Peeling clear coat - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

dubadaddy · #1 03-09-2009, 07:52 PM

I have a '97 E420 that has a couple of clear coat issues on the strip on both passenger and driver side extending from the front windshield to the back window on the roof. This is the only place the clear coat is peeling on the car.

What would be a good estimate to have it professionally re-done? Is it worth it? Should/Can I do it myself like a body shop would and have it turn out a 10?

Any other suggestions?

jmk · #2 03-10-2009, 07:52 PM

Do you have any pictures?

dubadaddy · #3 03-11-2009, 10:21 AM

I can post pictures by tommorow 3/12.

dubadaddy · #4 03-12-2009, 11:35 AM

John,

Here are the pictures of my clear coat peeling clear coat on the roof trim strips of my '97 E420. I hope this can help tell you if it can be repaired in-house or would I have to take it to a paint shop.

Thanks in advance.

Mike D · #5 03-12-2009, 12:27 PM

Not that I can see what you are talking about, I can tell you that you can definitely do this repair yourself.

The best way is to remove the strips and refinish them off the car.

You can mask and do them in place but it's a lot trickier.

Remove the clear coat from the strips, re-paint using a "rattle-can" and then clear coat. You'll need to use rubbing compound to get the gloss back to match the original.

dubadaddy · #6 03-13-2009, 09:08 AM

What would I use to remove the clear coat from the strips?

Could someone give a procedural process as I am not a paint or body person.

jmk · #7 03-14-2009, 10:25 PM

How you want to do it is based on how good you want it to look.

I like the idea of removing the strips if it can be done with a minimum of trouble and no damage. it would be very easy to damage the roof coating while working on these strips in place.

My Benz knowledge gets vague once you get past 1993. My current Benz is a '93, and I haven't learned much about the later models. Are those strips metal or plastic? From your pictures, they look to be plastic.

If they are plastic, it looks to be an issue of poor adhesion in combintion from the heat of the surrounding metal overcuring the clear and weathering causing it to delaminate. If this is the case, I would try sanding carfully down to the basecoat and seeing if you can reclear using an appropriate clear designed for plastics.

If this is an aluminum strip, follow the procedure for refinishing metal.

There are plenty of resources on this site to help you with this. I am not as good recommending the practical nuts and bolts of refinishing as the bodyshop guys who contribute to this site. I have never applied refinish for this type of part.

If it is plastic, do not skimp on the prep job. My first 3 years in the paint industry was designing flexible bumper formulas. They can be very tricky to paint. don't scimp on flexing agents or adhesion promoters if the strips are plastic.

Another thing: the clear over those parts is heavily damaged. I can see color shifts in the clear over the strips that make me concerned about the integrity of the places where the part has not peeled. You will need to remove all of the clear to get good adhesion. If you remove part of the damaged coating, then it will keep peeling over the part you haven't refinished.