After reading about the different ways to remove pinstriping on my 300D, I started with blowing heat on the area and peeling tape stripes back. However, this took a VERY long time as the tape stripes were already deteriorating into what seemed like thousands of pieces. So, after spending several hours going at a rate of 1 inch per hour it seemed, I put the eraser wheel on my drill.

This tool allowed removal of all remaining pinstriping and adhesive debris in about 30 minutes time. After removing striping, used some adhesive/degreaser solvent and polished and waxed until it looked new.

There is a bit of difference where the stripes used to be. But the improvement in overall appearance far outweighs this. Russett brown without stripes is very pleasing in my opinion. (see the before and after pics)

FYI the eraser wheel does not take much pressure and the wheel does all of the work. It came with attachment for drill chuck. I bought it at my local Oreilly auto parts store.

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Well done. It's a great improvement for your car. I'm dammed if I know why folks in this country thought splatting pin strips on these Mercedes was a good thing. They look hideous in my opinion and your car looks far better without them. My first 240D had them - painted on. It was a real pain to get rid of them. Fortunately my current one doesn't have them. Nice 300D your have there by the way.

- Peter.

__________________
2021 Chevrolet Spark
Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S

Thanks for the tread! I have to this on my 300SD soon...

__________________
"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

I worked at a horrible body shop once and the guy would put that kind of pinstriping on whenever he screwed up a paint job and wanted to distract from it. Like one time he splattered a bunch of clear coat on the fender of a silver truck, then he tried to sand it down but went all the way through the color coat in a fingernail-size spot. So instead of trying to fix this little dark dot he put black pinstriping all the way around. The pinstriping was 2-3 inches from the spot but he figured it would be enough of a distraction.

It should be permanently retired, I say.

-Rog

You're lucky those are stick-on. Mine are painted and are faded in some spots. Right side is good, left side has the faded areas.

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http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7271/7...144c3fc1dc.jpg

How was this done?

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'06 E320 CDI
'17 Corvette Stingray Vert

Would you post a picture of your eraser wheel please that's the first I heard of it.

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92 e300d2.5t
01 e320
05 cdi
85 chev c10

Here's a pic of the wheel I got at a local store. You can order them online as well. I think 3M makes a popular version.

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Yes, 3M makes them especially for this purpose though they also work on stuff like fake wood station wagon trim (now THERE'S something I don't get at all).

I don't mind a stripe when well done and appropriate for the vehicle. I have a red and silver stripe between the colors on my Dodge PU and it really sets off the two-tone. While I haven't installed it yet, I have a similar stripe waiting to go on the S-10 (Mutt).

On a one-color Mercedes, not so much.

Dan

To jack the price Up when new...

The Mercedes-Benz dealer paid an on-site aftermarket tech. service to apply them. This shows up as dealer options and adds to the bottom line profit of the dealer's sale.

__________________
'06 E320 CDI
'17 Corvette Stingray Vert

...

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'06 E320 CDI
'17 Corvette Stingray Vert

With a huge amount of elbow grease, rubbing compound and in some places, where the stripe was too thick to remove, painting over with touch up paint I got from the dealer. You could still see the places I'd had to paint over them but only if you looked for them.

- Peter.

__________________
2021 Chevrolet Spark
Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S

THX!

Reason I ask is because my most recent used MB acquisition has the painted pinstripes. I didn't like it, but it wasn't a deal-breaker either. I'm going to leave 'em be on this one.

My '83 300SD bought used had the taped-on pin-striping that I only wish I knew the OP's methodology of removal - but this was pre-Internet, so it doesn't matter - as well as I sold that MB 16-years ago.

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'06 E320 CDI
'17 Corvette Stingray Vert

Nice! Your Benz looks really nice.

My not-so-nice white W123 has a black pinstripe on it as well, and I figured one of the - presumably hundreds - of previous owners put that on. But this was factory? Shame, shame, shame Mercedes...

__________________
"The MB W123 is so bulletproof, you can drive them forever. Which is a good thing as it takes that long to get anywhere."
Betsie: 1984 W123 300D (hobby, 280k miles)
Myrla: 2001 Mazda Protege 2.0 ES 5spd (daily driver, 130k miles)
The Turd: 2007 Toyota Camry (wife's car, 118k miles)

No. It was never factory. It's something the dealers - or others - defaced the cars with in the US for some reason.

- Peter.

__________________
2021 Chevrolet Spark
Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S