Sourcing the right paint color, 1976 W116

[raueda1]

A couple refinishing questions:

I want to get a quart or so of refinish paint for my ugly engine compartment and other minor finish fixes.  So how to get the right color?  My impression is that I shop around auto refinishing shops with the color code from the plate under the hood.  They can then either get or mix the right color.  Is this correct? 

Secondly, did the metallic colors back then necessarily use a clear coat?  My car was resprayed at some point and the finish is in generally excellent shape but it doesn't look like there's a clearcoat layer.  Does anybody know what MB did back then?  In fact, is there even such a thing as 1-coat metallic, i.e., no clear coat?  Thanks as always,

[BCDC]

The paint colour code is on the painted metal tag riveted on the body in front of the radiator. Most good auto paint places can do a good match.

BC

[UTn_boy]

Mercedes has been using two part base coat/clear coat metallic paints since around 1972/1973.  These early two part systems were very short lived in that the clear coat deteriorated within 8-10 years.  IN the engine bay it the life of the clear coat was even shorter due to the engine heat.  My 1976 280S is 735 Astral Silver, and only has +/-70,000 original miles on it.  The original paint is still on it, and it looks like it has been out in the desert sun for all of it's life.  Yet, this car has been garaged its whole life.

Glasurit does make a single stage metallic paint, and while a beautiful choice it is costly.  And bear in mind that Mercedes used single stage enamels for solid colors up into the mid 1990's.  Single stage, while a little more upkeep, will always have a much deeper gloss than any base coat/clear coat paint ever will. 

As BCDC said the paint code will be on the metal data plate affixed to the front core support.  It seems that different companies have their own recipe for each color.  For instance, if you bought some Anthracite metallic from both Gasurit and Sherwin Williams they'd be a shade off.  While slight, it's till annoying.  It seems Glasurit has the most honest representations of the original colors. 

[rumb]

Bear in mind that there are different grades of paint, especially clear coat. Shop grade up to high end. Ask or they will prob give you shop grade.

[ptashek]

Glasurit can also supply the correct shade based on model year, if there was a change. For example  icon gold changed during the production run, and late cars have a slightly different hue than earlier cars.

[raueda1]

Mercedes has been using two part base coat/clear coat metallic paints since around 1972/1973.  These early two part systems were very short lived in that the clear coat deteriorated within 8-10 years.  IN the engine bay it the life of the clear coat was even shorter due to the engine heat.  My 1976 280S is 735 Astral Silver, and only has +/-70,000 original miles on it.  The original paint is still on it, and it looks like it has been out in the desert sun for all of it's life.  Yet, this car has been garaged its whole life.

Glasurit does make a single stage metallic paint, and while a beautiful choice it is costly.  And bear in mind that Mercedes used single stage enamels for solid colors up into the mid 1990's.  Single stage, while a little more upkeep, will always have a much deeper gloss than any base coat/clear coat paint ever will. 

As BCDC said the paint code will be on the metal data plate affixed to the front core support.  It seems that different companies have their own recipe for each color.  For instance, if you bought some Anthracite metallic from both Gasurit and Sherwin Williams they'd be a shade off.  While slight, it's till annoying.  It seems Glasurit has the most honest representations of the original colors.

I've recently seen three silver cars like yours.  Exact same paint deterioration story with all of them.  The clearcoat metallic BMW's of the same era had the same issues. At the time the paint stabilization chemistry simply didn't exist and we've seen the result.  It was a huge problem for the paint suppliers (duPont, PPG, BASF etc).

In any case, this is all helpful.  Honestly, my issue is really just touch-up, so perfection and large panel matching doesn't matter much.  But i do wonder if they originally applied the clear coat over everything or just exterior bodywork.  I'd bet the latter.  Clearcoat in the engine bay seems silly IMO.

[rumb]

The engine bay is clear coated. The base paint is flat and has no long term protection. Here's some shot of my bay being done. I had previously painted the top part of the  bay.

[raueda1]

The engine bay is clear coated. The base paint is flat and has no long term protection. Here's some shot of my bay being done. I had previously painted the top part of the  bay.

Oh dear.  Not what I wanted to hear, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised. 

By "protection" do you mean just UV protection or something else?  These coating systems invariably contain a UV absorber (same idea as suntan lotion) and a "HALS" light stabilizer.  They synergize for light stability and the HALS also offers additional thermal and oxidative stability.  To be sure, the clear coat would have most or all of the UV stabilizer package.  But I'd expect the base coat to contain other stabilizers/antioxidants as well.  Car finishes and engine compartments get damned hot. 

Regardless, if the engine compartment is clear coated then I guess that's what I need to do.

[alabbasi]

As the topic of shop grade vs. high end grade has come up. I will mention what I've been told by just about every paint jobber that i've purchased from. Whether PPG, Dupont or BASF.

They all have an expensive line and a production line. The Dupont example is Chromobase for the high end stuff and Nason for the lower end.

They all say that it comes to how well they match for blending and particularly on new cars as the higher end paint matches better to new paint codes. If you're blending an older car or planning on doing an overall paint job. It should not make a difference as the shop lines will have a good match for older models. I've painted several cars in my home garage using Nason, PPG Omni and Sherwin Dimension. I've never had a problem that I did not create myself by being a novice.

Clear can be a slightly different story as some clears are more resilient to UV than others. I really liked working with Nason clear.