W116.org

This is a little premature but I wanted to have a suffcient amount of time to do my homework...When we have our cars repainted, how can we secure a factory specific color?

Mike,
You local auto paint supplier should be able to provide you with the right match if you give him your colour code...
Depending on the quality of work you require, I suggest you use one of the top 10 paint brands (Glasurit/Standox/Spies Hecker/DuPont/PPG/Sikkens/DeBeer/Valspar/Sherwin Wiliams and Transtar's NoMix).
I wrote them in the order of quality and probably price.

Your colour code should be on the data plate on the bonnet shut - it will be three numbers followed by a letter eg 735G (Astra Silver - Glasurit manufacturer)

All recognised paint suppliers will have a book with the codes and the formulae for mixing the paint - sometimes they will be preceded by DB in their books eg DB735 for astral silver.

Bill

Thanks Michel and Bill. My initial thought is I don't want to shell out $7,000+ USD for a near perfect paint job. It is a nice car by more than one opinion, but it is 28 years old and I like it that way. I think a little scarring and bruising lend it more character than just being a 28 year old low optioned European spec Mercedes 

Is it sacrilege to tell the person doing the work to not worry about making it real straight or using lots of filler thereby saving a little money?

Depends on the person.
Some make it their business to do just that 
I would find a middle-of-the-road bodyshop and ask haggle with him on price for a good job.
NEVER tell them you don't want a top job.....

Let me tell you a little story....
I have a '76 euro model 450se, just turned 76k miles in great condition.  I work at an Aston Martin car dealership, run the service department, so I have been able to do lots of work myself.  I started digging in to the body back on June 1st....had a couple rust bubbles on the rockers were the original factory undercoating had worn thru.  Ended up replacing the rockers entirely, sanding the whole car down, smoothing everything out, and sending it off to the best body shop here in Denver [Global] for the spray. They use Standox paint.  Having painted some cars before, I really thought I had it perfect when I sent it to them.  They re-did most of my work to their standards [and I'm glad they did], gave the bare car back to me [I installed all the trim, bumpers, etc.] and I am glad I did it.

The moral is, anything worth doing is worth doing right. New paint looks so good, but will also show anything that is not perfect - so things you don't even notice now will be amplified with new paint.  My car is Astral Silver and people just about stop dead in their tracks when they see it....

You should be able to get a really top notch shop to do it for under $5k - this includes pulling the doors off and shooting jambs, too.  I changed out every rubber seal on the car, too - what a difference!

If you can get the funds, do it!  You will take even better care of it once it's done and if you are like me, you will plan to keep your 116 forever....

PS - the original estimate I was given for my repaint was double what I actually paid....so there is room to haggle!

Well Michel, you are our resident expert, but you're quite brave to rank them like that - or is that a reanking based on some technical survey? 

I have established myself with the standox product range, so I am curious as to how far (or not so far) Glasruit may be - and in what ways is it superior?

Lots of good info. Michel, good point about not saying I want less than a top job because I am sure I would say that and seriously regret it later.

I publish a couple of magazines for the body shop industry (in Australia and in SE Asia).
While I am not an expert, I know a little about paints in the automotive industry.
The top three would be on par with one another ....
The next four would be on a very slightly lower level.
However, ANY of those paints in the top ten would give you a good finish.
Some, combined with their own clear, would be outstanding.

I think that is understood.  I use standox for everything - even their silicone removers

That is what I have used on the 690SEL

So true.  I'm still trying to repaint all of "povo" and I'm glad my first attempt at painting a car was on this track car where the finish didn't have to be showroom stuff.  Photos soon when I finish it in the next week but the main lesson I've learnt is that I cannot repaint a car to the level of a professional finish.  Not even close.  I reckon I've got a good eye for detecting imperfections, the problem is I can't fix them all.

If I was to have a car repainted properly I'd probably remove the trim and let the pros do the rest.   But I am stubborn and will attempt another panel or two over time

Practice makes perfect