterborne basecoat that is overcoated with lacquer, exactly the same as the metallics or pearls or micas..
All car companies have their own specific colours although Audi are now/were offering any colour you choose on their A8 range.

 

[television]

Solid colour just denotes that the colour is without metallic..ie just plain white, black red or blue..
It is a waterborne basecoat that is overcoated with lacquer, exactly the same as the metallics or pearls or micas..
All car companies have their own specific colours although Audi are now/were offering any colour you choose on their A8 range.

That just is not so as, people have been complaining that Mercedes charge the same for the single coat process as the double one with clear coat, as BMW and some other makers the single coat finish is cheaper.

BMW have been using powder coat on some models where the car is charged, coated and then fired. this process has not waste at all as any powder not used is reclaimed and used again.

 

[Xtractorfan]

Solid paint colours Solid paint is essentially a plain coat of paint on top of primer with a normal gloss clearcoat: there are no shine-enhancing additives, so it’s as basic as you like, and is usually a no-cost option. Which is precisely why car companies only offer one or two solid colours: so you have to pay extra for the ‘better’ shades. Mercedes only offers two on the C-Class. - See more at: http://www.carwow.co.uk/blog/mercedes-c-class-colours-guide-034#sthash.1CUoqGEV.dpuf
The above is copied and pasted from the link you posted about the Class MB...
This is MBs own blurb about the paintwork on their cars...
As said all car companies charge more for metallics pearls and mica finishes.
But no one uses Solid 2 pack paints and car companies have never used 2 pack materials in their paint process for car refininshing..

 

[Arzaam]

@television, @Xtractorfan

got a reply from mercedes uk, impressed that i was this quick and its pretty precise, so lets settle this please

Dear Sir

Thank you for contacting Mercedes-Benz Customer Service.

With reference to your email we received in our office on 22nd October 2014. Thank you for your enquiry regarding the paintwork of our vehicles. I have contacted our Technical Department and they have responded with the following answers to your questions:

The U on your paint code is an internal code and is not relevant in regards to the colour shade. The ceramic paint on Mercedes-Benz vehicles was introduced in 2003. Mercedes-Benz does offer solid black and white paints but this depends on the model of the vehicle whether or not this is available. Finally we may have offered two pack paints in the past but in recent times we have only used water based paints.

I hope that this answer is satisfactory for you and should you have any further requirements, please do not hesitate to contact us.

In our efforts to continuously improve our service to customers we would greatly appreciate your feedback, by way of a survey, to gauge your satisfaction with our brand. Please visit: www.dccac.net/qm/ukencsw and enter this case registration number: 1-4482666622. Thank you for your time.


Yours sincerely

David Sinclair
Customer Service UK

Phone No:
00800 9 777 7777 or 0207 660 9993

Mercedes-Benz Customer Assistance Center Maastricht N.V. Gelissendomein 5, 6229 GK Maastricht , Netherlands. Register No.: K.v.K. Limburg 33014909

 

[Arzaam]

so the verdict?

by the way i feel happy that as a owner of Mercedes-Benz even a 12 year old one i am able to contact the company and enquire about stuff and they will answer even technical things.

this method communication enhances the ownership experience and is at least in my country unheard off, its good to be a part of a marque such as Benz

meanwhile the folks at Daimler AG still sleeping

 

[television]

so the verdict?

by the way i feel happy that as a owner of Mercedes-Benz even a 12 year old one i am able to contact the company and enquire about stuff and they will answer even technical things.

this method communication enhances the ownership experience and is at least in my country unheard off, its good to be a part of a marque such as Benz

meanwhile the folks at Daimler AG still sleeping

The verdict make me happy thanks.